Urban Tribes Research Articles

Peculiarities of Verbal Communication of Some Youth Subcultural Representatives in Spain

This article is dedicated to the investigation of the most characteristic peculiarities of the identification mode of certain subcultural representatives compared to the main or dominant culture expression. To this end, the article analyses, firstly, the evolution of the term “culture” and the emergence of the “subculture” phenomenon, the history of the so-called urban tribes formation into a new social phenomenon, as well as the correlations between such concepts as “dominant culture” and “subculture”, “dominant culture” and “counterculture”. Secondly, in the article are described some vestimentary code features and the verbal realization of the identity of bakala, choni and cani subcultures, belonging to the so-called “poligono” groups, numerically superior to other groups composed by marginal young people. From the point of view of the language of these subcultures, they belong to the category of vernacular, based on a mixture of the Andalusian vernacular and a criminal slang. In this regard, the article considers the formation of the slang of similar social groups, the trends in their use of word-formation models and the grammatical design of sentences, as well as the graphical manifestation of their speech features using the examples from video and audio recordings of informants, interviews and blogs of the world youth fashion and showbusiness representatives. The study of a graphic speech representation can be used to investigate tendencies in word reduction or replacement with icons, as well as other features in the language of Internet forums, commentaries on publications and other forms of communication in the Internet.The relevance of this article is in the speech analysis of modern Spanish subcultural representatives that have emerged over two decades and existed in all major cities of Spain, have a certain influence on the speech behavior of politicians and have given new lexical units included in the Royal Spanish Academy dictionary. The article contains not only linguistic, but also extralinguistic material, which can be used in lexicology, linguistic studies, linguoculturology and in the teaching of related disciplines and may be of interest to a wide audience studying Spanish.

“Symbolic Territories of Identity”, Geeks: Fantasy and Fiction Consumption in the Construction of Collective Identities in an Urban Tribe

Abstract The aim of the present study is to investigate how the consumption of geek products acts in the identity of individuals who see themselves as members of this urban tribe. Geeks are taken as committed members fascinated by topics related to fantasy and science fiction universes; if we take into account a micro-scale, they form an identity territory. Based on its theoretical approach, the goal of the current research lies on promoting a dialogue between studies that have adopted the consumer culture theory (CCT) and organizational identity research, by taking into consideration that urban tribes are a kind of organization. The research corpus comprised interviews with seventeen people who identify themselves as geeks; these interviews were analyzed based on thematic categorization. Based on then results, geek-products’ consumption starts at childhood and goes all the way to adulthood; this process is influenced by characters in the fantasy and fiction universes. The consumed products hold symbolic elements of fantasy and fiction, so that they end up representing the extension of this tribe’s members ‘self’; moreover, they are a way of building collective identities within an urban tribe, in this case, geeks. We have shown that organizational identity studies can lead to greater dialogue with CCT in order to better understand complexities added to identity and multiple affiliations, and links in the identity construction of people forming an organization.

“Symbolic Territories of Identity”, Geeks: Fantasy and Fiction Consumption in the Construction of Collective Identities in an Urban Tribe

Abstract The aim of the present study is to investigate how the consumption of geek products acts in the identity of individuals who see themselves as members of this urban tribe. Geeks are taken as committed members fascinated by topics related to fantasy and science fiction universes; if we take into account a micro-scale, they form an identity territory. Based on its theoretical approach, the goal of the current research lies on promoting a dialogue between studies that have adopted the consumer culture theory (CCT) and organizational identity research, by taking into consideration that urban tribes are a kind of organization. The research corpus comprised interviews with seventeen people who identify themselves as geeks; these interviews were analyzed based on thematic categorization. Based on then results, geek-products’ consumption starts at childhood and goes all the way to adulthood; this process is influenced by characters in the fantasy and fiction universes. The consumed products hold symbolic elements of fantasy and fiction, so that they end up representing the extension of this tribe’s members ‘self’; moreover, they are a way of building collective identities within an urban tribe, in this case, geeks. We have shown that organizational identity studies can lead to greater dialogue with CCT in order to better understand complexities added to identity and multiple affiliations, and links in the identity construction of people forming an organization.

CROSS-CULTURAL STORYTELLING APPROACHES IN TIKTOK'S MUSIC CHALLENGES

TikTok has created new strategies that has impacted the music industry through visual effects, stickers, filters, augmented reality, split screens, and transitions in videos no longer than 60 seconds. TikTok posts presents a mode of interdependence where users demonstrate the cultural value of music through challenge and audio memes. This study focuses on a popular social trend on TikTok known as ‘music challenges’. We focused on the significance and cultural meaning of music challenge memes through five key elements – image, audio, text, story, culture – to understand what comprises a ‘challenge’ on TikTok, how storytelling constitutes music challenges, and what cross-cultural in-group affiliations are identified in this trend. For this purpose, we developed a ‘TikTok music storytelling codebook’ informed by grounded theory, and selected 150 music challenge meme posts via manual scraping the ‘#MusicChallenge’ hashtag on TikTok 1–3 April 2021. Through a pilot analysis, we identified new modes of storytelling through audio memes related to nostalgia, fandom and humour. Beyond “put a finger down” challenges and “I know the song/I don’t know the song” lists, we found a broader significance in telling stories grounded across cultures: sharing a childhood memory, relating to a lifestyle type, and fanning after a musical genre. We noted a musical-peer group belonging trend that brings out a mixture of urban tribes and experiences via creative song-mixing that lasts seconds. To sum up, we understand that TikTok music challenges emerge as a vehicle for interdependent groups to showcase their in-group identities through playful audio-visual creations.

Beyond Housing Preferences: Urban Structure and Actualisation of Residential Area Preferences

The concept of residential housing preferences has been studied across multiple disciplines, with extensive literature supporting both stated and revealed preference methods. This study argues that both preference types, stated and revealed, should be assessed concurrently to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of residential housing choices. To provide evidence, this research used findings from a public participation GIS survey that identified the stated housing preferences associated with three categories of urban residents, which were called urban “tribes”. We implemented an analytical framework using fuzzy modelling to relate stated preferences with revealed preferences for the same individuals using empirical data describing the urban structure in Tampere, Finland. Following an analysis of the relationships between residents’ revealed preferences and urban structural variables, we examined the consistency of stated housing preferences with revealed preferences. The results show considerable mismatch between the stated and revealed preferences for the urban tribes that were examined i.e., the preferred housing environment was significantly different from the actual living environment. Further, the stated preferences showed disequilibrium within the current structure of the housing supply in Tampere. The findings can have important implications for housing policy making in Tampere. Further, the use of a novel fuzzy model approach demonstrated a flexible and tolerant method for working with imprecise and variable social data to capture subtle differences. Finally, this study elaborately discusses the remaining limitations and suggests how they should be addressed in future research.

Giro cultural y estudios de juventud en el Chile contemporáneo: crisis de hegemonía, mediaciones y desafíos de una propuesta

The cultural perspective, also called “cultural twist” in the studies on youngsters and youths in Chile, and the use of certain conceptual categories such as neotribalism or urban tribes, have been discussed since the beginning of the new century. In general, the criticism raised from such discussions have not been properly answered so far. The present article, hence, aims to provide them, pointing out the context leading to elaborate such proposal and its landmarks, in an attempt to balance the post-dictatorship neotribalism process in our country. Later, as stated, the concepts used to show those youth practices did not address a fascination effect but an effect of cultural and historical mediation that allowed a generational link, to conclude with hints on the performance of the culturalist perspective and its challenges.

CULTURA POP e PERFORMANCE: JOGOS IDENTITÁRIOS NOS EVENTOS DE ANIMÊ

A grande popularidade da cultura pop japonesa no Brasil, impulsionada pelo chamado boom dos animês nos anos 1990, levou à criação dos eventos de animê. Essas convenções, inicialmente voltadas para fãs de animações e seriados japoneses, hoje atraem neotribos, ou tribos urbanas, que se fundam no gosto por diversos segmentos da cultura pop mundial. Filiado à sociologia do cotidiano e do imaginário e apoiado em pesquisa de campo de inspiração etnográfica, este artigo parte da compreensão da estética como ética para vislumbrar o elã que permite a comunhão entre neotribos. Para tanto, são analisadas quatro atividades comuns aos eventos e que dependem da participação dos visitantes para ganharem vida: o cosplay, o animekê, os covers de k-pop e os videogames de dança. Tais atividades evidenciam modos de socialidade que produzem sentidos por meio da performance, em suas dimensões de encenação, brincadeira e jogo

Mondo-ing Urban Girl Tribes: The Boom of 1960s–70s Erotic Cinema and the Policing of Young Female Subjects in Japanese sukeban Films

The purpose of this article is to analyse the ambivalent politics of looking and discourses of gender, class and sexuality in a variety of 1960s–70s Japanese studio-made exploitation films, known as sukeban films. It first contextualises their production within a transnational and domestic shift emphasising sex and violence in film and popular culture. The article then highlights instances where the visual, narrative and discursive articulation of non-conforming femininities flips the gendered power balance, as in the sketches that satirise men’s sexual fetishes for girls. In conclusion, it suggests to understand the filmic construction of young women’s agency, and their bodily and sexual performance, in terms of a recurring modus operandi of Japanese media that ambivalently panders to and co-constitutes youth phenomena.

Art in the Streets of a Shattered City

The world economy has detonated processes of re-territorialization in Latin American cities to favor their aspirations to be distinguished as global cities. The economical dynamics of globalization emerging from their public politics have increased social inequalities having their manifestations on one hand, in economical polarization of the urban area and on the other, in the gentrification and increasing social segmentation and fragmentation of the urban area. The result has been a new, socio-economically and culturally shattered geography of centrality and marginality with frictions between them having their manifestations in ourbreaks of contesting non-institutional creative and artistic practices of local communities and urban tribes, among them projects of art in the street and street art. These creative practices have been used by local urban communities as manifestations of civil resistance to denounce their marginalized situation and to demand major visibility in local public politics. In the framework of global creative economy thus, these illegitimate creative practices have been threatened by public politics favoring creative industries to convert them to new innovative cultural goods and services to impulse the production of aggregated value and through it, neutralize their contesting character. Thus, this paper analyses the cases of urban muralism in Xanenetla, Puebla, and street art in Cholula, Puebla, in order to study the impact of the dynamics of globalized economy on the local contesting culture and art as a fragmenting urban force.

The issue of identity: From urban tribes to political consumerism to sharing fashion

Abstract Identity is acquiring a new importance in fashion studies that goes beyond the sphere of personal consumption. The aestheticizing climate of postmodernity has justified consumer activity in the name of a flexible identity, while clothing has been confirmed as an aesthetic resource for self-presentation. Some young consumers – the so-called urban tribes – have made their mask a flag, creating peculiar ways of dressing during leisure time. For particular cultural minorities, a true political antagonism is at stake and the flag stands for a declaration of an open will to emancipate from the dominant culture. Increasing consumers’ awareness of fashion-sustainability problems and their expectations towards the production system have led to the necessity of considering together the different actors in the fashion chain. In fact, the reflexive identities of late modernity are concerned dialectically with the construction of a social imaginary that does not exclusively pertain to consumers or producers; nor does it concern the mere aesthetic enrichment of the image, but rather the complex arena where meanings are built. In this same frame, a very recent variation of responsible fashion aims at reducing the distance between production and consumption in view of a sharing of practices, technologies and products. The ethical dimension of fashion widens to include values that transcend individual self-presentation to encompass images of collective identities and convivial communities.

Urban Tribes: Native Americans in the City by L. Charleyboy & M.B. Leatherdale (Eds.)

Charleyboy, Lisa and Mary Beth Leatherdale (Eds.). Urban Tribes: Native Americans in the City. Toronto, ON: Annickpress Ltd., 2015, Print.Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale, editors of the highly acclaimed Dreaming in Indian (2014) have created another anthology, this time with a focus on Urban Indigenous youth and young adults (aged 13–35). From poets to financiers to Hollywood actors, the anthology provides a glimpse into over 30 lives of successful Indigenous young people.Pushing boundaries and troubling stereotypes, the editors offer a deeper understanding of the multiplicities of lives as they share stories of Indigenous youth and young adults negotiating who they are and are becoming in an urban landscape. The mixed media portrayal with an exquisite use of photographs and graphic art weaves together stories, each told in unique ways, inviting the reader into the lives of the youth and young adults in meaningful ways. This book is an honest and realistic portrayal of both the adversities and advantages experienced by Indigenous youth, some of whom have left tight-knit communities on reserves to follow their dreams in large cities and some of whom have lived in urban centers all of their lives. Calling our attention to notions of renaissance, shattering stereotypes, racism and identity the book does not shy away from the more difficult stories or the larger context that shape the lives of Indigenous Peoples. With the focus on individuals and their lives we are able to see the beauty in the myriad of ways that the youth respond as they create lives that are not bound by any one notion of success, inspiration or Indigenous culture. In the midst of the stories there are statistics, historical contexts and geographical understandings of the sometimes invisible lives of Urban Indigenous Peoples across North America making this anthology a great resource for all Canadian Classrooms ranging from junior high to post-secondary. From this anthology Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous alike are able to gain a better understanding and appreciation of the diversity and complexity of lives of Urban Indigenous Peoples.Highly Recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewers: Trudy Cardinal & Fran CaudronDr. Trudy Cardinal is a Cree/Métis scholar from the University of Alberta whose research interests center on the experiences of Indigenous children and families on and off school landscapes. Her passion for stories and storytelling includes a love of children’s literature, especially literature written by and portraying the multiplicities in the lives of Indigenous youth and families.Fran Caudron (MRE) is a teacher in northern Alberta who teaches in a school that serves a large and diverse Indigenous student population. She graduated with her MRE from Newman Theological College in 2011, and is interested in using literature to promote and instill a love of reading and writing in her students.

Recognizing Urban Tribes with pre-trained Convolutional Neural Networks

Recognizing Urban Tribes with pre-trained Convolutional Neural Networks

A sociologia na prática de estudantes de Odontologia: tribos urbanas e saúde bucal

Esta experiência de ensino-aprendizagem revela como os universitários de um curso de odontologia experimentaram a aplicação da sociologia na prática social, junto a tribos urbanas e seus respectivos membros. A aproximação com a realidade urbana contemporânea iniciou-se com os conceitos ministrados em sala de aula, tais como: comunidade, cultura, agrupamentos sociais, tribos urbanas, processos sociais, diferenciações sociais, econômicas e culturais e bucalidade. Os primeiros contatos com as realidades possibilitaram o conhecimento dos líderes das tribos e a obtenção de informações gerais e específicas. Numa segunda etapa um questionário desenvolvido pelo professor foi aplicado para o delineamento do perfil socioeconômico e cultural. Num terceiro momento foi realizado “Indice Gohai”. Os resultados indicaram que as equipes tiveram maior facilidade no entendimento dos conceitos e processos sociológicos e a prática social, da teoria da bucalidade; melhoraram as suas percepções dos conceitos de saúde coletiva através da vivência prática, tendo a tribo urbana como espaço de análise; delinearam o perfil socioeconômico da tribo urbana e determinaram o Índice de Gohai Geral que avalia a condição bucal e o grau de satisfação dos indivíduos das tribos com a mesma. Pela perspectiva didático-pedagógica este trabalho possibilitou aos alunos vivenciarem as interfaces entre os campos teórico e prático das Ciências Sociais. As exposições das experiências práticas demonstraram que os objetivos definidos para a disciplina foram alcançados.

Un recorrido por categorías y representaciones sobre juventud en las Ciencias Sociales

Este trabajo propone un recorrido teórico sobre distintas formas de estudiar las juventudes en nuestro tiempo, atendiendo a determinadas categorías y representaciones desde las que se han abordado tales investigaciones. Estas constituyen hechos discursivos relevantes por su incidencia en la construcción del conocimiento tanto académico como del saber de sentido común. A partir de una selección de líneas y autores que proponen formas de comprender la cuestión juvenil desde distintos campos del conocimiento en las Ciencias Sociales, se revisan nociones como las de identidad, generación, cultura, subcultura y cibercultura juveniles. Asimismo, el trabajo indaga en la operatividad de categorías tales como las de tribus urbanas y nativos/inmigrantes digitales en tanto formas de definir a los y las jóvenes en la actualidad según sus prácticas, especialmente en el Ciberespacio. Finalmente, se hace referencia a resultados de mi propia investigación desde la perspectiva de los Estudios del Discurso

On Being a Punk and a Scholar: A Reflexive Account of Researching a Punk Scene in Russia

Ethnographic studies of youth subcultures, scenes and urban tribes often rely on insiders’ accounts, where researchers investigate a social environment of which they are presently or formerly members. This approach raises important questions about the positionality of the researcher, and the reflexivity, epistemology and ethics of an ethnographic investigation, as different roles and engagement with the field, as well as the very identity of the ‘field’ itself, no longer fit into the methodological framework of traditional ethnography. This article explores the difficulties that arise during ethnographic research on one's own social world. I was actively involved in the Russian punk scene before pursuing my academic career in England, and in the framework of a research project on post-socialist punk at the University of Warwick, I went back to study this milieu as a ‘field’ in two different sites in 2009 and in 2010. The article shows the complexity of researching one's own subculture and demonstrates that active discentring of the ‘knowing authority’ in studying one's own ‘tribe’ necessarily involves a transformation of its main research paradigms, where epistemological and ethical issues appear to be rearranged in a new way which radically affects the methodological foundations of such an investigation.

<b>Formas particulares de comunicação em <i>blogs nerd/geek</i>: expressões linguísticas relacionadas às produções das franquias <i>Star Wars</i> e <i>Star Trek</i>

Several blogs produced by members of nerd/geek youth cultural groups have disseminated linguistic expressions that take specific meanings for these 'urban tribes', orchestrating the processes by which their identities have been discursively produced. Within this perspective and based on discussions by the poststructuralist Cultural Studies and foregrounding blogs as spaces for knowledge production, the authors discuss how expressions from the film series Star Wars and Star Trek are employed in the blogs to establish particular modes of nerd/geek communication. Seven blogs available on the Internet, out of a set of 97, were analyzed between September and October 2013. Excerpts from blogs based on the concept of cultural representation were discussed. They showed that such expressions as 'padawan', 'may strength be with you' and 'long and prosper life' indicate, respectively, apprentices and forms of farewell in situations in which a major challenge has to be faced.

Ailing and treatment seeking behavior of schedule tribes of Madhya Pradesh, India

The highest percentages of tribes are living in North East region of India and in Madhya Pradesh in the central India. This study is based on the NSSO 60 th round data, with the two objectives - Tribal's ailing and hospitalization pattern and treatment seeking behavior of ailing Madhya Pradesh and India. Result shows that around 7% of Indian tribes were ailing 15 days before the survey and about 10% of them were hospitalized during 365 days before the survey. Rural tribes were more ailing and went to hospital for treatment than urban tribes. Odds ratio show that rural, male, old-aged, educated up to primary, not in labor force, currently married, and Hindu tribes were more likely to be hospitalized in Madhya Pradesh. Odds ratio also depicts that the household that have no drainage, used water from tube well and hand pump were more likely to be ailing.

Las tribus futboleras en la ciudad de Guadalajara: las barras de los equiposAtlas y Guadalajara en la actualidad

Los grupos de aficionados al futbol denominados barras pueden caracterizarse como nuevas tribus urbanas amalgamadas por una fuerte vinculación emocional: la pasión compartida por un equipo de futbol. Este artículo, basado en entrevistas a líderes, muestra diferentes aspectos de algunos de estos colectivos que en la actualidad apoyan a los equipos Atlas y Guadalajara en la ciudad de Guadalajara: su origen, desarrollo, composición social, generacional y de género; su estructuración y relaciones internas, sus relaciones externas. Al mismo tiempo, se trata de comprender el papel que juega la afición de los miembros de estos grupos, en especial de sus líderes, en diferentes ámbitos de su vida cotidiana.

El documentalismo gráfico en España y Estados Unidos en los años 80: Miguel Trillo y Mary Ellen Mark

En el presente articulo, ademas de repasar las caracteristicas y antecedentes del documentalismo fotografico contemporaneo, veremos dos ejemplos del mismo que se produjeron en dos paises muy distintos (Estados Unidos y Espana) en la misma epoca: los anos ochenta del siglo XX. Se trata, en primer lugar, del trabajo de Mary Ellen Mark, quien aposto por un documentalismo en la linea de los concerned photographers, y de Miguel Trillo que fotografio a la juventud espanola de la decada de los ochenta cuando las tribus urbanas representaban verdaderas identidades definidas dentro de una sociedad espanola ya inmersa en la democracia y la libertad de expresion.

Prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus and Its Risk Factors among Permanently Settled Tribal Individuals in Tribal and Urban Areas in Northern State of Sub-Himalayan Region of India.

Background. Effect of urban environment on the development of DM and its risk factors is studied with an ecological fallacy due to their study designs that formulate the background for the present study. Objective. To study the prevalence of DM and associated lifestyle related risk factors in traditional tribal individuals residing in tribal area and migrating persons of the same tribe to urban area of sub-Himalayan northern state of India. Methodology. Population based cross-sectional study. Results. A total of 8000 individuals (tribal: 4000; urban: 4000) were recruited. Overall, among urban tribes the prevalence of central obesity (59.0%), overweight (29.3%), stage 1 (22.8%) and stage 2 (5.3%) hypertension, and DM (fasting: 7.8%; OGTT: 8.5%) (P = 0.00) was significantly higher than the tribes of tribal area. Based on OGTT, the prevalence of DM was found to be 9.2% among central obese tribes of urban area and 6.7% of tribal area (P = 0.00). DM showed a significant high prevalence among urban tribes with prehypertension (urban: 8.3%; tribal: 2.9%; P = 0.00), and stage 1 (urban: 14.1%; tribal: 8.7%; P = 0.00) and stage 2 (urban: 17.5%; tribal: 13.9%; P = 0.59) hypertension. Conclusion. Urban environment showed a changing lifestyle and high prevalence of DM among tribal migrating urban tribes as compared to traditional tribes.