社区创造联系. 从社区读书俱乐部到意识形态运动, communities offer like-minded people an opportunity to unite over a common thread. But while this can connect some, it can also become a barrier for others.

“The complexity of building community is that as you unify you also run into the things that divide you,乔·雷杰说, Ph.D., 韦德体育app官网 faculty and scholar of grassroots activism. “在我目前的研究中, what I’m really interested in is how a group of people try to build a utopian community in which they are valued, but in the course of doing so they also begin to run into the ways in which they are fracturing the community with some of their beliefs and ideas.”

作为一名女权主义研究者， 社会学 教授和公开大学的主席 Department of 社会学, Anthropology, Social Work and Criminal Justice, Dr. 瑞格尔的研究探讨了社区的形成, 发育与断裂, 主要是在社会运动和性别方面. She spent her early research years answering ‘What is the state of U.S. 女权主义?’ and addressed this question in her book “Everywhere and Nowhere: Contemporary Feminism in the United States.“在这项研究中, she conducted an ethnographic analysis of three communities of young feminists, 检查运动的连续性, 两代人之间的冲突, 与压迫和特权斗争, 围绕性别的身份认同, 性与性别, 战略和战术.

“I found that feminists in hostile environments sought alliances with older feminists and were moderate in their strategies and tactics in an attempt to survive,博士说。. 瑞格尔. ”相比之下, feminists in supportive environments often turned against older generations of feminists, seeing them as ‘out of touch’ and linked their 女权主义 to a variety of causes, 把它淹没在其他运动中. I return to these issues of place, community and activism in my current project.”

In this new project — “Singing to Utopia: Lesbians, Feminists and Music, 1968–1998” — Dr. 瑞格尔探索了美国.S. women’s music community and the formations and fractures within this culture.

She found that some women were being excluded from the mainstream music scene, 在其他群体中, which indirectly gave rise to a vibrant women’s music community.

“Lesbians in mainstream feminist organizations, such as the 全国妇女组织(NOW), found themselves marginalized and were declared a distraction from women’s liberation. 同时, 白女同性恋, 还有有色人种的男女同性恋, found themselves shut out of white gay male organizations. 20世纪70年代的流行音乐场景, 就像之前的几十年一样, largely featured male musicians with few women achieving similar levels of success,” Dr. 瑞格尔解释说.

从档案研究中得出结论. 瑞格尔分析书面文件, 新闻文章, meeting notes and vinyl records to tell the story of the women’s music community that was “forged out of prejudice and discrimination, but ultimately failed to create a space of equality for all,她说。. One such type of archival research is the content analysis of vinyl records associated with this underground women’s movement. 与公开大学本科生山姆·海因茨博士合作. 瑞格尔一行一行的研究和编码歌词, 寻找自尊的问题, 电阻, 乌托邦与社区, 在其他主题中. 另外, Heinz also listens to the music to get a sense of the emotion behind the lyrics — a notion Dr. 瑞格尔也分享了.

“Some of this music I know, so it brings back memories,” Dr. 瑞格尔说. “But other music makes me think about what it felt like to hear these songs and play these albums at a time when claiming a lesbian identity was taboo. I try to put myself in that time period for the women that bought the albums. 也, some of the albums have written notes on them and names which adds an extra layer of connection.”

The conception of this new feminist/lesbian music culture grew into a nationwide community that was anchored by ongoing music festivals, including the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival — a feminist event held in Oceana County, 密歇根州，从1976年到2015年每年举办一次. 这个节日提供的不仅仅是音乐表演, 而是一个充满友情的工作室, 艺术节目, 跳舞和露营. This community of women provided a space of inclusivity for feminists and lesbians that otherwise didn’t exist, and participants built strong boundaries between themselves and the rest of society. “The result was a community of thousands of women that were largely invisible to mainstream culture,” Dr. 瑞格尔说.

通过创造这种文化, 然而, the women’s music community also developed barriers that excluded other marginalized groups. The community held a woman-born-woman philosophy that privileged cisgender women while rejecting trans women and men from festivals and events. “社区, 尤其是在节日里, that adopted this philosophy were labeled as transphobic and out of touch with the times,博士说。. 瑞格尔. “While remnants of the community remain today, it has largely disappeared.”

“I find that the women’s music community of the late 1960s until the 1990s was an attempt to build a utopian community that provided safety and acceptance for a marginalized population,她继续说道。. “但在安全空间内, there were forces that fractured that sense of utopia with some members privileged over others. I think this is key to thinking about the world we currently live in. 其核心是, my current project explores how the forces that unite some can become barriers to others. This dynamic is particularly relevant in these polarized, political times.”

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