Master's Thesis: Crafting Culture

In this anthropological study, I take an ethnographic approach to analyzing the constructions of identity in Oklahoma through the craft beer movement. I use the concept of a “sense of place,” where I take a look into the legal changes that have affected the community, underlying religious influences, and the two sides of gentrification: growth and development on the one hand, and displacement on the other. In relation to the craft beer community, I examine the hiring process and the importance of identifying those who will “fit in,” and analyze the labels of three different breweries in Oklahoma City in terms of how they represent an Oklahoma identity, as well as how they market themselves individually. I also discuss how gendered perceptions of beer types and the glasses they are served in influence customer choices as reflections of identity. I explore the concept of taste, first explaining the physiological features of taste, then associating this with the taste of place. I then identify three social statuses within the craft beer community: the average drinker, the “beer nerd” aficionado, and the industry worker. Using the double concept of “taste” and identifying specific practices of each group, I highlight the distinctions between these statuses. Altogether, I conclude that the craft beer movement is a type of “imagined community” that has ties to the local, as well as the national and global.

The full publication of my thesis can be found at the link below:

THESIS PUBLICATION

VAVA

Elaborate murals hide amongst the alleyways, street musicians occupy every corner, and the neon lights hover above the huddled bars, shining bright against the dimness of dusk.  Nashville has an organic magic that seems to magnify at night.  My senses are heightened and the evening has only just begun.  

There’s a bar up ahead where music pours from its doorway, hypnotizing my friends and me, drawing us inward.  We make our way down a winding stairwell, a single black light guiding us through a smoky haze and untethered art on the walls to a small room just big enough to fit a stage, a bar, a colorful dance floor, and a VAVA 4k Projector.  There’s a band none of us have heard before in the middle of their set, so my friends and I make our way to the center of the dance floor.  I can feel every sensation in my body as the music begins to crescendo and the drums push forward in a driving rhythm.  There’s more beat than lyrics and my body responds to every shift in rhythm.  The inevitable movement begins to stir.  All at once the VAVA displays the most beautiful arrangement of colors and shapes that perfectly align with the band’s beat.  The screen hypnotizes me.  Reds seem to penetrate every part of my soul and yellows radiate making the glass bottles above the bar shimmer in the light 

The beat starts in my hips as they begin to sway back and forth as the projector changes images.  Music coursing up through my arms and hands as they make intricate designs in the air, and then down to my toes where it stays, feet unable to stop moving, it’s just me and the striking images of the VAVA.  The single light beating down somehow distances me from the present moment.  My friends have vanished behind the white light beams and I am alone with deep ocean blues and mesmerizing purples.  I am floating amongst the clouds with nothing but guitar rifts and drums pulsating through my body; the lead singer’s voice guides me through the sky and the images created by the colors of the VAVA validate my existence in the Nashville scene.