Punk & the D.I.Y. World of Zines

Institution: Carleton University (Southam Hall 404)
Category: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Language: English

Course Description

What are zines? Zines are small, self-printed, do-it-yourself (D.I.Y) booklets with a revolutionary history. Whether created by sci-fi fans about their favourite novels, feminist punks fighting exclusion in the music industry, or 2SLGBTQ+ folks navigating gender and sexuality, zines have been important sites of belonging since the 1960s. Shortened from the word 'magazines', zines feature pop culture, personal anecdotes, politics, art, and more!
Together, we’ll dive into this rad world of zines still alive today. During the first part of this course, we’ll learn about the history of punks and zine-making during the 1970s-2000s across Canada and the United States. We’ll focus especially on the feminist punk movement, Riot Grrrl, and the 2SLGBTQ+ punk scene, Queercore. We’ll flip through historic print zines, watch videos, and listen to punk music produced by these past zine-makers. We’ll also explore e-zines online and make comparisons to social media today.
With this history as our inspiration, we'll then make zines of our own. In the second part of the course, we’ll try our hand at some of the D.I.Y. artistic techniques used in zine-making such as folding, stamping, photocopying, linocut, collage, and bookbinding. Everyone will get the chance to make their own zine using these new skills and put history into action!
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