Mapping out Liberating Traces of the Fun of Undisciplined Play: A Search for an Alternative Aesthetic in Graffiti

• Authors: Sohaib Alam , Farhan Ahmad , Sadaf Khalid , Shubhi

Abstracts

EN

Aim. The present study primarily engages with graffiti as a tactic of the weak who find pleasure in scandalising the dominant discourse. The prime focus here will be on the pleasure as resistance, on the construction of an alternative space into the dominant space, and on the multiple forms of evasive and resisting techniques through which the subordinate asserts their power. Thus, Graffiti can be read as a popular text, a signifying construct of potential meanings and pleasures for the subordinate. Concept. Conceptualised as the undisciplined play of the subordinate people that resists or evades hegemonic forces and a radical reimagining of the neo-liberal spaces, Graffiti has become a major expression of popular culture in recent times. The paper uses many such stances where the lateral thinking of the power helps to challenge the disciplinary discourses of the dominant. Results and Conclusion. The paper offers a popular reading of graffiti that opens up the way to escape control, scandalise top-down power and to assert bottom-up power at the micro-level. The real pleasure lies in scandalising the dominant discourse. Graffiti is read here as self-assertion of the marginalised who acquire public visibility and power through graffiti creation. Originality. The originality of the study depends on reviewing the manipulative actions of people in everyday lives and how this undisciplined play provides them with the opportunity to subvert the system and to escape social control. It supports the idea that the subordinate possesses transgressive deviation in relation to the everyday continuum.

Keywords

EN

graffiti; popular; popular culture; popular resistance; power; space

• Publisher: Fundacja Pro Scientia Publica
• Journal: Journal of Education Culture and Society
• Year: 2022
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 549-564

Dates

published

2022

Contributors

author

Sohaib Alam

• Department of English, College of Sciences and Humanities in Alkharj, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University Abdullah Bin Amer Street, 16278, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

• https://orcid.org/0000000299729357

author

Farhan Ahmad

• Department of English Studies,Faculty of Indian and Foreign Languages, Akal University Talwandi Sabo, 151302, Punjab, India

• https://orcid.org/0000000157107800

author

Sadaf Khalid

• University Institute of Liberal Arts and Humanities (UILAH), Chandigarh University 140413, Mohali, Punjab, India

• https://orcid.org/0000000234671967

author

Shubhi

• Akal Academy Baru Sahib, Abohar, 152116, Punjab, India

• https://orcid.org/0000000321596715

References

• Alam, S., & Ahmad, F. (2020). Performative retrieving of tradition for socio-political intervention: A study of the protest theatre of Dario Fo. Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 12(6), 1–13. https://dx.doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v12n6.22.
• Alam, S., & Haque, S. A. (2021). Gender, language and indian reality television: Locating social stereotypes and linguistic sexism. Journal of Education Culture and Society, 12(2), 482–492. https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs2021.2.482.492.
• Alam, S, Khalid, S., Ahmad, F., & Keezhatta, M. S. (2021). Mocking and making: Subjugation and suppression of marginalized and the politics of identity. Journal of Education Culture and Society, 12(1), 375–389. https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs2021.1.375.389.
• De Certeau, M. (1984). The practice of everyday life (S. Rendall Trans). University of California Press.
• Fiske, J. (1994). Understanding popular culture. Routledge London and New York.
• Fiske, J. (2006). Reading the popular. Routledge.
• Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: the birth of the prison (A. Sheridan, Trans). Vintage Books (Original work published 1975).
• Foucault, M. (1982). The subject and power. Critical Inquiry, 8(4), 777–795. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1343197.
• Foucault, M. (1990). The history of sexuality. Vintage Books.
• Chalfant, H. (1978). Lee. https://www.artsy.net/artwork/henry-chalfant-lee-1
• Biplov, B. (2019). Graffiti that says ‘No To Fee Hike’ is seen as students protest at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/jnu-hostel-fee-hike-teachers-association-launches-hunger-strike/story-7cazrfINd5BM9ZrxQiZhjJ.html
• Furqan, F. (2017, Vovember). Why students are protesting in Delhi’s Jamia Millis. https://www.scoopwhoop.com/why-students-are-protesting-in-delhis-jamia-millia-islamia/.
• Kwok, B. H. C. (2019). A painting hung in the Legislaitve Councile in Hong Kong covered in graffiti after the protestors stormed the building. Getty Images. https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2019/sep/20/never-surrender-hong-kongs-protest-graffiti-in-pictures.
• Kobylarek, A. (2020). Power as knowledge. The reverse logic of the post-scientific world.Journal of Education Culture and Society, 11(2), 5–14. https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs2020.2.5.14.
• Kobylarek, A., Plavčan, P., & Amini Golestani, T. (2021). Educational priorities in a postpandemic world. Journal of Education Culture and Society, 12(2), 5–11. https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs2021.2.5.11.
• Lefebvre, H. (1991). Production of space (D. Nicholson Smith, Trans). Blackwell.
• Lewisohn, C. (2009). Street art: The graffiti revolution. Tate Publishing.
• Mailer, N. (1974). The faith of graffiti. Praeger Publishers.
• The Telegraph Online. (2019, August). Writing on the wall. https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/writing-on-the-wall/cid/1728870.

Identifiers

DOI

10.15503/jecs2022.2.549.564

Biblioteka Nauki

18105180