What to Ask Women Composers: Feminist Fieldwork in Electronic Dance Music

TLDR: In this paper, an interactive database documentary that investigates female electronic dance music (EDM) artists is presented, highlighting the contributions of women as composers, to show how they came to be composers and reveal the tactics used to approach significant issues of gender in the EDM community.

Abstract: This article reflects upon the research methods employed for microfemininewarfare (2013), an interactive database documentary that investigates female electronic dance music (EDM) artists. The purpose of the documentary is to feature the contributions of women as composers, to show how they came to be composers and to reveal the tactics used to approach significant issues of gender in the EDM community. I highlight the theoretical and methodological processes that went into the making of this documentary, subtitled “exploring women’s space in electronic music”. By constructing “electronic music by women” as a category, two objectives are addressed: first, the visibility of women’s contribution to the musical tradition is heightened; and, second, it allows an exploration of the broadening of discourses about female subjectivity. This article showcases feminist research-creation and friendship-as-method as effective research methods to glean meaningful content when applied to EDM fieldwork.