Provisional Programme

Diva

Hip-Hop, Feminism, Fierceness

˭

Centre for Film, Media, Discourse & Culture

University of Wolverhampton

17 July 2019

Twitter hashtag for the day: #DivaWlv

9.35: Welcome: Dr Benjamin Halligan (MK045, George Wallis Building)

9.40 – 10.30: Keynote 1: Dr. Shara Rambarran:

Proceed with Caution: Mariah Carey – the Ultimate Diva and Womxn Empowerment Influencer in Current Popular Music and Culture?

(MK045, George Wallis Building)

10.30 – 10.40: Break

Parallel panels

10.40 – 12.00: Panel 1a: Goddesses: Cardi B, Minaj, Amuro (Chair: Dr Fran Pheasant-Kelly)

(MK045, George Wallis Building)

Dr Gemma Flynn: Bloody Shoes and Money Moves: Cardi B and the Cultural Currency of Gang Violence for Women in Hip Hop

Aliyah Rawat: From Barbie to Bad Bitch: Black Female Sexuality, Cultural Politics and Subversion in the Visual Performance of Nicki Minaj

Dorothy Finan: Namie Amuro: Japan’s diva of the post-modern era

10.40 – 12.00: Panel 1b: Divas Then and Now: Herstories, Pathbreakers, Industry (Chair: Anne-Marie Beaumont)

(Room TBC)

Harriet Reed: Diva Worship from Antiquity to Instagram

Amy Harris: “Kicking ass is literally all I care about”: the trailblazing rap of queer feminist Bruja, Princess Nokia

Dr. Mary Gani: Negotiating like a Diva: Creative Autonomy in the Music Industry

12.00 – 1.30: Lunch

1.30 – 2.20: Keynote 2: Dr Kirsty Fairclough:

I Slay: Beyoncé as Intersectional Feminist, Activist and Diva

(MK045, George Wallis Building)

Parallel panels

2.25 – 3.55: Panel 2a: Performing and Performance: Houston / Minaj / Noname / Cardi B

(Chair: Dr Shara Rambarran)

(MK045, George Wallis Building)

Gwynne George: Performing Creative Labour: Whitney Houston on MTV, 1985-88

Dr Anna-Elena Pääkkölä: Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda”: Intersectional Feminist Fat Studies, Sexuality, and Embodiment

Michail Exarchos (aka Stereo Mike): Power, identity, reflexivity and independence in Noname’s Room 25: Slams, raps and lyrical sonification

Charis Dishman: “That’s how I got pregnant y’all”: Cardi B and (Un)respectability

2.25 – 3.55: Panel 2b: Beyoncé & Solange (Chair: Dr Kirsty Fairclough)

(Room TBC)

Kate Naylor ‘Strong enough to bear the children then get back to business’: The Power of Beyoncé’s Body

Hannah Strong: Suck On my Balls, Bitch: A Paradigm Shift

Prof Kwame M. Phillips: The Imagined Things: On Solange, Repetition and Mantra

3.55 – 4.35: Break

4.35 – circa 6.15: Screening and keynote interview (Chair and interviewer: Natalie Graham)

(MC001, Millennium Building)

Aaliyah Live in Amsterdam (Windrush Productions; 51 mins)

Dr Pogus Caesar

6.15: Close of symposium

Informal drinks & networking: The Lighthouse, Wolverhampton (WV1 1HT)