Rosemary Overell completed a doctorate at the University of Melbourne in 2012. Her thesis, Brutal: Affect Belonging In, and Between, Australia and Japan's Grindcore Scenes, explored how fans of grindcore metal music feel 'at home' in scenic spaces and was based on ethnographic research in Osaka, Japan and Melbourne, Australia. Before joining the department at Otago in 2013, Rosemary taught at the University of Melbourne in Cultural Studies.
Research Interests
Psychoanalysis / Lacanian theory
Gender Studies
Japanese and Asian Studies
Ethnographic methodologies
Rosemary Overell's most recent work considers how gendered subjectivities are co-constituted by and through mediation. She draws particularly on Lacanian psychoanalysis to explore a variety of mediated sites. In particular, she considers the intersections between affect and signification and how these produce gender. Rosemary has looked at media as varied as anime, extreme metal and reality television.
More broadly, Rosemary's research interests include gender studies, music subcultures and how affect can enable or curtail particular modes of gendered being and belonging for otherwise marginalised people. This was explored in her 2014 monograph, Affective Intensities in Extreme Music Scenes (Palgrave). She is also the co-editor, with Catherine Dale (Chuo University) of Orienting Feminism: Media, Activism and Cultural Representation (Palgrave, 2018), a collection which explores the meaning of feminisms in the contemporary moment as constituted by both action and uncertainity. Focusing on feminist media representations, the collection asks questions about how feminist subjectivity is articulated and intersects with media technologies and representation. In 2019, with colleague Brett Nicholls, she co-edited Post-Truth and the Mediation of Reality: New Conjunctures. This collection critically interrogates mediated experiences, subjects and technologies in the 'post-truth era'.
In addition to her academic scholarship, Rosemary writes regularly for The Conversationand un projectshas contributed to public debates on how gender and the media work in the contemporary moment.
Rosemary was a founding member of the Performance of the Real research theme steering group and led the 'Mediating the Real' programme within the theme. She was also the co-editor, with Sarah Thomasson (University of Queensland) of the Performance of the Real: Working Papers series - a site for the circulation of dialogues, provocations and ideas arising from 'Real' events. She co-ran the Mediating the Real reading group with Brett Nicholls. This group primarily draws on Lacanian and Baudrillardian approaches to mediation of 'the Real'.
Rosemary Overell is committed to pedagogy beyond the university and her role as a practitioner as a 'critic and conscience' in the public sphere. She has run short courses for the Dunedin Free University on feminism and gender; and surveillance and media cultures.
Rosemary collaborated with Melbourne-based artist Lisa Radford on Dear Masato, all at once (get a life, the only thing that cuts across the species is death at West Space in 2016. Rosemary has been an invited judge, and emcee, at the Dunedin Fringe Festival in 2016 and 2017. She ran a highly successful radio programme between 2013 and 2016 on 91FM Radio One called 'culture jamming'. This programme included interviews with academics, music practitioners and media workers on the intersections between music, culture and politics. Currently Rosemary podcasts here.
She is a regular contributor to un projects considering the intersections between art, culture and politics.
Completed supervisions
Honours
Taylor Adams: Navigating the 'In-Between': The Posthuman, Metamorphosis & Hopeful Becomings.
Julia Stewart: Bigger, Fatter, Gypsier: Biopower and My Big, Fat, Gypsy Wedding
Brianna Kirkham: The Business of Blogging
Sarah Rayner: Twitter and Television: New Interactions between Fans, Critics and Creators
Shelley Harding: Flourishing Under a Rose-Tine: Nostalgic Depictions of Misogyny in Mad Men
MA
Alison Blair:Children of the Revolution: Bolan, Bowie and the Carnivalesque.
PhD
Massimiliana Urbano:Becoming-common: Affective Technologies and Grassroots Activism in Contemporary Italy.
Current supervisions
PhD
Oliver Dearnley-Smith: Negative Affects: Critical Theory and Libidinal (dis)Economies - From Alienation to Misery.
Frankie Fei: Feel your Time: (Re)imagining History and Futurity in Retro-queer Narratives
Bethany Geckle: Actor-network theory and heteronormativity: Analyzing skateboarding and drag
Hannah Herchenbach: Cultural Politics of the Dunedin Sound.
Deniz Karahan Alp: Between Emancipation and Domination: Herbert Marcuse and Social Media.
Peter Stapleton:The Punkumentary: Embodying a punk sensibility within the music documentary?
T. Yousef: Telling gendered news stories of women and Islam in Malaysia: A narrative analysis of Malay women and controversy in Malaysian online news coverage, 2014 to 2017
MA
Taylor Adams: Somatechnics: Machinic Flesh & Re-Writing the Gendered Body
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Publications
Millar, I., Nicholls, B., Overell, R., & Tutt, D. (2024). Power and politics in Adam Curtis' Can't get you out of my head: An emotional history of the modern world. In C. Owens & S. Meehan O'Callaghan (Eds.), Psychoanalysis and the small screen: The year the cinemas closed. (pp. 163-189). Abingdon, UK: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003272069-11
Chapter in Book - Research
Overell, R. (2023, April). Don't worry darling: What do women want after #MeToo? Verbal presentation at the LACK iv: Psychoanalytic Theory Conference, Burlington, USA.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Adams, T., & Overell, R. (2022). Flayed bodies and the re-turn of the flesh: Foucault and contemporary gendered bodies. Continental Thought & Theory, 3(4), 116-151. doi: 10.26021/13021
Journal - Research Article
Overell, R. (co-editor) (2021). New models codex Y2K20. Germany: New Models, 368p.
Creative Work
Overell, R. (2021). Voicing the real in extreme metal. Continental Thought & Theory, 3(3), 136-163. doi: 10.26021/12231
Journal - Research Article
Zeiher, C., & Overell, R. (2021). The anxiety of #MeToo: A response to Jean-Claude Milner. Penumbr(a), 1, 151-164.
Journal - Research Article
Overell, R. (2021). Can the cozy be critical? New models codex Y2K20. (pp. 59-63). Germany: New Models.
Creative Work
Overell, R. (2021). Silence / noise. New models codex Y2K20. (pp. 287-289). Germany: New Models.
Creative Work
Millar, I., Tutt, D., Nicholls, B., & Overell, R. (2021, March). Can't get you out of my head: Power, politics and the films of Adam Curtis. Panel discussion hosted by the Media, Film and Communication Programme, University of Otago, [Online]. [Public Discussion].
Other Research Output
Overell, R. (2021, November). Seeing things. "Simon Denny et al" exhibition, Michael Lett Gallery, Auckland. Retrieved from https://michaellett.com/documents/
Other Research Output
Overell, R. (2020, November). How much of this was real for him? Metal, terror and the real. Verbal presentation at the Centre for Laconian Analysis (CLA) Conference: Can't You See I'm Burning? Kei te kite koe kei te wera ahau? Auckland, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overell, R., & Nicholls, B. (Eds.). (2019). Post-truth and the mediation of reality: New conjectures. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-25670-8
Edited Book - Research
Overell, R. (2019). Gender and musical subcultures in Japan. In J. Coates, L. Fraser & M. Pendleton (Eds.), The Routledge companion to gender and Japanese culture. (pp. 231-239). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Chapter in Book - Research
Overell, R. (2019). The reveal of the real: Fact-checking and ‘not-tags’ in the current conjuncture. In R. Overell & B. Nicholls (Eds.), Post-truth and the mediation of reality: New conjectures. (pp. 107-130). Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-25670-8_6
Chapter in Book - Research
Overell, R. (2019). ‘I think Sydney’s pretty shit’: Melbourne grindcore fans and their others. In C. Hoad (Ed.), Australian metal music: Identities, scenes and culture. (pp. 71-90). Bingley, UK: Emerlad Publishing.
Chapter in Book - Research
Overell, R., & Nicholls, B. (2019). Introduction: Post-truth and the mediation of reality. In R. Overell & B. Nicholls (Eds.), Post-truth and the mediation of reality: New conjectures. (pp. 1-12). Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-25670-8_1
Chapter in Book - Research
Overell, R. (2019). More than a hashtag: Excitement, anguish and the semblant of #MeToo. Theory & Event, 22(4), 792-819. Retrieved from https://muse.jhu.edu/article/736563
Journal - Research Article
Overell, R. (2019). The reveal of the Real in hashtag politics. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Continental Philosophy (ASCP). (pp. 79). Retrieved from https://www.ascp.org.au
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Overell, R. (2019, May). #NotAllMen: A Lacanian feminist reading of a popular hashtag. Verbal presentation at the LACKiii: Psychoanalysis & Separation Conference, Worcester, USA.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overell, R. (2019, October). The reveal of the real in hashtag politics. Verbal presentation at the Lacan's Écrits Conference, Pittsburgh, USA.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Stringer, R., Fowler, C., and Overell, R. (2019, March). Terror nullius: Screening and discussion panel. Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand. [Public Discussion].
Other Research Output
Dale, C., & Overell, R. (Eds.). (2018). Orienting feminism: Media, activism and cultural representation. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 207p. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-70660-3
Edited Book - Research
Overell, R. (2018). Queer will: Hikkomorias willful subjects. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 19(2), 206-219. doi: 10.1080/14649373.2018.1463069
Journal - Research Article
Overell, R. (2018, February). Voice the real in extreme metal: Horror, gender and the growl. Verbal presentation at the Desire Conference, Auckland, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overell, R. (2018, June). #metoo: Mediated feminisms in a new conjecture. Verbal presentation at the Asian Conference on Cultural Studies: Fearful Futures: Cultural Studies and the Question of Agency in the Twenty-First Century, Kobe, Japan.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overell, R. (2018, May). Exciting times? #metoo, Jouissance and the contemporary feminist subject. Verbal presentation at the Excitement Studies Symposium, Nagoya, Japan.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overell, R., & Dale, C. (2018, May). Orienting feminism. Workshop presentation at the Excitement Studies Symposium, Nagoya, Japan.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overell, R. (2017). "I knew it was abnormal but I didn't want to change": Hikikomori as willful subjects. Proceedings of the Asian Conference on Cultural Studies (ACCS), the Asian Conference on Asian Studies (ACAS), & the International Conference on Japan & Japan Studies (IICJ): Global Realities: Precarious Survival and Belonging. (pp. 62). Retrieved from https://accs.iafor.org/accs2017/#programme
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Overell, R. (2016). Brutal masculinity in Osaka's extreme-metal scene. In F. Heesch & N. Scott (Eds.), Heavy metal, gender and sexuality: Interdisciplinary approaches. (pp. 245-257). London, UK: Routledge.
Chapter in Book - Research
Kavka, M., & Overell, R. (2016). Special issue: Mediating the real. MEDIANZ, 16(2), 1-5. doi: 10.11157/medianz-vol17iss2id205
Journal - Research Other
Overell, R. (2016). Voicing the real in extreme metal: Horror, gender and the growl. Proceedings of the New Research on Horror Conference. Retrieved from http://www.otago.ac.nz/horror2016/index.html
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Bennett, L., Dale, C., Overell, R., & Geoghegan, C. (2016, July). Feeling Asia-Pacifics: Tensions and torsions of art in Aotearoa New Zealand this century. Verbal presentation at the Cultural Typhoon: Can you Feel It? Cultural Intervention in the Globalising Cities, Tokyo, Japan.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overell, R. (2016, August-September). Mediating the "real" politics on facebook. Verbal presentation at the Mediating the Real Conference, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overell, R. (2016, June). Approaching audiences: Affective methodologies. Workshop presentation at the Department of Media, Film & Communication (MFCO) Early Career/Graduate Conference: Revisiting Audiences: Reception, Identity, Technology, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overell, R. (2016, June). Emancipating spectatorship: A history of singular, subjective, introspective and idiosyncratic engagements with cinema. Keynote presentation at the Department of Media, Film & Communication (MFCO) Early Career/Graduate Conference: Revisiting Audiences: Reception, Identity, Technology, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overell, R. (2015). Brutal belonging in other spaces: Grindcore touring in Melbourne and Osaka. In S. Baker, B. Robards & B. Buttigieg (Eds.), Youth cultures and subcultures: Australian perspectives. (pp. 89-102). Farnham, UK: Ashgate.
Chapter in Book - Research
Overell, R. (2015). The Nikkeijin underground in Japanese extreme metal. In C. Feldman-Barrett (Ed.), Lost histories of youth culture. (pp. 179-197). New York, NY: Peter Lang.
Chapter in Book - Research
Overell, R. (2015). Boots Riley on music/media/politics for the 21st century [Interview]. MEDIANZ, 15(1), 7-16. doi: 10.11157/medianz-vol15iss1id2
Journal - Research Other
Overell, R., & Wilson, O. (2015). Special issue: music/media/politics. MEDIANZ, 15(1), 1-6. doi: 10.11157/medianz-vol15iss1id1
Journal - Research Other
Overell, R. (2015). Noisy voices and gender in popular music. Proceedings of the Trans/forming Feminisms Conference: Media, Technology, Identity. Retrieved from http://transformingfeminisms.noblogs.org/
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Overell, R. (2015, May). Making sense of mess: Fieldwork gender and Japan. Verbal presentation at the 5th Asian Conference on Cultural Studies (ACCS), Kobe, Japan.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overell, R. (2014). Intermediality and interventions: Applying intermediality frameworks to reality television and microblogs. Refractory, 24. Retrieved from http://refractory.unimelb.edu.au/2014/08/06/overell/
Journal - Research Article
Overell, R. (2014). [Review of the book Japanoise: Music at the edge of circulation]. Perfect Beat, 15(1), 97-99. [Book Review].
Journal - Research Other
Overell, R. (2014, April). Lorde and Miley: Class politics and contemporary girlhood. Verbal presentation at the Music / Media / Politics Symposium, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overell, R. (2014, December). Becoming minor: Nikkeijin metal and minoritarian belonging in Nagoya, Japan. Verbal presentation at the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) Australia/New Zealand Annual Conference: Into the Mix: People, Places, Processes, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overell, R. (2014, December). Miley as tastelessly white: race and taste in contemporary pop music. Verbal presentation at the Space, Race, Bodies Conference: Geocorpographies of City, Nation, Empire, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overell, R. (2014, May-June). Nikkeijin metal and minoritarian belonging in Nagoya, Japan. Verbal presentation at the 4th Asian Conference on Asian Studies (ACAS) & the 4th Asian Conference on Cultural Studies (ACCS), Osaka, Japan.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overell, R. (2013). (I) hate girls and emo(tion)s: Negotiating masculinity in grindcore music. In T. Hjelm, K. Kahn-Harris & M. Levine (Eds.), Heavy metal: Controversies and countercultures. (pp. 201-227). Sheffield, UK: Equinox.
Chapter in Book - Research
Overell, R. (2013). 'Brazilian / Japanese evil bastards': nikkeijin understandings of 'Japanese-ness' in Nagoya's grindcore scene. Proceedings of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music Australia/New Zealand (IASPM-ANZ) Conference: Popular Music, Communities, Places, Ecologies. Retrieved from http://iaspm.org.au/iaspm-anz-2013-brisbane-program/
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Overell, R. (2013, October). 'Brazilian/Japanese evil bastards': Nikkeijin understandings of 'Japanese-ness' in Nagoya's grindcore scene. Verbal presentation at the Edward W Said Symposium: Intellectual, Cultural Critic, Activist, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Overell, R. (2012). '[I] hate girls and emo[tion]s': Negotiating masculinity in grindcore music. Popular Music History, 6, 198-223. doi: 10.1558/pomh.v6i1/2.198
Journal - Research Article
Overell, R. T. (2012). [Review of the book Making music in Japan's underground: The Tokyo hardcore scene]. Japanese Studies, 32(2), 309-311. doi: 10.1080/10371397.2012.695177
Journal - Research Other
Overell, R. (2010). Brutal belonging in Melbourne's grindcore scene. Studies in Symbolic Interaction, 35, 79-99. doi: 10.1108/S0163-2396(2010)0000035009
Journal - Research Article
Overell, R. (2010). Emo online: Networks of sociality/networks of exclusion. Perfect Beat, 11(2), 141-162. doi: 10.1558/prbt.v11i2.141
Journal - Research Article
Overell, R. (2009). The Pink Palace, policy and power: Home-making practices and gentrification in Northcote. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 23(5), 681-695. doi: 10.1080/10304310903056328
Journal - Research Article