Punk fanzines in Portugal (1978-2013): a mapping exercise (original) (raw)
Related papers
Spreading the message! Fanzines and the punk scene in Portugal1
Punk & Post Punk, 2014
Even though the production of fanzines precedes the emergence of punk, the truth is that it was with punk that the fanzines become relevant as a space for freedom of thought and creation, as well as an alternative to the conventional media. Since the 1970s, the fanzines' universe has expanded thematically and stylistically, and also in its territorial coverage and in the communicational supports used. In this article we adopt an approach that goes beyond the Anglo-Saxon reality and intend to look at fanzines as 'communities' founded around a cultural object, which have produced texts, photos and other materials regarding the Portuguese punk scene from the late 1970s until now. From a large set of fanzines we will analyse the ways of production, design and typography, the main themes, distribution channels, bands, the scenes and lifestyles covered in them. In this study, we consider fanzines to be an alternative media that, from late modernity, is able to reveal the punk movement and the DIY ethos associated with it. We seek to understand fanzines' relevance to the Portuguese punk scene context, both past and present, and we also identify some patterns of evolution and change.
Spreading the message! Fanzines and the punk scene in Portugal
Even though the production of fanzines precedes the emergence of punk, the truth is that it was with punk that the fanzines become relevant as a space for freedom of thought and creation, as well as an alternative to the conventional media. Since the 1970s, the fanzines’ universe has expanded thematically and stylistically, and also in its territorial coverage and in the communicational supports used. In this article we adopt an approach that goes beyond the Anglo-Saxon reality and intend to look at fanzines as ‘communities’ founded around a cultural object, which have produced texts, photos and other materials regarding the Portuguese punk scene from the late 1970s until now. From a large set of fanzines we will analyse the ways of production, design and typography, the main themes, distribution channels, bands, the scenes and lifestyles covered in them. In this study, we consider fanzines to be an alternative media that, from late modernity, is able to reveal the punk movement and the DIY ethos associated with it. We seek to understand fanzines’ relevance to the Portuguese punk scene context, both past and present, and we also identify some patterns of evolution and change.
Punk, Fanzines and DIY Cultures in a Global World - Fast, Furious and Xerox, 2020
This work aims to investigate the dinamics of the communicative strategies and networks created by the Brazilian punks, starting with the publishing of their first fanzines, around 1981, covering publications issued until 1985, encompassing the democratic opening period after two decades of military dictatorship in Brazil. These amateur publications redefined the strategies for visibility adopted by those working class suburban youths. The zine production attributed to the brazilian punks a critical self-referenced identity, based on the do-it-yourself ethos, within an environment that was hostile to their subaltern social condition. The proposed analytical approach is based on dialogue between the research on the communicative processes of marginalized social groups under the Folkcommunication scope and the theoretical and methodological assumptions of contemporary Critical Theory.
Punk, expectations, breaches and metamorphoses: Portugal, 1977–2012
Critical Arts: South-North Cultural and Media Studies, 2014
This article arises from an ongoing research project about the manifestations of punk in Portuguese society from 1977 to date. The approach to studying Portuguese punk occurs along the following axes: analysing punk music from the perspective of cultural representation; identifying punk subcultural practices; addressing the contours of Portuguese punk as social movement, scene or neo-tribe; assessing sociopolitical participation; and identifying urban forms of resistance and the occupation of space. The author underlines the different positions of social actors presently involved in the punk movement in Portugal in terms of their relation to the assumption of punk as a contemporary form of social and political resistance and a structural axis of the recomposition of new contemporary social movements; in addition to tracking the movements and struggles against the risks engendered by fragmentation stemming from the economic crisis and the deterioration of the overall quality of life. Here, the author seeks to identify the relationships between punk and contemporary forms of youth struggle. Data comprising 40 interviews with key Portuguese punk social actors, representative of the different regions, generations and scenes currently available in Portugal, inform the study.
Fanzines’ Network and the Punk Scene in Greece (1980–2015)
2019
This chapter examines the emergence and development of the fanzines network in Greece, its strong relationship with the local punk scene, and the crucial socio-political dimensions of both these fields. While political pamphlets and underground publications played an important part in the anti-dictatorship struggles (1967–1974) and during the first years of the post-dictatorship era, this project focuses on the ‘blooming’ period (1980–2015) of the specific fields with which this chapter deals. The core hypothesis is that the parallel empirical research of these fields may lead to fruitful conclusions about the connections and the limits between do-it-yourself (DIY) publications and urban subcultures in general, and that such a subcultural investigation may result in interesting qualitative findings regarding the socio-historical aspects of this intense period.
Global and local in music scenes: the multiple anchoring of Portuguese punk
What is punk’s geography? How does the global background of the punk scene articulate with its various local manifestations? Is it a real transnational movement or are there as many punk scenes as the national figurations it can assume? This chapter addresses these issues considering the Portuguese punk scene. Our analysis is based on (i) 70 interviews made to punk protagonists, (ii) a database of bands, records and songs, and (iii) a database of fanzines. We consider, first, the balance between the international influences on the Portuguese scene and its specific characteristics. Then the meaning of global is redefined, taking into account the new information and communication technologies. Correspondingly, the local nature of Portuguese punk scene is rebalanced through the identification of sub-scenes established in different locations within the country, and by pointing out the general sentiments punk activists express regarding the Portuguese society. Finally, we explore the dialectics between the global dimension of punk culture and the sense of community that it inspires on its members, to conclude that the multiple anchoring of punk – simultaneously national and international, local and global, macro and micro – is a particularly driver of its ability to survive and spread.
Volume !, 2017
This article will present a characterisation of the Portuguese punk scene between 1977 and 2014, while considering the social profiles of its protagonists. It is based on the sociological principle that the social positioning of social actors involved influences what they do, say, and feel. Their social profiling will help clarify their role in the musical scene. This approach has been deemed fundamental in interpreting youth cultures emerging postwar and the way in which they re-equated pop culture. In this article, we have two particular aims: first, establishing a portrait of the leading characters in the Portuguese punk scene through the social profiling of 214 individuals interviewed between May 2012 and October 2014; second, allowing for comparisons with other musical scenes in Portugal and/or with punk scenes in other countries. Here, we must obviously consider the social condition of these protagonists, including not only their class origin and present affiliation but also other relevant characteristics, such as gender and age. Thus, this article will explore the following topics: roles and functions within the punk scene, gender relations, age groups and the process of ageing, territorial placement-both in terms of origin and of residence, educational capital, and socio-occupational group.
Sem futuro: the graphic language of São Paulo city punk
historiadeldisseny.org
The focus of this paper is the graphic language of São Paulo city punk rock scene, as it evolved prior to the popularization of personal computers, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The rise of the punk movement in São Paulo coincides with the ending of Brazilian military dictatorship in the mid 1980s. Brazilian punk verbal and visual messages reflect an activist stance against the social and political situation of that period. Unlike other international trends in graphic design, the graphic language of punk printed matter evolved apart from academia, and its history cannot be based on assumptions of master- or school-related influences that characterize most design history narratives. The context in which this graphic language evolved also differs from that of other vernacular expressions, once international mail exchanges played a central role in punk culture. In this paper, the graphic language of São Paulo city early punk era, from the late 1970s to 1985, is described, aiming to a better understanding of the visual expression of Brazilian youth during the military regime, and its contribution to a worldwide, shared visual language of punk.
Meanings of fanzines in the beginning of Punk in the GDR and FRG
Volume !, 2006
This article is examining the different cultural meanings of fanzines in the early punk scene in both German states. Since 1977 more and more of these journals had been published in the FRG. These autonomous publications used to media between staging, communication and the construction of collective identities. In case of punk fanzines in the FRG, they meant selfempowerment, the overcoming of isolation and the constitution of a social and cultural community. While these journals became an important part of the scene in West-Germany, there was a lack of them in the GDR. The government's control over publishing and the missing means and possibilities of production prohibited the development of autonomous publications such as fanzines. The comparison of the development of punk fanzine culture in both German states show that these media and their cultural meanings must always be seen in front of the greater societal and political framework they appear in.
In this chapter we explore the development of punk fanzines from the late 1970s to the present, exploring the role of these music fan-produced publications in giving meaning to the experience of a music community. This discussion of the punk fanzine’s longitudinal existence allows us to investigate the variety of ways that the fanzines and webzines make sense of punk as music, a set of political ideas and as a subcultural scene. In particular we want to trace the way that fanzines have operated as a medium of communication for punk fans and activists, as part of the visual bricolage of punk’s semiosis, and as a sign of authenticity amongst online punk culture in the twenty-first century. We argue that fanzines became one of punk’s many ‘symbols of defiance’, not just in the way that they visually and verbally represented punk’s DIY ethos and activism, but also in the way they embodied the labour of ‘fan-eds’ as organic intellectuals undertaking ideological work in which discourses of defiance and opposition are constructed, signified and reinforced. While other studies have often pointed to the importance of the communicative or symbolic functions of fanzines, and the role of editor/activists is occasionally alluded to, there has been too little emphasis on the way that the ‘zine authors take on leadership roles. Additionally, we are interested in the way that fanzines, and the symbolic value of the fanzine, have changed over time. We start with a discussion about the way that punk ‘zines have been understood in broader analyses of punk culture in the last forty years. However, we also want to focus on two particular instances of the punk ‘zine; two moments in which the specific meanings of specific fanzines can be explored in a little greater detail than those offered in the grander narratives of the punk fanzine. In the first moment, a case study of one early 1980s anarcho-punk fanzine we examine the way that such publications operated at the intersection of political activism and DIY music criticism, constructing idealised notions of music, politics and community against which the actual activity within local punk scenes were judged. Anarcho-punk, as a sub-genre and a scene, provides a particularly useful way to think through the role of fanzines because it has a pivotal place within punk politics and music culture. Self-proclaiming themselves as the true and original voice of punk, a range of artists allied themselves to more self-consciously political positions associated with different strands of anarchist thought, and pursued a DIY music ethos and a commitment to different forms of direct action . We suggest that through the 1980s anarcho punk fanzines established a sort of evolving ‘guide’ or manifesto to the cultural and political ideologies that were emerging within the developing British-anarcho punk subcultural scene. It is likely that, for many, those fanzines ordered the way in which as readers (or even contributors) moved from an enthusiasm for punk as a music to a more politically and ideologically motivated participation, inspired and informed by the lyrical content of punk records. Triggs, for instance, see this as inevitable . The second moment that we examine is thirty years later when the idea of the punk ‘zine is used in websites with a focus on punk from the 70s or 80s, or music or artists that continue its ethos and/or sound. Given the strong emphasis within literature on the internet, its potential as a democratic space, and the role of web sites and blogs as exemplars of DIY communications culture, it would be easy to assume that the practices and associations of the printed fanzine have more recently simply migrated online. By evaluating the continuities and discontinuities between the two moments of fanzine production, and the degree to which they articulate the ideology and identities of anarcho-punks, we argue that more often it is the symbolism and visual rhetoric of earlier print fanzines that predominates. While many internet advocates saw the early world-wide-web as a space for the sort of decentred political and cultural activism that had characterised 1980s anarcho-punk, there is little evidence that online fanzines continue to organise and order an engaged music culture. In what follows, then, we move through three key areas of analysis. Firstly, we interrogate some of the key studies of punk fanzines in order to try and contextualise their role and importance within punk music culture, especially in the late 1970s. Secondly, we focus on one example of a British regional anarcho-punk fanzine and the way that it constructed anarcho-punk as a music, politics and most importantly a community and movement. Specifically we seek to understand how the ‘zine author produced a publication, a sense of regional activity and a discourse of anarcho-punk authenticity. Finally, we look to more recent online uses of the idea of a punk webzine, and evaluate the degree to which the visual, verbal and editorial practices of earlier print fanzines are reproduced in internet publishing. This raises interesting questions about the globalization and commodification of the ideas and symbols of punk that were originally made in British regional culture.