Blog 4: Graffiti--you are what you...write?

Satirical Support for an Islamic Extremist group? Or did the author really support them? Anonymity is the perfect mask.

I find it amusing that graffiti seems to follow some form of spatial gradient.  This said gradient can be located in almost any space, and flows from very public areas to hidden areas.  Not only is there this social gradient, but there is also an authoritative one.  Graffiti generally is not seen in police buildings, nor is it visible on the desks of teachers or administrators in educational institutions.  Instead, graffiti is found in larger quantities as far away from any form of authoritative personality and in the most hidden places. This idea became fairly obvious to me when I was just deciding on where to go in order to look for some graffiti for this assignment.  I had some ideas of where I knew graffiti was just based on where I go on a daily basis.  I ended up scouring Koerner Library’s basement stacks for suitable graffiti.

There is a definite difference between graffiti found in academic institutions compared to other locations in society.  There seems to be much deeper implications in the messages scribbled on desks in the silent study area of the library.  What exactly did I find down there?  That’s a fairly broad question.  I found graffiti ranging from racial discrimination, to sexual preferences, and all sorts of hate towards specific classes at UBC.  I should mention that I did not find any graffiti negatively portraying ANTH 378.  What was unique about this graffiti was the fact that it was not just a simple statement, but rather a running conversation in the depths and furthest corners of the library.  I remember one desk said “JEW.B.C.”, and quickly all around it were scribbles of protest voting for multiculturalism.  The swearing that followed in the argument was nothing shy of the language used on Youtube comments:  blunt and highly offensive.

Racial discrimination in graffiti "UBC needs more Niggaz."

This anonymity allows for an individual to truly state what they are thinking.  No cultural norms or taboos need to be respected in graffiti. It is just a string of consciousness of the scribe at a given time.  Gonos et al. (1976, pp. 41) states that graffiti is a pure indicator of how what values and beliefs are truly held by a community without endangering the security of the author.  This is a pretty powerful statement.  If this were the case, it would be safe to say that the student population of UBC is extreme racist, misogynous, and xenophobic.

Is this really the case for Canada?

Maybe it is.  It may not appear this way in legislation or in a classroom, but it could be in peoples’ minds. Graffiti acts as the tool for people to display their political standings.  Nwoye (1993, pp. 419) displays how graffiti in academic institutions can be used to deny mainstream beliefs and ideas of a society.  It’s entirely possible that people hold these ideas close to their hearts, and graffiti allows them to portray what they truly believe without the fear of condemnation.

A debate of what it is to be "gay".

Finally, I want to end on the fact that graffiti must be taken in the historical context of which it was first written.  McCoy (2007, pp. 173) brings up some graffiti that she observed that said “I love PK”.  She contemplates if that person still really does love PK now, and if it stirs some sort of emotional reaction when it is seen by the author.  Although the expressions that I found were very negative towards certain groups in Vancouver society, it could just be old feelings.  Maybe the original authors have a new opinion on matters concerning race and sexuality.  Is it truly fair to judge a society as Gonos et al. does in his article?  I think it is, only if you can determine that the graffiti is meant to be taken in the present historical context.  What was considered the stream of consciousness for somebody writing on a wall at one point in time could look completely different in a matter of months, especially in a university environment.  With so many interdisciplinary studies people are constantly re-evaluating their belief systems, and this comes out as new graffiti replaces or adds to existing graffiti.

The lone, contemplative author...

NOTE:  All pictures taken by Eric Fontaine.  Location of graffiti:  UBC at Koerner Library Floor 1. NE corner of building.  All from two secluded study desks among the stack of books.

Resources:

Gonos, G., Mulkern, V., & Poushinsky, N. (1976). Anonymous Expression: A Structural View of Graffiti. The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 89, No. 351: 40-48.

McCoy, L. (2007). Graffiti. The Iowa Review, Vol. 37: 173-174.

Nwoye, O. G. (1993). Social Issues on Walls: Graffiti in University Lavatories. Discourse & Society, Vol. 4: 419-442.