William Rees

I recently achieved my doctorate at the University of Exeter, specialising in the memory and significance of the 1970s New York disco scene. I am particularly eager to explore this in connection to histories of gender, race, sexuality, and subversive behaviour.

My proudest achievement as an undergraduate was to receive a History Dissertation Prize for The Most Innovative and Academically Rigorous Dissertation at the University of Exeter, Penryn. This dissertation investigated how popular culture has represented the 1970s New York disco scene, and how this has influenced historians in evaluating it.

In continuing my studies I maintained a focus on popular music in North America, and its impact on society. My Masters by Research thesis discussed how indigenous peoples in the U.S. and Canada have represented themselves through popular dance music, connecting this to Gerald Vizenor's theory of indigenous surivivance, the idea that indigenous peoples define themselves through assertions of their own cultures.

Although specialising in dance music, as a bass musician, I am also a fan of other types of popular music, such as rock and soul. I annually volunteer as an Oxfam steward at festivals such as Glastonbury, Bestival, Reading, and Boomtown.