Tara Brabazon's Blog, page 34

Winter is coming - doctoral supervision in the neoliberal university

What are the challenges confronting PhD students and supervisors in our universities?  Tara reveals the impact of neoliberalism on doctoral education, showing why governance and regulation of scholarly standards remains important.  This presentation is a recording of Tara's keynote session for the European University Association's Council for Doctoral Education Workshop, held at Delft University of Technology on January 21 and 22, 2016.

Digital leisure studies

Tara and Steve talk about two key phrases - "digital leisure cultures" and "digital leisure studies."  What are digital leisure cultures and can they offer a new disciplinary pathway through work, production and consumption?

Doctor Who - High Popular Culture for Difficult Times

Doctor Who is a stunning and innovative force in popular culture and popular memory.  But why is Doctor Who popular and what is the role of Peter Capaldi in aligning past and present, memory and politics, television and post-television?  Steve and Tara talk about Doctor Who through its history and why this programme matters now, perhaps more than at any point in its history.

What is the artefact? (The challenges of creative-led research)

Mark Brown joins us from Sydney to present his sonic designs for the development of his artefact.  Yet his great work raises a question.  What is the artefact?  What are the examiners assessing?  Steve, Tara and Mark try to limit and shape the examined artefact.

Sunny Rue Chivaura 5 - Blackness in Australian identity (and Australian doctoral education)

Sunny, Steve and Tara enter the complex area of blackness and Australian identity.  What space is available to explore blackness - as a scholar - in doctoral education?

Anne McLeod 37 - Juggling diverse writing styles in doctoral education

 A great challenge of doctoral education is balancing description, analysis and high theory.  Anne McLeod discusses how to manage this challenge with Steve and Tara, her doctoral supervisors.

Mick Winter 27 - Behind the curtain with the Wizard of Oz (and children's media)

Why has the Wizard of Oz moved so successfully through literature and film - and through time?  Mick, Tara and Steve probe the power of the Wizard of Oz and what it reveals about children's media.

Remembering the Manchester Institute for Popular Culture

Tara Brabazon and Steve Redhead explore the history of the Manchester Institute for Popular Culture at the Manchester Metropolitan University.  How was the Institute formed?  What were the conditions that made it successful?  Can such an Institute emerge again from the contemporary higher education sector?

Mark Brown 6 - Light, darkness, movement and colour

Mark, Steve and Tara talk about how Mark is building his artefact.  The use of light, dark, movement and colour is aligning meaning systems and movement systems.

Mick Winter 26 - Play it again, Mick

Mick, Tara and Steve entered Mick's meme research - in detail.  We started with Casablanca and probed why it is famous - and why it remains famous.