5/14 Thursday Draft Questions - Angie Lai

1. In the "Voicing Citizenship: Undocumented Women and Social Media" article by Jilian Baez, Baez quotes authors Mitra and Watts who say, "To be able to speak could, in cyberspace, be more important than being widely heard in cyberspace. For many marginalized subcultures, that ability to gain that agency, and the moment of speech is perhaps more of a determinate moment than the moment when the voice was heard" (64). Do you agree with this? I think of this statement as similar to that philosophical question about a tree falling down in the woods. What do you think?
2. In the chapter, "Somos Mujeres Somos Hip Hop: Feminism and hip hop in Latin America", the authors state that the group Somos Mujeres Somos Hip Hop argues "for the power of female-founded and led hip hop collectives that are not exclusionary of men but in which men must enter female spaces, not vice versa" (336). I thought this was a great way to describe systems that are dominated by one gender, and this made me think of the U.S. hip hop scene where generally, women must enter male spaces. Are there any female-dominated areas of music where men must enter female spaces? What about spaces beyond music?
3. In the "Cyphers: Hip Hop and Improvisation" article, cyphers are described as a group of people who "rap, break, beatbox tightly together in a circle" where everyone is "[borrowing] and… [lending]…  playfully [freewheeling through whilst taking an exacting care for each word and carefully considering all the sounds, meanings, and interpretations. It is to fight back, to borrow, to steal, to represent, and to collaborate" (1).  Are cyphers a form of convivencia? In what ways do cyphers reflect similar themes we've seen in Fandango?
4. Did you have a favorite song from Black Mama, Taki Amaru, or Caye Cayejeron? I personally really liked the song "Bendicion Ser Mujer" featuring Black Mama because I thought it was really catchy and I also really liked Amarumi by Taki Amaru. What did you like about the song(s) you liked the most?