about the project
This research project addresses contemporary modes of queer and feminist cultural production and political development. It focuses on the many, vibrant DIY punk scenes around the UK, both current and historical.
The central idea is that cultural and political mechanisms within these scenes offer an insight into the way artistic activities influence wider society. This is a time of heightened tension in feminism as a new generation’s ideas and practices are pitted against traditional liberal approaches, with wider implications for debates around representation and freedom of speech. Queer and feminist music scenes replicate this tension through a critical re-evaluation of approaches to the inclusion of marginalised communities within punk. In this way they form a microcosm through which to examine wider theoretical and cultural shifts.
For more information, click here.
project dissemination
Publications
‘Queering Community Development in DIY punk spaces’ (forthcoming, 2021)
by Kirsty Lohman and Ruth Pearce
in Rosie Meade and Mae Shaw (editors)
Arts, Culture and Community Development
Bristol: Policy Press
Book / Open access chapter
‘Queer and Feminist punk in the UK’ (preprint, 2020)
by Kirsty Lohman
in George McKay and Gina Arnold (editors)
The Oxford Handbook of Punk Rock
Oxford: Oxford University Press
Book / Open access chapter
‘Punk and Marginalised Identities’ (Journal Special Issue)
Kirsty Lohman with Anita Raghunath (editors)
Punk & Post-Punk 8.2
Full journal
Editorial:
‘Notes in the Margins’ (2019)
by Kirsty Lohman and Anita Raghunath
Punk & Post-Punk, 8(2): 189-192
Journal editorial / Open access version
selected conference papers (Full List here)
‘Queer and Feminist Punk in the UK’
Musicology Departmental Seminar, University of Huddersfield
February 2020
‘Queer Punk Spaces’
LGBTQI History Month, Department of Sociology Showcase, University of Surrey
February 2019
‘Feminist Punk Politics in Action’
Departmental PhD research seminar, University of Surrey
November 2018
‘‘Forgotten’? punk histories’
Subcultures Network Conference, University of Reading
September 2018
‘‘No Borders’ Whilst Maintaining ‘Safe Spaces’:
Boundary Management in Feminist and Queer DIY Punk’
ISA World Congress of Sociology, Toronto, Canada
July 2018
‘Safe(r) spaces policies and boundary management in queer DIY punk’
Keep It Simple, Make It Fast!, University of Porto, Portugal
July 2018
‘Forgotten punk histories’
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Festival of Research, University of Surrey
January 2018
This project was made possible through an Early Career Fellowship from The Leverhulme Trust.
