Conclusion: Present and future lines of research

The many and divergent ways in which Fighting Scholars has engaged with the concept of habitus provides a solid ground to develop further research. In this concluding chapter, we first deal with the boundaries or possible limitations of the volume. Afterwards, we advance some present and future lines of research in order to encourage further research and debate regarding habitus within the field of ethnographic research on martial arts and combat sports. Dealing with the boundaries or possible limitations of the volume we must state that while there is not a common discipline shared amongst the contributors, we believe that one of the main strengths of the volume is its interdisciplinary orientation. We concede that the by-product of this is that there is not a common lexicon that all the contributors share. The contributors offer different ways to approach habitus and ethnography that is initially proposed by Wacquant. However, the emphasis on habitus and ethnography closes the gap between the various disciplines. Other possible limitation is that all of them are committed to studying martial arts and combat sports through qualitative research. Nonetheless, this is so for epistemological reasons. One main reason lies in the fact that the Archimedean point that is proffered through quantitative approaches fails to afford the flesh-and-blood experience of martial arts and combat sports that is allowed through qualitative research (specifically through ethnography) and that is the key essence of a carnal sociology