Dr Simon Weaver
Senior Lecturer
Marie Jahoda 145
- Email: simon.weaver@brunel.ac.uk
- Tel: +44 (0)1895 265029
- Social Science and Communications
- Social and Political Sciences
- College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences
Summary
Simon is a Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications at Brunel University London. He started at Brunel as a Lecturer in Media and Communications in April 2012 and became a Senior Lecturer in October 2017.
Simon completed his PhD in the Department of Sociology, University of Bristol, with a thesis entitled Humour, Rhetoric and Racism: A Sociological Critique of Racist Humour. That thesis formed the basis of his first book, The Rhetoric of Racist Humour: US, UK and Global Race Joking, which was published by Ashgate in September 2011. His first journal article (The ‘Other’ Laughs Back: Humour and Resistance in Anti-Racist Comedy, Sociology 2010 44.1: 31-48), won the British Sociological Association’s ‘Sage Prize for Innovation and/or Excellence 2011’.
Between his PhD and arriving at Brunel, Simon worked as a Research Associate in Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester and held an ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Communications and Media Studies, Department of Social Sciences, Loughborough University.
Qualifications:
- PhD Sociology (Bristol)
- MSc Sociology (Bristol)
- BA History and Sociology (UWE)
Responsibility
Research Seminar Series Coordinator for Sociology and Communications
Convenor, MSc Media and Communications
Newest selected publications
Weaver, S. (2021) 'The Rhetoric of Brexit Humour. Comedy, Populism and the EU Referendum'. Routledge. ISSN 13: 9780367350987
Lockyer, S. and Weaver, S. (2021) 'On the importance of the dynamics of humour and comedy for constructionism and reflexivity in social science research methodology'. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 0 (in press). pp. 1 - 13. ISSN: 1364-5579 Open Access Link
Weaver, S. (2019) 'Brexit Tricksters and the Reconstruction of Taboo. Populism, Irony and Satire in Post-Referendum Britain'. Comedy Studies, 10 (2). pp. 154 - 166. ISSN: 2040-610X Open Access Link
Weaver, S. (2018) 'Brexit Irony on The Last Leg and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Critiquing Neoliberalism through Caricature', in Webber, J. (ed.) The Joke Is on Us: Political Comedy in (Late) Neoliberal Times. Lanham, Maryland : Lexington Books. pp. 65 - 86. ISBN 10: 1498569846. ISBN 13: 978-1498569842. Open Access Link
Weaver, S. (2018) 'Book Review: Watson, Cate. 2015. Comedy and Social Science. Towards a Methodology of Funny. New York and London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. 185pp'. Humor, 31 (1). pp. 151 - 153. ISSN: 1613-3722 Open Access Link