My fieldsite

What is going on in the field site?
When you first walk into the afterlife club, immediately you are engulfed in the smoke. Inside people are smoking while listening to the music which was very loud. I was not used to the sound of the heavy beats so it took me a while to get used to it and not make weird faces because I did not understand the music. Some people were sitting by the bar ordering beers and other alcoholic beverages. Then you had the people who were dancing intensely to the bands.
How do the members of the subculture interact with each other?
The people of this subculture interact like others at a club. They greeted the people who they knew with open arms and they were just free spirits. When the different bands came on stage and started playing a song, everyone immediately started yelling and getting extra excited because they all knew what song the band was about to play.
What details, behaviors, and surroundings did you have questions about?
I had questions about why they people there danced they way they did. How they understood the words to the music they were hearing.
At first, I was a little hesitant to ask the people about a question I had because they were all so wrapped up in their own worlds but I had a friend with me and she helped me out. I asked how they were able to listen to the music and understand the words and also why they danced the way they did. Basically, she told me that they got used to it. They have been hearing the music for so long that it just comes to them naturally and they cam tune out the music and hear the words. The reason they danced the way they did is because they just flow with the music. They are not conscious of who’s watching because they are all doing the same things. After going to this one little club, I still feel I need to find another field site because I felt it was a little one-sided because it was a musical environment.

Prison Performing Acts

The author chose to go dierectly to the place where this criminals are being redirected towards a postive way of life. What makes this a good fieldsite is that he was able to go directly to the place where these criminals carry out their somewhat normal lives. He was able observe them in natural environment. The observations that the author made were that most of the criminals do not like to go back and explore their past life. They all say that they are better people now rather than to do back and acknowledge the things that they did to get them to this place. He also said that they felt like cowards for doing those harmful things. The interview techniques that the author used was that he just sat down and talked to them one on one. He just casually talked to them which made them more comfortable to give up information even when they were reluctant to do so.The norms and values of this culture were pretty evident. Almost all of the residents did not graduate high school and some have as low as a third grade eduation. This is also another reason they are here to get some help in these ares. They have the same routines everyday that they must abide to like for example, every time they go for their acting sessions they must be stripped of all their clothing to ensure safety. Their values have changed from their time before entering this place to now. The believe in being eduacted and peaceful and changing for the bset to come.

Subcultures

Topic: Punk Alternative Culture
Sources:
O’Connor, Alan. “Local Scenes and Dangerous Crossroads: Punk and Theories of Cultural Hybridity,
Popular Music, May 2002.” JSTOR. January 4, 2008. Sun Microsystems. 13 Mar. 2008 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=02611430%28200205%2921%3A2%3C225%3ALSADCP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-8


Tsitsos, William. “Rules of Rebellion: Slamdancing, Moshing and the American Alternative Scene,
Popular Music, Oct. 1999.” JSTOR. January 4, 2008. Sun Microsystems. 13 Mar. 2008 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=02611430%28199910%2918%3A3%3C397%3ARORSMA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-R

Pinkus, Karen. “Self-Repretation in Futurism and Punk, South Central Review, Summer 1996.” JSTOR.

January 4, 2008. Sun Microsystems. 13 Mar. 2008 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=07436831%28199622%2F23%2913%3A2%2F3%3C180%3ASIFAP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-O



Nyong’o, Tavia. “Do You Want Queer Theory (or Do You Want the Truth)? Intersections of Punk and
Queer in the 1970s, Radical History Review, Winter 2008.” EBSCOhost. 13 Mar. 2008 http://ezproxy.gsu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=27788277&loginpage=Login.asp&site=ehost-live&scope=site


Linden, Amy. “PUNK 365, Bust, Jan 2008.” EBSCOhost. 13 Mar. 2008
http://ezproxy.gsu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=27619263&loginpage=Login.asp&site=ehost-live&scope=site



Reflection: I really liked the Rules of Rebellion: Slamdancing, Moshing and the American Alternative Scene because the title was very catching. This article gave me more insight on what different things I could talk about within this subculture. I liked how they presented not just one aspect of this culture. But then this in itself presents a problem because I need to figure out the focus of my paper. It does seem like it has a lot of information for me to look through which is always a good thing. They talk about punk music and how it influences kids to act this certain way. So overall, I feel like this is a great place to start.