Notes from the Mat: Folk Wrestling & Grappling Heritage

Long-form companions to the podcast and standalone dispatches on the living traditions of folk wrestling — the techniques, the cultures, and the fight to keep endangered styles alive.

A Phone Call to the Inner Mongolian Steppe

Lavell Marshall is a world champion and 5-time US national champion in Shuai Jiao, a form of Chinese jacket wrestling. For the...

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Chipewyan Wrestling: A Grappling Isolate?

The Chipewyan (Dënesųłı̨né), a First Nations people of northern Canada, historically had a deeply ingrained - and in many ways highly unique...

Episode 1.5: Irish Collar and Elbow Remastered

As the modern revival of the Irish national wrestling style continues, it’s time to lay old myths to rest.

Episode 1: Irish Collar and Elbow

The first in a series of podcasts looking at some of the obscure folk-wrestling styles from around the world. This one explores...

Episode 2: Beyond the End of the World: Yaghan and Selk’Nam Wrestling of Tierra del Fuego

The Yaghan are - were - the southernmost people in the world; a scattered group of nomadic hunters living on the sub-antarctic...

Episode 3: Killing Sharks in the Open Sea: Vietnamese Đấu Vật

In the western world, our conceptions of Vietnam are often limited to the Vietnam War - that prolonged and devastating conflict in...

Episode 4: “O Sword, Forged in Khevsureti”: Georgian Chidaoba

The Caucasus mountains, a 750-mile-long chain of rock and ice stretching between the Black and Caspian seas, have traditionally been regarded as...

Episode 5: By Law Shall Land Be Built: Icelandic Glíma

One of the last major landmasses to be settled by human beings, Iceland is nowadays a thriving modern nation that boasts a...

Episode 6: The Roar of the Rain: Ritualized Jaguar Combat in Guerrero, Mexico

The region of the world stretching from Mexico to Costa Rica - traditionally referred to as “Mesoamerica” - was, in its pre-Columbian...

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