| Books |
|
At the time of the creation of this pathfinder (2006), the women's and grrrls' zine culture had yet to find exploration and study in books of their own. As a result, the secondary sources listed below were chosen based on their inclusion of substantial material on female zinesters and their zines, although the focus of the book as a whole may be much broader. However, zine scholarship continues to gain in popularity, and, as at least three book-length projects on women's zines are currently making use of the zine collections of the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke University, this limited bibliography may change radically in the next few years. Duncombe, Stephen. Notes from Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture. London: Verso, 1997. This may be the only "scholarly" work on zines, but Duncombe's book is a gracefully written and entirely readable treatise on the revolutionary ambitions of the zine culture. Duncombe seems to have read just about every zine in existence, covering both the well-known and the marginal in a single sentence. A brief section of the book is dedicated to the Riot Grrrl zine scene, but discussions of women's zines can be found on almost every page. Copiously illustrated with images from the zines themselves. Findlen, Barbara, ed. Listen Up: Voices from the Next Feminist Generation. New expanded edition. Seattle, WA: Seal Press, 2001. First published in 1995, this revised edition of the watershed collection of essays by a diverse group of third wave feminists features work by zinesters Nomy Lamm (i'm so fucking beautiful), Ariel Gore (Hip Mama), and Christine Doza (UpSlut). An excellent introduction to the Third Wave/Riot Grrrl issues the zine researcher is likely to encounter. Inness, Sherrie A., ed. Delinquents and Debutantes: Twentieth-Century American Girls' Cultures. New York City, NY: New York University Press, 1998. Inness's compelling book includes Mary Celeste Kearney's influential essay, "Producing Girls: Rethinking the Study of Female Youth Culture." Kearney begins with the observation that recent years have seen an explosion in marketing and producted targeted at young girls. Rather than accepting girl culture as a commercial fad (as many of her fellow scholars do), Kearney's work focuses upon the ways in which zine making transforms the young girl from passive consumer into cultural producer, and the potential ramifications of this act for feminism. Labaton, Vivien and Dawn Lundy Martin, eds. The Fire This Time: Young Activists and the New Feminism. New York City, NY: Anchor Books, 2004. Jennifer Bleyer's essay, "Cut-and-Paste Revolution: Notes from the Girl Zine Explosion," is an excellent history of riot grrrl zines. Bleyer, once the author of the popular zine Gogglebox, is the perfect guide and the story of her personal experience with zine making and riot grrrl culture lends authenticity to her discussion. The latter portion of the essay covers the rise of electronic zines (e-zines), and should prove helpful reading for researchers hoping to move in this direction. Of course, as with Findlen's collection above, the book's other essays will also serve as a useful introduction to the issues that the researcher is likely to encounter in the zines themselves. Reger, Jo, ed. Different Wavelengths: Studies of the Contemporary Women's Movement. New York, NY: Routledge, 2005. A collection of essays on the various and often contradictory perspectives of third wave feminism, this book includes two essays on women's zine culture. Kristen Schilt's "'The Punk White Privilege Scene': Riot Grrrl, White Privilege, and Zines" is a particularly important essay on the little-considered racial exclusivity of punk and zine culture and the ways in which predominately white female zinesters confront (or fail to confront) issues of racism and race privilege. Dawn Bates and Maureen C. McHugh's "Zines: Voices of Third Wave Feminists" is a good, although fairly standard, examination of the importance of zines in furthering the activites and agendas of third wave feminism. Spencer, Amy. DIY: The Rise of Lo-Fi Culture. London: Marion Boyars, 2005. Although written by a Brit, this recent book covers the American zine culture with aplomb. The first half of this book, which is devoted to zines (the second half covers independently-produced music), includes discussion of feminist and riot grrrl zines, along with interviews with Bitch editor Lisa Miya-Jervis and The East Village Inky's Ayun Halliday. Written in an easily-accessible style, this book may prove a helpful introduction to the issues covered Duncombe's occasionally theoretical work. |