The Sublime Splendor of Intimidation

Outlaw Biker Aesthetics of Power

Bibliographic Data

ID2163444
AuthorsTereza Kuldova (0000-0002-7810-7233, University of Vienna, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume30
Issue5
Pages379-402
Publication date2017-10-20
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueVisual Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0894-9468 • E-ISSN: 1545-5920
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/08949468.2017.1371545
OpenAlexW2763374181
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited28

Terror, Edmund Burke argued, is the “common stock of everything that is sublime,” capable of producing delight when held at a certain distance. What puzzled Burke was the question of “how any species of delight can be derived from a cause so apparently contrary to it.” I suggest that we may look for an ethnographic answer to this question among the supporters, hangers-on and diverse admirers of outlaw bikers, who take pleasure in being exposed, albeit at a safe distance, to the sublime splendor of the biker’s power of intimidation. Grounded in ethnographic research among outlaw bikers in central Europe, analysis of popular visual culture and biker literature, this article argues that “sublime experience” is one of the indispensable ingredients of the aesthetics of power of the outlaw bikers.\nThe final version of this research has been published in Visual Anthropology. (c) 2017 Taylor & Francis

Aesthetics · Art · Ethnography · Intimidation · Pleasure · Political science · Power (physics · Sociology · Sublime · Anthropology · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Law · Psychology · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Sports, Gender, and Society

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