Staff Profile

Background

I am Deputy Degree Programme Director in Media, Communication & Cultural Studies (PQL0) at Newcastle University, having previously lectured at University of Hertfordshire and as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Anglia Ruskin University. I was awarded my doctorate in Media Studies at Anglia Ruskin University in March 2016, and my PhD thesis incorporated qualitative research through interviews with fifteen independent artists (including composer/media practitioner Holly Herndon, digital film-makers Ryan Trecartin and Jesse Kanda, and musicians including Arca, SOPHIE, Jam City and Evian Christ).

I teach across a wealth modules through all three stages of the PQL0 programme, and I developed and lead the module MCH2075: Popular Culture, Media & Identity. I also co-founded and teach on the module MCH2065: Race, Culture & Identity.

My research explores popular culture, digitality, identity and fandom. I have had two articles about music and digitality published in Popular Music and an article about Twin Peaks in Critical Studies in Television. I have published book reviews in Popular Music and a chapter in the academic anthology Mute Records: Artists, Business, History. Forthcoming works include a chapter in the anthology Disrupted Knowledge and a chapter in a hip hop anthology for Cambridge University Press.

I co-organised a monthly series of 2017 talks about digital music titled ‘Sound Salon’ at Somerset House alongside Dr. 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 March 2017, my research was the subject of a one-hour special radio show titled ‘The Internet State Of Mind’ on German station WDR. I was interviewed for the show, with my work featuring extensively throughout. I was a keynote speaker at Berlin’s 2016 3hd Festival, an arts festival centred on issues of digitality and identity.

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

Research

Waugh, M. (FORTHCOMING), 'Made a mill' off that mumblin' sh*t': Freestyle anti-lyricism and social media hype from Lil Wayne to Playboi Carti, in Turner, R. (ed.), Hip Hop: Cambridge Themes in American Literature and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Waugh, M. (FORTHCOMING), 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

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

Teaching

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

I also regularly teach on the following modules:

MCH2069 - Research Methods

MCH2080 - Celebrity Culture

MCH3012 - Fashion, Communication & Culture

MCH3063 - Advertising & Consumption

Students' Union TEAs (The Education Awards):

2019 - Outstanding Contribution To Feedback (WINNER)

2021 - Outstanding Contribution To Feedback (WINNER)

Publications

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.
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. '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.
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. 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.
Waugh M. Review: Music 109: Notes on Experimental Music, by Alvin Lucier. Popular Music 2013, 32(2), 339-341. In Preparation.

Dr Michael Waugh

Lecturer in Media, Communication & Cultural Studies