Michael Walsh - Postgraduate Profile
My research interests at present include: the sociocultural study of musical experience; sound in urban space; sonic mediums; music-sociology; musical listening practices; and nonverbal communication. To these ends I am currently completing a PhD in communications that explores the sociocultural practice of musical listening in urban space. The project is a qualitative investigation that considers the social meaning and practices associated with listening to music throughout everyday life.
Qualifications
I hold a Bachelor of Social Sciences with First Class Honours from the University of Sydney (2005). My Honours thesis was a comparative analysis of the Howard Government’s welfare reform policies and Robert Putnam’s notion of social capital. My undergraduate studies were predominately in sociology, musicology and political science. During this period I also worked briefly as an intern at the Australian Council for the Arts where I performed a research report on the social benefits of theatre.
Publications
Walsh, Michael. The ambivalence of portable music devices on trains: A splendid isolation? (Forthcoming)
Walsh, Michael. Supporting participation or producing anxiety? Social capital and welfare reform. Honours Thesis: University of Sydney, 2005
Conference Papers
Walsh, Michael. Considering the social in musical listening. Australian sociological association conference: Re-imagining Sociology. University of Melbourne, 2008
Walsh, Michael. The social practice of musical listening in public: Portable music devise use in the everyday. International association for the study of Popular Music: Stuck in the middle, the mainstream and its discontents. Griffith University, 2008
Walsh, Michael. The Ambivalence of portable music devices: Playing the believer and heretic. International and intercultural communications in the age of digital media. Monash University, 2008
Walsh, Michael. Elements of musical listening: Conceptually generating a way into the social investigation of the musical experience. Music, culture & society conference. Monash University, 2008
Walsh, Michael. Adorno’s perspective on musical listening: The typology of the musical listener. Emergent voices. School of Political and Social Inquiry Monash University, 2007
Walsh, Michael. The New sociology of Music: From Theodor Adorno to Tia DeNora. The Australian sociological association conference. University of Western Australia, Murdoch University and Institute of Advance Studies, 2006
Research seminars
Walsh, Michael. Musical listening in context: Observations and reflections on the practice of musical listening. Invited seminar, Communications and Media Studies program, School of English, Communications and Performance Studies. Monash University, 2008
Walsh, Michael. Unpacking the Big Day Out: Musical aesthetics, space and the question of music-human interaction. Postgraduate Seminar Sessions. Macquarie University, Department of Sociology, 2007
Commissioned Reports
- Walsh, Michael. A report into the social benefits of publicly funded theatre. Report prepared for the Theatre board of the Australia Council for the Arts, 2004
Conference Organisation and Assistance
- Music, Culture & Society Conference, 2008
- International and Intercultural Communications in the Age of Digital Media, 2008
Press
- iPods not music to all ears, MX, (Prepared by Hanna Mills) 6th October, 2008
Prizes/Awards
- Research Areas and Centres of Excellence Award. Macquarie University, 2006
- Postgraduate Departmental (ECPS) Scholarship. Monash University, 2007
Teaching (Tutoring)
Monash University
- COM1010 Introduction to Media Studies (2008)
- COM1020 Introduction to Communications Studies (2007-)
- COM2050 Youth Media (2008)
Macquarie University
- SOC289 Sociology of Media (2007)
University of Sydney
- SCLG1002 Introduction to Sociology (2006)
- SCLG2569 Social Research Methods (2006)