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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:'Ducktails, Flick-Knives and Pugnacity': Subcultural and Hegemonic Masculinities in South Africa, 1948-1960
Author:Mooney, KatieISNI
Year:1998
Periodical:Journal of Southern African Studies
Volume:24
Issue:4
Period:December
Pages:753-774
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:street children
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
History and Exploration
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/2637473
Abstract:The Depression years, followed by the Second World War, profoundly disrupted the lives of black and white South Africans alike. The postwar decade witnessed the expansion of contradictory expressions of popular culture such as fashion, music, film and entertainment facilities aimed at youths. In this context, youths became more visible as a social category modelling themselves on new international subcultural styles. This article focuses on one of the white youth subcultures, the Ducktails, a gang that originated in the late 1940s, and by 1958 was a widespread phenomenon in all the major urban centres in South Africa. Collectively, the Ducktails rejected what was considered to be more socially acceptable and conventional forms of masculinity for their own brand, which emphasized competitiveness, physical strength, fighting ability, loyalty, virility and heterosexuality. At the same time, however, they were aggressively conformist to mainstream culture's prejudices including racism and homophobia. Ref., sum.
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