Reflection About Clubbing

I wish to acknowledge all the people who helped me in this journey and experience. I do not and never will I consider that this thesis and the processes as burden, rather as a complex and wonderful masterpiece worth the wait, time and effort. This is because of those who supported me along the way…

To my adviser, Dr. Charlie M. Dagwasi, who guided me through the journey by giving his insights and continuously challenging me to enhance the thesis and develop me as a researcher and a thinker. Thanks for learning with me. The same gratitude is given to Dr. Ruth S. Batani and Mr. Stanley F. Anongos for their anthropological and sociological insights that led to the development and completion of this research. My perspective as a researcher and

In here, the experience is enhanced by looking at clubbing as a play wherein social control is more relaxed although it is still guided by a larger structure with governing rules and regulations. This makes clubbing and club as a paradox. In addition, clubbing as a play is also guided by rituals as seen from the actions and narratives presented in this research. With the observed and experienced ritualistic play, performativity of gender and identity were also seen on and off the dance floor. These include how gays and women negotiate their identity as a contestation to the assertion being shown by males, which the men reflect through hypermasculinity. These dynamics also manifest the contested identities in clubbing. Further, deeper understanding of the data on the experiences as seen and expressed in actors or clubbers showed that clubbing and the valued experience associated to it are more often dependent on the four types of capitals namely economic, social, cultural and symbolic capital. This means that the motives and the experience of clubbing follow a rise-and-fall process guided by the