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Park Kids in Vienna: a Contribution to the Anthropology of Urban Youth

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Park Kids in Vienna: a Contribution to the Anthropology of Urban Youth DISSERTATION Titel der Dissertation “We’re Doing It in the Park!” Park Kids in Vienna: A Contribution to the Anthropology of Urban Youth Verfasserin Mag. Danila Mayer angestrebter akademischer Grad Doktorin der Philosophie (Dr. phil.) Wien, 2010 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 092 307 Dissertationsgebiet lt. Studienblatt: Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie Betreuer: Univ.- Prof. Dr. Andre Gingrich 2 Acknowledgements I am grateful to all my former colleagues and the Verein Wiener Jugendzentren. My gratitude goes to Professor Ghaus Ansari who introduced me to Urban Anthropology and to studies of the Windy City, and to Andre Gingrich who supported me on long and winding roads. Thanks to all who let me share the park life, And to my other friends. The title of this study comes from the Blackbyrds’ song Rock Creek Park from the album City Life, Fantasy 1975: “We’re doing it in the park, we’re doing it after dark …”. Donald Byrd (né Donaldson Toussaint L’Ouverture Byrd II), hard bop trumpeter in the 1950s and 1960s, formed the group in Washington D.C. in 1973, from his best students at Howard University. The song has been sampled by many music and rap groups, e.g. by the Rock Steady Crew on their album 30 years to the day, Noiseland 2007. The Rock Steady Crew from the South Bronx, early break dance pioneers, are well-known from the movie Wild Style and the early rap movement, and joined Afrika Bambaata’s Zulu Nation in 1982. Breakers are Mr. Freeze, Frosty Freeze, Crazy Legs, and Prince Ken Swift. 3 Table of Contents A. Introduction 7 Aim of Study 7 Research Questions 9 Overview of the Study 10 Methodology 12 Fieldwork and Participant Observation 13 Interviews 15 B. Research of Urban Adolescence 17 B. Part I Coming of Age in the Global Metropolis 17 B.I.1. Growing Up 17 B.I.1.1. Puberty and the Expansion of Mind 17 B.I.1.2. Adolescence 18 B.I.1.3. Youth 18 B.I.1.4. Experience and the Body as Medium 19 B.I.1.5. Initiation 21 B.I.1.5.1. Fragmented Initiations, Imaginary Solutions: C. Helfferich 21 B.I.1.6. Adulthood and Definition of Adolescence 23 B.I.2. The Global Urban Society 24 B.I.2.1. Cities 24 B.I.2.2. Urban Adolescents and Globalization Processes 27 B.I.2.2.1. Economy and the Global City 27 B.I.2.2.2. World Politics 29 B.I.2.2.3. Bodies 30 B.I.2.2.4. Global Popular Culture 31 Example: “The Making of a Black Youth Culture”, L. Sansone 32 B. Part II Adolescents in Research 33 B.II.1. Adolescence in the History of Cultural Anthropology 33 B.II.1.1. Coming of Age: Margaret Mead 33 B.II.1.2. Adolescence. An Anthropological Enquiry: A. Schlegel and H. Barry 36 B.II.2. Youth in Cities 37 B.II.2.1. Study of Youth in Urban Anthropology 37 B.II.2.1.1. Great Britain and Youth “Between Cultures” 37 B.II.2.1.2. Aspect on Gangs and the City: Aidan Southall 39 B.II.2.2. City, Gangs, and the Boys in the Chicago School of Sociology 41 B.II.2.2.1.Windy City, a Laboratory 41 B.II.2.2.2. The Gang: Frederic Thrasher 45 B.II.2.2.3. Delinquent Boys: Albert Cohen 48 B.II.2.3. Youth in London 51 B.II.2.3.1. The Empire Windrush 51 B.II.2.3.2. There Ain’t No Black… Paul Gilroy and the Politics of ‘Race’ 52 B.II.2.3.3. Helena Wulff: “Interracial Friendship in South London” 55 B.II.2.3.4. Gerd Baumann: Contesting Culture 56 B.II.3. Selected Current Research Approaches 60 B.II.3.1.Youth Studies at the Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology, Vienna 60 B.II.3.2. Adolescents in Vienna 61 B.II.3.2.1. Sociological Approaches to Viennese Adolescents 61 B.II.3.2.2. Studies from Other Disciplines 62 B.III. An Encompassing View: Victor Turner 63 4 C. Ethnography of Park Adolescents in Vienna C. Part I The Arena 67 C.I.1. Public Space and Landscape in Anthropology 67 C.I.1.1.Victor Turner’s Concept of the Arena 67 C.I.1.2. Other Approaches in Anthropology 68 C.I.2. Vienna as Urban Setting 69 C.I.2.1. The City of Vienna 69 C.I.2.2. Transnational Linkages and Post-Colonialism 70 Example: Rada Ivekovic, French Suburbia 2005 70 C.I.2.3. Urban Experiences of Exclusion, Post-Raciality, and Neo- Nationalism 72 C.I.2.4. Vienna through Young People’s Eyes 74 C.I.2.4.1. Neighborhoods 74 C.I.2.4.2. Common Urban Areas 75 C.I.3. Kids in the Park 76 C.I.3.1.Neighborhood Parks in Vienna 76 C.I.3.1.1. Ball Play Cages 78 C.I.3.1.2. Contested Spaces of Escape 80 C.I.3.2. Who’s in the Park? 82 C.I.4. Boys and Girls in the Park 84 C.I.4.1. Girls in the Park 85 C.I.4.2. Girls’ “Other Needs” 88 C.I.4.3. More Girls in Parks! 90 C.I.5. Groups and Group Structures 91 C.I.5.1. “Peer Group” and “Network” Concepts 91 C.I.5.2. Park Groups 93 C.I.5.2.1. Group Formation 93 C.I.5.2.2. Group Models 95 “Residents” and “Tourists” 95 “Open” and “Closed” Groups 96 C.I.5.3. Special Groups 99 C.I.5.3.1. Cage Groups 99 C.I.5.3.2. Park Girl Groups 104 C.I.5.3.3. Incipient Gangs 106 C.I.5.4. Fission and Fusion Processes: Some Examples 108 C.I.5.4.1. Fission 108 C.I.5.4.2. Fusion 110 C.I.5.4.3. Large Group Formation 112 Example: The Red Brothers 114 C.I.6. Bodies: Some Aspects 117 C.I.6.1. Health 118 C.I.6.2. Body Styles 119 C.I.6.3. Food 124 C.I.6.4. Love and Sexuality 126 C.I.6.5. Drugs 130 C.I.6.5.1. Tobacco 130 C.I.6.5.2. Alcohol 131 C.I.6.5.3. Cannabis 134 C.I.6.5.4. Heroin 136 C.I.6.6. Music as Experience 137 C.I.6.6.1. Globally Mixed 138 C.I.6.6.2. Rap 139 C.I.6.6.3. “They Don’t Care About Us”: Michael Jackson 142 C.I.6.6.4. Arabesk 143 C.I.6.6.5. Dance 144 C.I.6.7. Older Park Kids: How Do You Feel? 145 C.I.6.7.1. Examples 145 C.I.6.7.2. Under-Demand and Regularity 148 5 C. Part II Spatial and Social Contexts 151 C.II.1. Park Neighborhoods 151 C.II.1.1. Youth Centers and Rooms for Adolescents 152 C.II.1.2. Commercial Neighborhood Places 154 C.II.1.2.1. Win Or Lose … 154 C.II.1.2.2. Neighborhood Cafés 155 C.II.1.2.3. Internet Cafés 156 C.II.1.3. Park Adolescents’ Internet Use 157 C.II.1.4. Television 161 Example: Community TV and Park TV 162 C.II.2. The City at Large: Common Urban Space 163 C.II.2.1. Shopping Malls and Cineplex Centers 163 C.II.2.2. Clubs and Discos 164 C.II.2.3. Favored Youth Places 167 C.II.3. Work, Jobs, Wage Labor 168 C.II.3.1. General Situation 169 C.II.3.2. Dual Education System and Apprenticeships 171 C.II.3.3. Funded Training 173 C.II.3.4. Special Circumstances for Some Girls 174 C.II.3.5. Work in Small Family-Run Enterprises 175 C.II.3.6. Imaginary Homelands and New Destinies 176 C.II.3.7. Job Troubles 178 C.II.3.8. Youth in the Music Business 181 C.II.4. Park Kids in their Families 184 C.II.4.1. Park Kids at Home 184 C.II.4.2. Transnationality 186 C.II.4.3. Political Attitudes and Homeland Politics 187 C.II.4.4. The Adolescents’ Approach 187 D.II.4.5. Young Migrants’ Experiences in their Places of Origin 190 C.II.5. Park Kids at School 192 D. Results, Discussion, Conclusions 196 - Parks as Arena 196 - Groups 198 - Interaction with Majority Viennese Society 199 - The Background of Immigration 202 - Urban Youth – Youth in Cities 203 - Global Urban Society 204 - Park Kids’ Ethnography in in the Light of Academic Literature 207 - Park Kids’ Ethnography in Social and Cultural Anthropology 209 Concluding Remarks 211 Bibliography 213 Filmography, Websites 220 E. Appendix 221 (1) The Bionic B-Boys (2) Questionnaire Gesundheitsverhalten Jugendlicher Abstracts (deutsch; English) Curriculum vitae 6 7 A. Introduction Aim of Study This study aims at presenting park youth in Vienna in their world. It presents their peer groups and their connections with the neighborhood and the city (spatial contexts), and with families, school, and at work (social contexts); and it takes into account their position as youth in cities and in the global “urban society”. Adolescence is a universal human experience; but growing up in urban surroundings entails special conditions. Adolescents must be researched as a distinct group and asked about their specific views, since they have their particular and distinct social structures. Largely resource-less adolescents use parks in their surroundings to meet other kids, to communicate, and to find support and emotional reinforcement.
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