Mother tongue : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract

By adopting Post-Modernist methods, Feminist theory, and Post-Structural aesthetics, I critique western cultures' institutionalised phallogocentric doctrines which exclude women from most areas of musical practice. Through the self production of my own album in the domestic space, I subvert the gendered dualism of feminine object and masculine subject within contemporary electronic music. This fully autonomous process merges the oppositional binaries of gender essentialism, through which I am both the active subject (composer and performer) and the creator of the art object (the album). My creative work, Mother Tongue, is an eight track album which was written, recorded and produced in my bedroom. It is designed as a concept album and should be listened to in its entirety from start to finish. The work is a site for becoming, the album is a map, and you are able to interpret the musical rhizomes as you wish.