Reggae-Dance Hall Culture: The Hidden Voice of the Black Experience in London

The research project is funded by The Heritage Lottery Fund and will raise awareness of the importance of the Reggae-dancehall scene in the late 1970s to late 1980s and its role in shaping the cultural practices of Caribbean migrants and their subsequent generations, as well as its significant influence on contemporary popular culture. It will focus on personal testimonies, photographic evidence, music, fashion, and the cultural politics of the time, to locate its worth to our contemporary national heritage.
The research will detail how particular black identities in Britain were developed and expressed through the utilisation of Creolised languages in an urban context, and how these languages, when performed in the Reggae-dancehall, presented more realistic accounts of the experiences of the black or minority ethnic communities in post war Britain.

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The culture of the Classroom – pathways to violence

The research will examine the changing nature of ‘Black’ youth crime and consider whether there is a direct link to the disproportionate exclusion of African Caribbean students from secondary schools and gang affiliation. According to the latest figures ‘Black Caribbean pupils are ‘three times as likely as white pupils to be permanently excluded from school’ (DfES, 2005: 1). Consequently, many of those excluded black pupils who live in high-crime, low-income, areas are at risk of being drawn into alternative forms of ‘employment’ to satisfy real and imagined needs.

Delivering staff training on behalf of London Borough of Southwark

Educational interventionist work with Blackheath Blue Coat School, South east London

Educational interventionist work with Haringey Youth Action