Zachary Moreau

Zachary Moreau's dissertation, "Music, Activism, and Intersectionality: Identity and Ideology in Degenerate State," examines the music and political work of Degenerate State, a Tallahassee punk band which engages with political activism, either as heads of organizations or well-regarded members in the scene. Moreau tracks how these musicians define their political ideologies in their music and how they implement them through their activism. As he has found in his dissertation research, the band’s musical lives and activist lives do not always align. This offers an alternative reading to most scholarship on musical activism, which argues that music has an implicit power in these spaces. Moreau's dissertation attempts to nuance such arguments by understanding the boundaries and reality in which his collaborators navigate and articulate their political work.