Rate My Professor Jo Coghlan

Associate Professor Jo Coghlan serves in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences within the Faculty of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Education at the University of New England. She earned her BA Honours and PhD from the University of Wollongong, along with a Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice from Southern Cross University. Her academic excellence was recognized early with the University Medal and Arthur J Davies Prize in Politics for her Honours thesis, and the New England Award for her PhD thesis. At UNE, Coghlan has held significant leadership roles, including former Chair of the Human Ethics Committee, former Head of the Department of Social and Philosophical Inquiries in HASS, and Coordinator of the Bachelor of Arts and related degrees. Her interdisciplinary expertise spans sociology, politics, popular culture, research methods, social history, material culture, gendered political dress, death and mourning in popular culture, class and violence in cinema, critical landscape studies, petro-culture, and the cultural history of animals and posthumanism.

As Co-Founder and Lead Researcher of the UNE Popular Culture Research Network (PopCRN), Coghlan drives collaborative research into popular and material culture. Her prolific publication record includes forthcoming monographs such as Revealing History: How Swimsuits Shaped Popular Culture from Bloomers to Bikinis (2026, with Lisa Hackett, Reaktion Books), Landscapes of Threshold and Transformation: Ecologies, Myths, Ruptures and Toxicities (2026, with Huw Nolan, Palgrave), and Breaking Television: How Breaking Bad Redefined Morality, Genre, and the Antihero (2026, with Huw Nolan, Routledge). She has edited volumes like The Barbie Phenomenon, Volume 1: Gender, Identity, Race and Sexuality and Volume 2: Icon, Brand, Celebrity and Fandom (both 2025, Routledge), and The British Royals in Popular Culture: From the Tudors to the Windsors (2025, Routledge). Notable chapters appear in Representing Bridgerton: Intersectional Perspectives of the Popular Culture Phenomenon (2026, Routledge) and Fearful Performances: Stardom, Skill, and Style of Acting in the Horror Film (2026, University of Mississippi Press). Key journal articles encompass "Neoliberalism by Stealth: Exposing the Flaw of Neoliberal Understandings of 'Freedom'" (2015, Social Alternatives), "Dissent Dressing: The Colour and Fabric of Political Rage" (2019, M/C Journal), and "Barbie Doll: Imagining and Interrogating a Popular Culture Icon" (2024, M/C Journal). Coghlan's contributions advance critical analyses of cultural phenomena, political performance, and media representations.