Virtual Lecture Series
The Association for Cultural Studies is delighted to announce its Virtual Lecture Series: an ongoing programme of online presentations by cutting-edge cultural studies theorists and practitioners.
The next talk in this series, by Rosemary Overell (University of Otago), titled ‘Clever Cunts in the Creative Nation: Blood Duster’s Fisting the Dead in Keating’s Australia’ (followed by a Q&A), will take place on July 31st, 1 PM New Zealand Standard Time /NZST (GMT +12) (more information underneath).
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Rosemary Overell (University of Otago) – Clever Cunts in the Creative Nation: Blood Duster’s Fisting the Dead in Keating’s Australia
July 31st, 2025
1 PM New Zealand Standard Time /NZST (GMT +12)
Abstract: Blood Duster’s 1993 debut, Fisting the Dead is, in their words “pure evil filth” and the first Australasian ‘porno’ grindcore album. With tracks such as ‘Vulgar Taste of Rotten Cunt’ and ‘Raping the Elderly’ Fisting was deliberately offensive. Drawing on interviews with the band, this talk considers the subcultural work of causing offense in a sub-genre of extreme metal where offensiveness is a requirement. Through a consideration of how Blood Duster mobilized humour and exaggeration I consider how Fisting might work as a ‘stupid’ text in the, ostensibly, clever and creative Australian nation c. 1993. I ask: where does such sordid music sit within the context of the 1990s Australian iteration of the ‘culture wars’ when a progressive government was pushing for a rise of cosmopolitan middle class creative production? Fisting – in its vulgarity and contradictions – offers an insight in the subcultural politics of gender, taste and cultural value.
Bio: Rosemary Overell is a Senior Lecturer in the Media, Film & Communication Programme at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. She is currently working on a book about Blood Duster’s Fisting the Dead and has published extensively on the subcultural politics of extreme metal.
Upcoming VLS events (more details TBA):
August – Hsuan Hsu (University of California)
September – Lisa Calvente (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
October – Camilla Mørk Røstvik (University of Aberdeen)
November – Dianlin Huang (Communication University of China)
December – Sarah Bufkin (University of Birmingham)
January 2026 – Danzhou Li (Shenzhen University)
February – Gilbert Caluya (Deakin University)
Abstracts and links to the recordings of the past talks can be found here
Abstracts of the upcoming talks