Starting Points and Aims: Developing my Research Project This thesis is driven by four aims:

- To map the Dutch punk scene historically and geographically. - To contribute to understandings of 'punk', drawing especially on insights from a scene which has been under-researched.

- To contribute to the debate over ‘subculture’, calling for a need to reground theory.

- To develop definitions of ‘politics’ by investigating the activities of politically active punks.

In this section I lay out how these aims were arrived at and what implications they had for the methodology of the thesis.

To map the Dutch punk scene historically and geographically.

This aim is borne out of the distinct lack of knowledge of the punk scene in the Netherlands. With little of an – academic – reference point, therefore, it is important to provide contextual knowledge before further analytical work can take place.

As outlined in the introduction to this thesis, initially this project had been conceived of as an ethnography of theAmsterdamscene. However, during the initial period of my fieldwork it became clear to me that this was too restrictive an aim. The mobility and connectedness of the Dutch punk scene (see Chapter 4), especially in the area around Amsterdam, meant that

to clearly delineate a boundary of an ‘Amsterdam’ scene was to misrepresent Dutch punk. As such this aim became broader, to include all of the

Netherlands.

To map the scene historically requires the careful utilisation of methods which can illuminate the past. The primary method for this is participant interviews drawing on oral history techniques, with participants carefully selected to represent the full range of Dutch punk history. A

secondary planned method was to triangulate this data with historical archives (section 2.5 outlines what became of this plan).

In order to map the scene geographically I would need to interview participants who have been involved in Dutch punk in various locations. Moreover, ethnographic methods relying on participation in which I become as mobile as my participants also help illuminate participant experiences.

To contribute to understandings of 'punk', drawing especially on insights from a scene which has been under-researched.

This aim speaks directly to the theoretical debates outlined in Chapter 1, particularly sections 1.3 and 1.7. As discussed, ‘punk’ is a contentious term and has been conceptualised in various ways, from Hebdige’s (1979) style based practice to Thompson’s (2004) DIY resistance of economic structures.

However, my own involvement with punk (see section 2.3) suggested that these conceptualisations were often lacking. Punk has incorporated

many forms of culture other than music and has encompassed a variety of ideological standpoints. Punk has been an identity and a lifestyle. Every new form of punk has brought with it a new way to understand what it means. But most importantly in a subculture that invests so much in its participants’ creativity, 'its followers were as much its creators as created by it' (Sabin, 1999: 5). Meaning is generated by its participants as they constantly reshape what punk is. This project therefore aims to develop (a) definition(s) of punk which focused on how participants understand it.

In order to do so I needed to unpick these understandings, which could be done both through interviewing and participant observation. Additional knowledge would be generated through the collecting of other ‘punk paraphernalia’, including zines and books, music, and lyrics booklets, etc. Findings relating to this aim can be found particularly in Chapter 5.

To contribute to the debate over ‘subculture’, calling for a need to reground theory.

This aim is also derived directly from the theoretical debates outlined in Chapter 1, especially sections 1.1, 1.2, 1.5 and 1.6. It was clear that

‘subculture’ versus ‘post-subculture’ had reached an impasse, and that in order to contribute usefully to this debate a project which examined a subcultural group would need to take a holistic and grounded approach.

In order to achieve this would require me to use methods that are grounded in participant experience and understanding. In addition to participant observation I would need to ensure that my interviews with participants were not focused purely on ‘subcultural’ activity but to take a wider holistic approach to their lives. It would also require careful analysis of any data produced in order to recognise the connectivity between various facets of participant’s lives.

To develop definitions of ‘politics’ by investigating the activities of politically active punks.

This aim carries with it the theoretical assumption that some of the practices and activities of punks can be read as ‘political’. I conceptualise all forms of resistance, protest and activism as political (see Chapter 6).

My initial experiences of punk had highlighted its interactions with various forms of political engagement (for example, the Rock Against Bush campaign, vegetarianism, and anarchism). An early formulation of my research questions focused on this; ‘what is the relationship between punk and politics?’. However it became clear – again in the early stages of the fieldwork – that my contribution to knowledge was broader than this.

Participants understood a variety of their actions asbeingpolitical, and thus I needed to address ‘politics’ as an academic concept.

In order to do so required a careful approach in interviewing through which I allowed participants to bring up what they understood as political. Moreover I was able to contribute towards this aim through participant observation and the examination of punk cultural output. Whilst ‘politics’ is present throughout this thesis Chapter 6 will focus particularly on data generated to answer this aim.