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Notes on Women's Autonomous Cultural Scenes (5)

MURAKAMI Kiyoshi / May 30, 2017

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last update: 20170530



May 19, 2017
"Women's Autonomous Cultural Scenes: Media, Space, and Activism": The 6th lecture
memorandum (some part of lecture contents)


The main theme of this lecture was "DIY Cultures 2017".

DIY Cultures is an annual day festival exploring intersections of art and activism, running since 2013. The programme consists of a zine fair, exhibitions, workshops, contemporary craft, panel discussions, comic illustration, video art and digital animation exploring DIY practice. The event has established itself as a leading national forum for artists-run initiatives and alternative publishing. The event distinguishes itself by its commitment to Black and people of colour empowerment and centralising marginalised histories and subcultures such as neurodiversity, diaspora stories, prisoner solidarity, radical mental health and Muslim communities under the War on terror.[https://www.richmix.org.uk/events/exhibitions/diy-cultures-2017]
After showing the photos of the fest (May 14), I mentioned the following contents in the lecture.

1) One of the organizers of this fest is a member of OOMK which is an art/zine collective of young muslim women. Because of such backgrounds, this fest has a strong awareness of 'decolonise'. Therefore, this fest has a meaning of redefining DIY culture itself.

2) The program of this fest are promptly 'responding' to the political/social situation of present U.K. as you can see from these words: 'BREXSHIT', 'Theresa May', and 'Saffiyah Khan' who is the latest 'anti-racist icon' and the agent of the 'viral sensation'.

3) This fest has a function that connects various social/cultural movements. Thus, that aspect presents a vision for establishment of compatibility between personal creativity and activism. It is possible to say that this totality is the greatest significance of this fest.

4) This fest is securing internationality. Like East Africa, Malaysia, and Chicago, more than one networks appear in the lineup. Those are the fruits of past activities of OOMK concerning DIY/zine culture. This fact should be evaluated in particular.

5) The organizers have not published a 'Safer Space Policy' but made an announcement of 'Information' (https://www.facebook.com/DIYCultures/posts/684219785036011). It seems to be necessary to think about validity of this measure in future.


[References]
◇DIY CULTURES http://diycultures.tumblr.com/
・Niloufar Haidari 20160418 "Meet OOMK, The Collective Championing Muslim Women In The Zine World", The Fader. http://www.thefader.com/2016/04/18/oomk-zine-interview
・Shane Boothby 20170512 "DIY Cultures 2017 - 'zine fairs are no longer a white boy world'", The Leveller. http://theleveller.org/2017/05/diy-cultures-fair-2017/
・Kadish Morris n.d.(20170518?) "Heiba, Sofia & Rose", G-IRL. http://g-irl.com/heiba-sofia-rose/


■List: [Serial Publication] Notes on Women's Autonomous Cultural Scenes

■Class Information
The Course in the First Half of the 2017 Academic Year at Kobe City University of Foreign Studies: Introduction to Gender Studies "Women's Autonomous Cultural Scenes: Media, Space, and Activism" (Lecturer: MURAKAMI Kiyoshi)


Author: MURAKAMI Kiyoshi
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