"case study" blog posts

Spinning the Child: How records made for children construct childhoodLiam Maloy

Spinning the Child: How records made for children construct childhood

In the sleeve notes to one of his two albums for children, Woody Guthrie wrote “Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple.” As I discovered from my now-completed PhD on the topic of records made for children, Woody’s songs were often far from simple, yet his words have proved helpful whilst I was finishing up my thesis.

Posted on: 12 September 2017

Focus on: Emily BakerEmily Baker

Focus on: Emily Baker

‘I talk about Aretha Franklin a lot’ This, I found, tends to be the ‘in’ to explaining my thesis to polite strangers on a plane. ‘Really?..you can study that?!’

Posted on: 1 October 2016

Notes from the field: Þorbjörg Daphne HallNotes from the Field

Notes from the field: Þorbjörg Daphne Hall

Conducting fieldwork in a place in which you live has both its perks and perils as seemingly you have endless access to the field – but the risk is that everyday life takes over and the ‘academic’ data gathering keeps getting postponed. Luckily, my professional life is immersed in music which certainly helps understanding the field and I have relatively easy access to respondents. I would like to share two events which have been particularity fruitful for my research in the last few months.

Posted on: 27 February 2016