Tara Brabazon
@tarabrabazon.bsky.social
Prof of Cultural Studies at Flinders University. Pop Cult Obsessive. Fan. Listener. Learner. Teacher. Writer of 22 books. AM.
Reflexive Reading. So much more than critical reading, critical thinking and critical literacy. We read to enable our future selves. To enable a future world. Let's - together - read words to read the world with integrity, respect and defiance. New Post - youtu.be/5QZj3cg4Jo0
Post 158 - Theoretical reading
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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Our work in schools and university is specialist. It must be. This week, we enter the theoretical slice of our reading series. Let us value the specialist. The particular. The careful knowledge we create in our disciplines. Let's go with theoretical reading - youtu.be/5QZj3cg4Jo0
Post 158 - Theoretical reading
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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Reading is a gift. It is a singular strategy that allows us to move beyond the self. To the world. This week, we explore Applied Reading. The reading we take for granted in our daily lives. Let's remember its power in enabling full participation in citizenship. New Post - youtu.be/YOSVAVv2cvc
Post 157 - Applied Reading
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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We can complain about a lack of reading. Or... Today... We can decide to read for five minutes. Just 5. This week's post activates everyday reading. How to do it. And why. New Post - youtu.be/GnJ6v6JdVy8
Post 156 - Everyday reading and reading every day
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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Whenever we enter a social media platform there is so much talk of a literacy crisis. A reading crisis. The academic debates are volatile. So - are we (post) reading? Does it matter? What is lost? Is this 'crisis' really a crisis? Here we go - new Post - youtu.be/UcB_D3Raga4
Post 155 - (Post)reading
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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The word I hear most from colleagues is "exhausted." The question is, what is the next step after exhaustion? This week, we explore (post)sleep and the future of academic work. How do we transcend and transform a 24/7 life, including a working life? New Post - youtu.be/x0e8eXSY-ho
Post 154 - (Post)sleep and the future of academic work
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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When writing an author's biography, how do we avoid appearing like a self-absorbed star of a personal soap opera? This week, we enter the yucky (technical word) space of the author biography. How do we write them without coming across like an influencer selling protein drinks? youtu.be/CVy60w2NhOY
Post 153 - How to write academic and author biographies
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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The #phd is diverse. So is the PhD examination. This week, let's explore a characteristic of particular doctoral assessments: the presentation that starts the oral exam. What is it? What is its function? How do you prepare for it? Let's go - youtu.be/AE6DLoikNcs
Post 152 - Creating the presentation for the PhD oral examination
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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Academic leadership - including management of our universities - is (rightly) under scrutiny. In such times, what does it mean to lead with authenticity? The post this week - with Professor Jamie Quinton - explores how to maintain integrity and focus in tough times. New Post - youtu.be/8wTb5AX5v60
Post 151 - Academic Leadership with Authenticity
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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Hyper-personal information is shared in public. Memoirs proliferate. How can non fiction - and academic research - be clawed back from the focus on the self? This week, we explore the life and writing of Siri Hustvedt, and ask how much of life should be in writing. New Post: youtu.be/ihzWHSIFEFg
Post 150 - To finally move beyond the self: Pondering the life and writing of Siri Hustvedt
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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Most of us - most days - are asking, what the hell is happening? This week's Post provides one answer - one warning answer - to this question. Time to summon Greater Fool Theory. May we acknowledge and understand this history. New Post - youtu.be/iV9XSjM9R_k
Post 149 - Greater Fool Theory
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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It has been special writing series. Valuing the writer. You. Valuing the writing. Writing remains a gift to the planet. So let's - for 30 days - write each day. And change the world :) Let's begin with the end in mind. New Post - youtu.be/ZDeMD3AOVhQ
Post 148 - Building the muscle: 30 days of consistent writing
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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Writing is really difficult. Why do it? Particularly now, with all the focus on the 'ease' of Generative AI writing. It is easy to 'outsource' our reading, thinking and writing. Therefore, why does the commitment to writing - our authentic writing - still matter? New Post - youtu.be/F0a5t79Wh5Y
Post 147 - Reclaiming your long term writing goals
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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We are at the second stop in our - getting your writing train back on tracks. We've worked on the physical reconnection of our brain, body and fingers. Now - let's implement a short term goal. Let's do this. Together. New Post - youtu.be/dMfE0llmqcE
Post 146 - Reclaiming your short term writing goals
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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There is always something more important. More urgent. academic writing seems to disappear from the 'to do' list. This week - we conduct an intervention. We get the writing train back on the tracks. Let's begin. Again. You matter. Your words matter. New Post - youtu.be/8B1Wen9mBmM
Post 145 - Intervention: Getting the writing train back on the tracks
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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Some words are overused. Seemingly 'everything' is curated these days... What is the value and purpose of this word - and can the new movements in (post) curation enable a different way of seeing and thinking about the tangible - and the intangible? New Post - youtu.be/jaZvKuxks8k
Post 144 - (Post)curation
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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Much of life - including academic life - focuses on the present. The loud. The visible. But there is value in recognizing the power of absence, the ghosts of the past that reframe and reshape our present. This week's Post activates Hauntology - to value what we ignore or deny - youtu.be/E0HofM9enQ0
Post 143 - Hauntology
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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Writing is tough. There are millions of self help books talking about how to write. But what is the role of 'place' in our writing? The 'where' of our writing? This week's Post ponders how we align the tasks, the time and the place of writing to enable productivity and meaning. youtu.be/hdMRbFBzcn8
Post 142 - Where to write
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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Yep. We made it. Vlog 500. Weekly vlogs delivered through the last ten years. 3 series. Thank you for sharing them with me. This week, we consider this body of defiant research, and how we can not only enable Non Traditional Research Outputs, but un/popular culture. New Post - youtu.be/y8WMjyQudtM
Post 141 - Defiant Research, NTROs and un/popular culture (and Vlog 500)
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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It is so valuable to learn from the suffering and survival of other remarkable humans. This week - for Post 140 - we explore how Gisele Pelicot suffered so greatly in her life, but learned to make meaning from the lies, the violence and the exploitation. New Post - youtu.be/HpWLicvCT2c
Post 140 - Gisele Pelicot: the woman who is so much more than a trial
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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A PhD can become - with some planning - our first book. But how do we create, write and publish the second book? The fifth book? The twentieth book? This week, we probe how to create sustainable and efficient academic book publishing. Together - let's do this... youtu.be/8uQjOq73MH8
Post 139 - Writing your second book
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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We are taught from a young age that suffering is inevitable. It will be rewarded with a 'heaven' or an 'afterlife.' There is another way to think about suffering. This week, we use suffering to understand a context of injustice, inequality and harm. New post and new literacy - youtu.be/G8IKBJIUhIM
Post 138 - Suffering: a literacy for change
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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Wow, the world is dark. And troubling. But as opinion replaces fact, and emotion displaces evidence, what do we do? The Post this week has one solution. Let's ask better questions... NewPost - youtu.be/z48nkAsTXvM
Post 137 - Asking better questions
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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A refrain from this strange time is, "I've done my own research." Research is becoming subjective. Academics - similarly - are judging some outputs as junk and other publications as elite. How are such categories constructed? This Post probes the impact of this arbitrariness - youtu.be/uc0BW4D1dIg
Post 136 - The junkification of research
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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With my love to my amazing sista from another mista, @nazlinbhimani.bsky.social, I send my respects, love and congratulations to Cate. Powerful piece. Powerful project. Citation politics is transformational and meaningful. We can change the world. One reference at a time :) txxx
Dr Nazlin Bhimani@nazlinbhimani.bsky.social · 6mo agoDoctoral candidate & music educator Cate Lytle, inspired by @tarabrabazon.bsky.social’s vlog on citation politics, was commended for reflecting on this issue & using the work of marginalised scholars.Read her post here: blogs.ucl.ac.uk/cde/2026/02/... #CitationPolitics #DecolonisingResearch #IOEIDL
The requests I receive for the Post are extraordinary. This week - I was asked to explore a concept. Exterminism. What is it - and how do we fight it??!!! Great question of our time. And for our time. Here we go - New Post - youtu.be/9ovnqQ552vs
Post 135 - Fight Exterminism (Again)
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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There are many attempts to understand - to comprehend - what is happening in the world. But 10 years ago, a remarkable researcher predicted our present. It is time to revisit and revalue Vampire Capitalism. Time to break the thrall... #latecapitalism New Post - youtu.be/q1lN4dqay1Y
Post 134 - Vampire Capitalism
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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Interdisciplinarity. A word. A cliche. A tick-a-box platitude. But it does not have to be this way. This week's Post explores interdisciplinarity, how to write an interdisciplinary PhD thesis and - perhaps most importantly - how to examine one. New Post - www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oac...
Post 133 - The interdisciplinary thesis and its examination
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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With chaos and confusion encircling us, I was asked 'how can I be taken seriously as a researcher?' Intriguing question. This week, let's answer it. But we also probe the much bigger question: what does success mean? New Post - youtu.be/fWnMo12jpHI
Post 132 - How to be taken seriously as a researcher (or - what does success look like?)
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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Most of us have experienced a frightening workplace. The word 'toxic' doesn't begin to capture it... This week, we probe how to manage intimidation and threats as a researcher. We provide concrete strategies to manage a really (really) tough environment. New Post - youtu.be/3mnM2_Yx49A
Post 131 - How to manage intimidation and threats as a researcher
YouTube video by Tara Brabazon
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