"Woefully Imprecise": Nerdom as Messy Discourse

This thesis is about the way we talk about nerd identity as a unified and observable ‘fact’ of our cultural experience, even though (as the case studies and participants’ talk reveal) it is an evasive concept that we throw together, even as we discuss it. This thesis is ultimately about mess. Nerd is the case study through which to observe discursive and cultural messiness, and talk – particularly that from my field research – provides examples of the different ways we make sense of such mess and make it into something that appears stable and coherent.