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Riding down the h@rd road: DIY approaches to documenting punk as political resistance

Wallace, R. (2018) Riding down the h@rd road: DIY approaches to documenting punk as political resistance. Paper presented to: Keep It Simple, Make It Fast! (KISMIF) International Conference 2018: Gender, Differences, Identities and DIY Cultures, University of Porto, Portugal, 03-07 July 2018.

Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Abstract: ‘History is always in the making, not in the past but in the present’ Antonio Gramsci (Prison Notebooks 391), a ‘call to action’ by Gramsci to use this potential while it still exists, perhaps to archive and document punk across the globe? This is a core ambition of the Punk Scholars Network and myself as academic researcher in these areas. In this video essay I will argue that, the overarching Grand Narrative concept of the modernist period may prove useful in a ‘post-modern’ era as a significant challenge to the fragmented, banal and often redundant relativism of the post-modern documentary characteristic. The construction of a documentary narrative necessarily requires a ‘structure’ even if this is an ‘anti-structural’ approach. To deny this universal element of documentary construction may be regarded as a means to de-politicise the potential of documentary to motivate collective action which is the central element to the anarcho-punk DIY ethic. To ‘document’ then can also be regarded as a ‘political’ act. I will argue that DIY documentary works around PUNK faced numerous challenges and resistance both internally and externally, that few other types of underground cultural production processes in the late twentieth century had to face in the archiving of its own history. In this paper I will discuss my research and why I believe this is a unique and essential DIY activity.
Uncontrolled Keywords: DIY, punk, documentary, Belgium
Subjects: M Music and Books on Music > ML Literature on music > ML3800 Philosophical and societal aspects of music > ML3916 Social and political aspects of music
P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1993 Motion pictures > PN1995.9.D6 Documentary films
Creators: Wallace, Roy
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes: Faculties > Faculty of Arts, Science & Technology > Journalism, Media & Performance
Date: 3 July 2018
Date Type: Publication
Event Title: Keep It Simple, Make It Fast! (KISMIF) International Conference 2018: Gender, Differences, Identities and DIY Cultures
Event Dates: 03-07 July 2018
Event Location: University of Porto, Portugal
Event Type: Conference
Language: English
Status: Published / Disseminated
Refereed: Yes
Related URLs:
URI: http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/10274

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