Cultural meaning and hip-hop fashion in the African-American male youth subculture of New Orleans

Abstract

This paper reports results from an ethnographic study of African-American youth subculture in a New Orleans high school. The paper contends that youth subculture remains an important construct to situate stylistic resistance among subaltern groups like urban black youth that confront demands for conformity from representatives of institutional authority with alternative cultural solutions. The core argument is that resistance to demands for conformity among members of this subculture stands as a challenge to institutional power enforced by agents of media, school, police, and the prison that label as deviant stylistic expressions such as wearing sagging black pants and braided hairstyles. However, care must be taken not to reify youth subculture affiliation as overly inclusive and resistant, and instead focus on the variable commitment of participants to dominant culture or subculture. Subcultural styles like wearing sagging black pants manifest an ambiguous cocktail of resistance and acceptance of hegemonic ideals and reveal the contradictory fashion and behavioral codes of contending status orders that validate identities.

Keywords:

• subculture
• fashion
• African-American youth

Notes

1. The focus of this paper is on young inner-city African-American males. Attention is directed to a particular male-dominated subculture where a hard form of masculinity is stressed and women are often objectified. The important task of locating young women in the hip-hop-inspired gangster or thug subculture has been ably addressed by others (for example, Rose 1994, Neal 2004b) and remains an essential concern of youth studies.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Vern Kenneth Baxter

Authors’ names are listed in alphabetical order. Both authors contributed equally to production of this article

Peter Marina

Authors’ names are listed in alphabetical order. Both authors contributed equally to production of this article