Plowshares Coffee House
PLOWSHARES COFFEE HOUSE: PEOPLE, MUSIC AND COMMUNITY A University Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, East Bay In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies By Susan Burnice Fuller Wageman March 2017 Copyright © 2017 by Susan Burnice Fuller Wageman ii ABSTRACT The Plowshares Coffee House Concert series ran for twenty years—presenting 686 concerts and dances between 1977 and 1998. Many of the performers, audience members, volunteers and other supporters of this effort continue to be involved with music and with each other—effectively forming complex interwoven networks of people and communities that connect Plowshares with other music communities in the past and the present. This thesis focuses, in particular, on Plowshares as a place of music making that built and nurtured community and contributes to an expanding literature about places of music making that build community and function as community centers. Ideally, this research will provide a foundation for deeper investigation of music communities in the future. Approaching the research from the perspectives of music, history, and anthropology (folkloristics and ethnography), the data collection and analysis employed an emic, or insider, perspective. Informal ethnographic interviews, oral history interviews, and an online survey provided first-hand information on how different people experienced Plowshares. Ongoing participation in contemporary music communities helped reveal additional information and insights about Plowshares, its operation, and its influences. The San Francisco Folk Music Club's newsletter, the folknik, provided information on the concert schedules, vision, development, and challenges of Plowshares. The San Francisco Folk Music Center's organizational papers—particularly the meeting minutes—provided detail on how the organization operated.
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