Feral (subculture)

In Australian slang, a "feral" refers to a suburban-dwelling poor person who is perceived as being uneducated, unskilled or dependent on social security benefits.

Typical Usage

Left Wing Ferals

Ferals in the Daintree

In the town of Cairns, a segment of the population simply lives in the Daintree rain forest either on freehold blocks or squatting. Cairns is tropical and tropical fruit is available wild all year round.

Feral as Alternative Lifestyle

During the early 1990s, the term "feral" was used in the Australian media to describe a distinct subculture which combined elements of the punk and hippie counter-cultural movements. The "feral movement" could be seen as the Australian equivalent to the European New age travellers. The feral movement adopted the disparaging moniker "feral" in a similar way that the counter-culture of a decade earlier had adopted the punk label. The typical image of a feral as a person with dreadlocks and dirty homemade clothes came out of the movements' association with the hardcore environmental movement. The earliest ferals were inner-city punks and squatters who attended environmental blockades, often in remote and inaccessible areas of the bush. As a result, washing of clothes was a difficult task and filthy clothes later came to be a symbol of attachment to the subculture, a mark of defiance against consumerist culture. The feral ideology is influenced by Neo-Tribalism, Neo-primitivism, anarchism and environmentalism. Early feral fashion was also influenced by post-apocalyptic depictions of the future current at the time, particularly the Mad Max films. A number of bands are associated with the feral movement, such as the folk/punk band Mutiny, the John Butler Trio, and the band/collective/cult Mutation Parlour [http://www.crossroads.wild.net.au] .

These ferals often have untethered hair (impromptu dreadlocks), are unwashed, and wear an assortment of torn, aged, although sometimes colorful, clothes. Their social system is based upon the following practices and philosophies: environmentalism (usually radical), refusal of most property systems founded on tenure or ownership (often resulting in nomadism and/or squatting), Marijuana-smoking, and suspicion of non-ferals.

ee also

* Alternative society
* Anarchism
* Freak scene
* Generation X

References

* Cohen, "Green Fire", Angus and Robertson, 1996;
* St John, G. 1997. "Going feral: authentica on the edge of Australian culture". The Australian Journal of Anthropology 8(2): 167-189
* [http://www.confest.org/thesis/index.html St John, G Dr. 2000, "Alternative Cultural Heterotopia:ConFest as Australia's Marginal Centre", School of Sociology, Politics and Anthropology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.]
* [http://www.mythography.net/ferality.pdf St John, G. 1999. Ferality: A Life of Grime. The UTS Review - Cultural Studies and New Writing, 5(2): 101-13.]
* [http://www.api-network.com/main/index.php?apply=scholars&webpage=default&flexedit=&flex_password=&menu_label=&menuID=homely&menubox=&scholar=170 St John G. "Ferals: Terra-ism and Radical Ecologism in Australia"]