Australian Anarcha-Punk Zines: Poststructuralism in Contemporary Anarchist and Gender Politics Author Nicholas, Lucy Katherine Published 2006 Thesis Type Thesis (Masters) School School of Arts, Media and Culture DOI https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/2826 Copyright Statement The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/367436 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au Australian Anarcha-punk Zines: Poststructuralism in contemporary anarchist and gender politics. Lucy Katherine Nicholas BA (Hons) Politics and Society with Combined Studies, University of Gloucestershire Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts, Griffith University. Date of Submission: September 2005 Abstract This thesis describes and analyses the politics of the Australian DIY anarcha-punk scene and the ethos of the culture’s participants. Eschewing the orthodox sub-cultural approach which situates “punk” within a structuralist hegemony / resistance paradigm, the thesis uses participant observation and textual analysis techniques to understand the role played by zines (hand made publications) in fostering the intellectual and ethical capacities needed to participate in the Australian DIY anarcha-punk scene. The zines, in their deviation from classical anarchism, often invoke concepts of power and “the political” analogous with those of poststructuralist theory, yet DIY anarchist politics also diverge from poststructuralism. I therefore address DIY anarchist politics by questioning the significance of these inconsistencies with Theory. In doing so I am led to suggest that the zines may be more usefully approached as elements in the ethico- political practice of DIY anarchism, which nonetheless draws on the “conceptual vocabulary” of much poststructuralism, as well as other theoretical approaches. Thus I re-describe DIY anarchism as an ethos which seeks to argue for its agendas and values on non-foundational terms. Further, I demonstrate that by pursuing an ethos of “autonomy”, the culture’s participants seek to develop their intellectual and ethical capacities through a self-consciously “developmental” engagement of power relationships, in the form of DIY “prefiguration” or exemplification. Following the preoccupation with gender politics in the zines and the wider scenes, I describe the approach to gender politics in similarly ethico-political terms, drawing likewise on various elements of poststructuralist and other theories. I show this feminist ethical practice to be based on assumptions about gender which embody a certain poststructuralist approach to “gender”, one that is predicated on the material effects of a discursively congealed gender structure, but forms part of an ethos aiming to deconstruct this structure. By re-describing the political approaches of these zines in reference to various theoretical perspectives and ethico-political practices, I am able to offer perspectives to the culture in question, as well as to the interdisciplinary academic context within which I am writing. Statement of Authorship: This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself. Lucy Nicholas Acknowledgments My academic acknowledgments go first and foremost to my supervisors for this project. To Dr. Felicity Grace not only for her supervision but her tireless engagement with the bureaucracy. To Dr. David Adair for his amazing enthusiasm, dedication, inspiration, faith and intellect - I am proud to be his first postgraduate research student and without his tireless supervision in the late stages I could surely not have achieved this. Both his academic and organisational skills have proved inspirational and indispensable. To the zine makers, punks and revos of the Australian DIY anarchist scenes I am forever indebted. Particularly I thank the zine makers whose work inspired this thesis and the various kids who took me in and helped me (and the thesis) grow. My colleagues and friends have been invaluable support. Dr. Jason Wilson and Rea Turner for their postgraduate comradery, and their personal support and good times. CJ for her personal / political inspiration, support, love, sisterhood and strength. Tom O for his academic genius and enthusiasm and for his advice in the late stages. Penky for inspiration. Especially I am indebted to KJ, my soulmate and mentor, my idol and teacher, my partner in crime. And finally to my family, without whose (ridiculously infinite) unconditional support and love this would not have even been an option, and completion impossible. You are proud of me and love and respect me for everything I do, and the feeling is mutual. Table of Contents Thesis Introduction 1 Literature Review 3 Methodology 13 Methods 18 My language and use of terms 22 Outline 27 Chapter 1: DIY and Poststructuralist Anarchism 29 Introduction 29 1) From classical anarchism to DIY prefiguration. 31 Classical anarchism 31 Zines, DIY Anarchism and the expansion of the “political” 36 2) Issues of poststructuralism 44 Structures as “spurious unities” 45 “Power” and governmentality 48 Subjects and discourses, actors and disciplines 55 3) The limited agency of subversion (doubled vision) 59 Resistance 63 Revolution / reform / neither / both : “Tactics” 68 Engagements with the “macro” 75 An afterword: Anarchist continuities 77 Conclusion 80 Chapter 2: The Ethos of DIY Anarchism 83 Introduction 83 Ethics 84 Normative bases - self-governance 87 Non foundationalist points of departure 93 Capacities and exemplars 95 Intentions of prefiguration 97 Congealment 99 Collectivity – an autonomist approach to the necessity of identity 109 Conclusion 111 Chapter 3: Poststructuralism in DIY Anarcha-punk Gender Politics 113 Introduction 113 Gender: “spurious aggregate” / “congealed citationality”? 114 “The essential difference” 120 Stated aims 129 Tactical / ironic essentialism 130 Feminist “ironic essentialism”: Because “they” will try to convince “us” that we have arrived. 134 Subversion 144 The ethico-political foundation of poststructuralist feminism 146 Prefiguration: Fostering capacities 153 Hyper masculinity and hardcore performance 160 Conclusion 164 Thesis Conclusion 165 Bibliography 171 1 Thesis Introduction My aim in this thesis is to account for the impacts of poststructuralism on the theory and practice of DIY anarcha-punk in Australia. To do this I analyse a collection of self- professed DIY anarchist zines from Australia and, acting as a participant observer in the “scenes” in which these zines circulate, demonstrate how they accord with, and depart from, poststructuralist theories and ethical norms. The “DIY anarcha-punk” scene in Australia is a flourishing culture, attested to by the volume of “kids”1, zines, bands, festivals, squats, “food not bombs”2, shows (concerts), distros3, tours, and various other DIY creations which make up this culture. It is a culture which valorises the direct self-creation of anarcha-punk culture, and demonstrates the attempt to foster particular values. Not only this but it is a self-consciously political culture, and it is by addressing the culture with poststructuralist theory that I wish to see how the members of the scene figure this culture to be political in nature, how this political approach is assumed to function, and on what values the culture is predicated. By addressing how useful poststructuralist theories are for understanding the DIY politics demonstrated by the zines in Chapter One, and positing the limits to a theoretically predicated approach, I am able to problematise this attempt at a purely theoretical account of these political texts and address them instead as part of an ethico-political approach of 1 See “My language and use of terms” on p.24. 2 “Food not bombs” is an anarchist practice of using discarded food to create vegan meals to serve for free on the streets, see footnotes on p.108 in Chapter Two. 3 See “My language and use of terms” on p.24. 2 self-creation in Chapter Two. In a more specific focus in Chapter Three I then draw attention to the gender politics of contemporary DIY anarcha-punk as emblematic of some of the key theoretical, political and ethical issues. Gender politics are a passionately prioritised topic in the scene and are thus useful for demonstrating the types of political approaches entailed in the DIY anarchist ethos. In analyzing contemporary Australian DIY anarcha-punk, my intention is not to plunder this culture for my own (academic) ends, but rather to offer “new descriptions of the world” (Barker 2000, p29) to both the culture which is the object of my study4, and the academic readership of this thesis. In this way my thesis intends to be a poetic exposition and narration which brings new voices in to what Rorty calls the ‘cosmopolitan conversation of humankind.’…[and a] route by which our own culture is made strange to us, allowing new descriptions of the world to be generated. (Barker 2000, p.29) In his book Notes from the Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture, Duncombe (1997) defines zines as “noncommercial, nonprofessional, small-circulation magazines which their creators produce, publish and distribute by themselves” (1997, p.6). The zine directory Factsheet 5 defines a zine as a “small handmade amateur