Music and Feminism in the Twenty-First Century
Robin James
Abstract: This article surveys feminist music scholarship in the 21st century. It focuses on a set of key issues, problems, and sites of contestation that impact a diverse range of feminisms and musics: the rise of popular and postfeminisms, precaritization and work, trans feminisms, digital technology, and sexual assault and harassment. The discussion of each topic begins by examining the relevant scholarship in feminist theory and then proceeds to survey the music studies literature in this area. The article is thus structured to provide a toolkit that scholars and practitioners of any kind of music—and just about any kind of feminism—can apply in their own work and activism.
How to cite this article: James, Robin. 2021. “Music and Feminism in the Twenty-First Century.” Music Research Annual 1: 1–25. https://doi.org/10.48336/3z8r-cg43.
About the author: Robin James is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and co-editor of the Journal of Popular Music Studies. She is author of three books, including The Sonic Episteme (2019) and Resilience & Melancholy (2015), and co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Electronic Dance Music. Her work in popular music, sound studies, feminist theory, and the critical philosophy of race has appeared in The Guardian, LARB, differences, Hypatia, Sounding Out!, and many other publications.
ISSN 2563-7290