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Diva

Feminism and Fierceness from Pop to Hip-Hop

Dr Kirsty Fairclough author Dr Benjamin Halligan editor Dr Kirsty Fairclough editor Dr Shara Rambarran editor Dr Nicole Hodges Persley editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Published:5th Oct '23

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Diva cover

The first academic engagement with “divas,” including a discussion of their roots, evolutions, functions, and appropriations. Channelling the ideas and strategies of feminism, empowerment, intersectionality, identity politics, and more to create this key popular culture figure.

The diva – a central figure in the landscape of contemporary popular culture: gossip-generating, scandal-courting, paparazzi-stalked. And yet the diva is at the epicentre of creative endeavours that resonate with contemporary feminist ideas, kick back against diminished social expectations, boldly call-out casual sexism and industry misogyny and, in terms of hip-hop, explores intersectional oppressions and unapologetically celebrates non-white cultural heritages. Diva beats and grooves echo across culture and politics in the West: from the borough to the White House, from arena concerts to nightclubs, from social media to social activism, from #MeToo to Black Lives Matter. Diva: Feminism and Fierceness from Pop to Hip-Hop addresses the diva phenomenon and its origins: its identity politics and LGBTQ+ components; its creativity and interventions in areas of popular culture (music, and beyond); its saints and sinners and controversies old and new; and its oppositions to, and recuperations by, the establishment; and its shifts from third to fourth waves of feminism. This co-edited collection brings together an international array of writers – from new voices to established names. The collection scopes the rise to power of the diva (looking to Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Dolly Parton, Grace Jones, and Aaliyah), then turns to contemporary diva figures and their work (with Beyoncé, Amuro Namie, Janelle Monáe, Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, and Nicki Minaj), and concludes by considering the presence of the diva in wider cultures, in terms of gallery curation, theatre productions, and stand-up comedy.

This book is a work of ideological expansion in which 15 essays about how charismatic female ‘stars’ choose to perform and represent themselves to the public are compiled to produce data intended to encourage the formulation of a truly global, truly intersectional, style of feminism. Because we know the semantically unstable term ‘diva’ can be deployed to either praise or damn any female actor, pop star, comedian, or drag queen who dares to use their Dionysian stagecraft to defy repressive stereotypes of how women are allowed to behave, the four editors of Diva: Feminism and Fierceness from Pop to Hip-Hop encourage scholars to embrace the word’s semantic drift the better to affirm that for truly gifted performers there is no self-mythologizing body image, social media post, song lyric, or verbal quip so transgressive that it cannot function as effective cultural critique and resistance. * Dr. Carol Cooper, journalist, cultural critic, and Adjunct Professor, Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music, New York University, USA *
Diva: Feminism and Fierceness from Pop to Hip-Hop will forever change the way you define diva! From Grace Jones to Mariah Carey to Cardi B, the book highlights the complexity and multivalent narratives of the diva in contexts inside and outside of popular music. The ever-shifting identity of the diva is interrogated as a far more intricate and nuanced view than the stereotype allows, affirming the term diva as an empowering, multifaceted cultural icon. * De Angela L. Duff, Industry Professor & Associate Vice Provost, New York University, USA *

ISBN: 9781501368257

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

296 pages