Learning in parking lots: Affinity spaces as a framework for understanding knowledge construction in informal settings

Before, during, and after concerts, fans of The Grateful Dead, Phish, Widespread Panic, and other improvisation-oriented jam bands, gather in venues' parking lots to share experiences, debate band related lore, buy and sell fan made goods, listen to music, and participate in numerous other scene-related activities. The interaction within these spaces, and with these spaces, fosters the social construction of knowledge, language, skills, norms, behaviors, and identities. By applying Gee's construct of “affinity space,” this article analyzes the different trajectories to learning and participation associated with one the most influential fandoms in the United States. The conceptualization of parking lots as affinity spaces sheds lights on informal learning practices experienced in physical settings that transcend the affordances offered by virtual communities, social media, and, more broadly, computer-mediated communication. Focusing on situated learning endeavors enacted in jam band parking lots in relation to formal educational practices, this study advocates for a renewed and joined approach to education and fandom studies through a sociocultural lens.