Powerful peculiarity: zines as a tool to represent subjectivity in peripheral communities

Abstract

This thesis is an exploration of how the form of zines has evolved over time and served as a medium to make strong rhetorical arguments within subcultural or peripheral communities. I argue that self-publication is the main contributor to the essence, resonance, and aura of a zine. The author has nearly complete agency over what they produce and thus can freely express their ideas. While a zine can be defined in numerous—though not infinite—ways, the most accurate way to describe the form is that it is a self-published tactile material, self-distributed within a subcultural community.