Staff Profile

I have been a lecturer in Philosophy at Newcastle University since 2015, and I am now a Senior Lecturer and currently the co-Director of Education for School X. I was previously the Degree Programme Director for Philosophy and head of admissions.

My PhD, MA, and BA Degree were all held at Newcastle. After graduating from Philosophy, my postgraduate study was based in Music with co-supervision from Philosophy. This multi-/inter-disciplinary approach has stayed with me; as well as specialising in the philosophy of Maurice Blanchot and Georges Bataille, my research and scholarship focus on aesthetics, particularly sound studies, and the philosophy of music. I have published on all these topics, including being the sole editor and a contributor to Sonic Encounters with Blanchot (2019). I am currently working on a book on the themes of hope and chance in Blanchot’s work, and the relevance of these ideas to certain types of creative practice.

Since joining Newcastle, I have taught a range of topics, including existentialism, phenomenology, contemporary aesthetics, music and philosophy, epistemology, and pragmatism. I have also developed a number of online modules that have been part of programmes contributing to postgraduate skills development.

I am currently a primary supervisor to two PhD students: Holden Rasmussen (PhD title: “Lacan and Bataille. Desire, Drive, Inner Experience”) and Stephen Noon (PhD title: “Alphonso Lingis and The Phenomenology of Sensation: The Imperatives of Writing Ethically, Impractically and Excessively”). I do not currently have capacity to supervise many more PhD students, but I would welcome proposals on Maurice Blanchot, Georges Bataille, philosophy and creative practice, philosophies of hope, and sound studies with a continental philosophical focus. 

My major research and scholarship interests are the philosophy of Maurice Blanchot, Georges Bataille, aesthetics, sound studies, and the philosophy of music. My work in these areas so far has explored the ways in which we might use sound, and sonic metaphors, to think philosophically. I am especially interested in how these sorts of metaphors might help us think at the limit of philosophy. This is what my publications on Japanese noise music, the concept of passive noise, the apocalyptic tone, and Daniella Cascella’s writings on sound, have all focused on.

I am currently working on a book for Bloomsbury called Blanchot and the Aesthetics of Hope and Chance. In this book, I am exploring the notions of hope and chance in Blanchot’s work and considering how his understanding of these notions might help us understand other types of creative practice. The scope of this work has led me into a broad field of research, from Yves Bonnefoy, to other philosophies of hope such as Ernst Bloch and Gabriel Marcel, to Dada and Surrealism, and to improvised music and dance. 

Current teaching:

PHI1005 - Existentialism and the Self (Module Leader)

PHI2005 - Consciousness, Art and Technology (Module Leader)

PHI1004; PHI2004; PHI3004 - Project Modules (Project Tutor)

• Articles

  • Potts A. The Apocalyptic Tone of Scott Walker, Sunn O))) and Soused. Journal for Cultural Research 2020, 24(3), 185-202.
  • Potts A. Passive Noise. Angelaki 2018, 23(3), 42-57.
  • Potts A. Writing Sound and Radical Fiction: the Abyssal Space of Writing, Reading and Listening. New Writing: The International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing 2017, 14(1), 117-126.
  • Potts A. The Internal Death of Japanoise. Journal for Cultural Research 2015, 19(4), 379-392.
  • Potts A. Phenomenology of Listening and the Challenge of Writing Sound. The Philosopher 2015, CIII(2), 3-9.

• Book Chapters

  • Potts A. Acéphale and The Step Not Beyond. In: Edia Connole and Gary J. Shipley, ed. Acéphale and Autobiographical Philosophy in the 21st Century. London: Schism Press, 2021, pp.331-354.
  • Potts A. Maurice Blanchot. In: Eugene O'Brien, ed. Oxford Bibliographies in Literary and Critical Theory. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)

  • Potts A. Noise, Nausea and the Night: Distinguishing Between Active and Passive Noise. In: The Noise Non-ference Reader. 2013, New York, NY, USA: Qubit.

• Edited Books

  • Potts A, ed. Sonic Encounters with Blanchot. London: Routledge, 2019.
  • Potts A, ed. Sounds of Disaster: Sonic Encounters with Blanchot. Taylor & Francis Online, 2018.

• Editorial

  • Potts A. Blanchot and Sound. Angelaki 2018, 23(3), 3-9.

• Exhibition

  • Potts A. Alone in Sachiko’s Salon. 2014. Bergen: Lydgalleriet, 2.

• Online Publication

  • Potts A. Come On Feel the Noise: Sound and Images of Uncertainity in Japanese Cinema. Midnight Eye: Visions of Japanese Cinema, 2013. Available at: http://www.midnighteye.com/features/come-on-feel-the-noise-sounds-and-images-of-uncertainty-in-japanese-cinema/.

• Reviews

  • Potts A. Review of Annihilating Noise, by Paul Hegarty. Popular Music 2022, 41(2), 271-272.
  • Potts A. Review of Maurice Blanchot: A Critical Biography, by Christophe Bident. H-France Review 2021, 21(2).
  • Potts A. Review of Singed: Muted Voice Transmissions, After the Fire. Journal of Sonic Studies 2019.