Introduction
A "zine" is not considered an abbreviated form of magazine. It is instead a separate category of publication based around the non-profit and non-professional nature of its authors and publishers. Zines regularly address issues absent from mainstream media sources. Issues of race, gender, sexuality, the body, and economics located outside of mass media are presented, debated, and criticized in zines. In my research I sought to explore the intersections of zines and punk and how individuals construct identity for themselves and for the whole punk community within the context of zines. I knew that punk/hardcore zines was an ambiguous and difficult topic to study. The names that individuals use to describe what they do and how they live can often overlap. In order to avoid a reductionist view of both zines and punk I approached the definition of these terms generally and allowed the texts and individuals I came in contact with to give shape to these movements.
In order to explore zines and punk I decided to do two things, collect information about zines and punk as well information about the people who make zines and the people who identify themselves as punk. I examined zines from two centers of punk/hardcore activity in the United States, Portland, Oregon, and Austin, Texas. I also conducted ethnographic fieldwork in these to areas, recording and experiencing the people and culture producing punk/hardcore zines. This interdisciplinary research draws from the fields of sociology, anthropology, linguistics and cultural studies. As a participant observer, I took an ethnographic approach to analyzing the textual materials of punk/hardcore culture. I have attempted to address ethical issues concerning authorship, relations between the researched and the researcher and complex relationship between different representations of voice within the punk and zine community. Through textual analysis and ethnographic fieldwork in theses two areas, I encountered a series of overlapping, contradicting, and ambiguous voices regarding the meaning of punk and role zines play in developing punk identity. These very same traits of contrast and individual opinion are the backbone of what it means to be punk from its earliest forms to punk life in modern day America.