Academic lectures and papers (selected)
‘Denialism, Post-Denialism and the Boundaries of the Speakable’, at CRASSH, Cambridge University, 11 June 2018. Watch video of talk here.
The Contemporary Controversy over Left-Wing Antisemitism and the Problem of Power, at Zionism and Antisemitism: An International Conference at the Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism, Birkbeck College, 26 May 2017. Listen to to the talk here:
Beyond Transgression: Breaking Metal’s Boundaries at ‘Boundaries and Ties: The Place of Metal Music in Communities’, University of Victoria, 9 June 2017 View talk here
Antisemitism and divisions over Israel in diaspora Jewish communities : the exploitation of Jewish difference, 2017 Lansdown Lectur at University of Victoria, 9 June 2017 View talk here
Why metal cannot embrace the Holocaust at ‘Metal, Extreme Music and the Holocaust’, University of Leeds, 12 December 2016
What do Diaspora Jews talk about when they talk about Israel? at ‘Rethinking Exile, Center, and Diaspora in Modern Jewish Culture’, Cambridge University, 2-4 May 2017
Responding Critically to Media Texts: Lessons from Jewish and Other Religious Reading Practices at the 12th Doha Interfaith Conference, Doha, Qatar, February 2016 [Pdf here]
Why Metallica are Unforgiven: Ageing and Subcultural Capital at Mind Over Metal conference, University of South Denmark, 3-4 December 2015
Keynote at the 10th anniversary meeting of the British Sociological Association Sociologists Outside Academia Group, London, 9 November 2015 [An essay based on my talk was published here]
‘Exploring new frontiers in the aesthetics of metal: Destabilising capital through mediocrity and incompetence’ online talk at University of Southern Denmark, 3 September 2015. [Video of talk here]
‘Landfill Metal: The Ironies of Mediocrity’ published in proceedings: Modern Heavy Metal: Markets, Practices and Cultures. Edited by Toni-Matti Karjalainen & Kimi Kärki.Helsinki: Aalto University & Turku: International Institute for Popular Culture, 2015
Panelist at ‘Debating Antisemitism: Why do Jews Disagree So Much?’ at Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism, Birkbeck College, 26 June 2014. Recording available here
Panelist at ‘How has religion been an agent for peace-building in conflict areas of the world?’ Westminster Faith Debates, 14 May 2014. Video available here
‘Metal ‘Outsider Art’: Listening to Metal’s Forgotten Penumbra’ at Metal and Marginalisation, University of York, 11th April 2014
‘Do metal scenes need retirement homes? Care and the limitations of metal community.’ at Heavy Metal and the Communal Experience, University of Puerto Rico, 5th March 2014
‘Metal Beyond Metal: What Comes Next?’ Keynote lecture at Heavy Metal and Popular Culture Conference, Bowling Green State University, April 2013
‘Multiculturalism and the British Jewish community today’ at Muslims and Jews: Citizenship, Identity and Prejudice in Europe, the US and Israel. Workshop at the Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism, 23 February, 2012. Recording available here.
Visiting Lecturer at Popakademie Baden-Württemberg,May 2011
‘From Security to Insecurity: British Jewish Communal Leadership in the Context of Multiculturalism’ at the British Sociological Association Annual Conference, April 2011
Visiting lecturer at Bergische Universitat Wuppertal, Jan/Feb 2011
‘One the significance of music stands: religious popular music between the transcedent and the instrumental’, Keynote lecture at 1st UskoMus Seminar: ‘Music and Transcendence’, Sibelius Museum, Turku, Finland.
‘From Subculture to Scene: Investigating Extreme Metal’ at ‘Talking Metal Meeting’ , organised by Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften, Winterthur, Switzerland, 12 May 2010
‘Educating Anglo-Jewry: Reflexivity, Research and the Transformation of the British Jewish Community’, at ‘UJIA Research in Jewish Education Conference’, April 2010
‘Locating popular music: scenes and other spaces’ at ‘Theorizing Worlds of Popular Music’, seminar at Goldsmiths College, March 2010
‘Researching intangible spaces: locating the social’ Guest lecture and workshop at the Birkbeck Institute for Social Research postgraduate seminar, December 8 2009.
‘Coming Out’: Realising the Possibilities of Metal’ at ‘Heavy Metal and Gender: An International Conference’, Hochschule für Musik Köln, Germany, October 2009
‘White Masculine Heteronormativity as Liberation: The Paradoxical Possibilities of Metal’ at the Biennial conference of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, University of Liverpool, July 2009
‘The Colour of Metal: ‘Whiteness’, ‘Blackness’ and the Roots of Heavy Metal in 1960s Rock’. Guest lecture at Texas A&M University, 14 April 2009.
‘How Diverse Should Metal Be? The Case of Jewish Metal’ at ‘Heavy Fundamentalisms: Music, Metal and Politics’, Salzburg, 3-5 November 2008
‘Do We Need Jewish Metal? On Popular Music, Diversity and Inclusion’ at ‘Popular Music Studies: Problems, Disputes, Questions’, University of Glasgow, 12-14 September 2008.
‘From Security to Insecurity: British Jewish Communal Leadership in the Context of Multiculturalism’ at ‘Encounters and Intersections: Religion, Diaspora and Ethnicities Conference’, St Catherine’s College Oxford, 9th-11th July 2008
‘Contemporary Jewish Music in the UK and America: Forces of Unification and Fragmentation’. Presented at ‘Social Connections: Identities, Technologies, Relationships’, British Sociological Association Annual Conference, April 2007
Member of panel on religion and popular music at ‘Theology, Religion and Popular Culture’ conference at Regent’s Park, College, Oxford, April 2006.
‘Transgression and Satanism in Extreme Metal’. Presented at ‘The Lure of the Dark Side: Satan and Western Demonology in Popular Culture’ St Deiniol’s Library, March 2006
‘Jews and Muslims: A Comparative Sociology’. Presented at Royal Holloway College Forum for the Comparative Study of Muslims and Jews, October 2005
‘Understanding Jewish Rap: Pastiche and Syncretism’. Presented at ‘The Local, the Regional and the Global in the Emergence of Popular Music Cultures’, Copenhagen University, October 2005 and at a seminar at Gothenburg University, March 2005.
Respondent on panel ‘Defining Questions, Issues and Methods for the Study of Religion and Popular Music’ at ‘Studying Religion and Popular Music’, University of Birmingham, May 2005
‘Local Music Scenes on a Global Arena: A Comparison of UK, Swedish, Israeli and US Extreme Metal’. Seminar at The Advanced Cultural Institute of Sweden, Norrköping, March 2005
‘The Status of the Musical Text in Religious Popular Music: Some Conceptual Difficulties’. Presented at the April 2003 conference of the BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group, Oxford.
Welcoming address to Day Three ‘ The Invisible Mainstream’ of the biennial conference of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, Turku University, Finland, July 2001
‘Humour and Extreme Metal’. Presented at BSA Youth Study Group seminar, Northampton, January 2001 and at Turku University, Finland, October 2000
‘An Orphaned Land?: Israel and the Extreme Metal Scene’. Presented at Crossroads in Cultural Studies, Birmingham University, June 2000 and at The Popular Musician: Performance, Poetics, Power, biennial conference of the UK branch of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, University of Surrey, July 2000.
‘’Darkthrone is absolutely not a political band’: Difference and Reflexivity in the Global Extreme Metal Scene’. Presented at ‘Changing Sounds: New Directions and Configurations in Popular Music’, biennial conference of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, Sydney University of Technology, 1999 and at Researching Culture, University of North London, 1999
‘Representations and Experiences of the Body in Death Metal Music and the Challenge of Formulating a Critical Response’. Presented at the British Sociological Association conference, Edinburgh University, 1998 and at seminars at the Universities of Stockholm, Gothenburg and Liverpool, 1998.
‘Roots?: The Relationship Between the Global and the Local Within the Extreme Metal Scene’. Presented at Popular Music: Intercultural Interpretations, biennial conference of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, University of Kanazawa, Japan, 1997 and at Music Studies and Cultural Difference, Open University, 1997.
‘Constructing Death: Discourse Analysis and the Interview Talk of Four Death Metal Fans’. Presented at Vox Pop, annual conference of the Oral History Society, London, 1997.