WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?: A Black Woman’s Life and Liberation in Heavy Metal, by Laina Dawes
What Are You Doing Here? investigates how black women musicians and fans navigate the metal, hardcore, and punk music genres that are regularly thought of as inclusive spaces and centered on a community spirit, but fail to block out the race and gender issues that exist in the outside world. Paperback, 208 pages.
Laina Dawes is a music and cultural critic, and a Ph.D. Candidate in Ethnomusicology at Columbia University. Her writings and photography can be found in various print and online publications in Canada, Europe, and the United States. Born and raised in Ontario, she lives in New York City.