Heavy Metal in Pakistan - Final Class Project

Heavy Metal in Pakistan - Final Project from Hassan Asif on Vimeo.

This video features three of the active underground heavy metal acts in Pakistan: Dionysus (Lahore, Death/Doom Metal), Takatak (Lahore, Groove Metal) and BlackHour (Islamabad, Thrash Metal). The video includes small extracts from the in-depth interviews conducted over a period of one year. In addition to these three bands various other heavy metal performers and online bloggers were interviewed to give this study a well-rounded approach. I also attended various performances and jam sessions of these bands. This research aims at studying how heavy metal is re-contextualized in Pakistan as a genre and as a social phenomenon. The analysis that is conducted in the written paper shows that, heavy metal music in Pakistan is essentially elitist in character and these musicians adopt/prefer this genre over other available options primarily because of its foreign-ness. These performers treat heavy metal as a labor of love, with no possible economic, or even cultural gains. The distinctly non-local nature of this kind of music allows the Pakistani youth, both performers as well as the audience, a means to craft and perform temporary alternate identities in the highly polarized Pakistani culture. In case of heavy metal, “foreign-ness” first restricts the access to the genre to a particular social class on the one hand, and re-contextualizes and transforms it during reproduction in an alien land on the other hand.

Expression of Fashion or Subculture ?

The concept of dramaturgy and subcultures are almost intertwined. From previous knowledge and from class discussions, I decided to visit an English speaking school to see if there was any sort of subculture or if I could apply the sociological concepts I learnt in class. I decided to visit a high school, keeping in mind that most youth subcultures are formed when they are separated from their primary socializers, their family, and not under the influence of the dominant culture. Therefore, for this blog post, I wanted to study whether there was a subculture amongst the students from the way most Muslim girls wore their school uniforms and adapted to a westernized environment.

As I was walking through the playgrounds at break time, I noticed how most Muslim girls had their hairs covered with the hijab. The normal school uniform was a polo shirt and a pair of trousers. The girls wore both long skirts and long sleeves, or simply long sleeved shirts with pants. In a sociological perspective, this can be seen as a bricolage. In this case, bricolage is how the young girls adapt to the western style fashion, but at the same time respect their religious beliefs by wearing the hijab.

The theory of commodity was present as Dick Hebdige describes it as “the conversion of subcultural signs into mass-produced objects.” It was tough to determine if the girls were expressing their sense of modesty in Islamic clothing, or conveying their sense of belonging to a certain subculture. Some of the girls had hipster looking glasses, converse shoes and even wore revealing clothing with their hijab on. Some also wore high-rise leggings with their uniform tucked in, which could be another indication of a hipster style.

On the other hand, some girls were holding designer accessories, for example; Chanel, Gucci and Burberry handbags, while others were wearing punk looking bracelets and shoes with spikes on them.  In the end, it is up to us to decide if they belong to a certain subculture, or whether its jut a form of commodity Hebdige refers to.

The world is mediated. In other words, corporations and the media normalize what was once a shock to us. Probably, the way most of the girls were dressed was once considered socially unacceptable, but through media and the fashion industry, these forms of clothing have become acceptable and normalized. Nowadays it is not out of the ordinary for a Qatari girl to wear revealing clothing, where it was contemplated deviant two years ago.

If I were to apply the dramaturgy theory by Erving Goffman, I would say that these girls are all actors on the front stage of a theater. In this case, the stage would be the school. The students, principals, cleaners, security and the teachers are the actors playing set character roles as part of their performances. The students managed their setting, clothing, language, and gestures to correspond the image they tried to project. Nevertheless, this is impression management. For instance, the girls were presented differently on front stage than if they were to be in their comfort zone, the back stage. At one point, the girls took off the hijab and started singing when they were in the classroom alone, and put on their hijab and acted all reserved once they walked out.

The female students could be part of a larger subculture or they could just be consumers of style through the mediated world. 

Souq Waqif - The Kebabization Experience

As a CDA for the dorms on campus I am required to program events each month that engage the residents with the local culture. Last weekend I took the residents on my floor to Souq Waqif for a program titled “Kebabization”. Initially, I intended this program title to be a pun on the various terms in academia that are created with the “ization” standard. However, visiting Souq Waqif was a different experience this time around because I actually had those terms (that I used to come up with “kebabization”) at the back of my head. This allowed me to look at this experience from a relatively new lens.

Souq Waqif, with its fascinating streets filled with budging tourists and locals was as lively as ever. The bus dropped us off in front of a falcon shop. The falcons in the shop were pretty expensive but the falcon shop and other similar “performances” of the local culture reminded me of Cole’s notion of performance in “Bedouiness”. I regard this as a performance, as this is similar to the attempts for the “revival of tradition” in Petra and part of the quest for “authentic” presentation of the local culture. These performances are visible all over Souq Waqif in forms of the many Arab restaurants whose hosts are dressed up in elegant traditional dresses, allowing the visitor to “buy hospitality” as suggested by Cole in the same article.

I have always noticed a particular group of elderly men with carts around Souq Waqif. This time around I found out that they are called the “Hamali”. In sociological terms I would regard this group as a subculture. This is because this group shares unique instruments (their carts), uniforms and space. This aspect helps them stand out in the crowd at Souq Waqif. I have not seen them anywhere else in Doha so far.

Walking around Souq Waqif and noticing global brands like Baskin & Robins present along with the Shujja Iranian Kebab place that we visited hints towards glocalization to an extent. Souq Waqif, as previously mentioned is an attempt to revive Qatari tradition. Cole also describes this as the change from “the Bedouin into wealthy entrepreneurs of international tourism”. This is a confluence of various sociological and modern communications phenomenon presenting a very interesting situation. The architecture of Souq Waqif has always fascinated me. It reminds me of the Prince of Persia games that I played during my childhood. This time, however, with the set of academic inventory with me I observed a certain bricolage in Souq Waqif’s architecture. This is a consequence of the fusion of the modern with the traditional. The traditional, however, in this case is the general Arab tradition because many critics regard the Qatari culture as still in the process of development. The modern, for one, in Souq Waqif’s architecture can be seen in the form of beautiful lighting across the traditional alleyways.

Souq Waqif at first may seem chaotic as any marketplace because there is a lot happening at a point in time. A closer look enabled me to apply the concept of homology, which helped me consider the myriad of micro organisations in the large marketplace. One such organisation is the act of trade. Almost every entity at Souq Waqif engages in some kind of trade; whether you are the buyer or the seller or just a simple visitor, you are definitely taking or giving something either in terms of material and non-material culture.

In conclusion, it can be said that a place like Souq Waqif helps us experience the modern and the traditional in one place. It is a highly recommended place for first time visitors and a definite recommendation for locals who want to relive what Arab culture is all about.

Speedcubers - The Famous Rubik's Cube

Over the summer, I went to Jordan for a family reunion. While I was there, I encountered a group of young teenage boys who dedicate several hours of their week simply to learning how to master the Rubik’s cube puzzle. The community of speedcubers is very small Jordan, however their size has not prevented them from meeting, competing and developing their skills. The young boys (no girls were a part of this group) meet every other week to compete and try to beat their previous records. They all have a collection of cubes that they have chosen to practice with. They have learned the technique behind solving the puzzle through YouTube videos posted by competitors around the world. They all carry their favorite cubes with them at all times so that they can practice regardless of where they are.

The Rubik’s cube is considered to be the world’s best selling toy, with over 350 million cubes sold worldwide since its invention in 1974. Although the Rubik’s cube reached its height of mainstream popularity in the 1980’s, there are many competitors who still enjoy competing in solving the puzzle in the quickest timing. Out of the small group of speedcubers I met in Jordan, one of them turned out to be the FIRST PLACE SPEEDCUBER in the MENA region, according to the WORLD CUBE ASSOSIATION.

This community might be small in Jordan, and other Arab countries, however, through globalization and the availability of the Internet, they are able to communicate and compete with people across the globe. They share common terms and have a special “language” in which they discuss the timing, type and size of the Rubik’s cube. For example, “16.21 12.66 15.68 11.34 12.52. Average: 13.62 NR Cube used: Zhanchi” Although they are opposing the larger culture, they are considered a “deviant” or “variant” subculture. To have the dedication and time to study and master the technique is difficult, and only some have done it. All speedcubers seemed to have a polished sense of style – nothing very distinct, but they do look very put together and uniform.
The video below is of one of the contestants being timed by the association in his house in Jordan:

Corporations saw the popularity of this cube as an opportunity to create different accessories or items that are in the shape of the Rubik’s cube. The images below are only some of what is available. Also, they have created cubes in different shapes and sizes. Some cubes are now collectables. The mass production of these products goes back to the concept of capitalism – making a subculture mainstream!

Homology is when the structure of any particular subculture is characterized by an extreme orderliness. This evident in the way that these competitors meet and compete. They have strict rules as to how the Rubik’s cube needs to be shuffled, rules on how to time it and standardized scores to compare against.

Although some cultures are formed through "Bricolage" - where the artists make-do with what they have, this subculture was formed through consumerism and the Internet. However, being loyal to this puzzle and setting up regularities and  community around it has defined those who participate as a part of a  subculture.

One can argue that this subculture is a "Spectacular Subculture" because it is out of the ordinary and certainly amazing. When you want someone solve a puzzle that is very difficult in a matter of seconds it is very surprising!

The community of players escalated the level of challenge of the competitions by having under-water, in-air competitions etc. This has allowed them to grow the puzzle and have more records to beat.

Hipsters i.e. the new punks

Hipsters started out, as having a “unique” sense of style that made them stand out, but lately seeing hipster-related fashion has become the norm in our everyday lives. We see the thick-framed ray ban eyeglasses, dip-dyed hair, studded clothes and galaxy printed clothes everywhere lately, thanks to the media.

Hipsters incorporated some elements of hippies and punks into their style, such as the long hair and studded shorts. This process of mixing styles and ideas together is known as bricolage. The subcultures bricoleur is typically the author of a surrealist collage and usually juxtaposes two incompatible realities, such as the mixing of spikes and jeans.

Hipsters were initially seen as a spectacular subculture since their style of life was seen as deviant and opposing to the dominant culture. Having different colors at the top and bottom of your hair used to be seen as a hair dye job gone wrong but these days it has been labeled as the must have hairstyle. Ombre and dip-dyed hair can be seen everywhere from tumblr to fashion magazines and celebrities. Ombre hair is less daring, as it appears to be a bit more natural than dip dying. Dip dying has gone to new extremes as people try their best to “make it their own”.

Ripped jeans are back in fashion, except now its jean shorts with spiky studs on the sides. Ripped t-shirts have also become the new fad and there are numerous videos on YouTube to show you how to rip your T-shirt in different ways. Nail polish has also become part of this hipster subculture and there are numerous creative styles that keep emerging.

Subcultures are concerned with consumption, as it through their commodities that they communicate the meanings attached to these commodities. When their purpose and style is normalized and becomes mainstream, their purpose is ruined. It is through the process of recuperation that the straying away from the dominant culture is somewhat repaired and the subculture is incorporated in the dominant culture.

There are two characteristic forms in the process of recuperation: The commodity form and the ideological form. The commodity form is the conversion of subcultural signs, such as clothes, music, into mass-produced objects. Corporations, clothing companies, benefit from this by incorporating these new styles into their market and gaining profit. The ideological form is the labeling and redefining of deviant behavior by dominant groups, such as the media. After the media normalized the concept of dip-dyed hair and socially constructed people into thinking it is fashionable, parents are more understanding to the idea, and there are more people doing it.