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I recently uncovered an old report that I had written in the summer of 2010 about the musical project I composed (click the link to play the MP3) for the Feminist Disability Studies class I took that year (more info and background on this is here). That course remains probably one of the most influential things I've experienced in a long time and has changed the path of my university education (well, expanded it at least, my general path is still somewhat where I aimed to walk). I remain fascinated by this subject and hope to continue to learn more about it and to ultimately contribute to the field more than a couple of undergraduate essays and a song or two. Please keep in mind while reading this, that I was still in my first year of university and this was probably about the third real essay I'd ever written and didn't know how to do citations properly (does anyone, really?) or structure things well or avoid hyperbole, etc...
It's been a crazy couple of months and this is really the first time I've come up for air. So much to talk about, so much accomplished, so much failed, so much excitement past, present, and future (they all blur together for me these days... although one could argue it's been like that my entire life). Sadly, it's time for bed (I've spent the last couple of hours catching up on reading my friends' blogs and a few other blogs I follow... e.g. Ellen Reid's delightful and über entertaining "My Complete Lack of Boundaries" blog), and I will have to provide a real update at some point in the future. Hopefully a not quite so distant future at that.
Exploring Feminist Disability Themes Through Music
One of the cornerstones of modern feminist studies is the notion that personal narratives of women or other marginalized groups provide a standpoint from which their sociocultural experiences can be analyzed, especially in contrast to the dominant experience. When standpoint theory is particularized to those who have “a body that materializes at the ends of the curve of human variation”, an epistemology of the lived experience of disability emerges – called sitpoint theory or sitpoint epistemology – as a means of universalizing feminist standpoint epistemology away from its prejudicially ableist roots (Garland-Thomson, “Integrating Disability, Transforming Feminist Theory”). Since art often presages the emergence or some new aspect of a culture, and a healthy culture will produce a vibrant and multitudinous artistic expression of its identity through narratives both personal and constructed, art comprises a primary expression of cultural epistemology. Within the world of art itself, music can be a valuable tool for embodying that which is often inexpressible in words or images, and therefore struck me as being a potentially powerful method of conveying the academic themes we have explored in this introduction to feminist disability studies, as well as giving new voice to the nature of the personal stories we have heard. Such an effort can also be seen as part of the emergence of a broader artistic expression and a tool for the popularization of the formative culture based on the integrative work of feminist disability studies itself.
( The rest of the essay is here... )
Whether or not there is any particular merit to “Sitpoint Epistemology” as a piece of music independent of context, it does represent possibly one of the first attempts, if not the first attempt, to explore key themes from the field of feminist disability studies exclusively through music composed for that deliberate purpose. Based on feedback from its inaugural performance within the classroom environment, subsequent feedback from friends and acquaintances on their impressions and feelings about the piece, my own repeated listenings and self-criticism, and judged against the context of the amateur nature of my musical abilities, in integrating the specific commentary received, I have come to the personal conclusion that I was ultimately successful in my attempt. Of particular note is several of those who listened to it without context picked up on the rhythmic and emotional themes I deliberately attempted to use to capture the narrative of disability. Through this, and I’m sure, subsequent explorations by those more competent than I at achieving complex expression through music, the culture of feminist disability studies will become part of a growing dialogue in popular culture and academia.
( And the bibliography is here... )
It's been a crazy couple of months and this is really the first time I've come up for air. So much to talk about, so much accomplished, so much failed, so much excitement past, present, and future (they all blur together for me these days... although one could argue it's been like that my entire life). Sadly, it's time for bed (I've spent the last couple of hours catching up on reading my friends' blogs and a few other blogs I follow... e.g. Ellen Reid's delightful and über entertaining "My Complete Lack of Boundaries" blog), and I will have to provide a real update at some point in the future. Hopefully a not quite so distant future at that.
One of the cornerstones of modern feminist studies is the notion that personal narratives of women or other marginalized groups provide a standpoint from which their sociocultural experiences can be analyzed, especially in contrast to the dominant experience. When standpoint theory is particularized to those who have “a body that materializes at the ends of the curve of human variation”, an epistemology of the lived experience of disability emerges – called sitpoint theory or sitpoint epistemology – as a means of universalizing feminist standpoint epistemology away from its prejudicially ableist roots (Garland-Thomson, “Integrating Disability, Transforming Feminist Theory”). Since art often presages the emergence or some new aspect of a culture, and a healthy culture will produce a vibrant and multitudinous artistic expression of its identity through narratives both personal and constructed, art comprises a primary expression of cultural epistemology. Within the world of art itself, music can be a valuable tool for embodying that which is often inexpressible in words or images, and therefore struck me as being a potentially powerful method of conveying the academic themes we have explored in this introduction to feminist disability studies, as well as giving new voice to the nature of the personal stories we have heard. Such an effort can also be seen as part of the emergence of a broader artistic expression and a tool for the popularization of the formative culture based on the integrative work of feminist disability studies itself.
( The rest of the essay is here... )
Whether or not there is any particular merit to “Sitpoint Epistemology” as a piece of music independent of context, it does represent possibly one of the first attempts, if not the first attempt, to explore key themes from the field of feminist disability studies exclusively through music composed for that deliberate purpose. Based on feedback from its inaugural performance within the classroom environment, subsequent feedback from friends and acquaintances on their impressions and feelings about the piece, my own repeated listenings and self-criticism, and judged against the context of the amateur nature of my musical abilities, in integrating the specific commentary received, I have come to the personal conclusion that I was ultimately successful in my attempt. Of particular note is several of those who listened to it without context picked up on the rhythmic and emotional themes I deliberately attempted to use to capture the narrative of disability. Through this, and I’m sure, subsequent explorations by those more competent than I at achieving complex expression through music, the culture of feminist disability studies will become part of a growing dialogue in popular culture and academia.
( And the bibliography is here... )
