Black "Alt" Cultural Memories, Archived Representations, and Digital Imaginaries
Join us in welcoming Dr. Francesca Sobande to Race & Resistance, who will be sharing her work related to Black people’s cultural memories and archived representation in “alternative (alt)” rock music spaces (particularly in the UK). In doing this, this session addresses dynamics between blackness, gender, (un)popular music, social media, “artificial intelligence” (AI), and archives. It also considers how forms of “internet humour” and online influence impact the landscape of music (sub-)genre categories (e.g., “yacht rock”). Focusing on examples related to Black people in/and emo, nu-metal, post-hardcore, punk music, and adjacent (sub-)genres (e.g., “baddiecore”), this session highlights how Black cool, creativity, and culture is at the centre and margins of elements of these genres and their subcultural histories. Alongside this, the process of doing such research and co-creating with others as part of it will be reflected on.

Bio: Francesca Sobande is a writer and researcher, who lives in Cymru (Wales). Her books include Big Brands Are Watching You: Marketing Social Justice and Digital Culture (University of California Press, 2024), Consuming Crisis: Commodifying Care and COVID-19 (SAGE, 2022), and The Digital Lives of Black Women in Britain (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020). Francesca is co-author/co-dreamer with layla-roxanne hill of Black Oot Here: Black Lives in Scotland (Bloomsbury, 2022) and the free graphic novel and animation Black Oot Here: Dreams O Us (2023). Her bylines include Disegno, Paste Magazine, and The Vinyl Factory. Francesca enjoys midnight skies and all things emo.
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Date: 16 May 2025, 13:00
Venue: Radcliffe Humanities, Woodstock Road OX2 6GG
Venue Details: Colin Matthew Room
Speaker: Dr Francesca Sobande (Cardiff University)
Organising department: The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH)
Organiser: Holly Cooper (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: raceandresistance@torch.ox.ac.uk
Part of: Race & Resistance
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Holly Cooper