Research Question: What social and historical significance does graffiti hold in New York City and how has it evolved as a subculture?

Culture includes the ideas that are a part of someone’s or a group of people’s life. They tend the share similar traditions, mannerisms, and even languages. Additionally, everyone grows up in somewhat of a similar environment and there is an established “norm” or practice within the community. More narrowly, subcultures are smaller groups of that same idea. For example, skateboarding has always been seen as a sub-culture with its rituals, energy, language, and fashion. I grew up around my brother’s skating and have always been intrigued by the community as it served as an outlet for those who felt they did not belong in the standard reality, people who were often rejected because they were perceived as outside the norm. Linguistically, we approach skaters within the community as “insiders” since they have everyday exposure to the community. 

As a more appropriate introduction for this site, graffiti in New York City will be highlighted as the focus subculture where we delve deeper into the history, and the people, and introduce it through a gaze other than that of mainstream media. As a native of NYC, graffiti has long been a part of my life growing up. With the negative portrayal being heavily drawn on as a child, I claimed its significance in my research to re-humanize the subculture rather than accompany the criminalization of it. With the introduction of these assignments, I have learned many things about myself, especially my writing and comprehension abilities, and my interests alike. I have faced many challenges during the semester, including more concise writing, sourcing, and analysis. As a result, I can confidently say that I improved greatly in these areas due to the drafting opportunities I was given, and with the overview of work laid out on this website, I hope the progress shows that for itself. 

The course consisted of 6 main components of which we had to complete a series of assignments to successfully fulfill course learning outcomes. The first three assignments had to do with our research which included personal narrative, peer work, and finally, our research study. The remaining three components were corresponding to a broader multi-layered assignment that consisted of researching and creating multimodal sources around a topic of our choice. 

I found it very helpful to start with the personal narrative to get into, for lack of better words, the groove of writing. It established a light foundation of what to expect in this class and create comfort in researching a certain cultural topic. This particular work aided in formulating a stance within our writing, as we were to write about personal artifacts and essentially justify their significance. Secondly, our peer assignment called for an interview that would later be transformed into a story. This set the tone for the rest of the class as we dealt with many fieldwork examples, in which they had to go through the same writing process. This also allowed us to collaborate, which at the height of a pandemic, is very hard to do virtually. It was very intimidating at first but had become a relatively easy and enjoyable process. Many of my skills that were strengthened in this engagement included things like quoting, note-taking, analyzing, and paraphrasing when I needed to. The third and final assignment of the first part of the course was the research study where we were to pick a subculture to write and study about. My topic in particular was graffiti in New York City. At this point of the course, the pressure of using more diverse language and more discrepant sources had risen, calling for strategies for editing my work and researching my topic. 

The remainder of the course consisted of the aforementioned last three components that were subcomponents of one, multi-layered assignment: ethnography. The first assignment consisted of an interview with someone from the community we were studying, which in my case would be a graffiti artist and photographer in Queens, New York. The interview was formatted the same way we did the peer interview earlier in the semester. The second assignment consisted of describing a documentary or feature film concerning our topic and research question. In this particular context, I study Tony Silver’s “Style Wars,” a 1983 graffiti documentary that retells the culture and history of hip-hop culture in New York City, specifically focusing between the 1970s and 80s. In a richly detailed description, I walk the audience through the film and how it translates into my research. The third and final assignment was the visual component that is on the far left of the three images at the bottom of this page, with a digital collage detailing the overall ambiance of this research. All these components have aided in representing different ways to research graffiti, some more creative than others, thus resulting in a deeper understanding of the course learning outcomes. 

Holistically, the portfolio embodies my journey throughout this course as it records my progress as not only a student, but a writer, and most importantly, a researcher. The gravity of my challenges was difficult to grasp, however, I came out with a stronger understanding of how to improve for future work and how to face my own with stronger critical thinking skills. As a psychology major, this form of research aids a lot in my approach to the social sciences. 

Subsequently, my research has a lot to do with pointing out the beauty and humanity of not only graffiti but subcultures as a whole. Many of them are dismissed by society as it doesn’t fit the corporate, capitalistic framework that is painted in NYC, leaving them ostracized as outside of the defining lines of a community. However, the purpose of this research is to build on exactly the opposite: there would be no community without these subcultures. Many people don’t recognize that the importance of gathering, whether it be graffiti or hobbies alike, creates the very atmosphere and diversity that New York City is known for. After all, how should we uplift the very city we claim to love? By uplifting its communities.