Feeling Heavy, Feeling Doomed: Narratives, Embodiment, and Authentic Cultural Engagement

• In Event: 545 - Section on Sociology of Culture Roundtable Session.
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 17. Cultural Genres

Abstract

Although cultural sociologists have examined the politics of authenticity within various music scenes, such work has largely focused on this concept as an outcome of interaction between individuals in a particular field and the establishment of genre boundaries by musicians, fans, and various organizations (e.g. record labels, music venues). In this paper, I propose the concept of cultural engagement, an analytic framework that emphasizes 1) the discursive strategies people utilize when describing their relationships to art and 2) a conceptualization of embodied genre performances that includes the visceral, somatic experiences of producing and experiencing art. This model of cultural engagement provides insight into how individuals acquire the requisite vocabularies and behaviors to authentically participate in various cultural fields, how they evaluate others’ participation. Here, I focus on the notion of “heavy” within the doom metal music scene of Denver, Colorado and how it operates as a way of connecting intense, personal experiences that take place in the ritualized, collective practice of live music performances. I propose that this model of cultural engagement provides a way of expanding the model of the cultural toolkit and, in turn, rethinking how and why individuals feel strongly connected to music styles that exist outside of mainstream culture.

Author

• Benjamin Lee Hutcherson, University of Colorado