The constellation of art, artists, and cultures collectively known as punk rock has long positioned itself in opposition to what it views as problematic ‘mainstream’ positions, politics, and aesthetics. Be these issues of race, gender, sexuality, economics and class, environment, police and other repressive state apparatuses, punks have long provided a legion of examples of critiques and attempts at positive change. How successful this positioning has been is, of course, up for debate. But at a time when political discussion and available options leave so much to be desired, and pressing social issues seem most desperate, perhaps we can look to punk for both its success and failures in order to learn ways we might move forward. As with most so-called ‘sub’ and ‘counter’ cultures, punk rock is most often understood by scholars as either another available social safety valve or a legitimate form of resistance. But must it be one or the other of these? What is it about punk that continues to be relevant (or not)? What movements, and in what capacities, have punks been participating in for political, social, and/or cultural change? Can one’s chosen lifestyle or cultural scene itself be a form of resistance to mainstream norms? How might participants and adherents to the culture differ from scholars in interpretation and/or experience? What lessons learned in punk rock (e.g. anti-racists struggle against neo-Nazis in the scene, Pussy Riot’s public anti-Putin performances) might be applied to larger social struggles now? How has it happened that members of extreme groups across the political spectrum from Antifa to the Proud Boys claim punk roots? Does punk offer any solutions, recommendations, or vehicles for change? Must aesthetic resistance necessarily connect directly to material change in order to be considered effective? Papers exploring these and other pressing questions regarding the past, present, and possible futures of punk cultures are encouraged.
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Andrew Wood
