Abstract
This project explores the organizing practices of an emergent network of activist street bands across the US. As a community, they have been called, “probably the most vibrant incarnation of the protest music tradition in America today”. While they often play at protests and activist events, their agendas are also distinguished by their inclusion-oriented, anti-hierarchical structures, a powerful rejoinder to the highly institutionalized economy of contemporary cities. Bands are as much social experiments are they are musical ones – in addition to being leaderless, some are “open” bands, accepting musicians of all skill levels; some are organized around particular genres; some have more than thirty musicians and others are as small as a quartet. They are comprised of people who are both musicians and activists, exploring direct democracy through music. However, even within this self-defined inclusive community is a parallel trend: a network of women-centered bands, often inclusive of nonbinary people but not of men. They emerge from musicians’ frustration with gender dynamics in larger groups, and gendered norms within music and cities. Women see their femme bands as transformative spaces of experimentation, and their all-gender bands fun but, in the words of one respondent, “mansplainy”. The emergence of femme bands begs the question of how power structures are challenged or reaffirmed in non-hierarchical, spaces. In other words: if street bands are so inclusive, why are femme bands appearing all? How is power gendered in these environments, and how is that consequential for music, cities, and political and civic life?
Presenters
Meghan KallmanAssociate Professor, School for Global Inclusion and Social Development, UMass Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Streets, Music, Activism, Brass bands, Gender
