If you hate Justin Bieber, you will like Ignite Charlotte.
Photo Credit: Josh Putnam, Silent Images
While that may or may not be true, often times we host speakers who challenge the views that are widely held and accepted as true. Our Ignite Charlotte 4 speaker, Dr. Robin James, spent her 5 minutes telling us that patriarchy keeps you convinced that teen idol music sucks. In her talk “If You Hate Justin Bieber, Patriarchy Wins,” she attempted to de-bunk the myth that “teen idol music is obviously and irrefutably the worst music imaginable.”
“Music and feminism are topics I’m passionate about,” she said, when asked why she submitted her talk to Ignite. James’ talk was based on a snippet of her scholarly research. “Because I study popular music, gender, race, and sexuality… Ignite Charlotte seemed like a great venue to share some of my findings.”
As an Associate Professor at UNCC (btw, congrats on your promotion doctaj!), her experience at Ignite Charlotte helped her meet others who were also interested in music and feminism. And since all Ignite talks are videotaped and posted to our YouTube Channel, her video helped publicize her research across the globe.
When we asked her what keeps her up at night (besides Justin Bieber songs), she said “I’m working on my second scholarly book, Sound and Sensibility: Theorizing Feminism Beyond the Visual and a more mainstream book about Beyonce and feminism.”
That would keep us up at night, too.
Follow Dr. James on Twitter @doctaj or check out her blog at http://its-her-factory.blogspot.com
Written by: Biray (@befitt), Ignite Charlotte 5 Volunteer
