feminism & hip-hop at Barnard
GENDER AMPLIFIED: Women & Technological Innovation in Hip-Hop
With a Keynote Lecture by Tricia Rose
Visit the Conference Website to Register Online
Saturday, April 14
When it comes to the subject of hip-hop, feminists are seldom at a
loss of words. Some, like Tipper Gore, have come dangerously close to
infringing on First Amendment rights in their zeal to make
misogynistic lyrics simply disappear, while others, like Sarah Jones,
set out to turn the genre’s often troublesome take on women on its
head. For them, the “bling bling, bitches-and-hoes formula that
dominates hip-hop today” marks not only a fantastically adolescent
digression from reality (and a hypermasculine digression at that),
but also a refusal to acknowledge women’s participation in and
radical influence on a historically male-dominated corner of the
music industry (Ms. magazine, Oct./Nov. 2001).
In “Your Revolution,” a satiric corrective to the self-proclaimed bad
boys of hip-hop who delight in treating women badly, Jones sings:
“your revolution will not happen / between these thighs . . . /
because the revolution, / when it finally comes, is gon’ be real.”
BCRW joins the Africana Studies Department in sponsoring this
conference, developed in conjunction with Barnard senior Ebonie
Smith, to address the very real ways in which women are carving out
space for themselves and their projects within a traditionally male-
dominated industry. Increasingly, women are working as producers,
deejays, emcees, and sound engineers, effectively reshaping what has
been a long-standing and important medium for chronicling urban life
in America into a vibrant and, yes, revolutionary platform for women
artists and technological innovators.
By bringing together scholars in the field of women’s and music
studies, female artists, and feminist activists, “Gender Amplified”
aims to move beyond familiar discussions of misogyny in hip-hop to
show how women are using technology to redefine the very boundaries
of music-making, not to mention their own roles in the process.
Whether you’re in the industry and looking to network with like-
minded artists, or a music aficionado who wants a more nuanced
understanding of one of the country’s most exciting art forms, this
is a conference you won’t want to miss.
Visit the conference website for registration and additional
information. Registration is suggested. Site is best viewed on
Firefox or an updated version of Internet Explorer (7.0).
Barnard Center for Research on Women email: bcrw@barnard.edu phone: 212.854.2067 web: http://www.barnard.edu/bcrw