Skateboarding Beyond Youth: Intergenerational Ties and Cultural Innovation in South Asia

Abstract

Skateboarding in South Asia, viz. India and Nepal has a very recent history of three to four decades, induced with efforts by foreign skateboarders who have helped the scene to thrive. The subculture is often perceived as a youth-driven network, embodying rebellion, creativity, and urban mobility. However, this paper challenges the assumption that skateboarding solely represents a generational rupture by exploring how older generations actively engage with the community rather influentially. Drawing references from primary ethnographic research done in Kathmandu and Pokhara in Nepal and Delhi, Bangalore and Gwalior in India, this study examines the intersections of skateboarding with influential elders, posing mainly as the pioneers of local skateboarding scenes in both the states. Skateboarding facilitates cultural innovation revealing a more nuanced, intergenerational dynamic. Older generations play crucial roles in sustaining and legitimizing these environments. Parents, local business owners and even few policy makers are involved from funding DIY skateparks to contributing in running business. The paper focusses on the complications in this binary between youth-driven global modernity and elder rooted tradition, highlighting it as a reciprocal exchange of knowledge, resources and values. However, while some elders dismiss it as a transient Western influence, others recognize its potential for fostering discipline, creativity, and alternative career paths. The study contributes to broader discussions on cultural innovation, globalization, and evolving community dynamics in contemporary South Asia.