HOMOLOGY AND BRICOLAGE

Henry Giroux notes that the body has traditionally "…been one of the principal terrains for multiple forms of resistance" for youth, whose own bodies are the sites through which their own identities are displayed "through oppositional subcultural styles…central to developing a sense of agency, self-definition and well-placed refusals." (1998: 28). This emphasis on the expressive potential of the body arises from the relative level of vulnerability, marginalization and powerlessness youth experience (Ferrell, 1993: 194). Youth are generally "restricted from speaking in those spheres where public conversation shapes social policy" (Giroux, 1998: 24) and "are unable to vote, are denied basic civil liberties, and…have few opportunities to make their voices heard." (Ibid.: 34). Reinforcing this subordinate position is the lack of an organized base from which youth could otherwise voice positions and negotiate with the adult world (Brake, 1980: 136). Personal appearance is one of the first and one of the only terrains in which youth are permitted a degree of autonomy; this magnifies the significance of appearance for youth, whose only option of expressing their resistance to their marginalized and powerless status is through their own appearance. Subcultural resistance therefore often takes the form of ritualized and stylized expressions of personal appearance, musical preferences, styles of dance, and so forth &endash; none of which threatens the hegemonic order in a substantial way (Epstein, 1998: 11). But for youth involved in subcultures, these ritualized, "magical" solutions to marginalized statuses and identities are the only mediums available, and the only ones over which they can exercise a measure of control. Material expression is therefore a crucial level on which youth subcultures operate (Ibid.).

During an interview with 23-year-old SHARP member Ovide, he described the skinhead style of dress as "showing by your dress and everything that you don't agree with what's going on right now."

How does, showing by your dress and everything that you dont' agree with what's going on right now, how do you show that?

It's like, uh, the fact that's it's different from...

Sets yourself apart from what everyone else is wearing?

Yeah, exactly.

I understand that you mean by dressing differently, you set yourself apart from everybody else, but how does that show to everyone else that you're against what's going on? And what parts of what's going on are you against?

The thing is, uh, it'd be kind of ironic to say that I'm setting myself apart from the people for which I stand for, but it's more of, I don't accept the way it's working right now.

It's not the people you're separating yourself from, it's the system.

Yeah. It's totally symbolic.

Homology is "the study of the relationship between the cultural elements of a subculture and the fit between objects, the meanings granted to those objects and behaviour." (Ibid.). Bricolage, as defined by Claude Levi-Strauss, designates "the symbolic reordering of objects and their meanings," as used to "establish a unique identity and subcultural style and to set the subculture apart from the parent culture." (Ibid.: 13). This is analogous to Erving Goffman's notion of the "personal front…the other items of expressive equipment, the items that we most intimately identify with the performer himself and that we naturally expect will follow the performer wherever he goes." (1956: 24).

Subcultural bricolage largely serves to create boundaries of identity and belonging. Clothing, posture, speech patterns and slang; argot, musical preferences and other things are appropriated from "an existing market of artifacts" and used "in a form of collage which recreates group identity and promotes mutual recognition for members," (Brake, 1980: 15) as well as recognition of those not involved in the subculture in question. For Edward, the first step in becoming a skinhead involved adopting the most obvious aspects of skinhead bricolage: "I shaved my hair and got some boots, got some jeans, started reading about it. And after a while, it came by itself." Ovide noted that skinheads favour tight-fitting jeans, "which is totally different than whatever is going on right now!" - meaning that every other youth subculture going at the time of the interview favoured baggier, looser-fitting jeans and clothing.

Full knowledge of and strict adherance to a subculture's bricolage is a key prerequisite to subcultural acceptance. For skinheads, this includes knowing not only what brand of boots to wear, but what styles and colours and how to lace them in the manner associated with skinheads; not only what brand of jeans are acceptable, but how high to roll up the pantlegs. Such minutiae constitute the insider secrets of subcultural bricolage that "give objective intellectual content to subjectively felt social distance." (Goffman, 1956: 142). Adhering to the rigorous and orthodox standards of the skinhead bricolage then becomes a way of indicating one's knowledge of and experience in the subculture, thus separating oneself from the "freshcuts."(5)

Skinhead Bricolage, Skinhead Homology

Goffman notes that "perhaps the most important piece of sign-equipment associated with social class consists of status symbols through which material wealth is expressed." (1956: 36). The skinheads of SHARP Montréal actively reject this traditional material expression of status, instead selecting "sign-equipment" that affirms their status as members of the working-class. The "hyper-masculinity" of the skinhead style (Hebdige, 1971: 55) serves as a demarcation of class boundaries, in that non-working-class youth are less likely to "subscribe to the cult of masculinity" in such a direct fashion (Brake, 1980: 150).

One form this takes with skinheads is making territorial claims to a low-income or "bad" neighbourhood and its accompanying image; or, for middle-class youth, to conceal their lack of such a connection. The Discords' "N.D.G.," perhaps the first skinhead Oi! song recorded in North America, and title track to The Streettroopers seven-inch single "The Streets of Montréal," are two examples of Montréal skinheads making such claims.

Personal appearance is another form through which skinheads articulate class affiliation (whether actual or not) and subcultural belonging. The skinheads of Montréal SHARP wear black, cherry red or oxblood Dr. Marten boots almost exclusively. Though Dr. Martens are available in a wide array of styles and colours, the ones chosen by skinheads will generally not exceed 14-holes in height, nor will they feature flags, flames, flowers or other special features. Steel-capped toes are a popular option, supporting one's claim to working-class membership as well as being an indicator of one's willingness to fight and being useful in a fight. Dr. Marten shoes are also acceptable in some circumstances, but again only the more conservative styles. Boots are always highly-polished, contrasting with the unpolished Dr. Martens favoured by punks. Similar to the findings of Young and Craig (1997: 186-187), the colour of laces in a skinhead's boots no longer automatically implied association with a given skinhead faction. However, lacing up the boots in the military, horizontal fashion (as opposed to the more conventional criss-cross style) was de rigeur for all skinheads encountered during my fieldwork. On occasion, Montréal SHARPs would exchange their Dr. Martens for a pair of black Adidas low-tops &endash; particularly if they were playing soccer or just staying home.

Pants were almost always black or blue jeans &endash; usually Levi's or a cheaper brand, always tight-fitting. The jeans would either be purchased two inches too short, or the pantlegs would be rolled up into 1/2"-wide cuffs, to reveal the Dr. Marten boots. Sometimes bleach would purposely be splashed on blue jeans in a random pattern. Camouflage military fatigue pants were also an acceptable option. Skinhead women would also sometimes wear short skirts with fishnet stockings &endash; a style they share with many women in the punk subculture.

Shirts tended to be t-shirts, sweatshirts and hooded sweatshirts with Oi!, punk, or hardcore band logos. T-shirts would always be tucked into the jeans &endash; unlike the perpetually-untucked t-shirts of most other youth subcultures, including punks. Most Montréal SHARP members owned and would wear tennis shirts by Fred Perry, checkered button-down shirts by Ben Sherman, and sweatshirts by Lonsdale of London, but would typically only wear these items when going out to the bar or to a concert. Several Montréal SHARP members also wore soccer (football) jerseys from European teams &endash; it was acceptable to not tuck these jerseys into the jeans.

Jackets were usually black, navy blue or olive drab American flight jackets (also called bomber jackets), though occasionally one would see a skinhead with a maroon flight jacket, this appeared to be the acceptable colour deviation. The flight jackets would be adorned with 1" pins decorated with band logos or political slogans. Sometimes a skinhead would stitch a bar towel advertising his or her favourite brand of import beer to the back of the flight jacket; another popular option was to have slogans such as "S.H.A.R.P.", "Skinhead Montréal", "Streettroopers" or the like embroidered in Olde English-style lettering on the back. SHARP Montréal also produced its own special members' patch &endash; the flag of the city of Montréal with the 2-colour SHARP "trojan" logo embossed on it. This patch was displayed on the shoulders or chest of flight jackets. Jean jackets, black or blue only, were another option, especially popular in the summer. Jean jackets would be adorned in a manner similar to flight jackets. "Harrington" jackets were also a possibility for warm seasons, but were not very popular with most Montréal SHARP members. Another winter option would be black wool "crombie" jackets, which would not be adorned with more than a few pins. Soocer scarves, again advertising European teams, and worn cravat-style, provided additional warmth and occasionally improvised masks during protests or encounters with police or news photographers.

"Skinhead" is a bit of a misnomer, in that skinheads do not shave their hair right down to the scalp, preferring instead to leave anywhere from 1/8" to 1/2" of fuzz on top. Skinhead women adopted a modified look, known as a "chelsea", which consists of similarly-cropped hair contrasts with longer bangs, 6" lengths of hair in front of each ear, and hair identical in length to the bangs at the base of the skull. When they were able to grow them, male SHARP members would wear sideburns (cropped to the same length as the rest of their hair), but no other facial hair was acceptable. A wide variety of tattoos were also continously being applied to the bodies of Montréal SHARP members.

The overall physical appearance of Montréal SHARP members is designed to convey two messages: one, directed to the general public, of membership in the hyper-masculine, hyper-proletarian, skinhead subculture; and another, directed to other members of the skinhead subculture, of membership in the SHARP skinhead faction.

For both audiences, Montréal SHARP members anticipate that the message they transmit via the skinhead bricolage may be interpreted as a challenge. Non-skinheads or members of rival skinhead factions may see the presentation of Montréal SHARP members as an invitation to fight. As Brake notes, members of the skinhead subculture must "…be hard enough to live up to the image" the subculture portrays and be willing and able to demonstrate "that they deserve the uniform" to anyone who challenges their sartorial assertion (1980: 149).

(5) "Freshcut" is a derogatory term used to describe someone relatively new to the skinhead subculture.