The Graffiti Subculture: Youth, Masculinity and Identity in London and New York [Hardcover]

This book is the most extensive contribution to our understanding of the graffiti subculture to date. Using insights from ethnographic research conducted in London and New York, the author explores the varying ways young men use graffiti to construct masculinity, claim power and establish independence from the institutions which define and often limit them as young people. Forging a link between subcultural practice and identity construction, this book will be essential reading for anyone interested in new understandings of youth and their subcultures.List of Figures Shout Outs (AsThey Say) Introduction Climbing Down off the Fence: Locating our Standpoint and Values Are Theories of Subculture too Class Orientated? I Woz 'Ere: Tales from the Field Going Underground: A Journey into the Graffiti Subculture Constructive Destruction: Graffiti as a Tool for Making Masculinity Keeping its Distance: The Subculture's Separation from the 'Outside World' Making a World of Difference: The Personal Benefits of Subcultural Membership Conclusion Afterword: Writers Talk Back Bibliography Glossary Index

'By demonstrating the importance of gender in the formation and dynamics of youth subcultures, this book represents a challenge to the canon of subcultural theory. A thoughtful and insightful contribution which deserves to become an important text in (sub)cultural studies.' - Rosalind Gill, Lecturer in Gender Studies, London School of Economics and Political Science

'Macdonald has gone to the heart of the graffiti writers' world and brought to bear the most thorough and provocative research. Her success depends, in part, on her forthrightness, her refusal to condescend and her respect for the writers' enterprise and voice. Her informants are heard loud and clear giving this book an authentic tone that stays in tune with the language of the streets. Macdonald maps out this, largely male, rite of passage and presents adolescence as a period between two worlds:ló¹