Political and social commitment of surfers in everyday life and fiction : a first overview
Résumé
In the course of history, surfing has been a vehicle for social protest, particularly in Hawaii during the anti-colonial struggle, or more recently in the context of separatist demands. In Australia, surfing has been used by Aboriginals as a vehicle for differentiating and affirming a counterculture. Today, surfer organizations are mobilizing internationally for environmental causes. In some movies or novels, figures of surfers are erected as protectors of fundamental rights. However, it must be admitted that these examples are exceptions, in relation to the growing number of surfers around the world and the unprecedented accumulation of cultural products. This consequent increase has upset the sociology of an increasingly heterogeneous space. Nevertheless, the social representations of surfing have changed little over time, as if the figure of the conquering hero transcended all cleavages. A hero stuck in his hedonistic bubble, if not narcissistic, almost out of time, less in tune with the realities of everyday life.
As a matter of fact, a significant number of surfers are in a precarious situation, while others occupy positions of responsibility in large companies and administrations. But, for the first ones, it is as if their surfer's condition was enough to forget this unstable social status ; for the second ones, surfing would just be a recreational and relaxing activity. As if the immanence and the beauty of the practice annihilated social torment and commitment to the collective.
Isn’t it a bit of a leap to say it so ? How to explain these binary explanations ? Should we consider that surfing, usually presented as an activity beyond the ordinary, is nothing but a hobby, unable to arouse, by the values that it carries, strong commitments or efficient actions ? What about those surfing values ? There are quite antagonistic. The defense of very contemporary causes, such as respect for nature, the enhancement of the aestheticism of the practice, the search for freedom, goes hand in hand with individualistic, if not violent (localism), attitudes, little concerned with universality. Undoubtedly, the surf concentrates the contradictions of the contemporary individual, concerned with autonomy in his life and in his relationship with the
State, but also acting as a demanding consumer of public services, worried if not helpless about his future. Is surfing an activity that motivates people to engage, or does it encourage them to withdraw and forget the harshness of life? This simple interrogation, which will undoubtedly require re-evaluation, will lead to establishing a first overview, focusing as much on real practices (various disputes) as on cultural representations, particularly through novels, films and television series.