Neville Austin Graduate Colloquium Series | Joyce McCall (Arizona State)

Location: Room 130 of Edward Johnson Building.

Title: “Four Women”: Black Who Is Woman

Abstract: Black feminist thought (BFT) has traversed along a continuum of ebb and flow. From resisting being silenced to negotiating the challenges of defining BFT as a social theory, Black women in the United States have contributed exponentially to not only the delineation of BFT, but also to its adaptability in relatively every social space, including the Arts. Contributing to its malleability are the ways in which Black women have positioned themselves to share their intellect and lived experiences at the intersection of race and gender. The goal of this talk is to demonstrate how BFT persists in music, particularly among Black cultural artifacts such as Nina Simone’s “Four Women,” and illustrate how the music education profession might employ this and other sonic representations created by and for Black women to comprehend and dismantle spaces that propagate systemic structures that are both sexist and racist. 

The Colloquium Series is made possible in part by a generous gift from Neville Austin.