Poor, but Sexy

This edited collection of essays presents a wide-ranging examination of the nature of scenes and subcultures in contemporary Berlin. It touches upon a number of key debates about cultural life in the city, drawing from examples specific to Berlin itself but germane also to those interested in discussions about broader issues of urban living.

Poor, But Sexy: Reflections on Berlin Scenes offers readers a varied cross-section of the city's scenes, providing a prismatic view of one of Europe's mythical cultural capitals. The authors gathered here address a range of topics, including Turkish gay clubs, queer filmmaking, record labels, the legendary Russendisko, electronic music festivals, the city's famous techno scene, the clandestine dimensions of its nighttime club culture, and the fraught emergence of the Mediaspree. With the shifting context of post-Wende Berlin its backdrop, this collection puts into relief an electic array of case studies, presenting to readers interested in exploring urban issues a number of critical and analytical perspectives on the city's cultural life as it moves into the twenty-first century. Poor, But Sexy is an important contribution to the critical analysis of the cultural spaces in the city, and allows readers access to one of the few scholarly overviews of Berlin's varied cultural life available in English.

Autorentext

Geoff Stahl is a Senior Lecturer in Media Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. His research interests focus on urban culture and popular music, and his publications include work on scenes and subcultures in cities such as Montreal, Berlin and Wellington.

Klappentext

Poor, But Sexy: Reflections on Berlin Scenes offers readers a varied cross-section of the city s scenes, providing a prismatic view of one of Europe s mythical cultural capitals. The authors gathered here address a range of topics, including Turkish gay clubs, queer filmmaking, record labels, the legendary Russendisko, electronic music festivals, the city s famous techno scene, the clandestine dimensions of its nighttime club culture, and the fraught emergence of the Mediaspree. With the shifting context of post-Wende Berlin its backdrop, this collection puts into relief an electic array of case studies, presenting to readers interested in exploring urban issues a number of critical and analytical perspectives on the city s cultural life as it moves into the twenty-first century. Poor, But Sexy is an important contribution to the critical analysis of the cultural spaces in the city, and allows readers access to one of the few scholarly overviews of Berlin s varied cultural life available in English.

Zusammenfassung
«Der kanadische Kommunikationswissenschaftler Geoff Stahl hat mit »Poor But Sexy« einen herausragenden Sammelband zum Themenkomplex urbane Szenen vorgelegt. [...] Ein wichtiges Buch für Lehre und Forschung.»
(Bianca Ludewig, Österreichische Zeitschrift für Volkskunde LXX/119, 2016)

Inhalt
Contents: Kira Kosnick: Out on the Scene: Queer Migrant Clubbing and Urban Diversity David-Emil Wickström: Russendisko and the German-Russian Folklore Lineage Christoph Jacke/Sandra Passaro: The Reassessment of all Values: The Significance of New Technologies and Virtual/Real Space in the Trans-National German Pop Music Industries Carlo Nardi: The Scene of Scenes: Berlin Underground Parties, Neither Movement nor Institution Anja Schwanhäusser: Berlin Capitalism: The Spirit of Urban Scenes Bastian Lange: Field Configuring Events: Professional Scene Formation and Spatial Politics in the Design Segment of Berlin Ger Zielinski: Berlin's Underground Filmmakers & Their (Imagined) Scenes, Inside and Beyond the Wall Beate Peter: Breaching the Divide: Techno City Berlin Geoff Stahl: Getting By and Growing Older: Club Transmediale and Creative Life in the New Berlin Enis Oktay: The Unbearable Hipness of Being Light: Welcome to Europe's New Nightlife Capital.