This study critically examines the subculture of the jamband scene, particularly that of the band Phish, through the notion of “white space.” We demonstrate the existence of colorblind racism and denial of white privilege in the white space of Phish subculture, which is also emblematic of the jamband subculture at large. This study utilizes content analysis drawing from social media comments that react to an article written by Headcount, a political organization in the jamband subculture, titled “Phish Scene is So White: Let's Talk.” The most salient themes we found were colorblind racism and particular online forms of colorblind racetalk through emotional deflection and sarcasm—that we term NIMBY. Our findings add to our understanding of how colorblind racism operates in online versions of subcultural white spaces. We conclude by considering the importance of sociologists to urgently map the social and cultural contours by which white spaces are (re)produced, particularly through cultural processes of meaning‐making.
This article focuses on processes of meaning making in White spaces as the glue that holds their social structures together. Understanding White spaces and how they operate necessitates theoretical development from a cultural perspective. The authors’ research empirically engages with a wide range of White spaces—neighborhoods, subcultural scenes, craft breweries, online digital platforms, and academia, to name a few—and do so from a theoretical space where the two areas of sociology meet: race and culture. We engage with three key questions to theorize the culture of White space: (a) How do these White spaces work? (b) How are these White spaces challenged? (c) How do these White spaces change and/or reproduce themselves? From these engagements, this article develops a general approach to understanding White spaces through understanding their racialized processes of meaning making.
This chapter explains that although the central story of race and beer in the United States is one that centers on the production and reproduction of whiteness, there is reason to believe that the racialized social structure of beer might be cracking. It looks at several developments that may indicate critical change in the phenomenon of craft beer. There is no doubt that there are several contemporary currents that are pressing against the whiteness of craft beer, and there is also no doubt that it is all happening right now. The chapter highlights several of these taking place across the country, in minority-owned breweries and in the digital space of social media, in order to get a bird's eye view of their challenges and resilience in the face of such a structure. It also considers the few black/Latino/Asian and immigrant enclaves of beer in the country where beer is celebrated to its fullest. This leads into discussions of cutting-edge festivals like Fresh Fest and High Gravity Hip-Hop, as well as clever collaborations that are challenging the centuries-long relationship between whiteness and beer.
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