Amalia will perform new work influenced by punk music and culture as it intersects with the Chicanx experience.
“I chose the punk aesthetic because the issues I tackle in my writing such as racial injustice, gender inequality, and environmental justice demand immediate action and outrage. Punk is never subtle or short on rage. In Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock ‘n’ Roll Group, Ian F. Svenonius writes rock music “is an American art, brought about by the Industrial Revolution, the harnessing of electricity, and the miscegenation of various poor, exploited, and indentured cultures in the USA. Rock ‘n’ roll expresses a simultaneous celebration and condemnation of trash culture, class struggle, and imperial privilege.” Punk is also dominated by male aggression and often marginalizes female and queer perspectives. In the U.S., punk is also overwhelmingly dominated by white narratives.
My goal is to center women’s voices, creatively chronicle their stories, and explore the intersection of their experiences and my own. At the same time, I explore the correlation of rasquachismo and the do-it-yourself nature of punk. Dr. Tomas Ybarra-Frausto calls rasquachismo a Chicanx sensibility born of necessity. Like punk, rasquachismo thumbs its nose at the ruling class and proudly creates something from nothing. Rasquachismo drives me to follow my sheroes in repurposing a historically white, male expression to radically re-envision it through the lens of intersectional feminism. In doing so, I attempt to give women of color permission to express themselves as loudly as white men.”
This performance will also feature Kip Austin Hinton on guitar.
