Swiftposium spreads Swift Fever to global academic community
The Swiftposium, an academic conference on the impact of Taylor Swift was held from Sunday 11 February - Tuesday 13 February in Melbourne, Australia. The event was hosted by the School of Culture and Communication at the Faculty of Arts.
Highlights from the Swiftposium
Swiftposium Keynote: My Pennies Made Your Crown - Taylor Swift as Your Billionaire Best Friend
Hear from Dr Georgia Carroll, who kicked off Day 2 of the Swiftposium with her insightful keynote on fan engagement and consumption in relation to Taylor Swift and her fans. Dr Georgia Carroll received her PhD in Sociology from the University of Sydney in mid-2023. Her research explores the ways fans participate within commodified fandom spaces, with her PhD using Taylor Swift and the CW series Supernatural as case studies.
Keynote conversation with Brittany Spanos
Brittany Spanos opened proceedings on Day 1 of the Swiftposium, discussing the profound impact Taylor Swift's music had on her during adolescence and how it led to her teaching a class on Swift at NYU. Brittany Spanos is a Senior Writer at Rolling Stone, with a focus on pop music and internet culture. As a freelancer, Spanos’ work was featured in Vulture, SPIN, Pitchfork, Cosmo and Rookie Mag. She has presented at the annual Pop Conference and served on its 2021 Programming Committee. She has been teaching a class on Taylor Swift at NYU’s Clive Davis School of Recorded Music since Spring 2022. In her spare time, she dreams of a One Direction reunion.
Swiftposium presents: Taylor Swift, feminism and the music industry
Due to popular demand, you can now view a recording of Swiftposium presents: Taylor Swift, feminism and the music industry, a panel discussion hosted by Fed Square in collaboration with the University of Melbourne. Moderated by Georgie Tunny, The Project presenter and host of the new Taylor Swift Podcast, Ready For It, the panel examined Taylor Swift’s influence as a feminist, artist and businesswoman. The panel of experts were Kate Neal (award winning composer, and lecturer at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music), Kate Pattison (PhD student, RMIT) and Mahala Bond (Artist Manager).
Swiftposium Pursuit takeover
Check out how experts from the University of Melbourne apply their research to the phenomenon that is Taylor Swift:
‘The 1’: Something’s been forgotten in the Kanye-Taylor feud
There was more than one ‘victim’ from the infamous Kanye West 2009 VMA’s “I’mma let you finish” moment. More on Pursuit.
‘The Man’: Taylor’s feminism could go so much further
Taylor Swift’s ‘The Man’ promotes the idea of women being given the same standards as men, we should instead focus on not making ‘alpha male’ the standard. More on Pursuit.
‘Anti-hero’: A philosophical take on Taylor’s existential authenticity
Taylor Swift fans adore her authenticity, but what does it actually mean to be ‘authentic’ when you are a mega-celebrity in the digital age? More on Pursuit.
‘Picture to burn’: The law probably won’t protect Taylor (or other women) from deepfakes
Legal redress is hard to come by if you fall victim to an AI-generated deepfake pornography and abuse. More on Pursuit.
...Ready for it?: How Taylor is changing modern society
Celebrities – like Taylor Swift – are increasingly lending their fame to socio-political issues, taking their fans with them and blurring the line between celebrity and activism. More on Pursuit.
‘Blank space’: What if AI wrote the songs?
Taylor Swift fans love the honesty, vulnerability and relatability of her lyrics – but would we have the same connection if AI wrote the words? More on Pursuit.
‘Fearless’: How Taylor Swift is owning her narrative
From her teenage crushes to her feuds, Taylor Swift has been using confession, testimony and narrative to shape the public story of her life. More on Pursuit.
‘Dear John: Taylor’s responsibility to her Swifties
Taylor Swift has redefined fan engagement in the digital age, but that fandom comes with a responsibility to call out Swifties behaving badly. More on Pursuit.
About the Swiftposium
As Swift Fever swept Australia in February, University of Melbourne researchers were just some of the academics from 78 institutions around the world who converged to showcase their research through the lens of pop icon Taylor Swift.
What began as a light-hearted comment between colleagues gained the attention of Australian and international media when the call for papers went live in September 2023.
‘We thought we’d be having a small conference with 50 researchers in two rooms in our Faculty,’ says Dr Eloise Faichney, Chair of the Swiftposium Steering Committee.
‘Then, when we ended up in publications like Rolling Stone and The Guardian, demand from the academic community to take part was like nothing I’ve ever seen before for an academic conference.’
The call for papers attracted more than 400 submissions from academics around the world, specialising in 60 academic disciplines and has been sponsored by partners including Auckland University of Technology, Curtain University, RMIT University and Federation Square.
‘The conference is an opportunity to demonstrate the value of academic research – in particular the humanities and social sciences – in all areas of community and culture,’ said Eloise.
Dr Jennifer Beckett, also a member of the steering committee, emphasised the importance of applying academic research and analysis to all aspects of life, including pop culture.
‘It can be tempting for some people to pigeonhole a conference like this as “trivial”, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Our job as academics is to engage with all aspects of life and that includes any largescale phenomenon.
‘Taylor is hugely influential. She is not only a superstar as an artist, but her influence is wide-reaching in ways few other people have ever achieved – music, business, community building, politics, law – Australian media have even reported that her visit to Melbourne is expected to generate $1.2 billion dollars for the economy.’
Providing the Day 1 keynote for the Swiftposium was Brittany Spanos, who writes for Rolling Stone and also delivers a course about the pop star at New York University (NYU).
While the academic part of the conference was attended only by academic researchers, there were several events that developed in response to public interest in the Swiftposium.
On Sunday 11 February, RMIT University hosted the Fanposium, which included Australia’s first public screening of Miss Americana, discussions on the impact of Swift and a friendship bracelet making activity convened by the University of Melbourne's Swiftie student club.
The Swiftposium opened officially on the Sunday evening, with the panel discussion Taylor Swift, feminism and the music industry, hosted by Federation Square at The Edge in collaboration with the University of Melbourne.
The panel was chaired by Georgie Tunny, The Project presenter and host of the new Taylor Swift podcast, Ready For It. The panel of experts included: Kate Neal (award winning composer, and lecturer at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music) and Kate Pattison (PhD student in music industries, RMIT).
Wrapping up the conference, The Wheeler Centre also hosted an event Brittany Spanos: Swiftmania (Taylor’s Version) on Tuesday 13 February.
Dr Eloise Faichney and Dr Jennifer Beckett specialise in media, marketing and communications in the Faculty of Arts.