Papers by Casey Robertson
Smash the System! Punk Anarchism as a Culture of Resistance, 2022
This chapter explores the tripartite relationship between transgender identities, political activ... more This chapter explores the tripartite relationship between transgender identities, political activism, and sonic practice. In particular, this chapter employs theorizations of noise to explore a rupture in the prevalent binarisms of sound and gender in the American punk scene and its aesthetics. Drawing upon theoretical frameworks such as Herbert Marcuse’s one-dimensional society and Jean-François Lyotard’s conception of a libidinal economy, the sonic practices of trans-feminist artists such as GLOSS (Girls Living Outside Society’s Shit) and the HIRS Collective are re-examined to interrogate their capacities to initiate acts of intentional antagonism to construct new spaces for the invisible and/or overlooked. Through such a trajectory, the intended goal is to reveal not only such trans-feminist artists’ collective actions of political resistance towards the modern neoliberal state, but perhaps most importantly, the typically less examined yet far-reaching ramifications of their inherent situatedness outside of such socio-political structures and machinery. While such artistic practice pits itself against the increasingly one-dimensional state of commodification in the punk genre, it also probes deeper to illuminate the related homonormative currents which have exerted considerable effort to flatten notions of diversity and difference within contemporary LGBTQ2S communities. It is ultimately through this complex matrix of identity, affective flows, and a political (dis)engagement with the dynamics of the American punk genre that we can begin to bear witness upon a modern form of sonic anarchism; one which fragments itself off from previous constructions yet reveals a possibility for new formations to those previously rendered silenced, both figuratively and literally.
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antae, 2019
This essay explores the complex relationship between gender and aesthetics, namely through the le... more This essay explores the complex relationship between gender and aesthetics, namely through the lens of the transgender movement. After a brief study of the challenges related to the history of gender variance and normativity, the essay will follow the trajectory of Kant’s Critique of Judgment, focusing primarily on the conception of the sublime, and move to explore connections with the work of gender theorist and public health advocate Benjamin T. Singer, whose work develops a rhizomatic model of the transgender sublime. Utilising this framework, the discussion will then examine connections and parallels with the work of Rancière and later Gianni Vattimo. The final section will then explore the concept of aesthetic emergencies from Santiago Zabala, Vattimo’s pupil, who associates both Rancière and Vattimo with this concept while at the same time drawing from Heidegger’s writings. Through a re-examination of the sublime and the work of these theorists, this paper will illuminate potential new connections, pathways, and possibilities for the transgender movement, aesthetic theory, and political engagement.
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Assuming Gender, 2019
This essay examines the cultural phenomena of noise in its perceived social constructions and dem... more This essay examines the cultural phenomena of noise in its perceived social constructions and demonstrates its emergence as a form of resistance against prevailing dominant hegemonic codes of culture. In particular, the paper explores the ability of noise to be enacted as a tool to escape the shackles of heteronormative constructions of sexuality and gender in the cultural landscape of the United States. Examined to support this argument are the contrasting works of two American artists: John Cage and Emilie Autumn. Through Cage and his avant-garde articulations of sound, covert acts of resistance against the dominant heteronormative constructions of masculinity are explored, and through Autumn’s classical crossover work, a more overt and explicit form of resistance to subvert gender stereotypes and structures of normality and patriarchy are illuminated. Additionally, the paper explores possibilities for artists to engage with other movements, such as disability activism to create new possibilities for change.
Keywords: John Cage, Emilie Autumn, Queer Theory, Modernism, Musicology, Sound Studies, Noise, United States History, Cultural Studies
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Conference Proceedings by Casey Robertson
Intersections | Cross-Sections, 2019
Of all of the cultural forms of expression, music is perhaps not only the most subversive in its ... more Of all of the cultural forms of expression, music is perhaps not only the most subversive in its articulations, but also the most far-reaching and penetrative in its act of execution. Though expressed in a complex matrix of formations, this phenomenon has been entangled both historically and presently in all cultures, making it an attribute of universal human communication. While few would be bold enough to deny such claims, what is perhaps more aligned to conjecture is the actual definition of music. While certain formations of sound are deemed music, others are derided as noise, frequently through localized structures of political authority. This paper will examine the cultural phenomenon and tension of noise vis-à-vis music in its perceived social constructions. Through such an exploration, this paper will demonstrate the capacity of noise to emerge from music as a form of resistance against prevailing dominant hegemonic codes of culture; notably through its ability to be enacted as a tool of socio-political agency to escape the rigid constructions of hetero/cisnormativity in our modern cultural landscapes. Through engaging the controversial communication medium of noise, emerging possibilities of dialogue will be illuminated from theorists and artists currently utilizing bold measures of sound to challenge far-right political ideologies in our contemporary era of Brexit and Trump. By examining such sonic articulations through the lenses of queer theory, aesthetics, and critical disability studies, this paper ultimately will highlight new possibilities for progressive change in a current state of reality dominated by increasingly subversive power structures.
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M.A. Thesis by Casey Robertson
PQDT Open (California State University, Dominguez Hills), 2015
While the American composer John Cage is often classified as an influential figure in the realm o... more While the American composer John Cage is often classified as an influential figure in the realm of modernist music, the controversial nature of Cage's work has proven to be more far-reaching than many had initially contended. Through a process of re-examining the work of Cage through a postmodern lens, this thesis rejects the notion that Cage was confined to the realm of modernism, and demonstrates that the composer not only exhibited postmodern tendencies through his ideas and concepts, but also aesthetically in his compositions. By illuminating these postmodern compositional practices and postmodern-influenced belief systems expressed by Cage as an artist, a reinterpretation of the composer and his work is carried out, while also addressing criticisms leveled toward Cage as a postmodernist. Through this contemporary reanalysis, the thesis demonstrates that Cage was a composer that transcended genres and classifications to ultimately resonate as a viable figure of postmodern music.
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Drafts by Casey Robertson
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Papers by Casey Robertson
Keywords: John Cage, Emilie Autumn, Queer Theory, Modernism, Musicology, Sound Studies, Noise, United States History, Cultural Studies
Conference Proceedings by Casey Robertson
M.A. Thesis by Casey Robertson
Drafts by Casey Robertson
Keywords: John Cage, Emilie Autumn, Queer Theory, Modernism, Musicology, Sound Studies, Noise, United States History, Cultural Studies