Julian Holloway

Dr Julian Holloway

Senior Lecturer

Senior Lecturer in Human Geography specialising in sound, religion and the supernatural

My profile

Biography

I am Dr. Julian Holloway and I research and lecture in Human Geography.

My research covers three key areas:

  • geographies of religion, spirituality and the occult;
  • geographies of sound and the sonic apprehension of space and place;
  • geographies of spectrality, haunting and monstrosity.

Each of these research topics are connected by a theoretical interest in embodiment, practice, affect, materiality and more-than representational theories

I have been at MMU since 1998, so I have plenty of experience in lecturing Human Geography. I am passionate about seeing students succeed in their studies and helping to shape inquisitive and critical minds. Human Geography gives you a whole range of skills that will shape the way you view the world and deliver you a successful future.

My teaching specialisms include:

  • Cultural geography
  • The history and philosophy of Human Geography
  • Qualitative methods and research design.
  • Geographies of music and sound

I am lifelong and passionate music fan. This translates into my research and teaching - specifically my Level 6/Third Year unit Visual and Sonic Geographies.

Outside of University (although always feeding into it), I am a trained and qualified sound engineer and run my own music mixing and mastering company - High Peak Recordings. I perform in a band and experiment with sound design and sound art.

Get in touch

0161 247 6233
E415b John Dalton Building

Impact

I am keen to explore how academic knowledge can be made more impactful and how wider society can engage with my research. Recent projects and initiatives in which I have taken a key role are : 

  • MASSmcr: I am on the organising committee for MASSmcr (Music and Sound Studies Manchester). Established in 2018, MASSmcr is an interdisciplinary resarch group that brings together practitioners and theorists who research music and and sonic phenomena.On 9th May 2019, I co-organised the successful MASSmcr launch event entitled Sonic Waves: Music and Sound Beyond Borders. The day culminated with an evening event at The Castle in the Northern Quarter, entitled Mass Assemblage, which I co-curated and co-organised with Dr. Susan O’Shea (Sociology). I compèred, DJ’d and performed at the event. More information on MASSmcr here
  • RAH! Podcast: I was an organiser and presenter on the highly successful RAH! Podcast. I also mixed and mastered the episodes ready for broadcast. Each episode of the podcast covered a different topic of research specialisms within the Faculty of Arts and Humanities (and beoyond) at Manchester Metropolitan University, from poetry, to fashion, to architecture. More information on the RAH! Podcast here
  • Rural Eerie: On 19th October 2019 at The Peer Hat in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, I developed and co-curated a unique event for the Gothic Manchester Festival run by the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies at MMU. Entitled Rural Eerie, the event sought to explore, in musical form, my research interests in the ‘darker’, ‘stranger’ and ‘haunted’ side of the countryside. As part of a three-piece musical outfit, I explored this idea through an original performance of music, sound and visuals, as well as writing soundtracks to accompany spoken word performances by six poets and writers, the majority of which are based at MMU. This project has since been released as an album. More information on Rural Eerie here and here

Projects

My current research and thinking involves:

  • The sounds and sonics of the ant-idyllic rural and countryside.
  • The intersection of sound and the Folk Horror genre.
  • The occult mapping of the UK.

Teaching

Human geography will equip you with the skills and knowledge to understand the world around you. From the place you live, to those you visit, human geography allows you to make sense of the various social, political, cultural and economic processes that produce the contemporary world. Through applied learning and fieldwork you will develop a host of skills that you can take with you into employment.

As well as delivering you with the knowledge and expertise in Human Geography, and a range of transferable skills for the workplace, I am always keen to develop your individuality as a learner. As such, I design my assessments to allow for individual choice of topic and case study. In my experience, students succeed and excel when they can pursue this individual and independent learning strategy - whether that be in your choice of topic for your final year dissertation or a case study for an essay.

Human geography at MMU is taught with knowledge, expertise and care. You will find the staff at MMU friendly and approachable, and always keen to ignite your passions and assist your studies in any way possible.

I currently teach on the following units:

6F4Z3101 Professional Geographer

6F4Z3120 Introducing Human Geographies 1

6F4Z3121 Introducing Human Geographies 2

6F5Z3101H Fieldwork and Research Design

6F5Z3106 Cultural Geography

6F5Z3108 Frontiers in Human Geography

6F6Z3156 Visual and Sonic Geographies

Supervision

I have supervised to completion six PhD students and examined many more.

I am currently the supervisor for the following PhD students:

Matteo Polato: The role of resonance-based processes in the emergence of experiences of the supernatural

Markus Hetheier: Countersilence: voicing Manchester’s streets through sound. An interdisciplinary digital media project using soundmaps and psychogeography to express the relationship between the self and the city.

Research outputs

I have three main research areas:

  1. Geographies of religion, spirituality and the occult. I have published on the New Age Movement, Spiritualism, prophecy, ideas of faith and space, and sacred space.
  2. Geographies of sound and the sonic apprehension of space and place. I have published on using sound in understanding place-making and how sound can be used to make sense of historical landscapes. I am currently writing and thinking about the sonics of Folk Horror and the ‘strange’ countryside.
  3. Geographies of spectrality, haunting and monstrosity. I have published on ghost tourism and the geography of the supernatural. 

Each of these research topics are connected by my theoretical interest in embodiment, practice, affect, materiality and more-than representational theories.

I am keen to supervise PhDs that explore the intersection of sound and space, and/or haunting and the supernatural.

  • Books (authored/edited/special issues)

    Binnie, J., Millington, S., Holloway, J.J., Young, C. (2006) Cosmopolitan Urbanism. Routledge.

  • Chapters in books

    Holloway, J. (2023) 'SOUNDING FOLK HORROR AND THE STRANGE RURAL.' The Routledge Companion to Folk Horror. pp. 286-295.

    Holloway, J. (2018) 'The magical battle of Britain: The spatialities of occult geopolitics.' In Bartolini, N., MacKian, S., Pile, S. (ed.) Spaces of Spirituality. Routledge, pp. 205-220.

    Holloway, J.J. (2013) 'The Space that Faith Makes: Towards a (hopeful) Ethos of Engagement.' Religion and Place: Landscape, Politics and Piety. Dordrecht: Springer Publishing, pp. 203-218.

    Edensor, T.J., Evans, B., Holloway, J., Millington, S., Binnie, J. (2012) 'Playing in industrial ruins: interrogating teleological understandings of play in spaces of material alterity and low surveillance.' Urban Wildscapes. Routledge,

    Holloway, J.J. (2011) 'Spiritual Life.' In Vincent J Del Casino, J., Thomas, M.E., Cloke, P., Panelli, R. (ed.) A Companion to Social Geography. Wiley-Blackwell,

    Holloway, J. (2011) 'Spiritual life.' A Companion to Social Geography. pp. 385-400.

    Holloway, J.J. (2011) 'Tracing the Emergent in Geographies of Religion and Belief.' Emerging Geographies of Belief. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 30-53.

    Binnie, J., Holloway, J., Young, C. (2009) 'Cosmopolitanism.' In Kitchin, R., Thrift, N. (ed.) International Encyclopedia of Human Geography. Elsevier,

    Binnie, J., Holloway, J.J., Millington, S., Young, C. (2009) 'Cosmopolitanism.' International Encyclopedia of Human Geography: Volume 1-12.

    Holloway, J. (2009) 'Dialogism (after Bakhtin)..' International Encyclopedia of Human Geography. Elsevier,

    Holloway, J., Kneale, J. (2009) 'Dialogism (After Bakhtin).' International Encyclopedia of Human Geography: Volume 1-12.

    Binnie, J., Holloway, J., Millington, S., Young, C. (2009) 'Cosmopolitanism.' In Kitchin, R., Thrift, N. (ed.) International Encyclopaedia of Human Geography. Elsevier, pp. 307-313.

    Binnie, J., Holloway, J., Millington, S., Young, C. (2006) 'Conclusion: The paradoxes of cosmopolitan urbanism.' Routledge, pp. 246-253.

    Binnie, J., Holloway, J., Millington, S., Young, C. (2005) 'Introduction: Grounding cosmopolitan urbanism: Approaches, practices and policies.' pp. 1-34.

  • Journal articles

    Holloway, J. (2022) 'Moving sonic geographies: realising the Eerie countryside in music and sound.' Cultural Geographies, 29(4) pp. 547-563.

    Holloway, J. (2017) 'Resounding the landscape: the sonic impress of and the story of Eyam, plague village.' Landscape Research, 42(6) pp. 601-615.

    Holloway, J. (2017) 'On the spaces and movement of monsters: the itinerant crossings of Gef the talking mongoose.' Cultural Geographies, 24(1) pp. 21-41.

    Stevenson, A.D., Holloway, J.J. (2016) '"Getting Participants' Voices Heard: using mobile, participant led, sound-based methods to explore place making".' Area, 49(1) pp. 85-93.

    Holloway, J. (2014) 'Sealing future geographies: Religious prophecy and the case of Joanna Southcott.' Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 40

    Holloway, J. (2010) 'Legend-tripping in spooky spaces: Ghost tourism and infrastructures of enchantment.' Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 28(4) pp. 618-637.

    Edensor, T., Holloway, J. (2008) 'Rhythmanalysing the coach tour: The Ring of Kerry, Ireland.' Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 33(4) pp. 483-501.

    Holloway, J., Kneale, J. (2008) 'Locating haunting: A ghost-hunter's guide.' Cultural Geographies, 15(3) pp. 297-312.

    Binnie, J., Edensor, T., Holloway, J., Millington, S., Young, C. (2007) 'Mundane mobilities, banal travels.' Social and Cultural Geography, 8(2) pp. 165-174.

    Binnie, J., Holloway, J., Millington, S., Young, C. (2007) 'Mundane geographies: alienation, potentialities, and practice Alienation, subjectification, and the banal.' ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING A-ECONOMY AND SPACE, 39(3) pp. 515-520.

    Holloway, J.J., Hones, S. (2007) 'Muji, materiality, and mundane geographies.' Environment and Planning A, 39(3) pp. 555-569.

    Binnie, J., Holloway, J., Millington, S., Young, C. (2007) 'Mundane geographies: alienation, potentialities, and practice.' Environment and Planning A, 39(3) pp. 515-520.

    Holloway, J. (2006) 'Enchanted spaces: The séance, affect, and geographies of religion.' Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 96(1) pp. 182-187.

    Holloway, J. (2003) 'Make-believe: Spiritual practice, embodiment, and sacred space.' Environment and Planning A, 35(11) pp. 1961-1974.

    Holloway, J., Valins, O. (2002) 'Editorial: Placing religion and spirituality in geography.' Social and Cultural Geography, 3(1) pp. 5-9.

    Holloway, J. (2000) 'Institutional geographies of the New Age movement.' GEOFORUM, 31(4) pp. 553-565.

    Young, C., Millington, S., Gibson, C., Lever, J., Holloway, J. (2000) 'Resources for Project Work on Place Marketing in the North West of England.' North West Geographer, 3(1) pp. 35-35.

    Holloway, J. (1998) ''Undercurrent affairs': radical environmentalism and alternative news.' Environment and Planning A, 30(7) pp. 1197-1217.

Press and media

In 2021 I commented on the rise of Dark Tourism in the UK during the COVID-19 Pandemic for the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet here