Brainstorm #4 - Zahra McKee

I saw Sandoval’s theory of dissident globalization as direct opposition to the harm caused by neo-liberalism. Whereas neo-liberalism takes advantage of the masses to benefit few, dissident globalization empowers the masses through new consciousness. Sandoval, in her article Dissident  Globalizations, Emancipatory Methods, Social-Erotics, draws inspiration from past movements like US third-world feminism where “one encounters a constantly applied force that was aimed at creating a social movement that would be capable of organizing on behalf of all people” (23). This idea unites people regardless of race, gender, social class, sexual orientation, creed, economic status, etc. in order to improve the lives of everyone versus just the powerful like in neo-liberalism. The heart of dissident consciousness, as the video The Nuts and Bolts of Chicana Feminist Theory lays out, is the “ability to see power  and create tactics to redistribute it” (1:31). This theory is exemplified through the Womxn Who Rock project, which aims to document the history and power of minority women in music, who have traditionally been stripped of their power due to societal norms. As musician Medusa was quoted in the piece Notes on Women Who Rock: Making Scenes, Building Communities, “If you aren’t seeing women, not seeing people of color, that means it’s up to us to document…" (1) and that is exactly what the queer women of color organizing the conference and archive did. To quote Sandoval in Interview with Chela Sandoval: Chicana Spectators and Media Makers, “the purpose of [consciousness] was to take an active part in creating realities that will have had the best opportunity for generating egalitarian relationships” (92). Increasing documentation and awareness of female musicians is a powerful step towards generating those egalitarian relationships, and this is exactly what Women Who Rock is doing.