Music and more than music: The approach to difference and identity in the Portuguese punk

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2015

Authors

Guerra, Paula (Author) FLUP; Silva, Augusto Santos (Author) FLUP

Journal

Title: European Journal of Cultural Studies

Vol. 18 No. 2 - SI

Pages: 207-223

ISSN: 1367-5494

Publisher: SAGE

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 18 Citations

ISI Web of Science - 8 Citations

Scopus - 30 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Humanities

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00A-9DT

DOI: 10.1177/1367549414563294

Abstract (EN): In Western societies, punk represented a benchmark for rupture towards the existing social structure while providing a soundtrack for it. So, it is in this context that we will approach the Portuguese punk considering its importance in a society engaged in relatively recent processes of democratization and modernization. Thus, we propose here to take a look at the punk from its protagonists’ discourses and the text that they form. We will consider the words used by the bands in two ways: when they name themselves and their lyrics. In each case, we will deal with the self-representation issues in the light of the polarity between identity and difference: who we are, how we position ourselves, how we distinguish ourselves, what we have to say about ourselves, our time and our world; what are our values and what we have to say regarding the dominant social values; which causes move us, how we want to act, how we want the world to be. As in any other discursive self-representation, the content is not independent of the forms of expression. Therefore, the identification and dialogue questions (who is speaking, who is he or she speaking to) and the language questions (how does the speaker express, with which codes, in which forms) are also examined. Our analysis suggests that the punk discourse on identity tends to be structured by three main axes: a) cosmopolitanism, b) the radical assumption of an irreducible difference regarding social order and c) an ambivalent attitude towards politics and the political action.

Language: Portuguese

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

Notes: Published online before print 23 December 2014