Subjectivity in crisis : an ethnographic analysis of subjectivity in a veteran motorcycle club

Abstract

This study is an ethnographic analysis of an Australian veteran motorcycle club and its members. Two goals have directed this research. The first goal was to shed light on the War Fighters Motorcycle Club and its part in what is a secretive and inaccessible subculture by means of original ethnographic research. To achieve this I used the data collection methods of qualitative interviews and participant observation. The second goal was to theorise the experiences of club members who are also Vietnam War veterans, using a grounded theory methodology and drawing upon a tradition in continental philosophy. A theoretical model adapted from the work of Nietzsche and Warren was developed to theorise their changing sense of personal identity as Vietnam veterans and motorcycle club members. This model represents an original framework for theorising subjectivity that has undergone a form of crisis. Three key phases, theorised as rupture, disconnection and reconnection, were identified in the changing subjectivity of these veteran bikers: their return from Vietnam to a hostile Australian reception, their ongoing feelings of isolation and a lack of acceptance, and, for some, a sense of recovered identity. This analysis of members of the War Fighters, in their double liminal status as veterans and bikers, has provided the opportunity for an exploration of the link between experiential and interpretive conditions of acting upon a coherent sense of self. This framework may also have useful application to other groups who have experienced significant trauma.