ORCID

Abstract

This project explores how feminism and domestic abuse can be articulatedthrough songwriting. Research in music therapy, sociology and popular musicincreasingly speaks to the value of songwriting as a tool for personal andcommunity empowerment, but there is space to actively use songwriting toexplore feminist issues independently of the traditional commercial context ofpopular music. Existing feminist music has been deemed as at its mostsuccessful when it is linked clearly to social change in our communities(Greene, 2017, p.8). Modern popular feminist songwriting has been criticised fornot going far enough in deconstructing systemic patterns of patriarchy (Tong,2024, p.9). Considering this, engaging with academic research alongside theprocess of songwriting has the potential to integrate feminist research into thesongwriting process more explicitly. This project used practice-as-research(PaR), as well as community-based fieldwork with survivors of domestic abuse,to contribute to feminist research. The project consisted of two PaR songwritingprojects, Strained Girl and The Liminal Lady, with explanatory essayselucidating the research behind the work. Three performances of the work tookplace with two questionnaires to evaluate the impact of the performances. Thefieldwork, Tuesday Tunes, consisted of five two-hour songwriting workshopswith domestic abuse survivors. Qualitative insights from this fieldwork went ontoinform the second PaR project, The Liminal Lady.The main contribution to knowledge of this project is that the PaR songwritingdirectly engages with feminist academic literature where mainstreamsongwriting does not. Additional areas of research include: the framing ofperformance as an essential component of the development of PaRsongwriting; the value of field recording in songwriting workshops withvulnerable participants and PaR music; specific insights on vicarious trauma forfeminist researchers where PaR is a component of the research; and insightson the potential traumatising effects of PaR songwriting for individuals with livedexperience of abuse.

Awarding Institution(s)

University of Plymouth

Supervisor

Nuria Bonet, Julie Parsons

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Date

2026

Embargo Period

2026-08-16

Deposit Date

August 2026

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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Additional Files

2026Ferguson10696163_PaRPortfolio.pdf (95066 kB)

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