VI ÄR HÄR, TROTS ALLT! En diskursanalys av kvinnliga jazzsångerskors upplevelser av position i rum där jazz görs

Abstract

In this thesis, discourse analyses are carried out on thirteen interviews with Swedish female jazz singers. The main purpose is to explore how the female jazz singer experience her position in relation to gender and her instrument, singing. Their stories will be analysed with discourse analysis to try to get closer to the informant's experiences and stories. Their experiences are discussed as a discourse and social construction based on the interviews. This thesis aims to raise awareness of the female jazz singers position and struggle from just being a woman, playing an instrument. The importance of this study becomes evident considering the jazz genre as a traditionally predominately male space, a space where the women’s and singer’s role is diminished. The role for a woman in a jazz band as a singer is a predictable one and comes with many do’s and do not’s that are not spoken of. This thesis reveals how female jazz singers experience their position as complex in rooms where jazz is being performed. The analysis shows how discourses of being separated from the group musicians reappear in the informant's stories and that it strengthens the position of otherness for female jazz singers. The results of the analysis show that jazz educations create situations where female jazz singers experience discrimination in rooms where jazz is being performed.