Rebel Girl, Rebel Worlds: An Anthology of International Grrrl Zines
By Elke Zobl (Austria) with Red Chidgey (UK), Sonja Eismann (Germany/Austria) and Hayde Jimenez (Mexico/USA)
DO YOU PUBLISH A ZINE WITH A FEMINIST TAKE AND WOULD LIKE TO CONTRIBUTE TO AN INTERNATIONAL ANTHOLOGY OF GRRRL ZINES?
We are zine activists who believe that the cut’n’paste revolution is an important part of contemporary movements for social change; whether it’s talking about messed up beauty standards, how to change rape culture, or how to fix the wheels on your bike, zines are crucial documents for everyday change, empowerment, and education.
To create a living archive of feminist zines from across the globe, we are working on an overview of the international Grrrl Zine Network; bringing together primary documents on a wide range of topics with analyses of the strengths and challenges of the Third Wave feminist movement. Based on Elke’s web site GRRRL ZINE NETWORK – A resource site for international grrrl, lady, queer and trans folk zines, distros and DIY projects (http://grrrlzines.net
The Book
Part grassroots history, part activist anthology, Rebel Girl, Rebel Worlds is a pioneering text, consisting of a mix of essays, interviews with zinesters, visual examples from zines, documentation of zine events, scene reports from various countries, resource guides and manifestos – all from a global viewpoint. We believe that zines are a vital form of alternative media that provide stories, art, critiques and reportage lacking from the corporate-run, male-dominated presses. Zines help us to resist the status quo, engage with our feminism, and make a difference. This book hopes to provide a comprehensive overview of this culture in order to introduce zine-making to a broader audience, and to collect together some of the most inspiring writing from grrrls and their allies today.
Aims
This non-profit book hopes to represent a wide range of voices and experiences from the grrrl zine community. We do not strive for uniformity of opinion, but hope to build a picture of dissent, skill-sharing, collaboration and network building. This book will illustrate that grrrl and ladies in many countries are working on zines and keep the feminist movement alive and well! It is our aim that young women, feminists, trans-folk and their allies across the world will gain a sense of personal and political empowerment from reading this book, when they discover that they too can take the tools of cultural resistance into their own hands and contribute to the global feminist effort of dismantling patriarchy and effecting social change.
Please submit!
We are eager for this project to be as collaborative as possible. Please send us your zine, contact us if you know a cool zine you’d like to see included, let us know if you’d like to do an interview or are just curious about the project! We are open to suggestions and ideas! Submissions are welcomed from feminist zine producers, editors and distributors from all parts of the world (covering zines from 1980 to the present day).
Potential contributors could submit:
* Feminist zines (electronic or print) via email or postal mail
* Digital images from feminist zines (images, covers, photos, illustrations, comics etc.) via email
* Interviews with grrrl zinesters
* Essays on the grrrl zine community and Third Wave feminism
* Scene reports – what is the history of grrrl/feminist zines in your country?
* Comixs on third wave feminism/riot grrrl/girl zine culture
The call includes, but is not limited to, zines which address the following topics:
– The personal is political
– Let’s smash patriarchy! Riot Grrrl, Feminism and Activism
– DIY revolution! Music, art, pop culture, and comics
– Ethnicity, race, colonialism
– Gender identities
– Women’s Bodies and Health, disabilities
– Zinemamas: Motherhood and alternative views of parenting
– The Beauty Myth: Body image and self-esteem
– Sex and Sexualities
– Survivor Culture: Abuse, Violence against women, self-defense
– Class, work and education
– Travel and leisure
– Religion and beliefs
– Environment and animal rights
– Protest, Dreams and Utopias
All submitted zines will be listed at www.grrrlzines. net. A selection of zine articles, interviews, essays and scene reports will be chosen to feature in the anthology.
Submissions:
Please include, a short biography, full contact details, date of birth and nationality.
Zines should be submitted to elke@grassrootsfeminism.net
or via postal Mail to: Elke Zobl, Roemerweg 22, 5061 Elsbethen, Austria (Europe).
by Monday, March 31, 2008. Many thanks!
We expect to complete the book by June 30, 2008. (The book proposal will be submitted to a feminist publisher in the USA)
Biographical notes on editors
Elke Zobl, Austria (*1975) created the online resource site Grrrl Zine Network (http://www.grrrlzines.net) in 2001 and has been part of the Grrrl Zines A-Go-Go collective conducting zine workshops with girls and young women in San Diego, USA (http://www.gzagg.org) . Since her return to Austria for research projects on feminism and alternative media, she has conducted many zine workshops and exhibits. She is currently working on a comprehensive web site on Grassroots Feminism: An archive and resource platform of the feminist movement today, http://www.grassrootsfeminism.net (up soon).
Red Chidgey, UK (*1979) has been involved in zine cultures for the past ten years, including running the pro-girl zine resource fingerbang distro. She received her MA in Critical Theory from the University of Sussex, where she re-trained as a Life History researcher. She curated last year’s ZineFest! at the Women’s Library, London, and recently published a chapter on riot grrrl writing in Riot Girl: Revolution Grrrl Style Now! (Blackdog, 2007). http://www.redchidgey.net
Sonja Eismann, Germany/Austria (*1973) works as a pop culture journalist and academic. She was a founding member of femzine nylon in Vienna and is writing on feminism and pop culture (http://www.plastikmaedchen.net). Recently, she published the anthology Hot Topic: Popfeminismus heute (2007).
Hayde Jimenez , US/Mexico (*1981), grew up in Tijuana, Mexico. She studied International Relations with a focus on Latin America and is interested in issues such as human rights, gender issues, environment, and migration. When she is not working with Elke on http://www.grrrlzines.net, she puts out her own electronic music projects (http://www.myspace.com/hidhawk, http://umor-rex.com)