To prepare for the upcoming BCRW conference The Scholar and Feminist 2013: Utopia, we are highlighting the diverse and accomplished contributers who will be challenging us to imagine the impossible through bold presentations and participatory workshops. This is our second round of introductions (check out the first round here), highlighting the work of four Utopia contributors who write, remix, advocate, and teach to change the status quo.
Pop Culture Pirate Elisa Kreisinger creates video remixes by “slicing up familiar shows to create alternative narratives that expose and transform mainstream cultural messages.” By reconstructing footage into mashups with queer and feminist themes, Elisa sees herself as “writing for TV with TV.” You can read an interview with Elisa in The Atlantic or check out the Pop Culture Pirate website, which has a complete listing of her projects, like the above video queering the popular TV show Mad Men. Elisa and Francesca Coppa of Transformative Works will be leading a workshop on Talking Back to Culture Through Feminist Remix at Utopia.
In the afternoon session of Utopia, Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE) Executive Director Valery Jean will lead a workshop on Addressing Poverty. FUREE is “a Brooklyn-based multiracial organization made up of almost exclusively women of color. We organize low-income families to build power to change the system so that all people’s work is valued and all of us have the right and economic means to decide and live out our own destinies.” Read more about FUREE’s mission in a Village Voice interview with Valery.