Brothers in Paint: Practice-Oriented Inquiry into a Tribal Marketplace Culture
Abstract
The objective of this paper is to explore what opportunities the emerging practice-oriented approach opens up for conceptualizing tribal consumer culture and marketplace dynamics. Drawing on Schatzki's theorization of the 'site of the social', tribal marketplace culture and change are examined based on a multi-sited ethnography of consumer tribes gathered around the extreme sport of paintball. Thus, the tribal marketplace culture becomes conceptualized from a new perspective as a nexus of practices and material arrangements; a specific context of human and non-human co-existence where social life and the marketplace transpires. Additionally, it is proposed, that 'tribal practices' should be considered as constantly evolving in accordance with the site.