FM April 13: Work It! & Chicana Feminisms

Hosted by Christene Kings and Lynn Harris Ballen.

We’re Working It!  The biggest stars of the day – from Katy Perry, Nikki Minaj, Lady Gaga, to Adam Lambert – play in the brightest lights with conventions of gender and sexuality, echoing and building upon traditions of pop performance as old as the stage itself.  In basements, barrooms, concert halls and cafes across the country, artists of all types do the same—and more—while rooted in various political, performative, and social contexts they might hesitate to call “feminist” but will surely call “doing their thing.”

At the Work It music conference – a day long conference at USC in February – a group of leading music journalists, scholars, musicians, and music industry professionals came together to talk about the changing role of gender, race, and sexuality in the pop music world. Journalist and NPR Music critic Ann Powers and professor Karen Tongson join the show to talk about these issues and the importance of doing feminist work in this context. [Work It music conference organized by Karen Tongson, Ann Powers, Daphne Carr, and Sarah Dougher.]

And we’ll hear about the upcoming 2nd Annual Chicana/Latina Feminisms Conference: Joteando Por Vida! Para Que Nunca Mas Nos Vuelvan A Borrar at CSU Long Beach on April 23, 2011.  Reclaiming lost histories, tackling intersectional identities and commemorating the 40th Anniversary of Las Hijas de Cuauhtemoc. With guests Chicana feminist pioneer Ana Nieto Gomez,  Maylei Blackwell and  Audrey Silvestre and Nadia Zepeda – members of Conciencia Feminil – a student feminist organization addressing chronic erasure on campus.

This is what feminism sounds like!

LISTEN

(left: Work It ; middle: Best Music Writing 2010 by Ann Powers; right:Chicana/Latina Feminisms)