Street Culture and Emotions - A sensory etnographic and affect theoretical study of Kanalens Kvarter
(2022) SOCM04 20221Sociology
Department of Sociology
- Abstract
- This study seeks to investigate how an affective perspective can contribute to an understand- ing of the space of Kanalens Kvarter in Albertslund, Denmark. From the perspective of the phenomenological approach, the thesis explores the aesthetics, social boundaries, and the use of the space in Kanalens Kvarter. I found a knowledge gap within the literature on street culture because emotions are put in the background whereas this study seeks to investigate emotions in the foreground. The empirical data for this study is based on sensory ethnography fieldwork of the area, where my own senses and reflections has helped as a starting point, which makes the findings tentative. The theoretical basis of the study is based on Sara Ah- med’s... (More)
- This study seeks to investigate how an affective perspective can contribute to an understand- ing of the space of Kanalens Kvarter in Albertslund, Denmark. From the perspective of the phenomenological approach, the thesis explores the aesthetics, social boundaries, and the use of the space in Kanalens Kvarter. I found a knowledge gap within the literature on street culture because emotions are put in the background whereas this study seeks to investigate emotions in the foreground. The empirical data for this study is based on sensory ethnography fieldwork of the area, where my own senses and reflections has helped as a starting point, which makes the findings tentative. The theoretical basis of the study is based on Sara Ah- med’s understanding of affect theory, including the emotions ‘fear’ and ‘shame’, and Loïc Wacquant’s understanding of the concept of Territorial Stigmatization. Based on this I found that the aesthetics of the space has great significance of how the atmosphere and experience are e.g., surveillance, building materials, and poor maintenance. Using affect theory this study shows that emotions circulate and stick to bodies, which forms and shapes the space and the individuals in it. Throughout the analysis it is found that the emotion fear sticks to the bodies of the street youths and creates a distance towards the rest of the people interacting in the space. This distancing creates an ‘us vs. them’, that becomes physically clear in the division in the street as it restricts the mobility of bodies. Lastly, my findings pointed to the street youths using fear, trough clothes, such as puffer jackets, hoodies, sweatsuits, and gold chains, to gain superiority. The findings correspond with the previous literature, where the street youths seek a ‘gangster lifestyle’. I found that they use fear to do so in a gangster attitude and style.
In conclusion, the study finds that emotions are dominant in the space, where they shape and form the space, street culture, and the individuals in it. A space like Kanalens Kvarter will have different elements and objects that makes both positive and negative emotions circulates. The study clearly shows that the objects and elements connected to a stigmatized area are more dominant, which makes the negative feelings shape and affect the space and the individuals in it even more than the positive emotions do. These negative feelings are found to be intensified by people, the street youths, by using attitude, clothes, and bodily movement. (Less) - Popular Abstract
- What emotions are present in a city space where street culture is present, and what does it do to the city space and the individuals in it?
In previous literature about street culture, emotions are usually in the background. I decided to put emotion and my own senses in the foreground. To do so, I used myself and all my senses (hearing, seeing, smelling, feeling, and tasting) to gather my data. Here, I went to ob- serve Kanalens Kvarter in Albertslund, Denmark, where street culture is present. I was interested in my own experiences and how emotions affected and formed the space.
What I found was how different things, such as surveillance cameras, building materials, and poor maintenance all helped to create a negative feeling and... (More) - What emotions are present in a city space where street culture is present, and what does it do to the city space and the individuals in it?
In previous literature about street culture, emotions are usually in the background. I decided to put emotion and my own senses in the foreground. To do so, I used myself and all my senses (hearing, seeing, smelling, feeling, and tasting) to gather my data. Here, I went to ob- serve Kanalens Kvarter in Albertslund, Denmark, where street culture is present. I was interested in my own experiences and how emotions affected and formed the space.
What I found was how different things, such as surveillance cameras, building materials, and poor maintenance all helped to create a negative feeling and experience of the space. Where nature, art, and different food stores, on the other hand, all created a positive feeling of the space. In this way, all these materialistic things had a big impact on how the space is perceived and felt. Further, I found that the emotion fear was dominant in the space, where it created a distance between people in street culture and the rest of the people who use the space. Fear is connected to the young men in street culture and the fear is made even stronger be- cause they do criminal and deviant things. The findings agree with the previous literature, where the street youth use specific gangster-like clothes, such as puffer jackets, hoodies, sweatsuits, and gold chains, to gain superiority. I found that they use fear to do so in a gangster-like attitude and style. These behaviors make the distance between them and the rest of the space even bigger. This is also seen in a physical division of the space. The street youths stand at one end and the rest stay in the other end. From the findings in my study, it becomes clear that emotions play a big role within space, street culture, and the individuals in it. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9084695
- author
- Schiolborg, Nanna Mortensen LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SOCM04 20221
- year
- 2022
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Keywords: Street culture, emotions, affect theory, territorial stigmatization
- language
- English
- id
- 9084695
- date added to LUP
- 2022-06-27 13:54:10
- date last changed
- 2022-06-27 13:54:10
@misc{9084695,
abstract = {{This study seeks to investigate how an affective perspective can contribute to an understand- ing of the space of Kanalens Kvarter in Albertslund, Denmark. From the perspective of the phenomenological approach, the thesis explores the aesthetics, social boundaries, and the use of the space in Kanalens Kvarter. I found a knowledge gap within the literature on street culture because emotions are put in the background whereas this study seeks to investigate emotions in the foreground. The empirical data for this study is based on sensory ethnography fieldwork of the area, where my own senses and reflections has helped as a starting point, which makes the findings tentative. The theoretical basis of the study is based on Sara Ah- med’s understanding of affect theory, including the emotions ‘fear’ and ‘shame’, and Loïc Wacquant’s understanding of the concept of Territorial Stigmatization. Based on this I found that the aesthetics of the space has great significance of how the atmosphere and experience are e.g., surveillance, building materials, and poor maintenance. Using affect theory this study shows that emotions circulate and stick to bodies, which forms and shapes the space and the individuals in it. Throughout the analysis it is found that the emotion fear sticks to the bodies of the street youths and creates a distance towards the rest of the people interacting in the space. This distancing creates an ‘us vs. them’, that becomes physically clear in the division in the street as it restricts the mobility of bodies. Lastly, my findings pointed to the street youths using fear, trough clothes, such as puffer jackets, hoodies, sweatsuits, and gold chains, to gain superiority. The findings correspond with the previous literature, where the street youths seek a ‘gangster lifestyle’. I found that they use fear to do so in a gangster attitude and style.
In conclusion, the study finds that emotions are dominant in the space, where they shape and form the space, street culture, and the individuals in it. A space like Kanalens Kvarter will have different elements and objects that makes both positive and negative emotions circulates. The study clearly shows that the objects and elements connected to a stigmatized area are more dominant, which makes the negative feelings shape and affect the space and the individuals in it even more than the positive emotions do. These negative feelings are found to be intensified by people, the street youths, by using attitude, clothes, and bodily movement.}},
author = {{Schiolborg, Nanna Mortensen}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Street Culture and Emotions - A sensory etnographic and affect theoretical study of Kanalens Kvarter}},
year = {{2022}},
}