Early Sydney punk : methods in visual ethnography

Abstract

This thesis explores the recollections of participants who were part of a cohort associated with a small punk venue known as the Grand Hotel, which operated at Railway Square, Sydney, between 1977 and 1979. While Australia's first-wave moment has been increasingly recognised within a growing body of literature on punk, it has been considered almost exclusively in a music context. This study emphasises the sociality of punk subculture which has been largely absent from the record. The thesis comprises a creative component based on a series of video-recorded interviews, and a written exegesis. The video production, titled Distorted: Reflections on early Sydney punk, was developed through methods drawn from ethnography and other qualitative methodologies. The work presents discussion on a range of social, personal and political concerns of late 1970s Sydney through the reflections of participants. As such, it is a visual ethnography with a research focus on the past and on memory as articulated in a present setting. The written component of the thesis discusses aspects of cultural studies and subcultural theory in relation to punk as experienced in a post-colonial space, which is framed within an analysis of anthropologically-oriented ethnography. The text then discusses in detail the methodological underpinnings of the research. It is here that I advance an approach to audiovisual production which utilises computer assisted data analysis software within an analytical and conceptual framework drawn from grounded theory and narrative analysis.

Date of Award	2014
Original language	English