Punkast is a weekly podcast exploring punk in the historical present through critical conversations, inquiry, and collaboration.

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In this episode:

“Like making something permanent, from impermanent to permanent. We managed to do that.”

Jessica Schwartz is joined by musician, scholar, and educator Pavla Jonssonová in a conversation tracing punk, feminism, censorship, and subcultural survival across the former Soviet Bloc and beyond. Jonssonová reflects on performing in an all-female band while navigating state censorship, underground music networks, and the shifting political climate of late socialist Czechoslovakia.

Together, they explore women in punk, the afterlives of Riot Grrrl, DIY creativity, and the circulation of subcultural ideas, music, and resistance across borders and generations. In addition, Jonssonová discusses her ongoing work in scholarship, music, and community-based performance projects.

Pavla Jonssonová, PhD. has taught courses at Charles University in Prague, Anglo-American University in Prague, and CIEE Prague. Since her 1998 Fulbright scholarship at UC Santa Cruz, she has specialized in teaching about subcultures. Since 1980, she has performed original music as a founding member of the women’s rock band Zuby nehty, who have produced multiple albums, poetry books, and a film for Czech television.

From Los Angeles and Prague, punk moves across time, borders, and political worlds.

Recorded November 2020.

Links + References:

Pavla Jonsssonová (faculty profile)

Zuby nehty - Website  

Zuby nehty (Wikipedia)

Růžové vrány. Muzikantky 21. století (Interviews with twenty Czech women musicians) Volvox Globátor: Praha 2020

Devět z české hudební alternativy osmdesátých let (Czech Music Alternative of the 1980s) Karolinum: Praha 2019

Women, Music, Creativity: from Hildegard to Cosey Fanni Tutti. Lambert Academic Publishing: Berlin 2017

Credits:

Punkast is hosted and produced by Jessica Schwartz.

Editorial support: Melissa Hernandez – audio editing, episode notes, and audio-synced transcript.

Transcript:

Audio-synced transcript

Theme Music:

Lady Bits, "Bitch-a-thon," Lady Bits.

Related:

Jessica Schwartz co-hosts the Punk Scholars Podcast on the Punk Scholars Network.

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