University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 6-1-2014 "Punk Has Always Been My School": The Educative Experience of Punk Learners Rebekah A. Cordova University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons Recommended Citation Cordova, Rebekah A., ""Punk Has Always Been My School": The Educative Experience of Punk Learners" (2014). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 142. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/142 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. “Punk Has Always Been My School”: The Educative Experience of Punk Learners __________ A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Morgridge College of Education University of Denver __________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy __________ by Rebekah A. Cordova June 2014 Advisor: Dr. Bruce Uhrmacher i ©Copyright by Rebekah A. Cordova 2014 All Rights Reserved ii Author: Rebekah A. Cordova Title: “Punk has always been my school”: The educative experience of punk learners Advisor: Dr. Bruce Uhrmacher Degree Date: June 2014 ABSTRACT Punk music, ideology, and community have been a piece of United States culture since the early-1970s. Although varied scholarship on Punk exists in a variety of disciplines, the educative aspect of Punk engagement, specifically the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) ethos, has yet to be fully explored by the Education discipline. This study attempts to illucidate the experiences of adults who describe their engagement with Punk as educative. To better know this experience, is to also better understand the ways in which Punk engagement impacts learner self-concept and learning development. Through the phenomenological in-depth interviewing of six adult participants located in Los Angeles, California and Gainesville, Florida, narrative data is interpreted to reveal their education journey that contains mis-educative experiences, educative experiences, and ultimately educative healing experiences. Through the framework set of Public Pedagogy, Social Learning Theory, and Self-Directed Learning Development, this research aims to contribute to scholarship that brings learning contexts in from the margins of education rhetoric and into the center of analysis by better understanding and uncovering the essence of the learning experience outside of school. Additionally, it broadens the understanding of Punk engagement in an attempt to have an an increased nuanced perspective of the independent learning that may be perceived as more educative that any formal attempt within our schooling systems. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you, first and foremost, the humid forested Ozarks of Missouri. You were my first site of empowered learning and taught me what it means to be a confident person who could navigate any form of wildness. Thank you to my mother, Dr. Karla Haas Moskowitz, my first teacher. Without your guidance and support, this research would have lived on as a desire in my mind instead of a completed work of art. Special thanks to my husband, Joseph Cordova, my incredible children, Anna Lucia, Joaquin, Augustus, and Violet Paloma. You all made the endless hours of writing and research possible and helped me keep going at every turn. Thank you to my sister Jacquelynn McDaniel, your love and support has meant the world to me . Thank you to my committee members, Kate Willink, Bruce Uhrmacher, Nicole Russell, Hava Gordon, and, my advisor, Nick Cutforth, for your tireless years of guidance. Lastly, a most grateful thank you to the rockin’ Razorcake community in Los Angeles, California and the amazing Lay family in Gainesville, Florida - you endlessly supported my work and made me feel at home whenever I was in your company. I am truly a better person because I have known you all. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS INSPIRATION ................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 4 PROBLEM POSING ............................................................................................................. 6 FRAMEWORK .................................................................................................................. 10 Public Pedagogy ........................................................................................................ 10 Social Learning Theory .............................................................................................. 14 Self-Directed Learning ............................................................................................... 16 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 21 LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................................... 21 Historical and Political Roots of Punk ...................................................................... 23 Hardcore Punk ........................................................................................................... 25 Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Ethic ......................................................................................... 27 Punk Music Scene: Punk Shows and Lyrics ............................................................... 30 Punk Zines .................................................................................................................. 38 Punk-Based Activist Organizations ............................................................................ 43 Critique of Punk: Race and Whiteness ....................................................................... 53 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................ 56 History and Aims of Phenomenology ......................................................................... 57 Research Context ........................................................................................................ 59 Phenomenological In-Depth Interviewing ................................................................. 60 Data Analysis: Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) ................................. 61 Pilot Study .................................................................................................................. 64 Research Study Design ............................................................................................... 68 Limitations of Study .................................................................................................... 72 CHAPTER THREE: PARTICIPANT NARRATIVE PROFILES ................................... 74 AARON L. ....................................................................................................................... 78 YAM ............................................................................................................................... 91 SEAN C ........................................................................................................................... 98 ERIN B .......................................................................................................................... 105 DAVE D ........................................................................................................................ 116 TODD T ......................................................................................................................... 126 CHAPTER FOUR: PUNK AND EDUCATION HORIZONS ...................................... 136 PHENOMENOLOGICAL HORIZONS .................................................................................. 137 Punk as: Learner Self-Concept Awareness .............................................................. 139 Punk as: Mis-Educative Experience Awareness ...................................................... 143 Punk as: Educative Healing ..................................................................................... 151 iii CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION .............................................. 170 PUNK AS: PUBLIC PEDAGOGY ....................................................................................... 172 PUNK AS: SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY .......................................................................... 175 PUNK AS: SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING .......................................................................... 178 ROLE OF MIS-EDUCATION ............................................................................................ 185 ROLE OF EDUCATIVE HEALING ..................................................................................... 190 SUMMARY AND FUTURE RESEARCH ............................................................................. 198 CONCLUSION: A DESIRE PATH ..................................................................................... 201 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 205 APPENDICES ................................................................................................................. 228 Appendix A: Research Solicitation ..........................................................................