More Than Goth: The Rhetorical Reclamation of the Subcultural Self

Abstract

I argue that Calvin Schrag's performative notion of the "self after postmodernity" provides an innovative, multidisciplinary approach to the investigation of the rhetorical functions of spectacular subcultures. Focusing my discussion on the discourse, fashion, and demeanor of goth subculturalists, I argue that active human agents through their choices, decisions, and actions, rhetorically coauthor a degree of self-constancy. The rhetorical nature of self-identity, group identity, and subcultural ideology is the focal point of my work.