How did you become involved in the Punk Scholars Network? Back in 2012 I was at a gender and subcultures symposium presenting on my MA research on older punk women and got talking to a fellow presenter who was also speaking on gender and punk. They mentioned a mailing list I might be interested in which was aimed at anyone researching punk – this turned out to be the Punk Scholars Network. 2012 was also the year I started my PhD and the thought of being connected up with others who had similar research interests was really exciting for me – I had often felt ‘the odd one out’ when speaking to others about studying punk… at times I had even felt that some people looked down their nose at me! So I found the mailing list and then heard of the evening with Penny Rimbaud (Crass) in Leicester that was happening (2013?). I drove over for this and afterwards got into conversation with Mike Dines. I kinda feel now that we must of already had some e-mail conversation prior to this but Mike is just that genuinely friendly and approachable it probably was our first time speaking. Next thing I know we’re talking about organising a PSN postgraduate event for the following year. And so I organised the first annual postgraduate symposium with Mike which took place in 2014 and from there we co-edited a book of proceedings and I became more involved in the PSN. As a PhD student and someone very much at the start of her academic career being involved in the PSN opened the doors to me gaining my first taste of publishing as well as organising academic events – these experiences have been so valuable along with the support I received from fellow members (and you were all thanked accordingly in my thesis!). It’s been fantastic to see the outcomes of everyone’s hard work over the years. I’m dead proud of what the PSN has done and continues to do.
Why do you feel it's important that a network for those involved in the study of punk/punks exists? I think there can be a real problem within academia of certain issues or foci being seen as more worthy of academic attention than others. I think punk has been (and in a lot of respects still is) marginalised within academia so having a network like the PSN is great for bringing people together, sharing ideas and working to raise awareness of punk scholarship. A network such as this is great for uniting people with common research interests who are geographically dispersed as we can come together virtually (and at times physically). Looking around I can see so many projects that have come out of people’s involvement with the PSN and that is so fantastic.
Tell us a bit about your own (punk) research? My PhD in Sociology was focused on the construction and maintenance of punk identities amongst older punk women. I had noted when I was exploring this as part of my MA just how little subcultural focus there was on ageing women and in particular ageing punk women. My PhD allowed me to explore my overlapping research interests of punk and the (social) construction of both ageing and gender. In addition to this I am interested in ‘punk’ as applied to pedagogical practices and research methodologies, and one area especially that I’m interested in is how 'zines can be utilised as a co-produced method for sociological learning and/or as a method for capturing data. The latter element is something I hope to be able to incorporate into the research I’m currently involved in – I am part of a team on a study which began the start of this year exploring the experiences and support needs of young fathers (called Following Young Fathers Further). It’s a 4 year study and one of its aims is to explore innovative and creative methodologies so I’m looking to incorporate some zine stuff into that.
What is your connection to punk/background in punk? I grew up in Weymouth, Dorset. My dad had been part of a local group of punks and so remnants of this featured throughout my childhood – music he played, the band t-shirts he wore, the hand-me-downs of studded cuffs. So punk was always kind of there in the background. This no doubt influenced music I listened to. From the age of 15-20ish I played in a band called ‘veXt’ – a lot of what we did had a DIY ethos. As a band we had varied musical interests – we never planned to fit into a particular genre or style but our sound was described by others as punk and so we got onto various punk shows around the UK. I then moved ‘up North’ (as a Southerner, anything above London was North to me) and played in a Lincoln based crust-punk band called ‘Disarray’ briefly. Punk definitely prompted me to start thinking in particular ways – I began to question more, for example. I got really into riot grrrl and so this then became interwoven with feminist ways of thinking. The DIY ethos is something that continues to inspire me. Whilst I don’t play in a band anymore (“one day, one day…”) I continue to love music and going to gigs. With Francis (Stewart, PSN) we’ve been organising PSN events in Lincoln which I think are very much embedded too in punk ‘principles’ we hold e.g. DIY, grounded in the sense of community, breaking down hierarchies between academia and the wider public… Appreciate I’ve just spoken for you there Francis regarding your principles so feel free to challenge me in your blog post!
Laura is a Research Fellow in Family Research at the University of Lincoln. Her monograph Punk, Gender and Ageing: Just Typical Girls?’ is out September 2020 and she also has a co-edited collection with Francis Stewart forthcoming on punk pedagogies. For further information and other publications visit the About PSN page.