In a series of three studies (total
= 956), we examined how political graffiti, which serves as a representation of prevailing social norms, influences the evaluation of social cohesion and ...neighborhood inhabitants depending on the individuals political orientation. In line with our hypothesis, results of Study 1 (
= 199) indicated that individuals tended to express more positive evaluations of the social cohesion within a neighborhood when the political graffiti aligns with their own political orientation. Conversely, when confronted with counter-attitudinal political graffiti, participants reported lower evaluations of social cohesion. In Study 2, a sensitive scale to assess social cohesion was developed. Study 3 (
= 550) investigated the dose-response relationship of right-wing political graffiti and replicated the results from Study 1. Consistent with our hypotheses, even a minimal presence of right-wing graffiti exerted a significant impact on participants' evaluations of the neighborhood and interacted with the participants political orientation. Taken together, our studies shed light on the crucial role of the individuals' own political orientation for the evaluation of neighborhoods and their inhabitants. Furthermore, we offer insights into how these perceptions may influence intergroup attitudes toward foreigners living in Germany. The implications of our findings are highly relevant to ongoing discussions surrounding social norms within neighborhoods. By highlighting the significance of political graffiti as a representation of social norms, our research contributes to a deeper understanding of the dynamics at play in evaluating neighborhoods and their social fabric.
The international symbol for squatting originated in Amsterdam in late 1979. Its origins and particular meaning are less clear. This article investigates several possible influences on the design of ...the symbol and its significance as an urban meme.
Fugitive Hong Kong Meek, Laura A; Bai Hua
Current anthropology,
12/2023, Volume:
64, Issue:
6
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
This photographic essay reflects on fugitive forms of protest in Hong Kong. Photographs span the peak of the prodemocracy movement in 2019 to current postactivist practices of protesting otherwise in ...2023. In the face of state surveillance and repression, even the slogan 光復香港時代革命 (Liberate Hong Kong! Revolution of our times!) became illegal, and spaces that were previously animated with revolutionary dreams now stand stark, quiet, and apparently immobilized. International media accounts portray today’s Hong Kong as a monolithically hopeless place drowning in political despair. We offer these images to create a new narrative, one that insists on the ongoing fugitive experiments in what is still a dynamic and becoming-otherwise city. Coded language games proliferate around Hong Kong, from cupcakes to graffiti to license plates. Much of today’s political action capitalizes on censorship itself, deploying gaps and absences such as blank pieces of paper as a mode of protest. We show how activists draw on the capaciousness of such symbols to build emergent cartographies of open experimentation, transnational solidarity, and defiant rebellion. Our invitation is to become fugitive anthropologists who might augment these possibilities percolating, harboring, and emerging in and from the cracks.
To be a ‘Renaissance City for the Arts’, Singapore has long relied on worlding devices such as iconic infrastructure and international cultural events. Since the early 2010s, a shift towards the ...public interests has emerged alongside the recognition of non-mainstream groups in the cultural life of the city. This paper considers graffiti and street art in Singapore, and their recent acknowledgement as an emergent subculture in the country. The scope is two-fold, firstly focusing on state policies on public art and the embrace of graffiti and street art in recent years, and secondly the artists' responses to government embracement. While some artists resist incorporation, others have strategized opportunities to showcase their work under official license. The conclusion highlights three particular issues attending subcultural embracement in Singapore, pointing the way ahead for further research on subcultural change in globalizing cities.
•This paper is revised after two rounds of reviewers' comments for the Special Issue of ‘Worlding Asia’.•Many cities often focus on landmark cultural projects as an avenue for ‘worlding’ (world branding).•This paper looks at a sub-cultural artistic form – graffiti and street art – as one of Singapore's chosen strategy for worlding.•This is a novel approach for the city-state with street art receiving mainstream attention only since the early 2010s.•What are the state agendas behind this move and how have artists responded to them? The study offers primary data based on interviews with government officials as well as street artists.
Unauthorised graffiti is a challenge in urban environments, affecting railway structures, stations, tracks, and vehicles. Inefficient cleaning methods increase the costs and downtime of railcars, ...limiting passenger transport. In turn, they are harmful to the operator’s health and the environment, due to the VOCs they release. This study focuses on the feasibility of dry-ice blasting, replacing carbon dioxide with ambient air as an innovative and sustainable solution to remove graffiti from rail vehicles. Experimental tests have been carried out with 13 different aerosols, controlling the temperature (<−80 °C), pressure (up to 3 bar), projection distance (0.5 cm) and exposure times (30″/1′/2′/4′/6′/8′/++). The results showed that ultra-freezing with ambient air preserved the integrity of the support materials and altered the topography, colourimetry and adhesion of the aerosols tested, achieving the total removal of one of the paints. Preliminary results suggest that ultra-freezing with ambient air could be a viable and sustainable solution for graffiti removal on railway structures, transferable to other urban environments.
