Skateboarding is many things other than a hobby or a toy. For many other people skateboarding is a sport that can lead to a professional career or a lifestyle in which people can create a community based around this piece of technology. Its an artifact in which the community surrounding it was so controversial that was eventually deemed a subculture. Skateboarding has been at the center for many other technological developments in not only our society, but also around the world. It is an efficient mode of transportation that is quite simple to learn to operate. Also many companies such Vans were born to cater to this subculture. However, you cannot understand the importance of this technology without looking at where it all started.
Before we can talk about skateboards we must look at their antecedents, their precursors, and the artifact in question is surfboards. Surfing can be traced back for thousands of years, but didn’t gain its popularity as a sport until the nineteen fifties. Skating emerged in nineteen fifty eight by Califorian surfers who tried to mimic the act of surfing, but on land and they called it sidewalk surfing. Skateboards began to be mass produced in the early nineteen sixties; however, a large majority of skaters made their own homemade boards with clay wheels. Due to an increasing amount of injuries and board malfunctions many of the skate stores closed down in nineteen sixty five because they were considered a hazard. Skateboardings dormancy was short lived because the invention was revived in the nineteen seventies.
Throughout the nineteen seventies many inventors improved upon the initial design of early skateboards. The wave started in nineteen seventy two when a man named Frank Nasworthy invented urethane wheels. These wheels allowed skaters to participate in the activity in a safe manner. There are many other technological achievements that further advanced the popularity and efficiency of skateboards, but those advancements will be covered in the design portion of this piece.
The design of the skateboard is one that can not precisely placed in the beginning due to the fact that the vast majority of skateboards were homemade. The first professional skateboard was invented by Larry Stevenson which consisted of a wooden frame that looked similar to a surfboard, Chicago trucks, and clay wheels. A truck is a device that acts as an axel in order to maneuver the skateboard by leaning. By nineteen seventy seven the design of skateboards had split into several styles of board shapes. Examples include freeriding which the wheels are intended for sliding, thrashing, and other aggressive maneuvers. Slalom often has a nonfunctional footrest with a wedged front that is used for moving through tight spaces like cones. This style skateboard is most often used for timed sporting events or downhill racing.
One more design that is worth mentioning is the Speedboard or downhill deck there is no kicktail for this board and the trucks are inverted in order to prevent the wheels from making contact with the deck causing the skateboard to come to a complete stop.
The impact that this piece of technology makes is not only a revolution in transportation, but it has sociological implications as well. Skateboarders were labeled rebels by the mainstream media due to the crimes that were often linked with skateboarding such as trespassing and vandalism. The community that arose from the sport was focused on performing tricks in hopes to win local competitions while exercising the creative freedom to invent new moves. Adults see skating as a form of rebellion like Hip Hop or grafitti and that the property damage that is caused by these carefree teens is a bad influence on their respect for authority. Gender is also a big role because skateboarding is seen as a male dominated sport so it is seen as unnatural for a female to partake in the sport.
Our goals for creating a documentary centered around skateboarding revolve around utilizing the UMW Digital Knowledge Center’s studio for filming the different segments of our film. In our documentary, we will be looking at the overlapping aspects of skateboarding history, design, and impact and providing a comprehensive report using our abundance of sources. We also discussed a possible idea of filming a cheesy retro pro-skateboard advertisement that also includes information if time or ability allows. Our blog will also include relevant information about skateboards that is organized into subcategories.
“About Surfing and Skateboarding Youth Subcultures.” UCLA Center. Accessed September 25,
2019. About Surfing and Skateboarding Youth Subcultures.
This document highlights various topics such as how youth are identified as surfers and skateboarders, the impact of these subgroups, the prevalent policy and practice efforts to address negative impact, and data on intervention efforts.
Abulhawa, Dani. n.d. Accessed September 24, 2019.
This article focuses on what it was like to be a female skateboarder when it was not that common for women to skateboard. The piece points out instances in which women were ridiculed for attempting a traditionally male sport, therefore deterring them to continue.
Atencio, Matthew, Becky Beal, and Charlene Wilson. 2009. “The Distinction of Risk: Urban
Skateboarding, Street Habitus and the Construction of Hierarchical Gender Relations,” January. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19398440802567907.
This paper analyzes gendered relations and identities amongst street skateboarders. This article explains the difference in reception of men skaters vs women. Men were observed to be rewarded for risk-taking and praised for technical prowess while women were viewed as lacking technical skill and discouraged to take risks in skating. The result was that women became largely excluded from societal skating culture, especially street skating. This article also looks at “all women” spaces for skating.
Attey, Graeme Scott, n.d.
This is the citation information of the first patent on the modern skateboard in 2000 made by Graeme Scott. The patent details the design of the invention itself and some of its history.
“Board Shapes and It’s Uses.” n.d. Accessed September 24, 2019.
This is a buyer’s guide on beginning skateboards and longboards featuring the varying shapes of decks and why one would consider purchasing it. It showcases the different shapes of boards and the instances in which they are used. It can be referenced for the information it provides about the many ways one can ride a skateboard.
Haenfler.sites.grinnell.edu. (n.d.). Skaters – Subcultures and Sociology. [online] Available at:
https://haenfler.sites.grinnell.edu/subcultures-and-scenes/skater-subculture/ [Accessed 25 Sep. 2019].
This site is an accumulation of how skateboarding has evolved from its antecedent surfboarding to become its own subculture. This site discusses the implication the culture has on gender and authenticity. In addition to these factors it discussing the typical values that skaters have as well as how the general public perceives them.
Howell, Ocean. 2001. “The Poetics of Security: Skateboarding, Urban Design, And the New
Public Space.” 2001. http://urbanpolicy.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Howell_2001_Poetics-of-Security_NoPix.pdf
This essay analyzes the culture of street skating in respect to architecture and treatment of skating spaces. The piece points out the increasing marginalization and exclusion of skaters in cities as integrated into its very architecture such as adding increased surveillance.
Lombard, K. (2015). Skateboarding Subcultures, Sites and Shifts. 1st ed. London, pp.1-216.
This book explores several different dynamics of skateboarding including the cultural, social, and political aspects. The source draws contributions from leading experts who discuss skateboarding in respect to sociology, philosophy, architecture, ecology, cultural studies, and other fields.
Prentiss, Anna M, Randall R. Skelton, Niles Eldredge, and Colin Quinn. “Get Rad: The
Evolution of the Skateboard Deck.” https://evolution-outreach.biomedcentral.com. Bio Medical Center (BMC), June 24, 2011.
This article outlines the detailed history on the origins of the skateboard as well as the evolution of the invention as it pertains to the trends in the skateboarding subculture. It also goes on to describe the various designs and renditions that skateboards have and how they were favored by the skateboarding community.
Radikonyana, P., Prinsloo, J. and Pelser, T. (2017). The Contribution of Skateboarding to Societal xxxxxxxxxChallenges. 4th ed. [ebook] Pretoria: African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and xxxxxxxxLeisure, pp.1-20. Available at: https://www.ajhtl.com/uploads/7/1/6/3/7163688/article_28_vol_6__4__2017.pdf[Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].
This is an article with the primary objective is determining the contributions that skateboarding makes to societies around the world. They look into the motivations that skateboarders have to skate, the connection between skating and criminal activity, and a general perception for skateboarding values. In the article the evolution of skateboarding is discussed and how skateboarding eventually globalized to other countries.
Slee, Thomas. “Skate For Life: An Analysis of the Skateboarding Subculture.” Skate For Life: x An Analysis of the Skateboarding Subculture. University of South Florida, 2011. http://honors.usf.edu/documents/Thesis/U69703351.pdf.
Skate For Life: An Analysis of the Skateboarding Subculture is a thesis that examines the history of skateboarding as it pertains to culture and society. It begins with a brief summary of the origins and then goes into depth about the culture of skaters and skate parks alike. It also discusses the negative stigma of urban skateboarding.
Snyder, Gregory J. Skateboarding LA: Inside Professional Street Skateboarding. NYU Press,
2017. University Press Scholarship Online, 2018. doi: 10.18574/nyu/9780814769867.001.0001.
Snyder’s book explores the stigma around street skating culture among youths and dives into professional street skating as a highly refined athletic pursuit. This source aims to appreciate the art, aesthetics, and rich culture that was brought upon by skating.
Taylor, L. and Adelman, H. (n.d.). About Surfing and Skateboarding Youth Subcultures. [ebook]
Los Angeles: Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA, pp.1-13. Available at: http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/youth/surf.pdf [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].
This article gives a history of surfing and skateboarding both as a sport and subculture. The main goal of this article is about identifying the surfing and skating subcultures as well as how these subgroups impacts the youth and the world around them. This article also mentions the many ways that industries connected these groups with each other and how to address the negative impacts that these inventions have on society.
The New York Times Skateboarding Category. The New York Times. Accessed September 25,
2019. https://www.nytimes.com/topic/subject/skateboarding.
This source is the New York Times section for past and ongoing skateboarding news. It is a valuable resource to assess how skateboarding has evolved and what new things skating adds to our current cultural climate.
Varszegi, Balazs, Denes Takacs, and Gabor Stepan. 2015. “Position Control of Rolling
Skateboard,” 1–6. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405896315014950.
This source entails a mathematical analysis of the position control of a rolling skateboard. This can be useful in discussing the technology behind how a skateboard is used and effectively controlled by a rider.
“Vintage Skateboard Magazines.” The Quarterly Skateboarder. Accessed September 26, 2019.
This is a website that contains several volumes of the first skating magazines to ever exist in the U.S. They can be a valuable historical resource as well as a primary reference for vintage skateboarding culture and design.