Mid-term paper
workshopping


The essay theme
•In this exam task, I would like to invite you to consider two approaches to thinking about
subcultures (or culture in general). One approach proposes that culture – as a mode of expression,
meaningful practices, way of living etc. – can be appropriated. To put it simply, one group (being
more powerful) takes culture from another group and makes it its own. For example, Madonna’s
‘Vogue’ could be seen as an example of cultural appropriation of Latino and black gay cultural
practice of ‘voguing’. Another approach would claim that culture does not ‘belong’ to a group but
rather it is always relational, a matter of constant exchange, contact, borrowing and combining.
For example, gay men who practice ‘voguing’ mimic Madonna as she imitates Hollywood actresses of
the ‘50s and so on in a chain of borrowings.
•
•I’d like you to turn to the texts we read and see how these two arguments could be
supported/refuted with the help of examples from the texts. Below are some suggestions which you
may or may not follow. Put together an essay of 5 pages minimum (double-spaced) in which you
discuss issues of cultural appropriation vs. hybridity using examples from the texts. You can
consult other sources as well.
•

How to proceed towards a successful essay paper?
•To produce a decent essay, you often need to re-read sections of relevant texts and/or come back
to your reading notes.
•You may start with a map of ideas which you develop into the first draft.
• Ideally, you involve an external reader to give you his/her opinion on the draft.
•After you include the comments of your reader and double-check the paper for grammar nad style
problems, your paper is ready for submission.

What should an essay do? Introduction
•Introduce the problem that you wish to deal with. In the introduction, it may be too early to
define the terms you will be using. Rather, use the limited space of it to present what you
actually achieved in the essay. It may be just a line presenting your main argument, your focus of
interest.
•Stating your aim and outcome clearly in the intro guarantees to your reader an efficient and
compact message (‘This is what I am interested in, this is what I found out/proposed.’).
•

What should an essay do? The body
•In the body of the text, you can use the space for definitions if needed. •Make sure you
consecrate enough attention to the debate. Don’t just list categories and illustrate them which
examples which you support by quotes. Show your reader that you can think about the subject
proposed!
•Avoid replacing an argument by a quote!

What should an essay do? Conclusion
•Yes, even a short paper needs a conclusion!  You may:
•summarize what you did,
•ask questions regarding the ideas which remain beyond the scope of the paper but could be
interesting to look at in the future.
•The ultimate section of your paper is bibliography; it shows that you consulted relevant sources
and give them credit by the use of a selected citation style.
•At this moment, you may want to return to the title and adjust it to fit your essay – it should
reflect your achievement as well as serve as a teaser.

Problems to address:
•Careful about using an appropriate tone/register/style!
•Examples (what problems can you find?):
•
•“I’d also like to mention…”
•“In 1932, he wrote an interesting chapter called…”
•“Well, finally I can repeat some of my findings.”
•“It is very hard to define the word culture or subculture.”

Problems to address:
•Be exact! Names, dates, places…
•However, do not confuse your paper with writing an encyclopedia entry! Provide relevant info only!
•In your paper, you engage in an academic debate which means that you build on what was said before
and add your analysis, propositions, ideas.
•You always need to clearly distinguish your voice from the words of your sources. Even if you
paraphrase, let us know that you do so!
•References: (name, year, page number)
•Choose a citation style and use it consistently!
•

Problems to address:
•How should your essay read?
•Reading your colleagues’ papers might help you realize how you wish to present information in your
paper. What reads better? Small sections vs. a coherent text?
•Did your peer succeed in explaining what he meant? Did she provide links between sections and
paragraphs thus making the text flow easily? Did he make paragraphs/sections to structure the
thoughts? Is his text too fragmented and so fails to hold together?

Problems to address:
•Use problematic terms cautiously!
•Note that these terms – ‘Negro’, ‘Oriental’ – were used in the late ‘20s which is before the civil
rights movement and the de-colonization so both of these words are loaded and are nowadays seen as
derogatory. •Putting problematic terms into quotes signalizes that you are aware of the debates
which surround them; such as the notion of ‘race’.

Problems to address:
•Careful with the use of WE. Let us know who you mean by the first person of plural.
•By using WE, do you wish to express: the Zeitgeist (the spirit of the period), “our modern era”,
shared concerns of a group you feel you belong to?
•You may identify as a group member or express concerns that you feel should interest people but
make sure you clearly say it!
•Otherwise, you end up sounding like a trend journalist or a universalizing essayist.
•

Thinking sociologically about subcultures (or any other concept)
•Concepts are working representations (unstable and imaginary); they are outcomes of explanations
supported by arguments and often attacked in debates.
•Therefore, they should not be treated as actual entities, as real existing forms/groups which you
can unproblematically recognize across various contexts (as natural species or chemical
substances).

Thinking sociologically about subcultures (or any other concept)
•Subcultures, counter-cultures, popular culture or other terms may help us represent social reality
around us.
•However, we should be aware of the imaginary nature of these terms as well as of their history.
•In other words, even if concepts and theories tend to travel - we borrow them as tools which help
us explain perceived reality -, we should take into consideration their constructed nature and the
context in which they were developed and the purposes they served previously.

Thinking sociologically about subcultures (or any other concept)
•Now, you should have at least an idea how scholars at different places started thinking about
subcultures/counter-culture/youth or popular culture and why.
•You may have noticed that the way scholars thought about these terms and the debates they were
engaged in were conditional to such factors as their disciplinary background, their situatedness,
their identification (as working-class, feminist, Marxists or liberals etc.)…
•I encourage you to consider why particular concepts were developed, what debates they reacted to,
what purposes they served:

Thinking sociologically about subcultures (or any other concepts)
•How did Park discuss immigrant colonies as a vital part of the modern city life? What did Cressey
achieve mapping the pattern of alternative careers for young second generation migrant women? Why
did Corrigan study boys who engaged in ‘doing nothing’? Why did Cohen discuss street gangs of
working-class men in connection to the changing space of their neighborhood and of the family
structure? Why did Hebdige discuss the kind of jobs that Mods did during the daytime? Why did
McRobbie and Garber propose that research on subcultures is biased? Where did they suggest we
should look instead to find young women engaging in (sub)cultural activities? Etc.

Some clarifications:
•What is the relation between ‘culture(s)’ and ‘individuality’?
•‘Subculture’ and ‘counter-culture’, two terms for the same thing?
•What does the notion of ‘parent culture’ refer to?
•How is ‘popular culture’ related to ‘common culture’, ‘dominant culture’, ‘mass culture’ and
‘subculture(s)’?
•Why do we need so many terms?
•
•

(Your) ideas, questions, discussions
•“[…] But they just danced not prostituted. […] These dance halls were not something special in the
U.S. in the early 30s. […] At first for white [taxi-dancers], it was uncomfortable to dance with
[‘colored’ men].”
•According to Cressey, what is the line between taxi-dancing and prostitution?
•It would be interesting to understand how the occurrence of dance halls was related to the influx
of migrant workers to metropolises.
•Where there any ‘colored’ dancers?

(Your) ideas, questions, discussions
•“With regard to that, the example above [the discussion on the ‘Indian’ headdress] should not be
considered [as an instance of] cultural appropriation [because]  the ones wearing it were
[hipsters] not the dominant mainstream culture. Being themselves a minor subculture, they do not
have the power to ‘steal meaning’ […] therefore, it is rather a case of hybridization than
appropriation.”

(Your) ideas, questions, discussions
•Understanding cultural appropriation as
•
•1) Adoption and use of manners, items, sounds…
•2) Assimilation to a (different) group
•3) Emulation of a despised group in order to create a counter-identity to confront the dominant
culture
•4) Enhancing one’s image using some aspects of the oppressed group’s style and capitalizing on it
•5) Continuation of exploitation and oppression by symbolic means
•

(Your) ideas, questions, discussions
•“Naturally, if a symbol of culture that is based on opposing the dominant culture becomes part of
that dominant culture, it loses its strength and meaning.” •“Unlike a culture with roots
independent of the dominant culture, cultural objects of subculture cannot exist independently of
the dominant culture; they have to oppose it.”

(Your) ideas, questions, discussions
•“Trying to be considered Hollywood stars made [taxi dancers] take a lot from another group and
pretend it’s their own lifestyle which is almost the definition of cultural appropriation.”
•“Often, the new names of the [dancers] sounded more exotic to the [dance hall customers].” •“[…]
we can think of their practice of name changing as [an instance] of cultural appropriation.”

(Your) ideas, questions, discussions
•“As well as taxi dancers, [Corrigan’s] boys want to fit in and adapt to the surroundings and do
everything that their subculture’s society expects.” •“[Corrigan’s boys] just stand on the street
and are bored. ” •“It may even look like there is no culture at all.”
•
•

(Your) ideas, questions, discussions
•“Nowadays, information on any culture is available at the click of a button for anyone with
internet access. This makes it easier to join aspects of different cultures together. People may
use this tool to take aspects of other cultures and make it their own or they may use it for the
exchange of information and use it to combine information to make new cultures.”

(Your) ideas, questions, discussions
•“[…] we might have a tendency to assign a negative meaning to the term ‘cultural appropriation’.
It might be seen as a theft or plagiarism.”
•“Culture is the central element, [while] subculture is the rest […].”
•“Rozsak argues that it is for the first time when the counterculture is not oppressed by force or
by argumentation against it but when [it] is implemented in the major cultural scheme […]; it
becomes part of the mainstream.”
•

(Your) ideas, questions, discussions
•“Subculture is a community of people characterized by some common features such as the same style
of dressing, behavior and recognition of certain values.”
•“Members of a subculture make a conscious effort to present themselves in a way that deviates from
the mainstream society.”
•“[Taxi dancers] are not banded together against a certain group, such as the hipsters against
squares.”
•

(Your) ideas, questions, discussions
•“[Subcultures] cannot be adopted automatically because [it] is not (only) a style to be worn.
Without a relation between the person who ‘wears’ a subcultural style and the historical background
of the subculture, there is no transmission, even though there can be pre-existing similarities
between the two. For example, someone who wears saggy pants without knowing they originate from
black prisoners and without having any relation to racial oppression or delinquency, becomes a
caricature.”