Becoming and being a DJ: Black female experiences in Ireland

Abstract

This article seeks to gain insights into the musical learning journeys of Black female DJs in Ireland who make up part of the African diaspora and/or Black and Irish community. The DJs’ intersectional and multiple identities are discussed with a view to uncovering how such identities are both fashioned and perceived; projected and silenced; negotiated and dictated. The article presents macro-themes of learning and identity to examine issues relating to music in the home, musical influences, learning processes, in-/non-/formal education and cross-cutting issues relating to gender and ethnicity. These issues are contextually and personally bound, yet speak to the broader complexities, cultures and politics of representation in a male-dominated field. Data are analysed from interviews, media publications and broadcasts to trace three women’s DJ trajectories. Their voices are amplified in literal and metaphorical senses to expand the limited portrayals of their experiences and practices within popular music (education) scholarship.