IN FRENCH HERE: https://www.archivescontestataires.ch/home/journee-detude
On Friday, October 20, 2023, the Archives contestataires are organizing a study day entitled "Les pratiques féministes de la radio et leurs contextes, 1975-2000" (Feminist radio practices and their contexts, 1975-2000), on the occasion of the digitalisation of two major feminist radio archives: the archives of the Radio Pleine Lune program (RPL, 350 audio cassettes) and the Remue-ménage program (RMG, 590 audio cassettes). The association has set up a valorization program with the aim of stimulating reflection on the use of these radio sources for writing the history of feminist movements, as well as creating spaces for encounters and dialogue between feminist activists and radio practitioners of different generations. The program began in 2021 with a round-table discussion on the use of sound sources in the history of social movements. It continued in 2022 with the production of four podcasts made by different groups from the Radio Pleine Lune archives, followed by a commemorative evening in the presence of two hosts of the RPL and RMG programs and the podcasts' producers.
Argument :
Our aim is to explore the particular function of radio in the feminist movements of the 1980s and 1990s. Using case studies, we'll be looking at how women appropriated radio as a means of dissemination, and how this appropriation served their struggles, modified their collective and individual paths, and opened up new horizons or, on the contrary, locked them into technical specialization.
If the 1980s and 1990s are sometimes presented as a period of ebb and flow for struggles, can the practice of radio act as an "abeyance structure", in the sense given to this expression by Verta Taylor(1), offering a framework for ensuring continuity between two cycles of mobilization, in a politically hostile context? Does access to these sources make it possible to criticize the successive "waves" of feminist historiography(2) ?
This period seems to be understood as a time of institutionalization of feminist struggles and professionalization of certain activists(3). To what extent is women's participation in free/pirate radio a means of appropriating a technique, and how can this technical apprenticeship be reinvested in a professional framework?
The feminist movements of the 1970s placed great emphasis on women's history (which had yet to be written) and on the need to bring women out of the silence4 to which they had been subjected. The feminist radio programs that emerged in this context made this a demand and a raison d'être. What kind of discourse has this broad opening up to women's voices produced?
The day will begin with an overview of the historiography of feminist movements, and examine the new possibilities offered by these radio sources for research. The morning's three presentations will look at the different contexts in which feminist radio practices emerged: the history of feminist movements, the history of radio, and the history of pirate radio in Switzerland in the 1980s. In the afternoon, we'll take a closer look at these practices through a series of case studies presenting different examples of feminist appropriation of radio.
(1) Taylor, Verta. « Social Movement Continuity: The Women’s Movement in Abeyance », American Sociological Review 54, no. 5, 1989. URL : https://www.jstor.org/stable/2117752.
(2) Pavard, Bibia. « Faire naître et mourir les vagues : comment s’écrit l’histoire des féminismes », Itinéraires [En ligne], 2017-2 | 2018. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/itineraires/3787.
(3) Kiani, Sarah. De la révolution féministe à la constitution: mouvement des femmes et égalité des sexes en Suisse (1975-1995), Lausanne: Antipodes, 2019, pp. 149-150.
(4) Perrot, Michelle. Les Femmes ou les silences de l’Histoire, Paris : Flammarion, 1998.
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Program under development. Organized by Géraldine Beck. With the participation of Géraldine Beck, Marc Colin, Ingrid Hayes, Sarah Kiani, Mathilde Leroy, Marie Sandoz and Anne-Christine Schindler.
Practical information: Friday, October 20, 2023 at Théâtre du Galpon, Geneva, 9am-5.30pm. Lunch will be provided. Registration: reservation@archivescontestataires.ch.
As part of this program, a critical listening workshop with Juliette Volcler will take place on Saturday October 14 at the Forum Grosselin in Carouge. Further details to follow. Duration 1h30, at 14h or 16h. Registration: reservation@archivescontestataires.ch.