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Associate Professor Catherine Driscoll

Associate Professor Catherine Driscoll joined the Department in 2003 after working at the Universities of Melbourne and Adelaide. She is currently departmental postgraduate research co-ordinator.

Catherine maintains an active interdisciplinary research profile organised around three streams: youth and girls studies (with an emphasis on media and popular culture and ideas about adolescence); rural cultural studies (with an emphasis on Australia and on ethnographic research); and cultural theory (with an emphasis on modernity and modernism).

Catherine's current research projects focus on Australian country towns (a current ARC-funded discovery project), on cultural studies' debt to pragmatism and phenomenology, on the intersection of fan culture and online culture, and some further work on girl studies and teen film.

Supervision
Catherine is currently supervising at Honours, Masters, and PhD level. She is particularly interested in supervising projects that focus on one or more of the following areas: modernity and modernism; cultural theory; popular culture and popular genres; online culture, especially fan cultures and gaming; rural studies, especially with a focus on youth; girlhood and girl culture.

For current and past higher degree supervisions at Sydney see below.

Teaching
Catherine does not teach in each of these units every year - check the news section below for teaching plans.

Undergraduate units:
GCST1601 "Introduction to Cultural Studies"
GCST2606 "Genres in Cultural Context"
GCST2612 "Youth Cultures"
GCST3604 "Cultural Theory"

Postgraduate units:
GCST5909 "Key Thinkers for Cultural Studies"
WMST6904 "Modernism, Modernity and Modern Culture"


   

Selected Publications

Books

Driscoll, C. (forthcoming 2012). The Australian Country Girl, Aldershot: Ashgate.

Driscoll, C. (2011). Teen Film: A Critical Introduction, London: Berg.

Driscoll, C. (2009). Modernist Cultural Studies, Miami: University Press of Florida. Reprinted 2012.

Driscoll, C. (2002). Girls: Feminine Adolescence in Popular Culture and Cultural Theory, New York: Columbia University Press.

Journal Articles

Driscoll, C. and P. Black (forthcoming September 2012) "Don, Betty and Jackie Kennedy: Periodisation in Man Men". Special Issue on Mad Men. In Cultural Studies Review.

Driscoll, C. “Modernism, Cinema, Adolescence: Another History for Teen Film”. Screening the Past, Issue 32. http://www.screeningthepast.com/.

Driscoll, C. and M. Gregg (2011), “Convergence Culture and the Legacy of Feminist Cultural Studies”. Nick Couldry & James Hay (eds), Special Issue on Rethinking Convergence Culture. Cultural Studies, Vol. 25, Nos 4-5.

Driscoll, C. and P. Black (2011) "Strapped to a Drain Pipe: Emma Peel and the Vinyl Catsuit". In The Australasian Journal of Popular Culture, 1.1.

Driscoll, C. (2010) "On Popular Music: Teaching Modernist Cultural Studies". In Continuum, 24.4.

Driscoll, C. (2010) "Chanel: The Order of Things". In Fashion Theory, 14.2.

Driscoll, C. and M. Gregg (2010) “My Profile: Virtual Ethnography”. In Emotion, Society and Space, 3.1. Special Issue on Intimacy.

Driscoll, C. (2008) "this is not a blog: gender, intimacy and community". In Feminist Media Studies, 8.2.

Driscoll, C. and M. Gregg (2008) "message me: temporality, location and everyday technologies". In Media International Australia: Special Issue on Digital Literacy, No. 128. August 2008.

Driscoll, C. (2007) "Girls Today: Girls, Girl Culture and Girlhood Studies". In Girlhood Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 1.1.

Driscoll, C. (2006) "Super-heroine: Le melodrame de l'actrice materiale.” Tausend Augen: Revue des cultures audiovisuelles, No. 31. Trans. Civan Gürel. Special Issue: super héros au cinéma au 21ème siècle.

Driscoll, C. (2003) “the moving ground: locating everyday life”. South Atlantic Quarterly, 100.2. Reprinted in Ben Highmore (ed.), Everyday Life: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies. London: Routledge, 2011.

Driscoll, C. (1999) "Cyber-gurls, riot grrls, Spice Girls: Girl culture, revenge and global capitalism". In Australian Feminist Studies, 14.1

Driscoll, C. (1998) "Becoming Bride". In UTS Review, 4.2.

Driscoll, C. (1997) "The Little Girl". Antithesis, 8.2. Reprinted as "The Little Girl, Deleuze and Guattari" In Genosko, G. (ed.) Critical Assessments of Leading Philosophers, Volume 3 London and New York: Routledge, 2000.

Driscoll, C. (1995) "Returns and Escapes: Luce Irigaray and Lesbian Utopics". Critical InQueeries, 1.1.

Book Chapters

Driscoll, C. (forthcoming 2012) "She’s All That: Girl Sexuality and Teen Film". In Katie Harper, Yasmina Katsulis, Vera Lopez & Georganne Scheiner (eds), Adolescent Girls’ Sexualities and the Media. Temple University Press.

Driscoll, C. (in press, forthcoming 2011). "Girl Culture and the Twilight Franchise". In Anne Morey (ed.) Twilight: Essays on Genre, Adaptation, and Reception. Aldershot: Ashgate.

Driscoll, C., C. Garland and A. Hickey-Moody (2011). “(Hetero)sexing the child: Hans, Alice and the repressive hypothesis”. In Frida Beckman (ed.), Deleuze and Sex. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Driscoll, C. (2010) “Becoming a Country Girl”. In Mary Celeste Kearney (ed.), Mediated Girlhoods. New York: Peter Lang.

Driscoll, C. (2008). “Bronze Things; Things of Bronze: Popular Music Cultures in Buffy the Vampire Slayer”. In Paul Attinello and Vanessa Knights (eds.), Sounds of the Slayer: A Buffy Anthology. Aldershot: Ashgate Press.

Driscoll, C. and M. Gregg (2008) "Broadcast Yourself: Youth, Community and Intimacy Online". In Usha Rodriguez and Belinda Smaill (eds), Youth, Media and Culture in the Asia-Pacific Region. Cambridge Scholars Press.

Driscoll, C. (2007) "Super-Heroine: Women as Martial Artists in Early Twenty-First Century Cinema ". In Frederick, W. and Andris, S. (eds), Women Willing To Fight. Cambridge Scholars Press.

Driscoll, C. (2006) "The Romance of Pornography and the Pornography of Romance". In Hellekson, K., and Busse, K. (eds.) Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet: New Essays. McFarland.

Driscoll, C. (2005) "Girl-Doll: Barbie as Puberty Manual". In Mitchell, C. and Reid-Walsh, J. (eds.) Seven Going On Seventeen. Peter Lang.

Driscoll, C. (2004) "felix culpa: sex, sin and discourse in Joyce’s fiction". In Martin, T. and Fogarty, A. (eds) Joyce on the Threshold. University Press of Florida.

Driscoll, C. (2002) "Joyce’s Feminist Audiences". In Nash, J. (ed.) European Joyce Studies No. 14: Joyce’s Audiences. Amsterdam: Rodopi

Driscoll, C. (2000) "The Woman in Process: Deleuze, Kristeva and Feminism". In Buchanan, I. and Colebrook, C. (eds), Deleuze and Feminist Theory. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press

Driscoll, C. (1999) "Girl Culture; Or, why study the Spice Girls". In Schwerdt, D. and Hoskings, S. (eds), eXtremes: from Shakespeare to the Spice Girls. Adelaide: Wakefield Press

Driscoll, C. (1995) “Who Needs a Boyfriend?: The homoerotic virgin in adolescent women’s magazines”. In David English and Penny van Toorn (eds.), Speaking Positions: Gender and Ethnicity in Australian Cultural Studies. Melbourne: Victoria University of Technology.

Selected Other Publications

Driscoll, C. (2008) "Girl Culture Capital” in “Girls’ Studies Forum”. In Journal of Children and Media, 1.2.

Driscoll, C. (2007) "Fanfiction"; "Barbie". Mitchell, C. and Reid-Walch, J. (eds.) Girl Culture: An Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press

Driscoll, C. with M. Hills (2007) "Gender and Fan Culture: Round Twelve" on Henry Jenkins' blog: here and here.

Driscoll, C. (2004). "On the History and Usage of ‘Girl Power’" and “The Tween Girl Magazine Genre”. Reports to the Federal Court (Proceedings NSD 1569), December 2004.

Driscoll, C. (2000). "Cultural Studies"; "Kristeva"; "Bourdieu". Winquist, C.E. and Taylor, V.E. (eds.) Routledge Encyclopedia of Postmodernism. New York: Routledge/

Driscoll, C. (2006) In Visible Bodies: the girl, the model and the anorexic. Melbourne: Centre for Women’s Studies occasional papers series, Monash University, 1996.

Selected Research Grants

  • Meaghan Morris, Fiona Allon, Melinda Cooper, Catherine Driscoll, Moira Gatens, Melissa Hardie, Anna Hickey-Moody, Laleen Jayamanne, Natalya Lusty, Mary Roberts and Catherine Waldby, Gender and Modernity Research Group. FACRS Grant, University of Sydney, 2011-12.

  • Catherine Driscoll, Kate Bowles, Kate Darian-Smith, Chris Gibson, David Nichols and Gordon Waitt, Cultural Sustainability in Australian Country Towns: Mobility, Amenity, and Everyday Life. Discovery Project, 2009-2012. DP0984223.

  • Catherine Driscoll, Visiting Scholar Grant (So-Young Kim and Neelam Hussain). ARC HCA-International Science Linkage Grant, 2010.

  • Catherine Driscoll, Melissa Gregg, Anna Hickey-Moody, Natalya Lusty, Gender and Modernity Research Group. SOPHI SDF grant, University of Sydney, 2009-10.

  • Catherine Driscoll, Broadcast Yourself: Presence, Intimacy and Community Online. FARSS Grant, University of Sydney, 2007.

  • Melissa Gregg and Catherine Driscoll, Broadcast Yourself: Presence, Intimacy and Community Online. ARC Cultural Research Network Travelling Fellowship, 2007.

  • Catherine Driscoll, Country Girlhood: the meaning and experience of girlhood in rural and regional Australia. Discovery Project, Australian Research Council, 2004-2008. DP0450142.

  • Small Research Grant, Girls: Feminine Adolescence in Popular Culture and Cultural Theory, 2000. A10033072.

    Higher Degree Supervision

    Current Primary HDR Supervisions

    • Alexandra Heatwole, "Postfeminist Heroines" PhD
    • Liam Grealy, "Punishing Paedophilic Sex Offenders in NSW: Cultural Studies, Criminology, and Consent" PhD
    • Timothy Laurie, "Involuntary Adventures: Genre, history and politics in popular culture" PhD
    • Meng Li, "Estrangement and Escape: A Feminist Analysis of Intellectual Women In Huang Beijia's Novellas (1980-1989)" PhD
    • Emilie Severino, "Angela Carter: Experience and Enlightenment" PhD


    Past Primary Supervisions
    • Mark Steven, "The Afterlives of Modernism" MPhil thesis submitted 2011
    • Carina Garland, "Girlhood: A Discursive History" PhD thesis submitted 2011
    • Hongwei Bao, "'Queer comrades': gay identity and politics in postsocialist China" PhD thesis submitted 2010
    • Hae Seong Jang, "Social identities of indigenous people in their twenties in contemporary Australian society, based on the rural indigenous community at Yarrabah in Queensland" Doctor of Arts thesis submitted 2010
    • Nazanin Ghanavizi, "Persian blogging: a cultural study" Masters (Research) thesis submitted 2009
    • Prudence Black, "Lines of flight: the design history of the Qantas flight attendants' uniforms" PhD submitted 2008
    • Will Tregoning, "The uses and disadvantages of authentication for cultural studies" PhD thesis submitted 2007


    Past Associate Supervisions
    • Kate Crawford, "Majority report: on the discourses of adulthood in late modernity" PhD thesis submitted 2008 (primary supervisor for the final year)
    • Clifton Evers, "Becoming-Man, Becoming-Wave" PhD thesis submitted 2005
    • Melissa Gregg, "Scholarly affect: voices of intervention in cultural studies" PhD thesis submitted 2004

    News!

    TEACHING IN 2012

    Semester 1
    - Teaching one block in the first year Cultural Studies core unit, GCST1602 Introduction to Cultural Studies.
    - Coordinating and teaching the core Master of Cultural Studies unit GCST5909 Key Thinkers for Cultural Studies

    Semester 2
    - Coordinating and teaching GCST3604 Cultural Theory

    RESEARCH

    Along with a team of researchers from the universities of Melbourne and Wollongong (Kate Darian-Smith, Chris Gibson, Gordon Waitt, Kate Bowles, and David Nichols), Catherine is currently working on an ARC Discovery project: "Cultural sustainability in Australian country towns: amenity, mobility, and everyday life".

    Catherine is an active member of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences' Collaborative Research Group, Gender and Modernity research group. See that page for program details. She is also a member of the Univeristy of Sydney's Youth Studies network, a representative to the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Association, and a founding steering committee member for the International Girls Studies Association.

    Along with A/Prof Tess Lea (also in GCS), Catherine is currently working as a consultant to evaluate The Smith Family's "Girls at the Centre" program in Alice Springs.

    Forthcoming conferences and other research presentations:

    Expert commentary on "Young Love" episode of the National Geographic channel documentary series Taboo (Beyond Productions). Filming completed in October 2011, screening 2012.

    In May 2012, Catherine will participate in EU COST ACTION IS1007 Investigating Cultural Sustainability Symposium (16-18 May, 2012). Coimbra, Portugal.

    In June 2012, Catherine will be a visiting scholar at Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff University, U.K. Paper in Cardiff: Visible Plasticity, Plastic Visibility: Imagining Girl Sexuality (26 May 2012, 6pm. Centre for Interdisciplinary Film and Visual Culture Research. Cardiff University).

    Crossroads in Cultural Studies conference 2012 - 2-6 July 2012 at Sorbonne Nouvelle University, Paris:
    –Panel with Meaghan Morris and Elaine Lally - Gender and Social Gaming. Paper - "The Style of Play: Economy, Community, and Social Gaming"
    –Panel with Liam Grealy and Steven Angelides - Regulating Child Sex: Punishment, Classification and the Age of Consent. Paper - "The Plastic Adolescent: Classification and Minority"

    Scientific Committee. "Gender and videogames" Symposium - 12-14 July 2012 Université Claude Bernard, Lyon.

    Catherine will also be speaking at the McGill Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies (IGSF) and other Canadian universities in October 2012 (more details to be announced soon).