PE 125

Snow Days Make Up Paper

I assigned a paper on some aspect of martial arts history. The specifics are as follows; the length should
be 3 pages, double-spaced, use 12 point Times New Roman font, do not adjust the leading or kerning of
the font.

Since these papers figure into your final grade, take them seriously. That said, here is what I like. I don’t
care that you know what Julius Caesar meant by “alea Iacta est.” I want to know what slaves painted on
walls in the caves they mined. My historical interest is in the folk history, not the official story. A good
paper might reflect that, but not necessarily. Show how someone contributed to some aspect of martial
history, how a certain technique changed the progression of martial history (you can write a modern
history here, think a history of the last 5-10 years.) If any of you have loved ones in the army, for
instance, a discussion of the new army hand to hand combat course (which is based on Gracie Jiu jitsu)
would be interesting to me. Or you can write about something which happened in history past. Do not
write papers on Bruce Lee, Jet Lee or Jackie Chan (movie stars are a bad idea, unless they crossed over
from MMA). I list some ideas below, to get you going. If you are going to use one, let me know first, so
you don’t all write the same papers, and so I don’t have to read them.

A paper on the evolution of Kali/Escrima in the Philippines

A discussion on how “Judo” Gene Labell contributed to Jeet Kune Do (yeah, I said no Bruce Lee,
but this is about Gene Labell)
A biography of an important figure in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or MMA (just because someone fights in
the UFC, that doesn’t make them an important figure!)
A paper detailing how two styles came into conflict (BJJ and Luta Livre, for example)
A paper going into a specific innovation in grappling technique (such as a dissection of how a
certain move came to change the game)

You get the idea…

Papers are due on April 20th – no exceptions (I will check my box at the end of class)

Good Luck