Cultural Histories/Practices

The work of our academics in this area is mainly underpinned by a cultural-historical approach.

Popular and rock music is a key area of interest, with notable recent achievements including Noel McLaughlin's book on Irish rock music and an associated international conference and Dr Lee Barron's book, Social Theory in Popular Music. Dr Mel Gibson's research on comics and graphic novels is internationally recognised and her website, Dr Mels Comics, is an important resource for comics research. Academics in the group have also published on subjects as diverse as celebrity culture and North Eastern cultural history.

PhD research includes projects on male rock stardom, the representation of gayness in Thai media and gender in computer games.