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IST 605: Art, Culture & History of Skateboarding

The Art of Living Sideways: Skateboarding, Peace and Elicitive Conflict Transformation

In her book, Sophie Friedel describes how the action of skateboarding can be a way to escape cycles of despair. Friedel reflects on her involvement in teaching skateboarding in Afghanistan and explains how, within the context of youth empowerment and peace work, skateboarding can provide a positive environment for individuals experiencing hardship. This source fits within this guide's scope because the author analyzes many sociological human behaviors in the context of skateboarding. Some of the subject terms that apply to this item include behavioral science, psychology, skateboarding, and youth.   


 

Bumper

A 268 page photo book collecting the work of local DC photographer Owen Basher who has been actively documenting the skateboarding scene in and around Washington, D.C. for the past several years. There is a particular focus on the scene surrounding Freedom Plaza.

 
 

Full bleed: New York City skateboard photography

Full Bleed is 400 page photobook that documents the evolution and feeling of skateboarding in New York City. Aside from an introduction piece by Tony Hawk that details his first experience in New York, there is very little text in this book. Spanning over 30 years, the photographs in Full Bleed showcase how skateboarding and New York City changes over time. Subject terms that apply to Full Bleed in the OCLC include "illustrated works", "pictorial works", "portraits" and "skateboarders".  


 

The FTC Book

This book chronicles the history of FTC skateshop, and by extension the San Francisco skateboarding scene. With over 400 photographs documenting the downtown San Francisco skate scene at a moment in skateboarding' s history where the technical development of street skating was centered around San Francisco's Embarcadero, the FTC book highlights the role of a skateshop in fostering a developing scene.


 

Girl Gangs, Zines, and Powerslides

Librarian Natalie Porter documents the history of women participating in skateboarding. From the 1960's onward, women have participated in skating and in doing so women have been able to carve out their own space in skateboarding. As a librarian, Porter takes a particular interest in the development of zine culture within female and non-binary skateboarding communities. Porter argues that  the development of a diy underground women centric skate community defies the tradtional notion of skateboarding being primarily male dominated for most of it' s history.      


 

Skateboarding and Religion

Paul O'Connor demonstrates in this book how skateboarding as a culture operates remarkably similar to how religion and worship functions. Through ethnographic research and media analysis, O'Connor argues that the rituals of skateboarding provides participants with a rich cultural canvas for emotional and spiritual engagement. Particularly fascinating is how O'Connor explores how many of the same attributes that one finds in religion are also found in skateboarding. These attributes are concepts of myth, celebrity, iconography, pilgrimage, evangelism, cults, and self-help. Key term that apply to this resource includes "religion and sociology", "social science" and "sports and recreation".