Please cite this article in press as: Ross, J. I., et al. In search of academic legitimacy: The current state of scholarship on graffiti and street art. The Social Science Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2017.08.004 ARTICLE IN PRESS G Model SOCSCI-1422; No. of Pages 9 The Social Science Journal xxx (2017) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect The Social Science Journal journa l h om epa ge: www.elsevier.com/locate/soscij In search of academic legitimacy: The current state of scholarship on graffiti and street art  Jeffrey Ian Ross a,b,∗ , Peter Bengtsen c , John F. Lennon d , Susan Phillips e , Jacqueline Z. Wilson f a School of Criminal Justice, University of Baltimore, 1420 North Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21201, USA b Visiting Professor, Kriminologie, Kriminalpolitik, Polizeiwissenschaft, Ruhr-Universit¨ at Bochum, Germany c Department of Arts and Cultural Sciences, Division of Art History and Visual Studies, Lund University, Lund, Sweden d Department of English, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA e Environmental Analysis, Pitzer College, Claremont, CA, USA f Federation University Australia, Ballarat, Vic Australia a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 28 February 2017 Received in revised form 28 July 2017 Accepted 11 August 2017 Available online xxx Keywords: Graffiti Street art Vandalism Scholarly legitimacy a b s t r a c t Much has changed since the 1960s when the first scholarship on contemporary graffiti appeared. The current paper is an attempt to outline and contextualize a number of recur- rent challenges facing researchers of graffiti and street art, as well as developments that have taken place in this scholarly field. The aim of creating this outline is to assist in increas- ing the amount, and improving the quality, of future scholarship on graffiti and street art. We recognize, however, that although many of the challenges have at one time seemed insurmountable, over time they have lessened as graffiti and street art have grown as art movements, and because a small cadre of tenacious scholars focusing on graffiti and street art has published and taught in this area. An increasing, though limited, number of aca- demic venues focused on graffiti and street art scholarship has slowly emerged. We also recognize that with increased scholarship that has laid the foundation, new avenues to explore graffiti and street art have become apparent. © 2017 Western Social Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In their contemporary forms, graffiti and street art have received attention from the public, law enforce- ment, the news media, the art market, cultural institutions, and scholars from a wide range of disciplines. 1 This lat-  This paper has its origins in a roundtable panel at the American Society of Criminology Meetings, November 2016. ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: jross@ubalt.edu (J.I. Ross). 1 Although there are numerous definitions of graffiti and street art, the following ones are deemed sufficient for this article. Typically, graf- fiti “refers to words, figures, and images that have been written, drawn and/or painted on, and/or etched into or on surfaces where the owner of ter loose collection of individuals (e.g., Austin, 2001; Castleman, 1982; Carrington, 1989; Cresswell, 1996; Ferrell, 1996; Halsey & Young, 2002; Macdonald, 2001; the property has NOT given permission.” Street art refers to a wide range of expressions, including sculptures, installations, wall paintings and “[s]tencils, stickers, and artistic/noncommercial posters that are affixed to surfaces where the owner of the property has NOT given permission for the individual to place them on it. Can include words, figures, images and/or a combination of these” (Ross, 2016b: 476–477). Note that while the unsanctioned nature of graffiti and street art is often highlighted as a central characteristic, there are also scholars who use these terms to refer to sanctioned work (e.g., Kramer, 2016). This discrepancy in the use of the terms “graffiti” and “street art” to describe sanctioned expressions is by necessity also reflected in the present article. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2017.08.004 0362-3319/© 2017 Western Social Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.