How did you become involved in the Punk Scholars Network? I think through meeting Russ, Gords and Mike via research. I went along to the first meeting in Leicester and I liked everyone and liked the idea of people collaborating across academic disciplines and punk sub-scene sub-sects!! The PSN does so much I can't always keep up, but do my best.
Why do you feel it's important that a network for those involved in the study of punk/punks exists? To lend support, share ideas and work as a sounding board for different approaches. Most obviously, the journal provides a platform and outlet. We've all come up against resistance to researching punk and, in my case with History, to publishing on youth culture generally. So the PSN helps facilitate work, collaboration and support in the face of any obstacles. The help for PhD students is also integral to PSN, which is a very good thing.
Tell us a bit about your own (punk) research? I began looking at punk in relation to the political and socio-cultural shifts of the 1970s and 1980s, primarily as I was politicised through punk and grew up in that era. In No Future and various articles I use punk as a lens to examine how politics were channelled/refracted through youth culture(s). Now I'm looking at fanzines towards a book tracing their evolution from 1976 through punk's development into the 1980s. I hope to capture the bones of contention and the different ways fanzines were used to reflect the moods and creativities of the time.
What is your connection to punk/background in punk? I grew up through punk's fallout and it shaped how I looked - and look - at the world. I like - and still like - how punk allows people to do things and communicates ideas. I'm not that interested in being punk or joining some kind of gang/tribe: it's the ideas, practice and possibilities that interest me.
Matthew Worley is Professor of Modern History at the University of Reading and a co-founder of the Subcultures Network. He is currently researching towards a book-length study of fanzines and recently contributed to the Subcultures Network’s Ripped, Torn and Cut: Pop, Politics and Punk Fanzines from 1976 (2018). Further information provided on the About PSN page.