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

Nancy Macdonald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 18, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0333781910 | ISBN-13: 978-0333781913

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, this book 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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"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, 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: literally in the subway tunnels, figuratively in the subcultural underground. Her candid and often humorous description of the fieldwork process, her unusual perspective as a woman observing men and her well documented conclusions make this book essential reading in the fields of anthropology, sociology and juvenile justice and a very enjoyable read for anyone else interested in art, youth and human nature." —Henry Chalfont, author of Subway Art

"Subcultures may come and go, but graffiti has stuck around with no sell-by date in sight. In its lifecourse it has rarely been subjected to an analysis that is not only academically persuasive, but also wrapped in the walking, talking, painting actions of graffiti coda. This book offers a fascinating portal into the mind of the graffiti writer." —Ephraim Webber, editor of Graphotism Magazine

About the Author

Nancy Macdonald has lived and worked in London and New York. She currently resides in London where she works as a youth consultant in a brand development company. This book is based on her PhD thesis, which she completed at Brunel University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (January 18, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0333781910
• ISBN-13: 978-0333781913
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,250,484 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Review of Graffiti Subculture, April 12, 2005

By 

R. Abraham "unf unf unf" (Syosset, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Graffiti Subculture: Youth, Masculinity and Identity in London and New York (Paperback)

Allow me to be the first voice of dissent--while this is a thoroughly researched ethnography, the analysis was myopic and simply not intensive enough. My primary disapointment in this book was the author's failure to account for graffiti itself--as a language, as text, as communication. So little has been written on this subject, but Mcdonald spends only the smallest amount of time discussing the way that graffiti "performs". Of course, you say, she is a sociologist, and this is a subcultural study. But Mcdonald spends a great deal of this book focusing on masculine/feminine identity and graffiti art as a way to "perform" masculinity or femininity, through exclusion and inclusion. Graffiti is contextualized as an expression of anomie and disenfranchisement, and the illegal nature is brought to the forefront. But this could easily have been a book about gang members in London, as very little in this book would have been different. So much can be written about the way urban youth mediate themselves, and why. This book just does not account for communication and, in focusing on its subjects, neglects the very interfaces and connections that allow them to communicate and differentiate. Finally, the greatest weakness of this book is that it makes NO attempt to historicize graffiti. It's as if graffiti first appeared in the 80's out of a cultural vacuum. Without any sort of historical context, the hobby discussed in this volume means very, very little. Like other dissertations written for public consumption, the book spends a great deal of time recounting the history of 20th century criticism, which will make you tap your foot and roll your eyes if you've heard all of this before. I enjoy the approach--ethnography is a very important methodology, first person narration and personal anecdotes are too often absent from academic work (but becoming more popular in recent years)and the author's insistence that her subjects review and revise her work in the footnotes is very endearing, and perhaps revolutionary. I just wish that this book had actually discussed graffiti--how do we understand subjects without understanding their symbolic order?

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique and compelling, July 25, 2001

By 

[e-mail] (London, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Graffiti Subculture : Youth, Masculinity and Identity in London and New York (Hardcover)

Taking a different approach to the graffiti subject is not something I would usually recommend - most authors that have tried to write about graf and the surrounding culture produce forgettable books often ridiculed by graf writers. And if you don't appeal to the people you're writing about, where's the decency in that? Nancy Macdonald has totally blown any preconceptions you might have about her approcah to this subject - she looks at the culture from the perspective of an outsider looking in, but successfully involves the people she is writing about. Genuine quotes from writers (not just any writers, but respected and admired writers) prove that Macdonald carried out the necessary research to write an incredible book on the ideas and psychology behind graffiti. Although the content is generally text, the selection of photos are well chosen and effective at backing up the writing.

To cap off an already-essential book, Macdonald had the courtesy to hand the book back to the writers who contributed and helped. Their comments (in the back of the book) only enforce that this book is accurate and genuine - and for that alone, Macdonald should be applauded.

For anyone interested in graffiti - whether it's reading quotes about yard missions, or wanting to know the reasons behind why people write on trains and walls - this book is vital reading.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First-rate exploration of the world of the graffiti writer, December 10, 2004

By 

Will Lakeman "library lurker" (Jersey, CI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Graffiti Subculture: Youth, Masculinity and Identity in London and New York (Paperback)

I couldn't recommend this book more highly to anybody with a serious interest in the lives and values of graffiti writers. The book is undeniably scholarly in tone, but is written in a clear and lucid manner which makes it accessible to anybody with an interest in the subject. Furthermore, Macdonald's effective discussion of her methodologies and the assumptions underlying her work make the book invaluable for anybody who wishes to look at a variety of subcultures, not just graffiti.

Even if you don't believe the blurb (or this review), believe the pages of glowing appraisals from graffiti writers that fill the back of the book. This is, in itself, a considerable achievment, and testifies to the high regard in which Macdonald's work is held by her subjects. If more writers bothered to check their work with the people they write about, this type of book would be held in higher regard outside the world of academia.