Ethnographic Study

[manikmaxx]

Hello everyone, I'm new here. My name us Maxwell and I am a student at Humboldt State University in California. Im majoring in international studies with an emphasis in chinese cultural studies. This semester I am taking an ethnography course which focuses on the cultures of specific communnities from the point of view of the insider. For my term paper I would like to investigate and study people who learn martial arts from a distance via video, internet, etc. For my part, I have begun to practice Wing Chun from the Master Wong system.

Some of the questions I seek to answer include:
1. Who chooses this mode of learning and why? What are the reasons behind the choice?
2. The what, when, where, and how of an average routine.
3. What are some non-practice related things long distance users do in addition to their training? Supementary material.
4. What an individual gains from such practice? How does the community benefit?

I am currently seeking volunteers to help with my study over the next several weeks. Any help that anyone could give me would be great. At this point I am obligated to say that anything posted will remain anonymous in my report unless otherwise specified by you. Although the report I will write seeks to bring benefits to the community, these benefits will most likey be in understanding only. There is no direct benefit to those who volunteer other than my appreciation.

If you have any questions you can respond here or email me at manikmaxximus@gmail.com

 

[oftheherd1]

You should do a thorough search of the forums. There have been several threads where members have discussed learning martial arts from books, CDs or DVDs, without any input from an instructor. Also by learning online from an instructor. Our member Instructor operates such a teaching school, and apparently is successful. That is the more remarkable since he teaches Hapkido, a grappling art. He may come in and comment, but maybe not. He has another full time job and teaches locally I believe, as well as overseeing his online students. That may not leave him time to answer all the questions I would expect you have.

The biggest problem I see is the little things that can make such a big difference. If you begin studying them and do them wrong, without any kind of corrective help, and then perchance you run across someone who can teach you, it will be hard to unlearn your mistakes. There is also the problem of not being mentored to constantly excel. We humans often don't like to maximize ourselves without someone to not only push us, but push us the best possible way. I seem to remember we have a couple more besides Instructor who teach online, but they don't comment on is often so I don't remember who they are.

Good luck with your studies, and finding the kind of information you are seeking.