How the Concepts of Cultural Identity and Representation - Essay Example

How the Concepts of Cultural Identity and Representation Help Us Analyze and Understand Punk Music How the Concepts of Cultural Identity and Representation Help Us Analyze and Understand Punk Music An individuals identity is shaped more by experiences than by choice. The idea of a singular personality is a mythical one because everyone is, ultimately, chained to certain social determinants that affect our self – realization of personality. Even subjectivity is subject to change as social identities tend to multiply in keeping with regular interactions with different people. An individual is influenced by how he is viewed by others in the society, which stands in contrast to how he wants to view himself/herself. This inherent contradiction accentuates the need to closely examine key cultural contexts behind personality development. Moreover, representation of a particular culture is also a point which has triggered much controversy among the intellectuals. In this context culture entails subjective disposition of an individual or an ethnic group from an external frame of reference. Cultural theorist Stuart Hall laid the foundation of cultural discourses in modern times. Throughout his illustrious career, Hall researched extensively on a number of socio – humanitarian issues, including cultural identity and representation. This essay is going to show how these concepts help us examine punk music and the culture movement that accompanied it. Punk is a subculture movement that emerged in the 1970s and the 1980s by the appearance of punk bands such as The Sex Pistols, The Ramones and The Talking Heads (Stanbro, n.d.). Before analyzing punk culture it is important that we define the concepts of cultural identity and representation so that we are able to use them coherently in our understanding of a brand of music that has been so often misunderstood. Cultural identity is referred to as self-definition with reference to a knowledge tradition or a set of ideas and practices that are shared or widely prevalent in a delineated population (Kitayama & Cohen, 2007). When comparing cultural identity and collective identity, the construct of cultural identity may not conform to that of collective identity. In some instances, Kitayama and Cohen (2007) observe, both cultural and collective identity can represent the same thing; cultural can be regarded as a group when a particular knowledge tradition is completely shared in the designated group. However, even the most widely distributed culture is rarely followed completely by all members of the designated group. Even though cultural identity and collective identity may fail to equate, there is a strong line between cultural identification and collective identification. The degree of identification is associated with how much the individual relates himself to his or her identity. People who relate themselves strongly with a knowledge tradition or culture regard this cultural identity to be an integral component of their self-definition (Kitayama & Cohen, 2007). According to Stuart Hall’s anti-essentialist stance, cultural identity is organized both by points of similarity as well as around different points of difference; it is not a fixed natural state of being but rather a process of becoming. Hall observes that identity is not something that is being discovered but is continually being created within the vectors of similarity and difference (Barker, 2008). Culture is also intricately connected to representation and the symbolic. Expounding upon the relation of culture with representation, Stuart Hall observes that, “culture is about shared meanings” (Barker, 2008). Language is the mode through which we try to make sense things and is the zone of easy access where meaning is created and exchanged. Representation refers to the act of representing or the state of being represented (The Free Dictionary, 2010). Culture can be regarded as a product of representation and signification (Baldwin, 2006). Thus, one can establish that culture is intricately tied to representation and cultural identity. Representation and cultural identity can be used as tools to analyze and understand punk music. The punk rock of the 1970s still has cultural cache and is an inspiration for many popular and contemporary forms of music (Rhodes & Westwood, 2008). The punk sub-cultural style was a product of social dissatisfaction that was present in the unemployed and marginalized urban youth. Frustrated and angry, they expressed themselves by exercising their power and creating chaos. Words such as “fuck” and “cunt” that were considered very offensive to the society were rampant in the lyrics of punk artists (Toll, 2009). Punk subculture therefore was a rejection of the mainstream culture; Punks defined themselves as a designated group that was not satisfied with the current establishment and generated their own cultural identity by standing up against cultural norms and practices. The usage of offensive terminologies is representative of an insult to the traditions of the mainstream culture as well as their values of using a decent and lawful language. This can be exemplified by punk fanzines, do it yourself publications, which made a number of grammatical errors in the publications to emphasize their rejection of mainstream culture (Triggs, 2006). This rejection was not only confined to wrong spellings; the aforementioned pioneers of punk music also redefined which cultural signs were appropriate and recontextualized goods. The Punks tried to establish themselves as unique from the mainstream culture. For instance, the punks used the safety pin, an item used for domestic purposes, as an ironic symbol to express their rebellion against the mainstream culture by hanging it in their ears. This is an example of not only Bricolage but also the accepted and established sign-system. Umberto Eco used the term “semiotic guerilla warfare” to describe this subcultural style, the feeling of rebellion and ironic play with cultural signs. This semiotic guerilla warfare, coupled with violence, drew much media attention (Toll, 2009). This attitude of the youth made the establishment take steps to introduce social programs to curb the dispossession of the youth and to bring in new ways of controlling crowds. This shows that the sub-ordinated groups, i.e. the working-class youth and racial minorities, wanted the government to take notice of them and give them more importance. The political aspect of the Punks was diverse, ranging from opposition to the government to reorganization and recreation of the social structure (Toll, 2009). The Birmingham School of Cultural Studies considered the aim of youth subcultures to resist the government in terms of not accepting the hegemonic norms of the ruling class. For other theorists, this resistance has caused a reproduction of the political norms and power relations. However, the end result is the generation of an independent defiant identity (Toll, 2009). An example of Punks in the music industry was the famous band, “T he Sex Pistols”. An article in the New York Times said that the cultural prowess and legacy of the famous band is deeply rooted in resistance and rebellion (Rhodes & Westwood, 2008). Although they rose against the establishment, the band still commands dignity because it believed in something. In fact, many people observe that it was during the mid-70s that music was able to regain its cultural meaning that it had lost over the years and become of importance to the disenfranchised youth. The success of the band can be judged by the fact that the band was rated number 22 in Q Magazine for its album “Never Mind the Bollocks” in the list of hundred greatest albums of all time (Rhodes & Westwood, 2008). The Sex Pistols created their own look and represented themselves through ways that clearly rebelled against the prevalent norms. Their look was mainly produced by the English fashion designer, Vivienne Westwood, who was a proponent of punk subculture and was largely responsible for the infiltration of punk into fashion. Hence, Westwood created the look of the Pistols by using zips, rips, porn, chains and bondage (Barrows, n.d.). The fashion was representative of the rebellious feelings of the Punks and was represented by unwashed, anarchic and spiky hair. The people in the band supported Mohawk hairstyles or clipped their hair really short, leaving them untreated. According to Hall, the meaning of representation has more to do with the act of reconstruction rather than reflection. This means that an image is meant to mean more than its surface meaning. Representation has been used widely in punk music to sell a certain ideology. One way of representation adopted by Punks is through zines. Zine is short for magazine, and is mostly homemade and has very less writers. Punk identity is not universal; rather it differs from region to region. However the general facets remain the same. Therefore there are differences in zines that are produced all over Europe and America. Moreover they also link to regional politics and ideals rather than those on an international scale. The presentation of zines is such that the idea of deviating from the mainstream culture and established norms is inherent in it. The non-standard forms within the zines reflect the wishes of the authors to deviate from and rebel against mainstream culture. Zines are not merely a listing of the concerts that are going to be performed in the near future; the textual and visual organization and presentation of zines are manifestations of punk culture (Stanbro, n.d.). Punk subculture was not without any influence because it actively resisted the status quo. This was a particular form of resistance that refuted the overproduced narcissism and self-styled seriousness of the 1970s art rock. It also did not accept the peace and love romanticism that was characteristic of the 1960s hippie culture-“an empty dream that seemed an all too saccharine capitulation of the rebellious culture of 1950s rock and roll” (Rhodes & Westwood, 2008). Therefore punk was a counter-attack to the ethos and institutionalization of such movements. Punk musicians sought to bring back the harsh rebellion, rough sound, musical simplicity and direct reference in the lyrics to social issues like unemployment that were no longer seen. Punk music assaulted rock and roll for not being in touch with its audience and being outside of the hegemonic reality (Rhodes & Westwood, 2008). Moreover, like observed earlier, cultural identity does not necessarily represent the entire designated group. Therefore there are many cultures present in a society. Hall is of the view that these cultures compete with each other for hegemony or power. Generally speaking, cultures which are advocated by political elite tend to have m0re clout than other cultures. However such cultures need to form alliances with some other cultures in order to have a hegemonic influence (Hall, n.d.). Hegemonic culture is accepted by the population as a whole not only because it imbibes certain elements of their cultures but also it appears to encompass these cultures as well. Punk music in this regard, does not serve to be a tool of oppression. It does not command political or economic elite and has widely remained on a low profile after the 1980s. Everyone was not essentially a part of the punk subculture. First of all, punk subculture was propagated by the youth; hence, older people and young children were not part of the subculture. In the early years of punk subculture and punk music, there was little involvement of apolitical youth. However, soon corporations started realizing the commercial potential of punk music. As a result, a new market opened up that designed fashion lines that catered to the subcultural youth. Punk culture was mainstreamed and apolitical youth who were involved in the rebellion against the establishment also adopted punk culture as an image and a fashion trend (Gansauge, 2009). In conclusion, punk music brought a cultural edge back to music and was important for the young, disempowered and dispossessed people. The importance of punk as a voice for and a representation of youth during the mid to late 1970s cannot be doubted (Jamieson & Romer, 2008). Punk music represented itself by its open reference to rebellion and opposition against the mainstream culture and by adopting measures such as using of offensive terms, publishing zines and recontextualizing commodities. Reference List Baldwin, J. R., 2006. Redefining culture: perspectives across disciplines. Mahwah (NJ): Routledge. Barker, C., 2008. Cultural studies: theory and practice. 3rd ed. SAGE. Barrows, M., n.d. Punk Hairstyles-From Rebel Culture to Fashion Statement. [Online] Available from: http://www.articopia.com/pdf/article-12957.pdf [Accessed 14 August 2010]. Gansauge, B., 2009. The Punk and Hardcore Youth Subcultures in the USA Since the 1980s. GRIN Verlag. Hall, S., n.d. Stuart Hall and Cultural Studies: Decoding Cultural Oppression. [Online] Available from: http://www.pineforge.com/upm-data/13286_Chapter_2_Web_Byte__Stuart_Hall.pdf [Accessed 14 August 2010]. Jamieson, P. E. & Romer, D., 2008. The changing portrayal of adolescents in the media since 1950. Oxford University Press US. Kitayama, S. & Cohen, D., 2007. Handbook of cultural psychology. New York (NY): Guilford Press. Rhodes, C. & Westwood, R. I., 2008. Critical representations of work and organization in popular culture. Routledge. Stanbro, S., n.d. Language and Style: Print Representations of Punk/Hardcore Culture. [Online] Available from: http://honors.tamu.edu/curriculum/documents/SP_Linguistics.pdf [Accessed 14 August 2010]. The Free Dictionary, 2010. Representation. [Online] Available from: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/representation [Accessed 14 August 2010]. Toll, M., 2009. Punk-Style and Sub-Cultural Theory. [Online] Available from: http://dostoevskiansmiles.blogspot.com/2009/09/punk-style-and-sub-cultural-theory.html [Accessed 14 August 2010]. Triggs, T., 2006. Scissors and Glue: Punk Fanzines and the Creation of a DIY Aesthetic. Journal of Design History 19(1), pp. 69-83. Read More