The Culture of White Space, the Racialized Production of Meaning, and the Jamband Scene

Abstract

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.

Criminal Sounds–Primitive Sounds: Sensory Conflict and the Racialization of Urban Space in Cartagena (Colombia) and Madrid (Spain)

“…Although the rigidity of urban codes, or the level of strictness with which regulations are applied may be relative to each city, the classification of certain sounds as noise can transform some sounds into forms of administrative failure, such as in the case of the pic o/champeta duo or the practice of playing ecuavoley in the park. Within markedly diasporic cities such as Cartagena and Madrid, the institutional dimension (regulations and codes of coexistence) and the interactional dimension (everyday informal practices of regulation) are the modes by which attempts have been made to maintain public urban spaces (streets and parks) as White spaces, or places which aspire to Whiteness (Brunsma, Kim, and Chapman 2020).…”

The Culture of White Space: On The Racialized Production of Meaning

“…Subcultural scenes, from art museums (Embrick et al, 2019), skiing (Harrison, 2013), Lindy Hop revival (Hancock, 2013), jambands (Brunsma et al, 2019), to electronic dance music (Brunsma et al, 2016), often situate Whiteness as normality. Critical analyses of subcultural scenes reveal an exclusionary mechanism to maintain its Whiteness—the interrelations between culture and Whiteness (Brunsma et al, 2019; Embrick et al, 2019; Withers, 2017). Subcultural scenes that normalize Whiteness identify Blackness as unfit (Anderson, 2015; Brunsma et al, 2019).…”

“…Critical analyses of subcultural scenes reveal an exclusionary mechanism to maintain its Whiteness—the interrelations between culture and Whiteness (Brunsma et al, 2019; Embrick et al, 2019; Withers, 2017). Subcultural scenes that normalize Whiteness identify Blackness as unfit (Anderson, 2015; Brunsma et al, 2019). At the same time, such scenes adopt the strategy of emphasizing leisurely pursuit as a reason to evade discussions of race (Hancock, 2013; Harrison, 2013), diffusing them with an emphasis on fun and leisure.…”

Rethinking Lowrider Artistic Representations: An Aesthetic Response to Social Exclusion

“…We use this overarching approach to study how normative models of art appreciation driven by a white racial order place representations of Chicana/o’s artists as clear examples of a cultural anomaly. Previous studies reveal theoretical and empirical evidence of the way whiteness (Withers 2017) shapes the divide between what is considered normal and what is not, the way the cultural production of racialized logics and meanings perpetuates the reproduction of whiteness (Brunsma, Won Kim and Chapman 2020), and, as can be seen in Arredondo and Bustamante’s (2019) article, the way brown cultural/recreational places are appropriated as white spaces.…”