Distribution Matters: Feminist Bookstores as Cultural Interaction Spaces

Abstract

To investigate the historical case of North American feminist bookstores, I use archival materials, interviews, and surveys to consider how cultural distribution sites affect the acquisition and interpretation of cultural objects. The findings point to the importance and variety of distributor conditions, including physical space, atmosphere, bookseller characteristics, stock, and audience members. I develop the concept of the cultural interaction space, defined as a location where a distributor, its cultural objects, and its audience converge. These spaces provide opportunities for interaction, observation, and experimentation with both tangible and intangible cultural materials, as well as for identity formation and the development of group solidarity. Future research should consider how variations in cultural distributors and in cultural interaction spaces affect audience reception, interpretation, and use of cultural objects.

Feministische boekhandel Artemys als ‘lesbian space’. De inspirerende rol van oprichtster Marian Lens

“…Het aanbod van boekhandels was een uiting van hun persoonlijkheid en van de boodschap die ze wilden overbrengen. 12 Vandaag de dag geeft Lens veel lezingen en is ze de bezieler achter 'l-tours': georganiseerde wandelingen over het lgbtq+verleden van Brussel. 13 Het aanbod van Artemys was heel uitgebreid en bevatte alle bestaande titels geschreven door lesbische vrouwen in het Frans, Nederlands en Engels.…”

Fantasies of the Bookstore

“…The romance of a travelling bookstore is brought into a twenty-first century context in Jenny Colgan's The Bookshop on the Corner (2016) (published as The Little Shop of Happy-Ever-After in the UK). Nina is a librarian who was recently made unemployed when the library was converted to a media hub.…”