The Message Is in the Music: Hip Hop Feminism, Riot Grrrl, Latina Music & More; A Conference at Sarah Lawrence

The Message Is in the Music:
Hip Hop Feminism, Riot Grrrl, Latina Music & More

A Conference at Sarah Lawrence College

Bronxville, New York (15 minutes north of Manhattan)
Friday & Saturday, March 5 & 6, 2010
Free and Open to the Public

Keynote Speaker: Carmen Ashhurst, former president of Def Jam Recordings and Rush Communications and author of the
forthcoming book Selling My Brothers: The Movement, The Media, and Me

Music has long served social movements as a soundtrack, as a means of communication, and as its own arena for activism. While multiple generations of feminists have used music in these ways, it has played especially vital roles for those born since the 1970s. This conference will explore the ways in which young feminists have defined and expressed politics through music and musical cultures and communities. Among the questions we will ponder are: How does music reflect sites of agreement and conflict among different groups of feminists? How have movements like Riot Grrrl and Hip Hop feminism attracted young women to feminist activism? How do young feminists’ uses of music compare with those of earlier generations?

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:
Preliminary Schedule (subject to change)
Unless otherwise noted, all events take place in the Monika A. and Charles A. Heimbold, Jr. Visual Arts Center.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Registration
4:30 – 8 p.m., Heimbold Lobby

Opening Plenary
6 – 8 p.m., Heimbold 202

Welcome: Tara James, Associate Director,
Graduate Program in Women’s History, Sarah Lawrence College

Keynote Address: Carmen Ashhurst, former president of
Def Jam Recordings and Rush Communications, and author of the
forthcoming book Selling My Brothers: The Movement, The Media, and Me
Opening Reception
8 – 9:30 p.m., Slonim Living Room

Saturday, March 6, 2010

9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Heimbold Lobby
Registration
The Message is in the Music

Plenary Session
10 – 11:45 a.m., Heimbold 202

Opening Remarks: Priscilla Murolo, Director,
Graduate Program in Women’s History, Sarah Lawrence College

Plenary Panel
"Intersections: Music and Activism"

Mimi Nguyen, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
"Missing Persons"

Fiona Ngo, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
"Punk in the Shadow of War"

Christa D’Angelica, Law Clerk, New York Supreme Court, Sarah Lawrence College
"Beyond Bikini Kill: A History of Riot Grrrl, From Grrrls to Ladies"

Noon – 1 p.m., Heimbold Lobby
Lunch Break - (There will be a $10 charge for the conference lunch)

1 – 2:30 p.m., Breakout Session I

Panel: "Give Me Body": Reading the Latina and Black Female Body in Popular Music

Shanna Benjamin, Grinnell College
"Hot Sex on a Platter: Lil’ Kim and Reconstructions of the Black Female Body"

Lakesia D. Johnson, Grinnell College
"Black Queer Embodiment and Desire in the Music Videos of Me’shell Ndegéocello"

Michelle Rocío Nasser, Grinnell College
"Reading Shakira’s Body: Signs of Colombianidad in 'Hips Don’t Lie'"

Panel: Video Vixens

Loron Benton, Georgia State University
"'Shake What Your Mama Gave You': The Representation and Performance of the Female Body in Hip Hop Videos"

Zoe Spencer, Virginia State University
"Shake Dat Azz: Deconstructing the Sociopolitical Foundation of the Neo Jezebel"

Marita Buanes, University of Agder, Norway
"Flip It and Reverse It: Gender and Race in Missy Elliott’s Video 'Work It'"

Panel: Riot Grrrl

Julia Downes, University of Leeds
"'Resist Psychic Death': The Cultural Politics of Riot Grrrl and Queer Feminist Subculture"

Marisa Meltzer, Freelance Writer
"The Girl Power Revolution"

Jamielynn Varriale, SUNY Albany
"Embodying Riot Grrl: Fleshly Representations and Bodily Experiences and Images in the Work and Career of Corin Tucker"

Round-Table Discussion: "The Mode of Masculinity in the American Pop Patriarchy:
An Interactive Round-Table Discussion"

Jared Demick, University of Connecticut
Kristin Evans, University of Connecticut
Amber West, University of Connecticut
Jeffrey Wickersham, University of Connecticut

2:45 – 4:15 p.m., Breakout Session II

Panel: Women Rap

Emma Carmichael, Vassar College
"Female Subjectivity within Hip Hop: Rappers, Lyrics, and Performance"

Iresha Picot, Family Planning Council, Philadelphia
"Doorknockers: Black Female Rappers Knockin’ on a New Intellectual Discourse"

María Santana, University of Central Florida
"Her Sexy Stilettos Give a Women’s Point of View to Reggaeton: Ivy Queen and Latin Urban Music"

Panel: Performing Gender

Nafeesa Nichols, University of The Witwatersrand (South Africa)
"Gendered Identities in Black South African Creative Expression: Are We Running in Circles"

Barbara Anna Panuzzo, London South Bank University
"Writing Performative Identities: Discursive Traits of Femininity in Hip Hop Journalism"

Malaena Taylor, University of Connecticut
"Gender and Activism in the Punk Subculture"

Jessica Ronald – University of Louisville, Louisville, KY
"Potential Feminist Performances of Masculinity in Music: The Hip Hop Subculture of Nerdcore"

Panel: Divas

Brian Q. Torff, Fairfield University
Hilary Torff, High School Academic Core Teacher, Marymount Academy, Montreal, Canada
"Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, and Rosetta Tharpe: Black Women Who Shaped a Musical Future"

Elisabeth Wronzoff-Dashkoff, Independent Scholar
"Who’s That Girl?: Pop Stars as the Apogee of 1980s Feminist Discourse"

Panel: Say What: The Message in the Music

Vankita Brown, Howard University
"Me’Shell Ndegeocello and Womanist Music"

C. Chic Smith, Howard University
"African American Women in Hip Hop Music and Videos"

4:30 – 6 p.m., Breakout Session III

Workshop: Sophie’s Parlor Radio Collective

Facilitators:
Lakeisha R. Harrison
Kimberly C. Gaines
Andrea Thompson

Panel: "Love, Sex, and Magic: Hip Hop Feminism as a Tool
for the Creative Renegotiation of Black Female Desire"

Emily Unnasch, University of Alabama
"'F Love': Sex, Violence, and Hip Hop’s Turbulent Struggle to Define Love against the Grain"

Brittney Cooper, University of Alabama
'''She’s a Movement by Herself': Black Sexual Politics and Independent Black Womanhood in the Hip Hop Feminist Era"

Maigen Sullivan, University of Alabama
"'They Dykin': The Commodification of Lesbian Desire in Mainstream Hip Hop and Underground Attempts at Reclamation"

Tammy Owens, University of Alabama
“'It Must Be Your Ass'”: The Commodification of the Black Female Booty from Slavery to the Present"

Round-Table Discussion: Rhymes of Dissent: Identity Politics within Underground Hip Hop

Viviana Bernal, Sankofa Institute for Youth Development Inc.
Katie McGhee, Montclair State University
Maria Roumiantseva, Montclair State University

Panel: WomynSong

Amity Bryson, Avila University
"Women’s Music Festivals, Politics or Commodity?: The 1970s Experience vs. Lilith Fair"

Elizabeth K. Keenan, Columbia University
"If Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville Made You a Feminist, What Kind of Feminist Are You?: Heterosexuality, Race, and Class in the Third Wave?"

Andrea Fehring, University of Northern Iowa
“Womyn Only Space at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival: Is Separatism Based on Biological Sex, in Fact, Feminist?”

Closing Reception
6 – 6:30 p.m., Heimbold Lobby

6:30 – 8:30 p.m., Slonim Living Room

Alumni Reception for the Graduates of the
Sarah Lawrence College Women’s History Program