Abstract:
In this thesis, I explore how the folk-rock music of Ani DiFranco has influenced the
activist commitments, sensibilities, and activities of reproductive rights activists. My
interest in the relation of popular music to social movements is informed by the work of
Simon Frith (1987, 1996a, 1996b), Rob Rosenthal (2001), and Ann Savage (2003). Frith
argues that popular music is an important contributor to personal identity and the ways
that listeners see the world. Savage (2003) writes that fans develop a unique relationship
with feminist/political music, and Rosenthal (2001) argues that popular music can be an
important factor in building social movements. I use these arguments to ask what the
influence of Ani DiFranco's music has been for reproductive rights activists who are her
fans.
I conducted in-depth interviews with ten reproductive rights activists who are fans of Ani
DiFranco's music. All ten are women in their twenties and thirties living in Ontario or
New York. Each has been listening to DiFranco's music for between two and fifteen
years, and has considered herself a reproductive rights activist for between eighteen
months and twenty years.
I examine these women's narratives of their relationships with Ani DiFranco's music and
their activist experience through the interconnected lenses of identity, consciousness, and
practice. Listening to Ani DiFranco's music affects the fluid ways these women
understand their identities as women, as feminists, and in solidarity with others. I draw on
Freire's (1970) understanding of conscientization to consider the role that Ani's music
has played in heightening women's awareness about reproductive rights issues. The
feeling of solidarity with other (both real and perceived) activist fans gives them more
confidence that they can make a difference in overcoming social injustice. They believe
that Ani's music encourages productive anger, which in turn fuels their passion to take
action to make change. Women use Ani's music deliberately for energy and
encouragement in their continued activism, and find that it continues to resonate with
their evolving identities as women, feminists, and activists.
My study builds on those of Rosenthal (2001) and Savage (2003) by focusing on one
artist and activists in one social movement. The characteristics of Ani DiFranco, her fan
base, and the reproductive rights movement allow new understanding of the ways that
female fans who are members of a female-dominated feminist movement interact with
the music of a popular independent female artist.
