[IMCnetwork] IMC Seminar | Out of Harm’s Way: How Australian Music Venues and DIY Events Make by Emma Crocker | Friday 9 May 2025

[RSSS - Admin]

[Australian National University]
School of Politics and International Relations
Out of Harm’s Way: How Australian Music Venues and DIY Events Make
Safe Spaces
Emma Crocker (Australian National University)

Friday 9 May 2025
12 – 1 pm
Level 3 Room 3.72, RSSS building and via Zoom
Zoom Link<https://anu.zoom.us/j/3364169330?pwd=ZStOdm4vTWpwS1RMbmFYUisxWVB2UT09#success>
[cid:image003.png at 01DBBDB5.EE1DEB30]
Image: Photograph of DIY gig by Georgia Arndell
Australian music venues, bars, and DIY (do-it-yourself) music events
post ‘safe space’ policies to walls, Instagram pages, and bathroom
doors. These policies invite event attendees to think of themselves as being within a distinct safe space. What differentiates these spaces from other venues is not readily observable. So, how are safe spaces made? What makes them different from any other event space? Are they different at all?

This talk addresses these questions by explicating the meaning of safe spaces from how they are described and enacted by music venue operators and DIY event organisers in Canberra and Melbourne. Through data generated during 15 relational interviews and three periods of ethnographic participation in 2024, it outlines two distinct ways that safe spaces are made: one, via an agreement which Emma refers to as the Spatial Contract; the other, via gatekeeping with policies of ‘vibes-based’ exclusion.

This analytic distinction is useful, she argues, because it emphasises that the boundaries to safe spaces are not natural, but socially produced. Safety is not determined by demarcating space, but instead by the social relations that produce it.
Presenter Bio
Emma Crocker is a Bachelor of Public Policy (Honours) and International Relations graduate from the ANU School of Politics and International Relations. This talk is based on her honours thesis and continued research into the politics, policies and practices of safe spaces.
Recordings of past seminars are available at the following links:

  *   https://politicsir.cass.anu.edu.au/events/interpretive-political-science-tool-understanding-policy-making-practice-sarah-ball
  *   https://politicsir.cass.anu.edu.au/events/making-al-qa-ida-legible-interpretive-methods-secrets-and-mess-sarah-phillips
  *   https://politicsir.cass.anu.edu.au/events/how-do-interpretive-research-insights-phd-students-and-early-career-researchers-social

Contact
april.biccum at anu.edu.au<mailto:mailto:april.biccum at anu.edu.au>
politicsir.cass.anu.edu.au<https://politicsir.cass.anu.edu.au/events/series/imc-seminar-series>
[cid:image004.png at 01DB86AB.67595940]<https://www.facebook.com/politicsANU/>
[cid:image005.png at 01DB86AB.67595940]<https://twitter.com/politicsanu?lang=en>
The Australian National University,
Canberra

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If you do not wish to receive future seminar emails from us, please email admin.rsss at anu.edu.au
[Australian National University]

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