Pussy Riot - Hur teori och praktik kan förenas genom feministisk aktivism

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to examine how theory and practice intertwines through the activism of the feminist punk performance collective Pussy Riot. I have also focussed on the political tools with which the activism is performed. Within the academic context of gender studies, I believe there is a need for research that aims to reduce the gap between scholarly and activist feminism. The theoretical framework for the analysis in this essay consists of material feminist theory and postmodern theory. The empirical material is a diversified assemblage of images, court excerpts, newspaper columns, interviews, lyrics and videos. To analyse these I used a combination of methods such as the feminist figuration, writing as a method of inquiry, and rhizomatics. The main conclusions I have reached are that the balaclava as a political tool has played and important role in the major impact of the movement, as has the implication of technological devices, as well as the strategy of claiming religious icons and messages to infuse them with feminist ideas. Furthermore, I argue that Pussy Riot can be understood as incarnating feminist theoretical ideas of scholars such as Butler, Haraway and Braidotti, while also producing new insights for feminist theory through their activism.