University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Youth and intersectional belonging in drum & bugle corps subculture

Jorge, Jamil

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/116233

Description

Title
Youth and intersectional belonging in drum & bugle corps subculture
Author(s)
Jorge, Jamil
Issue Date
2022-07-14
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Solis, Gabriel
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Solis, Gabriel
Committee Member(s)
  • Magee, Gayle
  • Solis, Michael
  • Kwon, Soo-Ah
Department of Study
Music
Discipline
Musicology
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
  • Drum and Bugle Corps
  • Marching Band
  • Brass Band
  • American Music
  • Belonging
  • Youth, Subculture
  • Race
  • Class
  • Gender
  • Sexuality
  • Intersecting Identities
  • Intersectionality
  • Hypermasculinity
  • Embodiment
  • Empowerment
  • Color Guard
  • Drumline
  • Drum
  • Bugle
  • Band
  • Nationalism
  • Social Change
  • Cultural Change
  • Process
  • Community, Ethnography
  • Ethnomusicology
  • Musicology
  • Diversity
  • Equity
  • Inclusion
Abstract
This dissertation asks how young people experience belonging in drum and bugle corps dependent on the intersections of their multiple identities, including race, class, gender, and sexuality. By conducting fieldwork with the members and alumni of the 7th Regiment drum corps community from the mid-2000s through the 2010s, I examine how modern drum corps is a youth subculture that creates space for social and cultural change resulting in opportunities for young people to feel like they belong to various degrees. Those privileged enough to participate can ultimately have a life-changing transformation often described in embodied ways reflecting artistic and daily processes. Still, the institutional structures (primarily class exclusion) and performance practices (especially hypermasculinity) mean that not everyone has the same experience of belonging. Still, this subculture can empower young people in certain respects to influence incremental change. This study showcases how change is possible but ultimately relies on leadership decisions over institutional shifts. It suggests that drum corps can represent American music-making as a unique process rather than a particular genre or style.
Graduation Semester
2022-08
Type of Resource
Thesis
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2022 Jamil Jorge

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