All Outputs (89)

What does decolonising the curriculum mean? (2020)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

What does decolonising the curriculum mean? What practical steps can I make to adapt my teaching?
Myra Evans and Dr Shawn Sobers explore the issue and ideas and actions to make change. The session has been designed to help staff to consider how they... Read More about What does decolonising the curriculum mean?.

What's next for the future of Decolonial practice? (2020)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

Panel discussion with Dr Errol Francis, Dr Angelina Osbourne, Stacey Olika, Jennifer Sharratt and Matthew Branch. On the topic of;

- Is Decolonisation the appropriate word for this work, or is it Diversification?
- What does a Decolonised future... Read More about What's next for the future of Decolonial practice?.

The Emperor and the Pianiola: A children's book for adults (2019)
Book

This illustrated photo-book explores the story of Emperor Haile Selassie and the Ethiopian royal family coming to live in the city of Bath following Mussolini's invasion, and how they used pianola music to create a sense of sanctity for the family at... Read More about The Emperor and the Pianiola: A children's book for adults.

A Call For A Black Bristol Filmmakers Archive (2019)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

In this introduction to the Sudanese documentary film 'Talking About Trees', Sobers brings the storyline to a Bristol context. He charts Bristol's own history of professional Black filmmakers, and argues that making films alone is no longer enough.... Read More about A Call For A Black Bristol Filmmakers Archive.

Point of View - Positioning public engagement central to your research. Case Study: Ethiopian echoes in a British Landscape AHRC Research Networks project (2019)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

This key-note presentation discussed approaches to research design and methodology, and offers thoughts towards how to connect research projects closer to real world experience and impact. The three areas discussed were; 1) Public engagement as the c... Read More about Point of View - Positioning public engagement central to your research. Case Study: Ethiopian echoes in a British Landscape AHRC Research Networks project.

Me and my work: Education, Photography, Filmmaking, and Rastafari philosophy (2019)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

In this wide-ranging talk, Sobers discussed how he got to be where he is now with his career, shared some examples of his photography and films, and talked how Rastafari and Pan-Africanism has informed his creative practice and life choices.

TEDx - Ethiopian Echoes in the Bath landscape, and three lessons those echoes can teach us. (2019)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

This TEDx talk discussed how the history of the Ethiopian connection with the city of Bath can shed light on how we live today. The talk addressed three key lessons;

1) You can find sanctity in unexpected places
2) The need for calmness in times... Read More about TEDx - Ethiopian Echoes in the Bath landscape, and three lessons those echoes can teach us..

Connection People and Places - Fairfield House case study (2019)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

Fairfield House was one of the case studies for the Connection People and Places research project, led by the Stephen Lawrence Trust in partnership with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

In my opening talk I explained the history... Read More about Connection People and Places - Fairfield House case study.

Colonial Complexity in the British Landscape: An African-centric autoethnography (2019)
Book Chapter

This chapter explores the notion of what sites of collective significance in the UK can mean to people of African descent , whose ancestral lands were formerly colonised by the British Empire. With such a premise, the methodological position of this... Read More about Colonial Complexity in the British Landscape: An African-centric autoethnography.

When the Prophet was angry with the Emperor: On Marcus Garvey's critique of Haile Selassie I, and the aligned legacy of both their logic (2019)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

Discussing the challenging moment in 1937 when Marcus Mosiah Garvey strongly criticised Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie for moving to Bath in the UK, to rally for support for Ethiopia's liberation from Mussolini's fascist invasion. Garvey attacked t... Read More about When the Prophet was angry with the Emperor: On Marcus Garvey's critique of Haile Selassie I, and the aligned legacy of both their logic.

Rivers and oceans: Navigating pictorial legacies of enslavement in New Orleans and Bristol (2019)
Journal Article

This two-part article is a comparative analysis of two late twentieth-century works of art: John T. Scott’s Ocean Song (1990), an abstract, large-scale public art sculpture in New Orleans, Louisiana in the US, and Sold Down the River (1999), a major,... Read More about Rivers and oceans: Navigating pictorial legacies of enslavement in New Orleans and Bristol.

Re-definitions (educational app) (2019)
Other

As a result of speaking at the National Conference for Religious Education Advisers in July 2018, Sobers was approached to speak about the Rastafari faith on the RE-Definitions app, which is an educational resource featuring key terms and definitions... Read More about Re-definitions (educational app).

What is Rastafari? History, beliefs and philosophy of the Rastafari movement (2018)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

This talk sheds light on the core history and beliefs of the Rastafari faith, which Sobers considers to be the world's best secret. Sobers challenges some common misconceptions regarding the public perception of Rastafari culture. This talk also shed... Read More about What is Rastafari? History, beliefs and philosophy of the Rastafari movement.

Transatlantic slavery connections with Bath (2018)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

The predominant discourse relating to the South West's connections with the transatlantic slave trade tends to focus on Bristol, though Bath has got its story to tell. This public talk for Black History Month discusses the rise of Bath's economic for... Read More about Transatlantic slavery connections with Bath.

Hidden pluralities: Rastafari in the South West and the house where God lived (2018)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

In this keynote presentation Sobers discusses the intricacies of the Rastafari faith, how it has been underestimated as a cultural movement, and how its legacies have local, national and global significance.
The paper is presented in three parts.... Read More about Hidden pluralities: Rastafari in the South West and the house where God lived.

Blood Sugar - Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire - A slavery connected history (2018)
Digital Artefact

This film has been made by the Nottingham based Slave Trade Legacies (STL) group with Dr Shawn Naphtali Sobers, based on a poem by Michelle 'Mother' Hubbard. STL is a mainly African Caribbean group working to gain acknowledgement of the contribution... Read More about Blood Sugar - Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire - A slavery connected history.

View over Bristol - Tryers, creativity and a civic imaginary (2017)
Book Chapter

"Bristol has a culture of tryers, lots of people trying but because there’s a lack of accessibility. Because there is a lack of exits, naturally there are loads of people trying to get out… it is full of people who are trying because they can't grab... Read More about View over Bristol - Tryers, creativity and a civic imaginary.

Community media as social innovation: Transformation, agency and value (2017)
Book Chapter

This chapter discusses the Creative Citizens study, an extensive research project conducted by the authors from 2013 to 2015, looking into the community media practices of the South Blessed collective, a self-motivated network of young creatives appr... Read More about Community media as social innovation: Transformation, agency and value.

Five corners of reggae music, and the house where Rastafari lived (2017)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

This presentation began with a personal exploration of what reggae music means to me, from the perspective of five areas of life - Cultural/ Educational, Spiritual, Political, Entrepreneurial/ Resourcefulness, and Social. It then goes on to discuss... Read More about Five corners of reggae music, and the house where Rastafari lived.

Ethiopian stories in an English landscape (2017)
Book Chapter

Bath is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with an established narrative of being built by the Romans, and built upon with architectural splendour by the Georgians in the 1700-1800s. This has resulted in a tourist industry worth an annual average of £414... Read More about Ethiopian stories in an English landscape.