Cultures of Darkness: Night Travels in the Histories of Transgression

by Bryan D. Palmer

Peasants, religious heretics, witches, pirates, runaway slaves, prostitutes and pornographers, frequenters of taverns and fraternal society lodge rooms, revolutionaries, blues and jazz musicians, beats, and contemporary youth gangs--those who defied authority, choosing to live outside the defining cultural dominions of early insurgent and, later, dominant capitalism are what Bryan D. Palmer calls people of the night. These lives of opposition, or otherness, were seen by the powerful as deviant, rejecting authority, and consequently threatening to the established order.
Constructing a rich historical tapestry of example and experience spanning eight centuries, Palmer details lives of exclusion and challenge, as the "night travels" of the transgressors clash repeatedly with the powerful conventions of their times. Nights of liberation and exhilarating desire--sexual and social--are at the heart of this study. But so too are the dangers of darkness, as marginality is coerced into corners of pressured confinement, or the night is used as a cover for brutalizing terror, as was the case in Nazi Germany or the lynching of African Americans.
Making extensive use of the interdisciplinary literature of marginality found in scholarly work in history, sociology, cultural studies, literature, anthropology, and politics, Palmer takes an unflinching look at the rise and transformation of capitalism as it was lived by the dispossessed and those stamped with the mark of otherness.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Cultural, Sociology

416 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2000

Reviews

[natalia · Rating 4 out of 5]

um dia uma pessoa simplesmente resolveu estudar práticas noturnas ao longo da história. lindo

[Gary Norris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I might use this in a class or place it on reserve for a seminar. It offers a good introduction to its subject, but from an insider perspective. In other words, the (small) weakness of the book is that it relies on popular cultural examples of transgressors students may already know very well and in a way that will likely not challenge common perceptions of their narratives. I like the book because I like the topic, but I've learned nothing much. I am inclined to see the subjects in the way he presents. Fun read.

So, good book for folks new to the literature. Nothing too challenging. A solid introduction.

[Michel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okült ve transgerif olan ile akılcı ve muhafazakar olan arasındaki geçişleri, bunların ekonomi politiğini giriş seviyesinde veren tarihsel ve eleştirel gelenekleri kullanan bir çalışma.

Şebnem Kaptan tam anlamıyla rezil rüsva, korkunç bir çeviri yapmış. Kitabı anlam vererek okuyabilmek için hayalgücünüzü zorlamanız gerekiyor. Bu tür metinlerin İngilizce versiyonlarına aşina olmayanlar için çok zor olacaktır kitabın dilini takip edebilmek.

[Lucy Tierney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Author suggests that social change comes from the milieu of outcasts, as well as outsiders. A vibrant, scholarly SINthesis to skim.