Affirming our memories
Experiences and realities of feminist poets through the radio
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12330315 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Natalia Molebatsi (0000-0002-5546-5927, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 84-94 |
| Publication date | 2019-04-03 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Agenda (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1013-0950 • E-ISSN: 2158-978X |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/10130950.2019.1618638 |
| OpenAlex | W2956036759 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 7 |
“For women, then, poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action.”Audre Lorde (1984:37)Using Audre Lorde’s (1984) arguments about poetry as a “vital necessity of our existence” that moves us to “tangible action” and Toni Morrison's (1995) concept of ‘re-memory’, this article explores feminist poetry as a form of feminist media activism. The article examines SAfm’s Poetry in the Air (PitA) programme which aired between 2012 and 2016 and the ways in which it helped to share the realities of feminist poets to a wider audience. On this radio programme the presenter and featured poets demonstrated the use of poetry as a tool that attempts to affirm women and the community of feminists in South Africa.Through the theoretical frame of feminist media theory and Black feminist thought it is highlighted how SAfm’s PitA contributed to dispelling the dangerous stereotype that feminists hate men and children. In this perspective piece the author highlights how feminist poetry is about the eradication of misogyny and heteropatriarchy in order to build thriving communities that benefit all who live in them, and are especially safe spaces for women and girls and feminised people of all genders. By exploring how feminist writers present their poetry on the radio programme it is concluded that SAfm’s PitA operated as a community builder concerned with the disruption of a hegemonic discourse that erases mainly the narratives of Black and Queer women. Viewed in this way, poetry becomes agency for the unheard, and places the unheard in public fora. Poetry thus can be used in the promotion of feminist activism and increased visibility for the fight for women's rights. Building on the author’s childhood reflections about radio as a consciousness-raising tool, this perspective piece goes on to demonstrate how radio continues to be a site for struggle, expression of political interests, mobilising collective action, and hailing political actors – in this case, feminist political actors
Aesthetics · Art · Feminism · Feminist movement · Literature · Poetry · Social science · Sociology · Thriving · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Literacy, Media, and Education · Media, Gender, and Advertising
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2023 - 2024 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |