Abstract
The third part of this book, “The Question of Identity in Ethno-Aesthetic Belonging,” draws upon the conclusions of the previous parts in order to create a mise-en-abyme of the questions of identity in ethno-aesthetic belonging. The identificatory and representational reflections presented in this chapter help to clarify the relationships between identity and surf music. The notion of representation explains endo- and exogroup relationships according to the symbolic and idealized constructions of the subculture by contrasting alternative and generic approaches to the surf lifestyle.
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Notes
- 1.
In social psychology, Georges Herbert Mead (1934) conceptualized identity as the Self (marked by social norms and values) in relation to other elements composing the individual: the Ego (the individual as an object in relation to others), and the I (the individual’s sense of himself in relation to his social situation).
- 2.
I make no difference between classical music, which can be considered as high art according to Bourdieu, and popular music in which surf music is inscribed.
- 3.
Interviewed on September 10, 2016.
- 4.
Construction is defined in movement, but this movement tends toward a final project, and it is precisely this idea of finality that is inappropriate to speak of identity.
- 5.
Interviewed on January 16, 2016.
- 6.
In this book, surf music is apprehended as a musical movement composed of distinct stylistic units.
- 7.
- 8.
The notion of homology, as defined by Bourdieu (1979), appeared too structural to account for the exchanges between the culture and the individuals who articulate their sense of identity in it.
- 9.
The concept of social identity is derived from Tajfel’s (1974) proposition that individuals acquire their social identity by belonging to various social groups (thus discriminating others), which determines their place in society. This idea goes hand-in-hand with Turner’s (1981) concept of personal identity, which differentiates the self and others within the group.
- 10.
Prototypes are elements that are supposed to represent a category the most accurately (Deschamps & Moliner, 2008, p. 74,). Stereotypes are mental constructions that simplify individuals’ common characteristics and are consensually accepted within a group (Leyens, Yzerbit, & Schadron, 1996; Tajfel, 1974).
- 11.
Intra-group recognition is discussed in the last chapter.
- 12.
The notion of authenticity is understood here as a reflection of the “Us.”
- 13.
Collie Buds is a type of marijuana. The singer, Colin Patrick Harper, is from Bermudas. He is particularly known for his song on marijuana “Come around” released in 2007. The videos that made him not so popular among my interviewees stage him in a gangster style away from the laidback spirit of Cocoa Beach surfers.
- 14.
Interviewed on June 13, 2017.
- 15.
It is human nature to want to classify and categorize all phenomena and entities sensible and intelligible.
- 16.
I asked surfers what types of music were most representative of surfing values. Responses were diverse, but artists affiliated to reggae appeared to be the most common. Besides, the majority of my interviewees referred to reggae as a distinctive element of the Cocoa Beach surfer community and the Space Coast as a whole.
- 17.
Interviewed on June 7, 2017.
- 18.
The Three Stooges was a troupe of American comedians from 1922 to 1970. Sean and his two brothers featured on t-shirts designed according to the iconographic style of the original Stooges.
- 19.
Joe Dirt (Gordon, 2001) is a film starring David Spade as Joe Dirt, a young, simple-minded redneck looking for his parents who abandoned him in the Grand Canyon.
- 20.
For example, Hanging 10 consists in surfing on the nose of the surfboard and allowing the toes to hang from the board. This implies being able to walk on the board as it is moving, which is relatively difficult to do without falling.
- 21.
The notion of otherness is used to confront distinct approaches to surfing culture (other subcultures). Thus, while I acknowledge the essential question of gender and otherness, it would go beyond the scope of this monograph and would require to be discussed in a book entirely dedicated to it.
- 22.
Laplantine (1999) claimed that identity reflections entirely controlled by the primacy of the verb to be are shaped by attribution judgments which most often present a character of total reducibility to univocity (p. 33).
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Barjolin-Smith, A. (2020). Thinking the Questions of Identity. In: Ethno-Aesthetics of Surf in Florida. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7478-8_8
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