His first monograph in this area was Martial arts studies: disrupting disciplinary boundaries (Rowman and Littlefield International, 2015).
Most recently, Bowman published The invention of martial arts: popular culture between Asia and America (Oxford University Press, 2021).
He is also editor of several books: Interrogating Cultural Studies[5] (Pluto, 2003), The Truth of Žižek[6] (Continuum, 2007), Reading Ranciere (Continuum 2010), The Rey Chow Reader (Columbia University Press, 2010) and The Martial Arts Studies Reader (Rowman & Littlefield International, 2018).
His work has been translated into Chinese, Czech, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Persian, Spanish, and Turkish.
Martial Arts Studies is the premiere journal of the field and is published open access twice a year by Cardiff University Press.
Bowman has organised or co-organised international martial arts studies conferences in Cardiff and other universities annually since 2015.
In 2024, he and his co-editors (Alex Channon, Lauren Miller, Wayne Wong and Benjamin Judkins) founded The Martial Arts Studies Association.
Although he does not practice this art, in 2015, Bowman was awarded an honorary blackbelt in taekkyon by Master Kim of the World Taekkyeon Headquarters in Seoul, South Korea.
In 2016, Bowman was awarded a tewhatewha (or general's staff) by Tamiaho Herangi-Searancke, who holds the role of Guardian, Protectorate and Master in Rituals to the New Zealand Maori King Tuheitia Paki.
He also features prominently in the 2012 documentary I Am Bruce Lee, appears in the BBC4 documentary series, Timeshift (in the episode 'Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting: The Rise of Martial Arts in Britain'), and on the BBC Radio 4 programme, In Living Memory (in the episode 'Kung Fu').
Episodes are podcast fortnightly in two formats: audio (on Podbean) and video, on The Martial Arts Studies YouTube Channel.
He studied with the Yongquan Martial Arts Association from 2003, under Graham Barlow, and gained teaching qualifications in taijiquan and bak sing choy lee fut kung fu.