Music Videos as Black Feminist Thought – From Nicki Minaj’s Anaconda to Beyoncé’s Formation

Abstract

The article examines two recent music videos by Black female artists, Nicki Minaj's Anaconda (2014) and Beyoncé's Formation (2016), and the heated online discussions around them about whether they are feminist or not. The article argues that the epistemic habit of asking this question often works counterproductively and stabilises the boundaries of feminism. Instead, the two music videos are considered as creative works of Black feminist thought, following Patricia Hill Collins (2009). Collins suggests that in order to challenge traditional forms of white male knowledge production, other forms of expression than academic writing should also be considered theory. The key question then becomes: how do Anaconda and Formation participate in, re-imagine and work as Black feminist thought, understood as complex and dynamic? The article outlines three main critiques directed at the videos: selling out to white people and capitalism; promotion of white, heteronormative body ideals while appropriating queer of color culture; and involvement in so-called 'reverse oppression'. Anaconda and Formation can be seen to answer each these critiques respectively, when seen connected to and employing strategies of Black feminist theories of pleasure, queer of color critique, and Black feminist politics of coalition among marginalised subjects.

A Critique of Our Own? On Intersectionality and “Epistemic Habits” in a Study of Racialization and Homonationalism in a Nordic Context

“…Being attentive to these tendencies requires asking: "When do accountability and situatedness turn into unnecessary and counterproductive gestures, more efficient in easing white guilt than unravelling racialised power structures in academic writing?" (Kyrölä, 2017).…”

Black Respectable Currency: Reading Black Feminism and Sexuality in Contemporary Performance

“…Taking my cue from Patricia Hill Collins, who argues that critically assessing and “[d]eveloping black feminist thought also involves searching for its expression in alternative institutional locations and among women who are not commonly perceived as intellectuals,” I examine Black feminist theory beyond the academy (14), including in Jezebel , Crunk Feminist Collective , and The Negress because these blogs feature folks who both identify as Black feminist commentators and keep their fingers on the pulse of contemporary Black popular culture. For excellent academic Black feminist discussions of Nicki Minaj, see Savannah Shange's “A King Named Nicki,” Uri McMillan's “Nicki‐aesthetics: the camp performance of Nicki Minaj,” and K. Kryola's “Music Videos as Black Feminist Thought—From Nicki Minaj's Anaconda to Beyoncé's Formation .”…”