The Art of Defiance (Paperback)

Tyson Mitman

ISBN 10: 1783208988 / ISBN 13: 9781783208982

Published by Intellect, Bristol, 2018

About this Item

Paperback. The Art of Defiance is an ethnographic portrait of how graffiti writers see their city and, in turn, how their city sees them. It explores how becoming a graffiti writer helps disenfranchised urban citizens negotiate their cultural identities, build their social capital, and gain a voice within an urban environment that would prefer they remain quiet, passive, and anonymous. In order to both demystify and complicate our understanding of the practice of graffiti writing, this book pushes past the narrative that links the origins of graffiti to criminal gangs and instead offers a detailed portrait of graffiti as a rich urban culture with its own rules and practices. To do so, it examines the cultural history of graffiti in Philadelphia from the early 1970s onward and explores what it is like to be a graffiti writer in the city today. Ultimately, Tyson Mitman aims to humanize graffiti writers and to show that what they do is not merely destructive or puerile, but, rather, adds something important to the urban experience that is a conscious and deliberate act on the part of its practitioners. This book is an ethnographic portrait of how graffiti writers see their city and how their city sees them. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781783208982

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Art of Defiance (Paperback)
• Publisher: Intellect, Bristol
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1783208988
• ISBN 13: 9781783208982
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

The Art of Defiance is an ethnographic portrait of how graffiti writers see their city and, in turn, how their city sees them. It explores how becoming a graffiti writer helps disenfranchised urban citizens negotiate their cultural identities, build their social capital, and gain a voice within an urban environment that would prefer they remain quiet, passive, and anonymous.
 
In order to both demystify and complicate our understanding of the practice of graffiti writing, this book pushes past the narrative that links the origins of graffiti to criminal gangs and instead offers a detailed portrait of graffiti as a rich urban culture with its own rules and practices. To do so, it examines the cultural history of graffiti in Philadelphia from the early 1970s onward and explores what it is like to be a graffiti writer in the city today. Ultimately, Tyson Mitman aims to humanize graffiti writers and to show that what they do is not merely destructive or puerile, but, rather, adds something important to the urban experience that is a conscious and deliberate act on the part of its practitioners.

About the Author

Tyson Mitman is a lecturer in sociology and criminology at York St John University.