Of goths and salmons: A practice-based exploration of subcultural enactments in 1980s Milan

The present paper explores, for the first time, the Italian appropriations of British goth in Italy, and in particular in the 1980s in Milan. Adopting a practice-based approach and a theoretical framework based on the STS-derived concept of “enactment”, it aims at highlighting the coexistence of different forms of subcultural belonging. In particular, it identifies three main enactments of goth in the 1980s in Milan: the activist enactment introduced by the collective Creature Simili (Kindred Creatures); the enactment of the alternative music clubs and disco scene spread throughout northern Italy; and a third one, where participants enacted dark alone or in small groups. While these three different variations of goth had the same canon of subcultural resources in common (music, style, patterns of cultural consumption), they differed under relevant points of view, such as forms of socialization, their stance on political activism, identity construction processes and even the relationship with urban space. Yet, contrary to the stress on individual differences typical of post-subcultural theories, the Milanese variations of goth appear to have been socially shared and connected to participation in different and specific sets of social practices of subcultural enactment.