Graduation Year
2022
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Ph.D.
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Degree Granting Department
Communication
Major Professor
Chris McRae, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Aubrey Huber, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Jane Jorgenson, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Andrew Berish, Ph.D.
Keywords
festivals, framing, performance studies, popular music, punk rock
Abstract
Fest is an annual punk rock music festival held in Gainesville, Florida. At Fest, participants engage in aesthetic creation and participation, negotiate identities, participate in political discourse, and forge communities. In this dissertation, I use theories of performance, framing, and culture to understand Fest. To do so, I theorize Fest using three approaches to performance: performance as an object of study, performance as a metaphor for everyday life and identity, and performance as a method of inquiry. Using these three approaches to performance, I understand Fest as performance, as a site that permits and constrains performances of self, identity, and community, and as inspiration for the performance of a musical EP Whenever You’re Ready, which was written, performed, recorded, and released drawing from my own experiences with Fest as a scholar and fan. In doing so, I understand Fest as a site that is crucial for understanding performance, social and political critique and activism, and negotiation of identity.
Scholar Commons Citation
Mcdowell Ii, Michael Anthony, "Florida Punks: Punk, Performance, and Community at Gainesville’s Fest" (2022). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/9410
