Chelsea Miya (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the Culture and Technology Studies program and the School of Theatre, English, and Creative Writing at the University of Guelph where her research focuses on questions of ethics, gender, and sustainability in the context of data cultures and digital design. She is a Research Affiliate of the SpokenWeb Network and a member of the Digital Feminist Network.
Authors | Chelsea Miya
Articles on Amodern by Chelsea Miya
A VOICE OF THEIR OWN
Polyvocal Feminist Curation in 1980s UAlberta Radio
This multimedia essay “re-sounds” Voiceprint, a 1980s University of Alberta campus radio show created by students Jars Balan and Terri Wynnyk. First, we provide a historical overview of the series alongside the circumstances of its rediscovery, digitization, cataloguing, and curation. Second, we examine how the showrunners mobilize polyvocality – foregrounding discord and disharmony – as both an eco-acoustic aesthetic and political strategy. In articulating a feminist (and anarchist) ethos of plurality, diversity, and social justice, Voiceprint helped foster emerging activist communities, much like how scholarly podcasts do today, through its contributions to contemporary debates surrounding gender and language. Our “unarchiving” of Voiceprint demonstrates how curatorial interventions can unfold across space and time, allowing sonic events to reverberate well beyond their original moment.