Monique Charles

I am a Cultural Sociologist, Theorist and Methodologist working at the intersection of Black British music cultures, sonic embodiment, and diasporic identity. My scholarship moves between grime, UK garage, reggae, broken beat etc. from various vantage points. I developed Musicological Discourse Analysis (MDA), a research method for analysing music within social science and cultural studies frameworks, and AmunRave Theory, which examines Black music and spirituality in live performance and clubbing spaces. My work has been published in Popular Music & Society, International Journal of Popular Music Studies, and Open Cultural Studies.

I am currently an Assistant Professor at Chapman University, USA, where I teach Black Music and the African Diaspora, Race & Ethnicity, and Research Methods. As an international scholar with roots in the UK and research networks across Europe, The USA and Africa, I welcome inquiries regarding PhD co-supervision, external examining, and collaborative research in popular music studies, cultural sociology, and Black diaspora studies.

I serve on the Editorial Board of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (University of California Press) and Cultural Sociology (BSA), the Book Series Editorial Board of Subcultures (Manchester University Press), and as Media Reviews Editor for the Global Hip Hop Studies Journal (Intellect Publishing). I am a member of the Post-Rave Britain Archive Working Group, Sound System Outernational, and the Women in Music Network.

Alongside my academic work, I am a Bodybuilder, Ordained Minister, Cardologer and Sound Healer specialising in tuning forks, integrating embodiment, meditation and sound healing. I bring the same discipline, care, focus, and commitment to physical training and holistic healing that I apply to research and scholarship.

Brainy. Brawny. Beautiful.