Bogan Culture: A Cultural Report
| Pronunciation | /ˈboʊ.ɡən/ (ボウガン) |
|---|---|
| Part of Speech | noun |
| English Definition |
An overview arguing that bogan is not a single coherent social group but a flexible cultural label that has shifted over time from a pure insult toward a badge of authenticity and Australian national identity. |
| Japanese Translation |
「ボーガン文化」の概説レポート |
| Japanese Explanation |
「ボーガン」を単一の社会集団ではなく、時代とともに侮辱語から本物らしさやオーストラリア的アイデンティティの象徴へと変化してきた、柔軟な文化的キーワードとして論じる概説記事。 |
Origin
Part of the Bogue series on kangaeroo.com, an ongoing cultural examination of Australian bogan culture.
Related Words
Executive summary
The first thing to understand is that “bogan” is not really the name of a single, coherent social group. It is a remarkably flexible Australian cultural label.
At various times it has meant:
- a supposedly uncultured working-class Australian;
- an outer-suburban Australian;
- a person with conspicuously unfashionable tastes;
- a person with a particular accent or vocabulary;
- a petrolhead, hoon or ute enthusiast;
- somebody who drinks too much;
- somebody who is aggressively Australian;
- somebody who rejects pretension;
- or, increasingly, simply somebody who cheerfully identifies as a bogan.
That last transformation is probably the most interesting.
“Bogan” began largely as an insult but has been partly reclaimed as a badge of authenticity, national identity and resistance to cultural snobbery. Linguist Roslyn Rowen describes it as a distinctive Australian cultural keyword whose negative meaning can be transformed into positive self-identification and Australian nationalism.
And there is a delicious paradox at the heart of it: The bogan has become fashionable precisely because the bogan is supposed not to care about fashion.