Analeah Rosen

Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Zamsky, Robert

Keywords

Zines, Praxis, Aesthetics, Little Magazines

Area of Concentration

Humanities

Abstract

This work investigates how the zine, a form of "underground" self-publishing, can be constituted as an art form and as a form of political praxis. I will demonstrate the zine's artistic qualities by using the theoretical work of Theodor Adorno and drawing parallels between what he believed to be the social, historical and political position of modern art, and what I believe to be the current cultural and political position zines that occupy. I argue that as aesthetic objects that engage in cultural production, zines are inherently political, as they critique society by proffering alternatives to it. These alternatives are not only a part of their content, but can be seen in their praxis. By creating new relationships to labor, consumption and communities, zines resist in ways that are multifarious and that can be closely associated with the "New Social Movements." More interested in resisting in embodied, or quotidian ways, the New Social Movements created nonhierarchical networks that focused on relationship building and radical cultural alternatives rather than any one political goal. My work is informed by these theories, but is also heavily influenced by zines and zine writers primarily from the San Francisco area.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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