Dwelling dynamics in consumption encampments

Abstract

Tailgating is an institutionalized form of public revelry and emplacement of brand community that occurs within the context of a consumption encampment. In this ethnographic investigation of tailgating in an American collegiate football setting, we explore the dwelling practices of stakeholders involved in the event. In the duration of a tailgate, a city is raised, and ultimately razed. Over the course of a day, a nomadic brand community encampment arises, replete with ersatz homes, a grid of streets with ingenious address coordinates, playing fields, and channels of information exchange. By examining the process of dwelling, we unpack the mechanics of the space-to-place transformation that characterizes consumption encampments. We analyze the role of three architectonic pillars of tailgating—chorography, conviviality, and community—in the emplacement of brand community and theorize the spatial essence of the collegiate brand.