Punk Scholars Network

Since its inception in 2012, the Punk Scholars Network (PSN) has expanded its membership and activities through conferences, symposiums, publications, talks and exhibitions; whilst seeking to maintain its original aim as an international forum for scholarly debate. The Punk Scholars Network has also held a long-standing commitment towards the nurturing of research, not only in terms of post-doctoral output, but also through pedagogical and academic support for postgraduate and undergraduate research students whilst encouraging and supporting non-academics to pursue and develop their interests in punk scholarship. As such, the formation of the Punk Scholars Network has had marked an international impact within the field of punk studies; and, from its rather humble beginnings, has transformed into a global, interdisciplinary forum for academic and scholarly debate, conferences, publications, talks and public exhibitions. Punk is a conflicting and diverse culture, and the Punk Scholars Network aims to mirror this multiplicity through a genuinely interdisciplinary approach to the subject and the contribution and participation of scholars, fans and enthusiasts within and outside traditional models of academia. To date, the Network has delivered workshops, symposiums and conferences in Reading, Oxford, Leicester, London, Birmingham, Northampton, Bolton, Los Angeles, Lincoln, Newcastle and two global online conferences involving local branches across three continents in 2020 and 2021. Indeed, the most recent event in 2021 was the 8th Annual Conference and Postgraduate Symposium. These events have reflected a broad range of critical themes including global, historical and contemporary punk scenes, punk pedagogy, DIY, punk and spirituality, identities and sexualities, punk art and aesthetics, curatorial practices and the social and political legacy of the 1980s anarcho-punk movement. In recent years, the PSN has also engaged with Intellect Press in both the publication of the academic journal Punk & Post Punk and the development of the Global Punk book series, which includes to date, The Punk Reader: Research Transmissions from the Local and the Global (2019), Trans-Global Punk Scenes: The Punk Reader Vol. 2 (2020), Punk Identities, Punk Utopias: Global Punk and Media (2021) and PUNK! Las Américas Edition (2021). A redesigning of the website in recent years has had a major impact on the online presence of the Network, enabling a far wider reach for projects, publications and events. Furthermore, the website has also become invaluable in centralising a growing global network with, at the time of writing, fourteen Branches including those placed in Indonesia, Greece, Finland/Suomi, Colombia and Brazil