Marketing Seminar
A Cultural Analysis of Tailgating on a Midwestern American Collegiate Campus
Professor John Sherry, Herrick Professor of Marketing, Notre Dame
7th Jun 2011 10:00 am - Room 214/215, H69 - Economics and Business Building
Tailgating is an institutionalised form of public revelry accompanying many sporting events in the U.S. It is a populist prosumption phenomenon that contrasts in interesting ways with the sporting spectacle with which it is paired. In our ethnographic investigation of tailgating in the context of collegiate football, we explore the lived experience of the numerous stakeholders involved this revelry. We provide a thick description of the event, and propose a grounded theory of tailgating. In particular, we unpack themes of conviviality, community, chorography, carnavalesque and canalization that inform the phenomenon.