The Underfield: Extending Bourdieu's Field

• In Event: 3551 - Section on Sociology of Culture Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: 14. Racialized and Gendered Representations

Abstract

Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of field is central to his analysis of art and cultural production. However, my research on Latina community-engaged artists in Chicago has required me to extend his work. More specifically, these artists often construct and operate in alternative spaces that engage multiple fields and are not within any single field. In this working paper, I explain Latina community-engaged artists' alternative art spaces in Chicago using the concept "underfield". This concept is an extension of Bourdieu's "field" and Eyal's "space between fields" using Harney and Moten's "undercommons" and Muñoz's "disidentification". I argue that alternative spaces, such as art collectives, public site interventions, and community events, are not adequately explained using Bourdieu's field or Eyal's space between fields. I explain how underfield is more useful to explain spaces that simultaneously engage with fields, exist outside of fields, and maintain liminality. The underfield is a fluid, strategic space that takes a both/and approach to fields rather than either/or.

Author

• Michael De Anda Muñiz, University of Illinois at Chicago