{"id":9468,"date":"2018-09-10T08:00:35","date_gmt":"2018-09-10T08:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/?p=9468"},"modified":"2018-09-10T15:41:20","modified_gmt":"2018-09-10T15:41:20","slug":"graffiti-and-social-control-in-urban-spaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/2018\/09\/10\/graffiti-and-social-control-in-urban-spaces\/","title":{"rendered":"Graffiti and Social Control in Urban Spaces"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n Theo Kindynis, <\/span>“Bomb Alert: Graffiti Writing and Urban Space in London.,” The British Journal of Criminology<\/em>,<\/a><\/span> 2018<\/span><\/div>\n
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Graffiti on a dumpster in Minneapolis, MN. Photo by De Andre\u2019 T. Beadle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Graffiti is common in urban spaces. Some city residents view it as art, many are apathetic, and others think it as a major nuisance that must be dealt with. Researchers often frame graffiti as either a form of vandalism that facilitates more disorder and crime or as acts of resistance. In recent research, however, <\/span>Theo Kindynis<\/span><\/a> argues that graffiti is a much more complex subculture, and graffiti creation is a social and symbolic practice that both shapes and is shaped by urban spaces. <\/span><\/p>\n

Kindynis draws from three years of ethnographic research among graffiti writers in London. Most of his participants identified as \u201cbombers,\u201d and many were well known to local authorities as \u201cserious graffiti vandals.\u201d Some had even served jail time for graffiti writing. Graffiti writers’ main goal is to achieve subcultural status by \u201cgetting their name up\u201d throughout the city, by placing their graffiti in every district and public transit line in the metro. The most important form of graffiti to writers is the \u201ctag\u201d or the bombers\u2019 personal signature of letters, often alongside other embellishments like arrows, crowns, or RIP in remembrance of a deceased writer. <\/span>The bombers in Kindynis\u2019 research see their work as much more than simply \u201cscribbles and scrawls.\u201d According to one participant, writing often has \u201cenergy\u201d or \u201cpresence\u201d that is representative of each writer\u2019s personal style and background. In other words, tags and other forms of graffiti are important subcultural symbols.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div><\/span>Tracks, and especially subway cars, are the most prized canvas for bombers in London, and the British Transport Police (BTP) respond by cracking down on graffiti crews there. Kindynis argues that this tough approach had some unintended consequences, and actually led to more destructive practices when graffiti writers retaliated with practices like etching, scratching, and using paint thinner. So on one hand, graffiti offers bombers a new way of envisioning their social surroundings — including their own language and alternative histories of urban space development and transformation, while on the other hand, graffiti tends to be at odds with social control in urban spaces and thus faces constant threat.\u00a0The bombers in Kindynis\u2019 research see their work as much more than simply \u201cscribbles and scrawls.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Theo Kindynis, “Bomb Alert: Graffiti Writing and Urban Space in London.,” The British Journal of Criminology, 2018 Graffiti is common in urban spaces. Some city residents view it as art, many are apathetic, and others think it as a major nuisance that must be dealt with. Researchers often frame graffiti as either a form of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2020,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,15],"tags":[109556,109560,2478,37337,14907,9177,915,109557,3011,451,12882,455,19084,11290,125,37344,19984],"class_list":["post-9468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime","category-culture","tag-artist","tag-broken-windows","tag-city","tag-crime","tag-sociology-of-culture","tag-disorder","tag-graffiti","tag-graffiti-artist","tag-london","tag-police","tag-policing","tag-punishment","tag-social-control","tag-subculture","tag-urban","tag-urban-ethnography","tag-urban-space"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2020"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9468"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9481,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9468\/revisions\/9481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}