Feminist Folk Music

Center for Gender Studies Conference

Guanxi, Location, and Globalization

Advisory Committee, Spring 2000

Brown Bag Series in Review

Calendar of Events
    

“Folk songs don’t lie,” says Gerri Gribi, feminist folk singer and songwriter. Gribi is in the business of keeping alive the history of the “unsung heroes” through the use of folk songs, a large part of what’s known as the oral tradition.  The oral tradition is a means for people to transmit information through generations without keeping written records. Gribi notes, “Most folk songs were written because somebody had a story to be told, not to make a million dollars.”

Raised in Cincinnati, Gerri Gribi was part of a family that encouraged singing.  Her mother emphasized the  classical style, while her father brought out her “hillbilly side,” encouraging folk-singing, country music, and bluegrass type music.

Performing was not her first career choice, however.  Gribi was going to be a bilingual lawyer. In 1972, she was double-majoring in history and Spanish, when she was advised to get her teaching certification.  During this time, young women were generally expected to become teachers, nurses, or secretaries; Gribi was no exception.  Just before her last year of college, Gribi decided to get married.

Working on a triple-major, she came back to Gribi’s next occupational venture took hold with the Girl Scouts.  She realized her talent as an interpreter when working with a program promoting women’s issues.  She took these “Contemporary Issues” and made them easy to understand and learn at the Brownie Girl Scout level. Now living in Wisconsin, she realized people weren’t accustomed to the type of music she’d been playing;  most had never even seen a dulcimer.  Since the folk music was in such demand, she decided to quit her job and play for a while.

Her first experiences with self-employment were a bit disheartening.  “A good 30% of everything I earned, I was paying out,” in taxes, health insurance, and other “hidden” expenses. The financial strain was becoming unbearable, so she went back to part-time work.  Meanwhile, Gribi continued to participate in folk festivals and play music on the side.  She was intrigued when, at one festival, she was asked to be a part of a “womenfolk” panel that was comprised of all men.  The panel was supposed to promote songs written by and about women, but Gribi found that the men were playing songs written by men about women. 

When Gribi confronted the men, they replied that all the folk songs women wrote dealt with death and despair and were too negative.  Gribi thought, “I know my foremothers couldn’t have all felt like their lives were miserable.”  So off she set on a search for songs by women that had some kind of positive resonance.

Gribi spent months searching the Library of Congress for such songs, scouring the racks of song books from centuries ago.  Once she had finally unearthed a robust collection of songs, she put together her own programs to teach women’s history and bring awareness of these folk songs that real women wrote.

This time around, self-employment worked out much better for her.  She learned not to pigeonhole herself as a woman folk singer, as it seemed the folk music circuit would accept “twenty bearded men with guitars” but find two women with banjoes redundant. Coffeehouses that once turned her away, are now “on the bandwagon” requesting her to perform. 

Gribi also started her own record label, Lilyfern Records, which was named after an exceptional aunt.  Although 80% of all records produced never even break even, Gribi’s first album, “Womansong,” did. She went on to release a second one, “Prince Charming Doesn’t Live Here.”

            Of everything she’s produced, Gribi’s favorite song is “Share Your Gift.”  It may seem unusual that this is her most popular song, as it was written during a period of personal depression.  Gribi felt as if she couldn’t contribute to society as a musician in the way that a doctor or teacher can.  Through this experience, Gerri came to realize that “you can’t try to be something you’re not… everyone has their own unique gift and you have to use it.”

Gribi continues to give the gift of music, presenting her show "A Musical Romp Through Women's History" in schools, conferences, banquets, and coffeehouses. Students and faculty at Radford enjoyed the concert on March 21, 2000. If you would like more information about Gribi's performance or latest album, "The Womansong Collection," check out her website: http://creativefolk.com.
     

The Center for Gender Studies at Radford University invites you to attend...

The Student Research Conference on Gender

“Gender Research:  Moving Ahead into the Millennium”

  April 8, 2000

  Cook Hall of International Education

  Keynote Address:

“Empowering Families Touched by Abuse,”

by    Connie Nicholas Carnes

Ms. Carnes is the Clinical Director for the National Children's Advocacy Center in Huntsville, Alabama. She directs a clinical program that provides therapy and forensic services for maltreated children and family  services for their non-offending caregivers. She writes and speaks extensively on child abuse related topics.
     

In the course of her career, Dr. Kimberly Chang, professor of Social Sciences at Hampshire College, has been exposed to a diverse array of nations and cultures.  Besides Asia, she has lived in America, Israel, London, and Switzerland. In her experience, she found that location determines who you are and how you see the world more than any other factor.  For example, says Chang, “In Hong Kong, the most important thing, even more important than gender, in defining who you are is your nationality.  Until you’ve been dislocated, you don’t know how much your location affects you.”

As Dr. Chang presented her talk, “Gender, Guanxi, and Power:  Women Entrepreneurs in China’s Socialist Market Economy,” to an audience of RU faculty and students, the insights she achieved through her own series of “dislocations” were readily apparent. Dr.Chang is currently working on a project called: “Globalization and Its Intimate Others,” which will document the experiences of widely differing specific groups and their experiences with the trend toward global living.  This project examines the experiences of those people who are caught up in the transnational flow of capital and culture that characterizes globalization- in particular, expatriates and migrants.

This is one example of how the process of globalization is allowing business to profit by making use of gender, “or other ‘cultural’ identities, e.g., Asian women are often characterized as being ‘nimble’ and ‘dextrous’ and thus well suited for certain kinds of factory work,” states Chang.

Global living has created conflicts for all people: human rights issues, employment problems, and environmental concerns.  Through her research, Chang has discovered many facets of globalization and has some relevant advice for Americans. 
Chang believes that Americans speaking out for globalization, such as the people who represented the U.S. at the trade talks in Seattle, need to have a more humble attitude. These Americans were perceived by many delegates from the third world as too arrogant, needing to be more inclusive of other countries’ ideas and opinions.  Other countries are getting tired of the U.S. taking the high moral ground and pointing the finger. 

Globalization is not some independent force that operates without the involvement of everyday people.  Many people are following the global tide of capital. Through this research, Chang hopes to show that “globalization affects people’s lives and livelihood differently depending on their subject positions vis-a-vis gender, class, nationality, ethnicity.” Her documentary is intended to help build a new definition of globalization, derived from a “ground-up,” people-oriented approach.
     

Dr. Jill Alcorn, Mathematics and Statistics
Dr. Mary Atwell, Criminal Justice
Dr. Moira Baker, English
Dr. Adrienne M. Birecree, Economics
Ms. Pat Connolly, Head Track Coach
Ms. Margaret T. Devaney, Dance
Dr. Carolyn
Dickman, Educational Studies
Ms. Annie L. Dornberg, School of Social Work
Dr. Mary Ferrari, History
Dr. Karolyn Givens, Nursing
Dr. Sharon E. Hartline, Philosophy & Religious Studies
Dr. Diane M. Hodge, School of Social Work
Dr. Marcelline Hutton, History
Dr. Kay K. Jordan, Philosophy & Religious Studies
Dr. Hilary Lips (Director), Psychology
Ms. Louise Majorey, Interior Design and Fashion
Ms. Marilyn Rigby, School of Social Work
Dr. Lynn Saubert, Accounting
Dr. Sarah Speir, Radford Community
     

From prison camps to the opera, this semester’s brown bag series presented a wide array of topics for discussion.  In January, Dr. Marcelline Hutton spoke about the experiences of female Russian camp prisoners in the 1930s.  Hutton, Assistant Professor of History, reported that women who were able to build surrogate families among their fellow camp mates were more likely to have survived the traumatic experience.  Similarly, she noted that today, support groups are like surrogate families to many women in helping them overcome stressful experiences.

Counseling psychology graduate student Laurie McLendon led the discussion for February’s brown bag, “Slim Hopes.” This title comes from a video the group of students and faculty watched during the first part of the meeting.  The video delineated the media’s portrayal of women and explained how this portrayal affects our lives in essential ways.  Myths about dieting, the use of sexuality in advertising, and eating disorders in men are some of the topics brought up during this exciting session.

In March, Clarity James led a discussion on producing the one-act comic opera, “The Proposal.” The six-character opera is a musical psychological study of a woman deciding whether or not to accept a marriage proposal.  Those in attendance enjoyed hearing samples of the opera and discovering different characters as they emerged from the main character’s mind.   James, Associate Professor of music and Director of Vocal Studies and Opera Workshop, is also an award-winning mezzo-soprano.

Students and faculty from all disciplines are encouraged to attend and participate in the brown bags, as they create widely varying opportunities for increased knowledge and understanding of many aspects of women’s lives.  The brown bad series typically meets monthly at noon on Fridays; participants should feel welcome to bring lunch. If you have an idea for a brown bad topic or would like to lead a discussion, please contact Pam in the Women's Studies office at 831-6143 or wstudies@runet.edu.