{"id":52,"date":"2010-08-01T16:23:16","date_gmt":"2010-08-02T00:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/civicpaths.net\/groupblog\/?p=52"},"modified":"2010-08-01T17:17:22","modified_gmt":"2010-08-02T01:17:22","slug":"interfaces-e-g-introducing-youth-to-diy-punk-activism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/civicpaths.net\/groupblog\/2010\/08\/01\/interfaces-e-g-introducing-youth-to-diy-punk-activism\/","title":{"rendered":"Interfaces — e.g., Introducing Youth to DIY Punk Activism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week, I checked out an unusual intersection: two punk-hardcore activists were lecturing to 75+ teenagers at a Los Angeles university.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0But this wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t music camp.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather, this was the last day of a college prep summer program, \"\"<\/a>hosted at USC for low-income and first-generation youth.\u00c2\u00a0 Amazingly, the message stayed clear of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153stay in school,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and focused instead on do-it-yourself (DIY) passion and activism.\u00c2\u00a0 There are implications for our research group.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most importantly, the occasion underscored the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153intersection dilemma<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d: how do learning institutions interface with civic sub-cultures (from punk activists, to the Harry Potter Alliance<\/a> and Invisible Children<\/a>)?\u00c2\u00a0 For me, this intersection is a goldmine \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a space of real drama, where subcultures put on a public face, and where institutions give uncertain attention to these emerging civic modes.<\/p>\n

Of course, the actual people matter enormously.\u00c2\u00a0 Justin Pearson and Jose Palafox (see above) are not your typical punk figures.\u00c2\u00a0 While Pearson never graduated college, he and Palafox have been key players in DIY hardcore-punk since the mid 90s.\u00c2\u00a0 They have been in countless bands \u00e2\u20ac\u201c see, for example, this Swing Kids video<\/a> with Pearson singing, and with Palafox on drums.<\/p>\n

The activism of Pearson and Palafox is DIY, set against the punk subculture.\u00c2\u00a0 As friends and independently, their bands have supported organizations ranging from Planned Parenthood, to PETA and the Black Panther Party.\u00c2\u00a0 Palafox has made documentaries of the U.S.-Mexico border.\u00c2\u00a0 Pearson just released his autobiography, and was on Jerry Springer with a hoax<\/a> involving bisexuality.<\/p>\n

Very briefly, I want to examine Pearson and Palafox as a kind of baseline for our research.\u00c2\u00a0 Their example is valuable for its simplicity: compared to our current case studies, they do not have a fantasy content world<\/a> (e.g., as compared to the Harry Potter fans); and second, the pair presented as individuals — without an organizational apparatus (such as the Harry Potter Alliance<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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Yet Pearson and Palafox are intimately connected to DIY culture and activism.\u00c2\u00a0 For them, DIY is both a cultural stance, and part of their message to the students.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not [expletive] <\/em>Green Day,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d they reiterate to the student audience.\u00c2\u00a0 Green Day may sell punk music, and tackle social justice — after all, Green Day has a mainstream protest album<\/a> — but as Pearson decried, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153they appeal to the lowest common denominator.”<\/p>\n

Which brings us to the first interface — between sub-communities<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 When Pearson speaks, he proactively tells the students who his group is not<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 His discourse positions DIY punk as skeptical of mainstream (consumer) music, and distinctive in part because they take true <\/em>artistic risk.<\/p>\n

My ears pick up at Pearson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s boundary claims.\u00c2\u00a0 In the classroom, this emotion about boundaries feels risky, despite the fact that public schools have cliques and subcultures aplenty.\u00c2\u00a0 Of course, we have known for decades that boundaries are critically important.\u00c2\u00a0 Our notion of group cohesiveness, for example, relies on community boundaries defining \u00e2\u20ac\u0153who is in and who is out\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (McMillan & Chavis, 1986).\u00c2\u00a0 But the environment of the classroom tends to sideline the emphasis on difference.\u00c2\u00a0 This makes sense on an operational level, since things just run more smoothly when students can be treated as interchangeable parts, moving identically from grade to grade.\u00c2\u00a0 And philosophically, universal inclusion is central to schools\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 mission to prepare all democratic citizens.<\/p>\n

So why invite Pearson and Palafox?\u00c2\u00a0 Their membership in the punk-hardcore community made them an interesting story (for this blog entry too!), but that wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the central message.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather, it was their DIY ethic, which celebrates the ordinary person, promising these students that if they are self-reliant and proactive learners, they can each become experts in their own right.\u00c2\u00a0 Pearson and Palafox introduced this DIY ethic<\/a> as broadly relevant \u00e2\u20ac\u201c i.e., not tied to their own roots in punk culture, which has a strong DIY core. \u00c2\u00a0(And to me, this disassociating of the DIY ethic from culture is a bit dangerous, given how many DIY moments have been commercialized \u00e2\u20ac\u201c from amateur radio, to home movie production, to the ancient printing press.)\u00c2\u00a0 And so I begin to see how much easier it is for a learning institution to seize on DIY culture, but keep participatory cultures a bit more distant, like histories or interesting stories, but not active in their classrooms.<\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another layer to this story: Stefani Relles<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the exception, the amazing educator\/writer\/scholar who invited Pearson and Palafox.\u00c2\u00a0 It turns out she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also immersed in DIY, hosting workshops on Shepard Fairey and the like.<\/p>\n

What surprised me is that Relles didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just know Pearson and Palafox previously \u00e2\u20ac\u201c she described them as part of a broader \u00e2\u20ac\u0153DIY culture,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d where punk-hardcore was only one element.\u00c2\u00a0 She portrayed a remarkable diversity in this culture, with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153seamless interaction\u00e2\u20ac\u009d between those with GEDs and PhDs \u00e2\u20ac\u201c doing poetry readings in living rooms, zines, you name it.<\/p>\n

As an educator, Relles described the need to build trust on two fronts: both with the artists, many of whom were uncomfortable in classroom settings, and with the funders\/administrators, who needed convincing that DIY punks were important for a college access writing program.<\/p>\n

Did it work?\u00c2\u00a0 Many of the students found the presentation inspiring, and declared their intention to stay connected with Pearson and Palafox (check out the video interviews<\/a> that Relles put up afterward).\u00c2\u00a0 For Relles as a writing teacher, this serves a core need: writing skills are one thing, but “it’s hard to write anything unless you have personal beliefs.”<\/p>\n

For me, this story is just beginning — the event boundaries raise several questions for our research:<\/p>\n

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  1. Can the DIY ethic<\/em> provide schools (or libraries) with a neutral ground to host participatory communities?\u00c2\u00a0 Do we need stronger theoretical explanations for how this ethic relates to participatory cultures<\/a>?<\/li>\n
  2. How is this school interface similar to more youth-led efforts, such as the formation of a new Invisible Children<\/a> chapter at a high school?\u00c2\u00a0 What are the various adult roles \u00e2\u20ac\u201c from mentor, to administrative liaison, to host?<\/li>\n
  3. How can educators create palatable and effective bridges to the participant trajectories within such communities?\u00c2\u00a0 (Ito et al.<\/a> delineated hanging out\/messing around\/geeking out as sequential domains \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not clear how guest speakers like Pearson and Palafox align with these domain boundaries.\u00c2\u00a0 Even when an institution has dedicated participatory spaces, such as the You Media<\/a> project in the Chicago Public Library, there are few established models for how to introduce new communities from the outside.)<\/li>\n
  4. When communities shift gears, and tackle civic engagement \u00e2\u20ac\u201c including in more public spaces like schools, how does their \u00e2\u20ac\u0153public face\u00e2\u20ac\u009d begin to differ from the image they portray to members?\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Is this a useful place for researchers to study the dynamics of communities in transition<\/a>?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Frankly, I suspect there are many more questions buried here.\u00c2\u00a0 I hope to use this blog post as a starting point to future conversations with others in DIY and activist communities \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and with our own research group.\u00c2\u00a0 Comments and correspondence are always appreciated.<\/p>\n

    ————–<\/p>\n

    REFERENCES:<\/em><\/p>\n