Introducing: Kevin Allred

Kevin Allred has a Bachelor’s degree from Utah State University and a Master’s degree from UMass Boston, both in American Studies.  He has taught extensively in Women’s and Gender Studies and American Studies at Rutgers University, including his own signature course: Feminist Perspectives: Politicizing Beyoncé.  He is currently writing his dissertation, in which he interrogates U.S. black feminism through the sonic register, attempting to politicize the very sounds black women’s voices make, both live and recorded.  He is particularly interested in the ways black female musicians – like Nina Simone, Odetta, Beyoncé Knowles, Nicki Minaj, and Janelle Monáe – manipulate their voices in such a way that histories get sonically recapitulated and transformed into a form of sonic warfare against the state.  He has been politically active with national and local LGBTQ organizations over the past thirteen years working on issues of queer youth empowerment through music, as well as nationally touring as a singer/songwriter and releasing two albums on his own independent record label, Gutter Folk Records.  At present, he is at work on a third album of original songs and teaching in the American Studies department at UMass Boston.