Kings & queers - en etnologisk studie av graffitifältets statusmarkörer och inofficiella regelverk

Sammanfattning: The overall aim of the thesis is to explore unofficial rules and norms as well as status markers in the graffiti scene in Malmö. The aim is also to investigate how these shape the practice and give recognition in the graffiti culture and opportunity to take place in public space. Already in the 1970s, Malmö opened its first legal graffiti wall. The work of the municipality is characterized by an idea of the practice as a creative artistic practice and enrichment for the city's space, that’s why the study is conducted in Malmö. Ethnographic methods such as interviews and participant observations have been used. Seven people who paint with spray colour in the public room has been interviewed. The interview material is the main material for the thesis. The purpose has been answered by applying Pierre Bourdieu's theory of capital, fields and habitus, as well as Sara Ahmed's queer phenomenology with the central concepts of lines and orientation. The essay answers the purpose based on the three themes unofficial rules, place and status as well as normative subjects (such as gender, race and class). The results show that to be recognized and known in the graffiti culture, one must embody and be aware of the field's unofficial rules and norms, be active and visible, and having contacts and friends in the field. White middle class men are the norm in graffiti culture and therefore they have better conditions to take place within the field. A combination of these element constitutes a person’s symbolic capital, thus enabling conditions for status and recognition within the field. By possessing the symbolic capital, one's placement is ensured in the public space. In other words, norms, performances and practitioners enable placement in the city for some bodies more than others. The field thus reproduces the male and white structural hegemony that already exists in society.