Staff Profile

Dr. Michael Waugh is Deputy Degree Programme Director in Media, Communication & Cultural Studies (PQL0) at Newcastle University, having previously lectured at University of Hertfordshire and Anglia Ruskin University. He was awarded his PhD in Media & Cultural Studies at Anglia Ruskin University in 2016. The thesis provided a cultural history of electronic and club music during the early 2010s, with particular focus on musicians self-reflexively exploring Post-Internet identity. This was the first – and remains the only – extended academic interrogation of the ‘Post-Internet’ and its relationship to contemporary music, and drew on interviews with fifteen independent artists (including Holly Herndon, Ryan Trecartin, Arca, SOPHIE, Jesse Kanda, Jam City, Evian Christ and TCF).

He teaches across a wealth of modules through all three stages of Newcastle University’s PQL0 programme, and developed and leads the module MCH2075: Popular Culture, Media & Identity. He also co-founded and teaches on the module MCH2065: Race, Culture & Identity.

Dr. Waugh’s research explores popular culture, digitality, identity and fandom. He has published two articles about music and digitality in Popular Music and an article about Twin Peaks in Critical Studies in Television. He has also written book reviews for Popular Music and published chapters in academic anthologies such as Mute Records: Artists, Business, History and Disrupted Knowledge. He has two chapters forthcoming in major anthologies of collected essays on hip hop. Dr. Waugh co-organised a monthly series of 2017 talks about digital music titled ‘Sound Salon’ at Somerset House alongside Professor Jennifer Walshe and Dr. Adam Harper, acquiring significant funding from Brunel University for the series and presenting a keynote lecture that was highlighted in Time Out magazine and on BBC Radio 3’s ‘Late Junction’. In 2016, he was a keynote speaker at Berlin’s 3hd Festival, and the following year his research on Post-Internet music was the subject of a one-hour special radio show titled ‘The Internet State Of Mind’ on German station WDR.

He was invited by Arca (a songwriter and producer who has worked with artists such as Beyoncé, Björk, Kanye West and Frank Ocean) to write the press release for her 2015 album Mutant (Mute Records), and he also produced programme notes for a Post-Internet music showcase at 2015’s London Contemporary Music Festival. He has presented papers at international conferences such as Porto’s KISMIF and UCLan’s Future Sound, and has written further press releases for musicians such as KUČKA and Derek Piotr.

Waugh, M. (FORTHCOMING), 'Made a mil' off that mumblin’ s**t': The freestyling cyborgs of Post-Internet hip hop, in Turner, R. (ed.), Hip Hop: Cambridge Themes in American Literature and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Waugh, M. (2023), Pain and suffering, uterus trumpets and The Wild Ride: Autoethnographic aca-fandom, para-social relationships and Diane podcast, in Longstaff, G., Sikka, T. & Walls, S. (eds.), Disrupted Knowledge: Scholarship in a Time of Change. Leiden: Brill/Haymarket

Waugh, M. (2022), 'Make sense of it': Cult and complex TV fandoms, post-truth reading strategies and an excess of meaning in Twin Peaks: Season 3. Critical Studies In Television, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020221129048

Waugh, M. (2020), 'Every time I dress myself, it go m*********in' viral': Post-verbal flows and memetic hype in Young Thug's mumble rap. Popular Music, 39(2), 208-232. doi:10.1017/S026114302000015X

Waugh, M. (2019), Arca: Mute's Mutant, in Beaven, Z., O'Dair, M. & Osborne, R. (eds.), Mute Records: Artists, Business, History. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 209-222 http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781501340635

Waugh, M. (2017), 'My laptop is an extension of my memory and self': Post-Internet identity, virtual intimacy and digital queering in online popular music. Popular Music, 36(2), 233-251. doi:10.1017/S0261143017000083

Waugh, M. (2016), 'Music that actually matters'? Post-Internet musicians, retromania and authenticity in online popular musical milieux [PhD thesis] Available at: https://www.academia.edu/97930126/Music_that_actually_matters_Post_Internet_musicians_retromania_and_authenticity_in_online_popular_musical_milieux

Press release for Arca - Mutant (Mute Records, 2015): http://mute.com/arca/announces-details-for-new-album-mutant-to-be-released-20-november-watch-new-video-for-en

https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/blog/sound-salon-how-has-internet-changed-hip-hop

https://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/jennifer-walshe-sound-salon-with-dr-michael-waugh

I developed and lead MCH2075: Popular Culture, Media & Identity, and co-founded (and teach on) MCH2065: Race, Culture & Identity.

In addition to supervising undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations, particularly related to popular culture, I have also regularly contributed teach to the following modules:

MCH1026: Social & Cultural Studies

MCH2069: Research Methods

MCH2080: Celebrity Culture

MCH3012: Fashion, Communication & Culture

MCH3063: Advertising & Consumption

Newcastle University Students' Union TEAs (The Education Awards):

2019 - Outstanding Contribution To Feedback (WINNER)

2021 - Outstanding Contribution To Feedback (WINNER)

• Articles

  • Waugh M. 'Make sense of it': Cult and complex TV fandoms, post-truth reading strategies and an excess of meaning in Twin Peaks: Season 3. Critical Studies in Television 2022, 0(0). In Preparation.
  • Waugh M. 'Every time I dress myself, it go m*********in' viral': Post-verbal flows and memetic hype in Young Thug's mumble rap. Popular Music 2020, 39(2), 208-232. In Preparation.
  • Waugh M. 'My laptop is an extension of my memory and self': Post-Internet identity, virtual intimacy and digital queering in online popular music. Popular Music 2017, 36(2), 233-251.

• Book Chapters

  • Waugh M. Pain and suffering, uterus trumpets and The Wild Ride: Autoethnographic aca-fandom, para-social relationships and Diane podcast. In: Longstaff G; Sikka T; Walls S, ed. Disrupted Knowledge: Scholarship in a Time of Change. Brill/Haymarket, 2023, pp.240-258. In Preparation.
  • Waugh M. 'Made a mil' off that mumblin' s**t': The freestyling cyborgs of Post-Internet hip hop. In: Turner, R, ed. Hip Hop: Cambridge Themes in American Literature and Culture. Cambridge University Press, 2023. In Preparation.
  • Waugh M. 'Arca: Mute's Mutant'. In: Beaven Z; O'Dair M; Osborne R, ed. Mute Records: Artists, Business, History. Bloomsbury Academic, 2019, pp.209-222. In Preparation.

• Online Publication

  • Waugh M. Press Release: Arca - Mutant (Mute Records). Mute Records, 2015. Available at: https://mute.com/arca/announces-details-for-new-album-mutant-to-be-released-20-november-watch-new-video-for-en. In Preparation.

• Reviews

  • Waugh M. Review: Popular Music and Retro Culture in the Digital Era, by Jean Hogarty. Popular Music 2017, 37(1), 148-150. In Preparation.
  • Waugh M. Review: Music 109: Notes on Experimental Music, by Alvin Lucier. Popular Music 2013, 32(2), 339-341. In Preparation.