Abstract des Autors

This last decade has-witnessed a relative growth of the communities of Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) practitioners on an international level. The development of these activities is reaching a critical mass, leading to the constitution of umbrella orqanisations and public outreach through national and international media, with a focus on the practice of medieval longsword competitions. Three main directions seem to drive these activities aiming at practicing martial arts from the Antiquity to World War II from European provenance or European sphere of influence: 1) Martial sport/martial arts, 2) Academic research, 3) Reviving/recreating martial heritage. The ideal researcher, knowledge holder with amazing skills in both theoretical (academic) and practical (martial) areas, is then recognised by his peers and by the communities of practitioners in which he may act as a trainer. The status of researcher would then be in the highest sphere of the communities, since he serves as reference point for both the guidance of the best practices and the mediation of the martial knowledge, which is only accessible in their original form for trained historians, knowledgeable in ancient languages. Paradoxically, one can observe at the same time several reserves from the communities toward the researcher or the research produced. Obviously, the common definition of research in academic circles and the position of the researcher according to its professional status within Academia are shifted into a specific understanding of the communities of practitioners. Who are those researchers, what is their background (both martial and intellectual) and how do they position themselves towards the communities (both martial and academic)? In order to gain insights from the communities themselves, we conducted a questionnaire addressed to recognised (established?) researchers but openly accessible to anyone considering himself as such. Published in December 2014, 150 researchers participated until January 2015. This participation proves to be fairly representative of the different international communities and is therefore acceptable in order to consider these data valuable for analysis in the context of our inquiry. The questionnaire was elaborated by the author under guidance of a sport sociologist with expertise in the study of HEMA communities. The main objective was to establish a profile, with a focus on the martial and academic background. Secondary goals comprise issues of recognition within the communities, roles in mediating the research and the martial knowledge acquired, and the definition of research itself. (geändert)