[Commlist] Call for proposals - Diva: Hip-Hop, Feminism, Fierceness

The Centre for Film, Media, Discourse and Culture at the University of 
Wolverhampton warmly invites you to a symposium on
17th July 2019

Diva: Hip-Hop, Feminism, Fierceness

The shift from the margins to the mainstream has occurred 
simultaneously, over the last few decades, for two groups that now 
jointly exert a central influence over contemporary culture and 
politics: female r’n’b and hip-hop artists, and feminist thinkers and 
activists. The coming together of these two groups and sensibilities has 
redefined contemporary popular music (in all senses of musics of black 
origin), and wider culture and politics, in the West – from the 
banlieues to the White House, from Black Lives Matter to #MeToo, from 
Betty Davis to Neneh Cherry, TLC to Aaliyah, Alicia Keys to Iggy Azalea, 
Beyonce to Ariana Grande, and all points in between.

The symposium will seek to address this ongoing development, within the 
scope of exploring the origins of this shift, its resultant successes 
and failures, its social activism and relationship to “Black 
Capitalism”, its identity politics and LGBTQ+ components, its saints and 
sinners and controversies old and new, and its oppositions to, and 
recuperations by, the establishment, in African-American and 
Afro-European contexts, and beyond.

The symposium will culminate with a rare opportunity to view the 
documentary “Aaliyah Live in Amsterdam”, introduced (and with a Q&A) by 
its director, Dr. Pogus Caesar: “In 1995, Windrush Productions gained 
exclusive access to the Amsterdam leg of Aaliyah’s European tour. As 
well as capturing live footage of the concert, Aaliyah and her late 
father agreed to be interviewed, in a series of intimate conversations, 
they speak openly about her musical influences, achievements hopes and 
dreams. The film captures a star in their ascendancy. As the story 
unfolds it provides fans with a rare insight into Aaliyah, and leaves us 
wondering how much she would have achieved had her life not been 
tragically cut short.” Trailer: https://youtu.be/en99KwuxzC8

The symposium will open with a keynote lecture by Dr. Kirsty Fairclough 
(Associate Dean, Research & Innovation, Schools of Arts & Media, 
University of Salford): “I Slay: Beyonce as Intersectional Feminist, 
Activist and Diva”.
Proposals for presentations (individual and panel) and interventions 
should be emailed to Dr Benjamin Halligan ((b.halligan /at/ wlv.ac.uk)) by 14 
June 2019. (Word format, 200-300 words, minimal formatting, including 
biog note and contact information). Areas to be considered can include 
(but are not limited to) all music-related matters identified above, the 
evolution of the figure of the diva, trans cultures and fierceness and 
diva-ism, media around diva superstars (documentaries, tabloid exposes, 
MTV and post-MTV music videos, star identity formations, intimacy and 
interviews), confessions and hagiographies, and all other cultural 
practices that resonate with this development (fine arts, poetry and 
literature, DJ cultures and dance, film and television), and the protean 
nature of feminism, and black feminism, and second to third waves of 
feminism, that have arisen.

The symposium, which is hosted by the Centre for Film, Media, Discourse 
& Culture, University of Wolverhampton, will run on 17 July 2019. The 
registration fee will be £30 (£15 for unwaged, free for all postgraduate 
researchers). A limited budget is available to reimburse childcare 
costs, upon application, if that will enable attendance: please enquire. 
The full programme, and booking details, will be published by 24 June 2019.

For updates, fuller details, and booking, please see 
https://benjaminhalligan.com/divaconference-2/

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