The Pop Culture Research Network (PopCRN), established in 2021 by Dr Lisa Hackett, Associate Professor Jo Coghlan and Huw Nolan in response to UNE’s strong research output in the popular culture field, is celebrating it’s second anniversary.
PopCRN furthers research into the field through collaborations of its members, with a focus on interdisciplinary work. PopCRN researchers are established in their field and their work represents the cutting edge of popular culture study.
The team have designed a special card to thank the UNE community for their support and to highlight their achievements.
Read on for a wrap-up on PopCRN’s recent ‘God and my right’ conference.
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Royal families and their representation in popular culture was the main focus of a UNE-hosted symposium last week.
Dieu et mon droit (God and my right) was hosted by the Popular Culture Research Network (PopCRN) and themed around the perceived intrusion of royalty in our lives. From nursery rhymes to cartoons, Monty Python movies, merchandise and in romance novels royalty are ubiquitous.
While the British Royal family featured prominently in many of the presentations, speakers also touched on more quirky subjects such as The Kingdom of Tonga: Royalty, Culture, Respect and Veneration; Mr Punch versus the Kaiser: Revisited; Don’t say ‘neigh,’ say ‘yay!’: tv’s ‘The Great’ and animals; Strange women, lying in ponds, distributing swords; Having our piece: Regional Australia and the history of royal wedding cakes; and Remembering the Queen’s visit to Bondi Beach in 1954.
The keynote addresses where delivered by HASSE academics and PopCRN co-founders Associate Professor Jo Coghlan and Dr Lisa Hackett whose presentations were titled The British Royals: a hegemonic project – Why they intrude into our daily lives and The Royal Meme: Reduction, crime and gender respectively.
Dr Hackett said the symposium was a resounding success with speakers and participants joining from across the globe. It’s virtual nature also made it easier to share and revisit presentations.
“This is the seventh symposium hosted by PopCRN and one of our biggest and most successful yet,” Lisa said.
“Our global participation and membership are rapidly growing and we had to move away from traditional thematic panels in favour of availability. We did our best to incorporate everyone’s time zones and, judging by the feedback we received, I think we have succeeded.”
Feedback reflected positively on the wide range of speakers who presented, the interesting keynote addresses, and the congenial and helpful discussion.
While all PopCRN conferences come with a publication opportunity, God and my right was unique in that it teamed up with open-access Australian media and culture journal, M/C Journal, and will publish selected conference papers (all peer-reviewed) in the first quarter of 2024.
PopCRN was founded by Lisa, Jo and Huw Nolan in 2021 and brings together researchers from a range of disciplines to further popular culture studies – a wide field that stretches across a number of modes, including television, music, fashion, theatre, literature, sport and film. In addition to providing a venue for researchers to share and collaborate on work, PopCRN also provides publishing opportunities for interested researchers to further the reach of their work. The trio have also recently secured a contract to write a book about royals in popular culture.
PopCRN’s next symposium is scheduled for the end of November and will be themed ‘Like a Virgin.’