Authenticity and Belonging in the Northern Soul Scene: The Role of History and Identity in a Multigenerational Music Culture

by Sarah Raine

Overview

This book, which builds on a three-year immersive ethnographic study, argues that what scene participants do and say within the northern soul scene constitutes a claim to belong. For younger members, making claims to belong is problematic in a scene where dominant notions of authenticity held by insiders are rooted in a particular past: the places, people, events, and soundscapes of particular venues during the 1970s. In order to engage with this past, young men and women participate in a range of discursive practices. This book argues that these practices, and the ways they intersect and deviate from dominant notions of authenticity, represent shared and individual negotiations of the 'true soulie'. In doing so, it reveals the rich experiences of the younger generation of this multigenerational music scene, and the ways they establish a claim to belong to a scene first formed before they were born.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030413637
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	06/30/2020
Series:	Palgrave Studies in the History of Subcultures and Popular Music
Edition description:	1st ed. 2020
Pages:	207
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Sarah Raine is a researcher at Edinburgh Napier, UK. She is also the co-Managing Editor for Riffs, a Book Series Editor for Equinox Publishing (Music Industry Studies and Icons of Pop Music) and the Review Editor for Popular Music History.

Table of Contents

1. We Share the Floor.- 2. “Going to a Happening”.- 3. “Let’s Talk It Over”.- 4. “I Got Something Good”.- 5. The History Lesson.- 6. “Back in the Day”.- 7. “I’m Where It’s At”.- 8. “Hey Girl Don’t Bother Me”.- 9. “A Little Togetherness”.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Raine’s creative and engaging prose conveys the originality and attentiveness of her participant observation, often researching through dance. She brings to life the meaning and value of authenticity as participants claim a place in northern soul through rituals and public performances, between the dancefloor and its periphery, embodied in the passions and power dynamics of this music-focused community. This is a significant and original contribution to the study of subcultures and popular music, methodologically rich and empathetic” ( Paul Long, Professor of Creative and Cultural Industries, Monash University, USA)

“This book is a vibrant and vigorous exploration of that very specific dance between the past and the present, and its complicated choreography from bars to record stalls, from dance floors to more virtual spaces. In these pages Sarah Raine surveys the boundaries of the contemporary northern soul scene as both insider and observer, all the while painting a picture of a new generation of northern soulies who are staking claims to their own space on the floor.” (Sarah Hill, Senior Lecturer in Popular Music, Cardiff University, UK)