David Verbuč
I earned my Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at the University of California, Davis (2014). Before starting my graduate studies in 2008, I researched Slovenian village music practices and traditions, and worked as a music journalist for various Slovenian media (Radio Študent, Ljubljana, Nova Muska, Mladina, Odzven). In 2008, I issued a double CD of my own field recordings of songs from the villages of Upper Savinja Valley in North Slovenia (Gorših ljudi na svetu ni: terenski posnetki ljudskih pesmi iz Zgornje Savinjske doline / There are No Finer People in the World: Field Recordings of Folk Songs from the Upper Savinja Valley. Since 2014, I work as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Humanities, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, where I teach socio-cultural anthropology, ethnomusicology, and popular music courses. Between 2020 and 2022, I was also an Editor-in-Chief of the English editions of the international urban anthropology journal Lidé města / Urban People. Furthermore, I am an author of the book DIY House Shows and Music Venues in the US: Ethnographic Explorations of Place and Community, an anthropological study of the relationship between place/space (DIY venues, geographies, social spaces), and the construction of “intimate” communities. In addition, my articles appear in the following international academic journals: American Music, Communication and the Public, Ethnomusicology Forum, Glasnik Slovenskega etnološkega društva, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Journal of Popular Music Studies, Journal of World Popular Music, and Urban people. They explore the topics ranging from the study of audience participation in relation to affect theory, and ethnographic method in popular music research, to the anthropology of individuals (as DIY music organizers), social life of micro-media, and economic anthropology (examining the co-constitution of reciprocal and capitalist configurations of American DIY music scenes). I am currently involved in a new research project studying Roma music in north Slovenia.
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Papers by David Verbuč
Citation: Verbuč, David. 2023. “‘A Whole Society, With Its Own Economic System’: The Reciprocal and Capitalist Configurations of American DIY Music Scenes.” Ethnomusicology Forum 32/1. doi: 10.1080/17411912.2023.2180050
Citation: Verbuč, David. 2018. “Theory and Ethnography of Affective Participation at DIY Shows in the US.” Journal of Popular Music Studies 30/1-2: 79-107.
I examine in this article how American “do-it-yourself” communities are established socio-spatially both as oppositional and subversive social spaces and scenes and as emerging alternative and autonomous worlds that challenge and transcend the effects and implications of the normative private–public distinction in the United States. I specifically analyze how these do-it-yourself spheres are organized around particular spatial discourses and spatial practices, policies, and interactions enacted at do-it-yourself shows that promote social intimacy, collective solidarity, diversity, and equality. Furthermore, I focus on the tensions and contradictions that exist within American do-it-yourself spaces and scenes in regard to utopian and “real” worlds, inclusive and exclusive social practices, and homogeneous and heterogeneous communities, as manifested through the tensions between private and public nature of American do-it-yourself spaces and scenes. Based on my long-term ethnographic fieldwork research in various US locations, and particularly on the American West Coast, I argue that this tension is, on one hand, both politically necessary and socially beneficial since it enables the creation of counterpublic spaces and with that also “new intimacies” and “new worlds” (Warner, 2002). On the other hand, however, it is also limiting and controversial for the political and social aspirations of American do-it-yourself communities. In the article, I delve into the history and theory of public and private spaces, as related to Western do-it-yourself music practice, and then continue with the analysis of my ethnographic data, where I pay particular attention to the publicness of the house, the body, and the scene, as related to American do-it-yourself communities. In this regard, I specifically examine program and space policies, as well as dance and bodily practices, at American do-it-yourself shows and further look at some of the social and political public engagements of American do-it-yourself participants.
Citation: Verbuč, David. 2017. “Notions of Intimate Publicness, and the American DIY Music Spaces.” Wang, Jing, and Peterson, Marina, eds. Sound and the Public: A Special Issue of Communication and the Public 2/4, 284–304 [https://doi.org/10.1177/2057047317741901].
Citation: Verbuč, David. 2017. “’Houses Provide a Spatial Backbone for Virtually Everything We Do’: An Anthropological Study of DIY (“do-it-yourself”) House Shows in the US.” In Keep it Simple, Make it Fast! An Approach to Underground Scenes. Volume 3. Guerra, Paula, and Tânia Moreira, eds. Porto, Portugal: University of Porto, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, 13–24.
glasbene žanre, kot so pank, indie rock, kantavtorstvo in
eksperimentalna glasba, so skozi desetletja svojega obstoja
izoblikovale svojevrstne pristope k družbenim praksam, ki jim
na materialni in ideološki ravni pomagajo pri vzpostavljanju,
vzdrževanju in samorazumevanju intimnih družbenih skupnosti.
Intimnost v tem kontekstu pomeni družbene odnose bližine, ki
temeljijo na tesnih prijateljskih, fizičnih in neposrednih odnosih,
delujočih po načelih enakopravnosti, vključevanja in vzajemnosti.
V članku, ki temelji na etnografskih raziskavah ameriških neodvisnih
glasbenih skupnosti, se posvetim vprašanjem fizičnih
in družbenih prostorov bližine, intimnih družbenih razmerij in intimnih
glasbenih praks ter zvokov ameriških neodvisnih glasbenih
skupnosti. Ob tem me po eni strani zanimajo povezave med
glasbenimi prostori in skupnostmi, po drugi pa družbene razlike
in nasprotja v ameriških neodvisnih glasbenih skupnostih.
English abstract: In the decades of their existence, American DIY
(“do-it-yourself”) music cultures, which encompass music genres
such as punk, indie rock, singer-songwriters, and experimental
music, have created their unique approaches to social
practices that assist them, both on the material and ideological
level, in the construction, maintenance, and self-perception of
intimate social communities. In this context, “intimacy” denotes
social relations of proximity that are based on close friendly,
physical, and direct relations operating under the principles
of equality, inclusion, and reciprocity. The text, which is based
on ethnographic research of American DIY music communities,
addresses issues of physical and social spaces of proximity,
intimate social relations and musical practices, and sounds
of American DIY music communities. It explores connections
between music spaces and communities on the one hand and
social differences and contradictions in American DIY music
communities.
Citation:
Verbuč, David. 2016. "Prostor, družbena bližina in intimna skupnost v ameriških neodvisnih glasbenih kulturah." Glasnik Slovenskega etnološkega društva 56/1-2: 37-52.
When studying how rock, punk, and similar cultures relate to place, scholars tend to focus on local scenes (and on concerts as constitutive events that establish rock music community). When they do consider translocal connections, they mostly discuss non-face-to-face relations, for instance, as enacted through printed or electronic media. In this paper, by ethnographically examining the interpersonal dynamics of several case studies, I demonstrate that the music community of DIY (do-it-yourself) participants in the US is constituted in large part through face-to-face interaction, not only in local places (through the interaction of DIY participants both within and between music venues), but in translocal space (through touring, and similar traveling practices) as well. Local participants depend on translocal touring participants (who generate flows of ideas, sounds, objects, and people), and the translocal participants depend on their local compatriots (who provide places at which to play, or sleep). Local DIY places, especially DIY participants’ houses, play a significant role in this dialectic as items of reciprocal exchange within the translocal “network of friends/favors.” In addition, they also function as places of ‘intimacy,’ in the local context as sites for small and ‘intimate’ concerts, and translocally as places for hosting touring musicians as houseguests. DIY places/houses thus contribute to an experience of closeness and to the transformation of fans to friends for the DIY participants. In the first part of the paper, I examine the establishment of local and translocal DIY ‘community’ through the social practice of touring (culture as travel). In this section, I also briefly discuss historical and geographical factors, and consider the dimensions of race, gender, and sexuality in the American DIY touring experience. In the second part, I subsequently observe the aspects and particular characteristics of DIY touring practices themselves (travel as culture), and how they reflect and generate DIY values and politics.
Books by David Verbuč
More here: https://www.routledge.com/DIY-House-Shows-and-Music-Venues-In-the-US-Ethnographic-Explorations-of/Verbuc/p/book/9781032049175
Citation: Verbuč, David. 2023. “‘A Whole Society, With Its Own Economic System’: The Reciprocal and Capitalist Configurations of American DIY Music Scenes.” Ethnomusicology Forum 32/1. doi: 10.1080/17411912.2023.2180050
Citation: Verbuč, David. 2018. “Theory and Ethnography of Affective Participation at DIY Shows in the US.” Journal of Popular Music Studies 30/1-2: 79-107.
I examine in this article how American “do-it-yourself” communities are established socio-spatially both as oppositional and subversive social spaces and scenes and as emerging alternative and autonomous worlds that challenge and transcend the effects and implications of the normative private–public distinction in the United States. I specifically analyze how these do-it-yourself spheres are organized around particular spatial discourses and spatial practices, policies, and interactions enacted at do-it-yourself shows that promote social intimacy, collective solidarity, diversity, and equality. Furthermore, I focus on the tensions and contradictions that exist within American do-it-yourself spaces and scenes in regard to utopian and “real” worlds, inclusive and exclusive social practices, and homogeneous and heterogeneous communities, as manifested through the tensions between private and public nature of American do-it-yourself spaces and scenes. Based on my long-term ethnographic fieldwork research in various US locations, and particularly on the American West Coast, I argue that this tension is, on one hand, both politically necessary and socially beneficial since it enables the creation of counterpublic spaces and with that also “new intimacies” and “new worlds” (Warner, 2002). On the other hand, however, it is also limiting and controversial for the political and social aspirations of American do-it-yourself communities. In the article, I delve into the history and theory of public and private spaces, as related to Western do-it-yourself music practice, and then continue with the analysis of my ethnographic data, where I pay particular attention to the publicness of the house, the body, and the scene, as related to American do-it-yourself communities. In this regard, I specifically examine program and space policies, as well as dance and bodily practices, at American do-it-yourself shows and further look at some of the social and political public engagements of American do-it-yourself participants.
Citation: Verbuč, David. 2017. “Notions of Intimate Publicness, and the American DIY Music Spaces.” Wang, Jing, and Peterson, Marina, eds. Sound and the Public: A Special Issue of Communication and the Public 2/4, 284–304 [https://doi.org/10.1177/2057047317741901].
Citation: Verbuč, David. 2017. “’Houses Provide a Spatial Backbone for Virtually Everything We Do’: An Anthropological Study of DIY (“do-it-yourself”) House Shows in the US.” In Keep it Simple, Make it Fast! An Approach to Underground Scenes. Volume 3. Guerra, Paula, and Tânia Moreira, eds. Porto, Portugal: University of Porto, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, 13–24.
glasbene žanre, kot so pank, indie rock, kantavtorstvo in
eksperimentalna glasba, so skozi desetletja svojega obstoja
izoblikovale svojevrstne pristope k družbenim praksam, ki jim
na materialni in ideološki ravni pomagajo pri vzpostavljanju,
vzdrževanju in samorazumevanju intimnih družbenih skupnosti.
Intimnost v tem kontekstu pomeni družbene odnose bližine, ki
temeljijo na tesnih prijateljskih, fizičnih in neposrednih odnosih,
delujočih po načelih enakopravnosti, vključevanja in vzajemnosti.
V članku, ki temelji na etnografskih raziskavah ameriških neodvisnih
glasbenih skupnosti, se posvetim vprašanjem fizičnih
in družbenih prostorov bližine, intimnih družbenih razmerij in intimnih
glasbenih praks ter zvokov ameriških neodvisnih glasbenih
skupnosti. Ob tem me po eni strani zanimajo povezave med
glasbenimi prostori in skupnostmi, po drugi pa družbene razlike
in nasprotja v ameriških neodvisnih glasbenih skupnostih.
English abstract: In the decades of their existence, American DIY
(“do-it-yourself”) music cultures, which encompass music genres
such as punk, indie rock, singer-songwriters, and experimental
music, have created their unique approaches to social
practices that assist them, both on the material and ideological
level, in the construction, maintenance, and self-perception of
intimate social communities. In this context, “intimacy” denotes
social relations of proximity that are based on close friendly,
physical, and direct relations operating under the principles
of equality, inclusion, and reciprocity. The text, which is based
on ethnographic research of American DIY music communities,
addresses issues of physical and social spaces of proximity,
intimate social relations and musical practices, and sounds
of American DIY music communities. It explores connections
between music spaces and communities on the one hand and
social differences and contradictions in American DIY music
communities.
Citation:
Verbuč, David. 2016. "Prostor, družbena bližina in intimna skupnost v ameriških neodvisnih glasbenih kulturah." Glasnik Slovenskega etnološkega društva 56/1-2: 37-52.
When studying how rock, punk, and similar cultures relate to place, scholars tend to focus on local scenes (and on concerts as constitutive events that establish rock music community). When they do consider translocal connections, they mostly discuss non-face-to-face relations, for instance, as enacted through printed or electronic media. In this paper, by ethnographically examining the interpersonal dynamics of several case studies, I demonstrate that the music community of DIY (do-it-yourself) participants in the US is constituted in large part through face-to-face interaction, not only in local places (through the interaction of DIY participants both within and between music venues), but in translocal space (through touring, and similar traveling practices) as well. Local participants depend on translocal touring participants (who generate flows of ideas, sounds, objects, and people), and the translocal participants depend on their local compatriots (who provide places at which to play, or sleep). Local DIY places, especially DIY participants’ houses, play a significant role in this dialectic as items of reciprocal exchange within the translocal “network of friends/favors.” In addition, they also function as places of ‘intimacy,’ in the local context as sites for small and ‘intimate’ concerts, and translocally as places for hosting touring musicians as houseguests. DIY places/houses thus contribute to an experience of closeness and to the transformation of fans to friends for the DIY participants. In the first part of the paper, I examine the establishment of local and translocal DIY ‘community’ through the social practice of touring (culture as travel). In this section, I also briefly discuss historical and geographical factors, and consider the dimensions of race, gender, and sexuality in the American DIY touring experience. In the second part, I subsequently observe the aspects and particular characteristics of DIY touring practices themselves (travel as culture), and how they reflect and generate DIY values and politics.
More here: https://www.routledge.com/DIY-House-Shows-and-Music-Venues-In-the-US-Ethnographic-Explorations-of/Verbuc/p/book/9781032049175