M.A. / Punk was not only a music and fashion phenomenon of the 1970s, but the embodiment of non-conformity, discontent and a do-it-yourself culture that has continued to inspire the alternative youth of successive generations. One new cohort are the post-apartheid punks that provided the focus of this minor dissertation. The following three methods were used to collect qualitative data on South African punks: a qualitative content analysis, observations and semi-structured interviews. A search for the best conceptual tools with which to analyse this information found that previous usage of the concepts ‘subculture’ and ‘scene’ were useful, but inadequate. ‘Identity’ on the other hand, was capable of highlighting and examining the complexities of the punk phenomenon. The history of punk demonstrated that cross-cutting experiences, specific contexts, sub-categorisation and political motivations also contribute to the multiple meanings of punk. Similar influences were found at play in the South African case, but with a few crucial differences. Sub-categorisation was discussed in connection to a general and significant shift from old school to new school punk. The new school outlook is far more fun than the aggressive old school punk attitude of the 1970s. This change in punk culture provides an explanation for why it is that even politically aware punks, rarely make activism a priority. It may also explain why this small, optimistic, good humoured and creative ‘punk family’ do not express the fear and uncertainty normally found in punk collectives. The proudly South African context has also unexpectedly fostered the confidence of these mostly white, male and middle class punks.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, November, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--West Virginia University, 2005. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iii, 71 p. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-70).

Thesis (M.M.) Florida State University, 2006. / Advisor: Frank Gunderson, Florida State University, College of Music. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed DATE). Document formatted into pages; contains 101 pages. Includes biographical sketch. Includes bibliographical references.

Using a distinctly and deliberately interdisciplinary approach to the subject of religion and spirituality as it presents itself within modern Western Societies today, this thesis argues that Straight Edge hardcore punk is a surrogate for religion. The term surrogate is used to denote the notion of a successor and a protector and provider of nourishment. It has been re-interpreted from Theodore Ziolkowski’s work on the same term in ‘Modes of Faith’, in which he examines surrogates for religion which emerged during the early part of the 20th century. An in-depth study, both theoretical and ethnographic in nature and presentation, of Straight Edge hardcore punk is provided to demonstrate that traditionally held categories of religion, secular, sacred and profane are being dismantled and re-built around ideas of authenticity, community, integrity, d.i.y and spirituality. Through the syncretic practices of the Straight Edge adherents they are de-essentialising religion and thus enabling us to re-consider the question of what religion is or could be. This thesis relies on theoretical ideas, interview quotes, informant quotes, researcher taken photographs, and interviewee created or utilised images, tattoos, graffiti and flyers. All of these are interspersed with song lyrics from various bands relevant to the time period under discussion and the themes being drawn out. Much like the adherents themselves, this thesis exists very much within the space of the ‘in-between’, which creates and reacts to necessary tensions throughout.

Thesis (M.A.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2009. / Directed by Rebecca G. Adams; submitted to the Dept. of Sociology. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed May 14, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 116-120).

Orientador: Helio Rebello Cardoso Junior / Banca: Karina Anhezini de Araujo / Banca: Clóvis Gruner / Resumo: A emergência do punk no Brasil se deu em finais da ditadura militar tornando, para esse grupo de jovens, fundamentais os acontecimentos referentes à redemocratização, a Assembleia Constituinte e as eleições diretas. Não obstante, a nova democracia deu espaço a organizações políticas das mais diversas, as quais passaram a fazer parte do cotidiano dos brasileiros. Tais acontecimentos foram indispensáveis aos fanzines, que se empenharam em debatê-los e que, por vezes, buscaram neles inspiração para sua forma material e discursiva. Dessa maneira, os fanzines punks manifestam a bricolagem, inerente à estética punk, como eixo de suas práticas de leitura e práticas discursivas. Através de colagens de excertos de outros impressos, os fanzines subvertiam os sentidos iniciais dos recortes que empregavam inserindo-os nesses suportes de leitura de aparência confusa, que obrigam o leitor a divagar seus olhos pelas páginas. Não por acaso, eles fizeram parte da forma discursiva igualmente confusa e entrecortada, de difícil compreensão ao público externo ao punk, que se empenhou em restringir a violência interna do grupo e a representá-lo como um agente engajado na transformação do país e do mundo. Trata-se do discurso aqui denominado união e conscientização. / Abstract: The development of punk in Brazil happened by the end of the military dictatorship. It made essential, to this group of young people, the events concerning the redemocratization of the Constituent Assembly and the direct elections. However, this new democracy gave room to many different political organizations that became part of the Brazilian daily life. Such events were essential to fanzines, that made efforts to discuss them and, sometimes, looked into them for inspiration to their material and discursive form. Thus, punk fanzines manifest the concept of bricolage, inherent of the punk esthetics, as the axis of its discursive and reading practices. Through the collage of excerpts of other prints, fanzines subverted the original meanings of the cutouts they used, inserting them in reading supports of confuse appearance, making the reader divagate along the pages. Not coincidentally, they were part of a discursive form that sounded confuse and truncated, hard to understand for the public outside the punk subculture. This discourse made efforts in restricting the internal violence of the group and represent it as an agent committed to transforming the country and the world. Such discourse was named union and awareness. / Mestre

Thesis.

Identifying simultaneously with the cool 1950s greaser, the punk rebel, and the zombies, murderers, and monsters of horror lore, psychobillies (“psychos”) cobble together an identity that expresses their subcultural subjectivity. They construct and cultivate an alternative present, a participatory culture that offers multiple strategies for relieving the pressures of working-class life, for experiencing pleasure despite hardship. As one research participant put it, “psychobilly is a culture of survival.” This dissertation explores the interwoven, multiple reasons why musicians and fans identify with this alternative, underground culture, tracing the integral role it plays in their lives and the ways in which psychobillies creatively reconstitute aspects of the cultural past in the present. I focus on the advantages that a tight-knit social community confers and on the ways in which various fantasies and lived practices provide transcendental escape as well as feelings of control and power. My research draws both from a long line of cultural studies and from more recent trends in popular music scholarship that focus on musical meaning in everyday life. Accordingly, I employ an ethnographic writing style that privileges the multiple voices and identities of my research associates. / text

In order to analyze the relationship of punk to anarchy, this thesis will investigate the discursive function of "anarchy" both in contemporaneous accounts of punk and in subsequent histories. Beginning with the genesis of British punk and the first references to anarchy in different media during the late 1970s, subsequent chapters focus on the seminally influential anarcho-punk band Crass in order to discern their impact on the evolution of the anarcho-punk genre and its relationship to anarchism up through the mid-1980s. Several other anarcho-punk bands will also be considered for their contributions to this genre. In addition to providing an in-depth study of anarcho-punk, which has been largely ignored by scholars, the present work seeks to enhance understanding of the role of anarchy in punk discourse and hopes to offer a starting point for analysing recent developments in other politicised subcultures.