Youth Studies Australia v.15 n.2
June 1996
Synthetic Ecstasy: The youth culture of techno music, by Susan
Hopkins
Youth Studies Australia, v.15 n.2 pp.12-17.
Rave On - for senior baby boomers that's one of the greatest rock and
roll songs of all time. Buddy Holly, real words, real music, an infectious
head-nodding beat from a real band that needed no more than one power
point in a garage wall to create its sound. Now, about 35 years later,
when young people are far more at home with technology than without it,
that lovely word "rave" is back, this time as an expression
of the unreal world of techno culture. In this paper Susan Hopkins positions
techno as a youth culture of simulation where the synthetic is natural
and where the fake is heartfelt. Raves (indoor/outdoor dance parties)
offer young people technologised recreation, frequently in a multi-media
mix of techno music, computer animations, digital art, intelligent sound
and lighting. Young people, at home in this virtual world, enjoy the high
tech play - and drugs are not a necessary part of it. The author believes
the connections between youth culture and high technology challenge our
understandings of subjectivity and affectivity. Hopkins breaks away from
rationalist critiques of rave to consider synthetic ecstasy from the standpoint
of the young people who experience it, that is inside the youth culture
of techno.
You just dance - Sky Theatre Rave: A creative enterprise by young
people for young people, by Sheila Allison
Youth Studies Australia, v.15 n.2 pp.18-19.
In 1996, a young Hobart man, James Haslem, successfully applied for
an arts grant to organise the production of a 'rave'. Over 700 Hobart
young people attended the event, a hybrid performance of multimedia, visual
arts and dance culture.
Post-youth culture and the politics of memory, by Tara Brabazon
Youth Studies Australia, v.15 n.2 pp. 21-28.
In the early 1980s, E. Ellis Cashmore drifted for six months around
the dole offices of the English West Midlands. In a 1980s equivalent of
J.B. Priestly's English journey, Cashmore found a single, dying England,
rather than three disparate "nations". Neither the Green and
Pleasant Land, nor industrial Britain or the "American England" were
discussed. Instead, he detailed the spirit of the age, not the divisions
of the island. In 1982, a hit record by the band, Musical Youth, began: "This
generation rules the nation." Wrong. The generation of the 1980s
rules nothing - not even its own destiny - they have few ambitions, limited
horizons, minimal prospects and no future (Cashmore 1984, p.5). Cashmore
formulated a sobering, depressing but gritty text. His words speak of
profound disempowerment, with his "generation of the 1980s" possessing
no control over their bodies, their future or past. This article examines
the impact on youth of this dying England and focuses on four main issues.
The first segment investigates ageing youth cultures and the politics
of memory, with the second part probing post-youth, postmodernism and
consumption. The third part looks at the "textual poachers",
and the final component rummages through the closet of fashion, style
and reading practices.
Adolescents at risk: Drug use and risk behaviour: Queensland and national
data, by Chris Lennings
Youth Studies Australia, v.15 n.2 pp.29-36.
This project identifies a number of published and unpublished reports
on drug use and associated risks for adolescents, with a particular focus
on Queensland youth. Compared to school attending adolescents, out-of-school
adolescents have significant rates of drug use. In addition, significant
associations between "street kids", unwise drug use and unsafe
sex practices exist. Involvement in crime, prostitution and a culture
of suicide attempts is apparent. Such involvement has important implications
in terms of public health campaigns and the targeting of scarce resources,
particularly in a State that has concentrated on providing only the most
basic of primary health care services. The author finds that, in general,
data on such practices exists only for small samples, is of questionable
reliability and represents a real research gap in current Australian practice.
New trends in European youth and drug cultures, by Hans Knutagård
Youth Studies Australia, v.15 n.2 pp.37-42.
Hans Kuntagård is the founding director of the innovative youth
centre, Bågen, in Hässelholm, Sweden and is consultant to the
Secretary General of the Council of Europe. In this paper, originally
presented at the Youth '95 symposium*, Knutagård argues that the
young participants of the new drug culture, alienated from and mistrustful
of mainstream society, are developing a new cultural and social context
where drugs are included as a natural part of life.
* Youth '95 International & cross-cultural issues: Challenges & Change, was held 7-10 November 1995 in Hobart, Tasmania.
Youth and drugs: Abstracts from the 7th International Conference
onDrug Related Harm: From Science to Policy to Practice
Youth Studies Australia, v.15 n.2 pp.43-49.
In addition to our usual Abstracts section (beginning on page 56) YSA
is reproducing a number of youth-related abstracts from the 7th International
Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm: From Science to Policy
to Practice, convened jointly by the Australian Drug Foundation and HIT,
Liverpool, UK, and held in Hobart on 3-7 March 1996. The abstracts are
reprinted with the permission of the ADF. A selection of papers from this
conference (not all are youth-related) is being published by the ADF.