Colloquium: Jasmine A. Henry, PhD

Black Feminist Leisure & Party Politics in East Coast Club Cultures

Jasmine A. Henry, PhD
Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania

This talk examines the Black feminist politics of urban leisure through the placemaking and performance practices of DJ UNIIQU3, exploring how it engages with Black womanhood, musical practice, and community-building. PBNJ is an annual block party series that connects DJs, dancers, promoters, and fans from the Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New Jersey club music scenes. Since 2019, the event has rotated among these cities, offering unique communal experiences and circulations of Black culture at each location.

Drawing on fieldwork, I analyze how Black women use the politics of partying and leisure to navigate and challenge the gendered dynamics of a club music scene historically dominated by masculinity. More specifically, at PBNJ, UNIIQU3 teaches young women in Newark to recognize hidden opportunities and resources in the local club scene. PBNJ creates a space for open communication and support, providing women access to experiences and information otherwise absent in other areas of the scene.

These features reflect a feminist practice that grants women agency within the East Coast club music scene, enabling Black women in urban geographies to assert themselves in DJ culture and challenge the male- and white-dominated electronic dance music industry, which has long marginalized their contributions. Ultimately, this work demonstrates how Black women use localized feminist practices to disrupt patriarchal structures in the EDM world, playing a central role in reshaping the cultural and political landscape of electronic dance music.

About Jasmine A. Henry

Jasmine Henry (she/her) is an assistant professor of musicology at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests include Black electronic dance music, independent music production, and Afrofuturism. Her current book project focuses on the history of Black urban club music and party cultures in Newark, New Jersey and how contemporary participants navigate the transhistorical cultural politics of Black club music production and performance on local, regional, and global levels. Henry’s scholarly practices are deeply informed by her own music production background. As a live sound engineer, she has entertained international audiences through her work on critically acclaimed productions such as the Blue Man Group, HBO’s The Newsroom, and Broadway’s Chicago the Musical. From 2017 to 2022, she served as the Media Lab Director at the Newark School of the Arts, where she provided youth from historically marginalized backgrounds with access to music technologies and industry knowledge.