Dr Katie Milestone

I have worked on a number of research projects aimed at supporting and developing female entrepreneurs in Manchester creative industries sector. I have led EU funded projects working collaboratively in the supporting and increasing women’s participation in the creative sector with partners from a range of EU countries. 

I have organised and participated in a number of public events aimed at sharing knowledge with community organisations and individuals in the UK and Europe. These include;

• IHSSR Annual Research Programme, I organised a symposium on Northern Soul and Community, Manchester Town Hall
• Convenor of  a panel of MMU/IHSSR researchers to present a showcase at the Louder than Words festival on ‘Contesting Youth’.  
• Organised a symposium on ‘Women, Pop Culture and the 1960s City’, Cornerhouse, Manchester
• D/Evolving Manchester: Greater Manchester and Northern Identity , Panel guest- Regional Identity vs. Global Brand: Who is Greater Manchester?.
• Keynote on ‘Popular Culture and Inclusion/Exclusion in Public Space’, Networking for European Citizenship Education conference in Trieste, Italy
• Keynote about the Northern Quarter and urban regeneration at a conference organised by the Urban Development Agency for the Brussels-Capital Region.
• AHRC Spatial Inequalities in the Cultural Industries symposium, University of Leeds,

Research project experience;

Principal Investigator, (10,000 euros) Textile Cities Project in conjunction with the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands.

Principal Investigator, Jean Monnet – Lifelong Learning Programme. (50,000) Euros European Module. European Cultures and European Integration.

Principal Investigator of a European Social Fund project under the EMPLOYMENT NOW initiative.  (£110,00.00).The project (CIREN – Cultural Industries Research Employment Now) examined women’s employment in creative l industries.

Principal Investigator of a European Social Fund project (ASPIRE).  (£90,000.00) This project researched careers advice relating to cultural industries with a particular focus on gender.

TEACHING

In the 2023/24 academic year;

Unit Leader of L6 unit Styles, Tribes, Rebels and Resistance: Youth Subcultures in Context

Unit Leader of L5 unit Trial by Media: the Politics of Representation

Undergraduate Dissertation Supervisor

I have developed, and been unit lead, on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate taught units in the areas of sociology, media theory and popular culture.

SUPERVISION

PhD

I have successfully supervised to completion PhD candidates in the following subject areas

1. Bedroom culture and teenagers. S Lincoln.
2. Culture As Change Agent – Individual Development Through the Arts in the UK. M.Reeves.
3. The city as cultural capital and contestations of authenticity, territory and identity around Manchester and its football clubs. C.Porter.
4. Women and new media: the impact of women only training. M Walker.
5. Male skincare and masculinity. A.Byrne.
6. Fandom, Pop Music, and the Reproduction of Race–Gender Inequalities. S.Buchanan.

Current PhD supervision

1. Darts and consumer culture E.Goddard.

I have examined 6 PhD students at MMU and other UK universities

MA (taught)

During my time as Programme Leader of the MA in European Urban Culture I supervised over 20 MA students working on a range of projects on creative industries, cultural policy and urban identity. I have supervised several students on the MA in Sociology and Global Change and the MA in Criminology

MA by Research

1. Cosmic beats, bytes & bleeps: EDM in the Arctic circle. P.Jenkinson

I welcome enquires from prospective research degree students in the area of popular music and popular culture and identity.

Publications;

Milestone,K & Ormrod, J (2023) Fashioning Girlhood across the Media in the Mid–Twentieth Century  for The journal of Film, Fashion and Consumption Editorial | Intellect (intellectdiscover.com) Editor of the Special Issue

Vasen, I., Milestone, K., & Meyer, A. (2022). Katie Milestone y Anneke Meyer. Gender and Popular Culture. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2021 (Reseña libro). Isabel Vasen, Katie Milestone y Anneke Meyer. Traducción del capítulo "Digital Culture, Social Media and Gender. Cuestiones De género: De La Igualdad Y La Diferencia, (17), 452–480. https://doi.org/10.18002/cg.i17.7251

Byrne, A., & Milestone, K. (2022). ‘He wouldn’t be seen using it…’ Men’s use of male grooming products as a form of invisible consumption. Journal of Consumer Culture,  https://doi.org/10.1177/14695405211066314

Milestone,K and Meyer,A. (2021) Gender and Popular Culture, Second edn. Cambridge, UK Polity Press https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Gender+and+Popular+Culture,+2nd+Edition-p-9780745698274

Milestone, K. (2019) ‘Soul Boy, Soul Girl ?’ Reflections on Gender and Northern Soul in The Northern Soul Scene, Raine,S,. Smith,N and Wall,T (eds). Equinox https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/northern-soul/

Milestone,K (2019) The Passenger?Gender, Cars, Mobility, and Dance Music In Duffett and Peter (eds) Popular Music and Automobiles, Bloomsbury https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/popular-music-and-automobiles-9781501352324/

2019 Routledge Major Works collection: Gender and Popular Culture (4 vols.) (c. 1,600pp.) (series: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies). (with Meyer).

2019 Reprint of ‘Welcome to Dreamsville: A History and Geography of Northern Soul’ in The Northern Soul Scene (Raine,S,. Smith,N and Wall,T (eds). Equinox. Jointly authored book chapter.

2018 ‘Swinging regions: Young women and club culture in 1960s Manchester’ inJournal of Film, Fashion and Consumption, Vol 7:2. Single authored journal article.

2018 (with Ormrod) Editorial ‘Representing Style and Female Agency in 1960s pop culture’, Journal of Film Fashion and Consumption, Vol 7:2. Jointly authored journal article.

2018 ‘Madchester’ in Sounds of the City: Volume 2, Lashua, B., Wagg, S., Spracklen, K., Yavuz, M.S. (Eds.) Palgrave Macmillan. Single authored book chapter.

2017 Reprint of ‘Northerness and New Urban Economies of Hedonism’ in From the Margins to the Centre edited by O’Connor,J and Wynne,D, Routledge. Single authored book chapter.

2016 ‘‘Northernness’, gender and Manchester’s creative industries’. Single authored journal, Journal of Cultural Research. Volume 20, 2016 - Issue 1: Northernness, Northern Culture and Northern Narratives. Single authored journal article. 

2016 ‘The Lonely Cloud: Intensive Parenting and Social Media in Neoliberal Times’ (with Meyer) in We Need to talk about Family Essays on the family, (popular) culture and neo-liberalism, Garrett,R., Voela,A and Jensen,T (eds).Cambridge Scholars. Jointly authored book chapter.

2016. Entry on ‘Northern Soul’ in the Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World
Bloosmbury - Continuum Books, London-New York.

2016 Place and Identity: Informing the redesign of Manchester Airport’s Terminal 2 (with S Miles).  Report for the Institute of Place Management, Manchester Metropolitan University

2015. ‘Gender and the Cultural Industries’ in The Routledge Companion to the Cultural Industries O’Connor,J & Oakley,K (eds) Abingdon:Routledge. Single authored book chapter.

2012 Gender and Popular Culture, (with Meyer) Polity Press. Jointly authored book. 

2010 Popular Culture and Inclusion/ Exclusion in Urban Public Space. NECE. Cities and Urban Report.

2011 ‘Individualization, Gender and Cultural Work (with Banks) Gender, Work and Organisation – special issue on The Knowledge Society edited by Sylvia Walby. Jointly authored journal article. 

2009 ‘Space, Culture and Regeneration’ (with ‘Grimm) Textile Cities to Comeback Cities, Moomass and Van Boom (eds), TELOS publications, Netherlands. (Also printed in Dutch). Jointly authored book chapter.

2009 Review of Wilson’s Northern Soul: Music, Drugs and Subcultural Identities in Urban Studies Vol 46, No 2

2008 ‘Urban Myths, Popular Culture, the City and Identity’, Sociology Compass.Vol 2. Single authored journal article.

2005 Review of Connell and Gibson’s Sound Tracks, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Vol 29, Issue 4

2004 Barriers to Women’s Employment in New Media Companies, Manchester Institute for Popular Culture, Occasional Papers.

2002 ‘Creating and Defending Pop Cultural Spaces in the Contemporary City’ in Johansson,T & Sernhede, O (eds) Lifestyle, Desire and Politics, Daidalos, Sweden.  Single authored book chapter.

2000 ‘What Difference Does it Make?: Women’s Pop Cultural Production and Consumption in Manchester’ (with Richards) Sociological Research On Line, Vol 2:4.  Jointly authored journal article. 

1999 ‘Geographies of Noise in Manchester’s Northern Quarter’ in The North West Geographer, 2,2. Single authored journal article.

1999 Youth Culture in the Twentieth Century, The Guardian Newspaper. http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/1999/dec/18/weekend7.weekend5

1998 ‘Welcome to Dreamsville:A History and Geography of Northern Soul’ (with Joanne Hollows) in The Place of Music edited by Leyshon,A, Matless,D and Revill,G, Guilford Press. Jointly authored book chapter.

1997 ‘Love Factory:The Sites, Practices and Media Relationships of Northern Soul’ in The Club Cultures Reader edited by Redhead,S, O’Connor,J and Wynne,D, Blackwell.  Single authored book chapter.

1996 ‘Northerness and New Urban Economies of Hedonism’ in From the Margins to the Centre edited by O’Connor,J and Wynne,D, Ashgate. Single authored book chapter.

1995 Culture and the Northern Quarter (with Justin O’Connor), City Centre Research, Report for Manchester City Council.

I have been invited to contribute to debates on radio and television including BBC Radio 4 (Woman’s Hour) and BBC News 24.  Article on youth culture for the Guardian Newspaper.