All Outputs (120)

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).

Sankofa dialogues: Making things to make sense of colonial saturated embodied landscape (2018)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

Sankofa is a Ghanaian symbol which represents the idea that there is no shame in going back to fetch that which you have forgotten. The symbol is of a bird looking back with a seed it its mouth. The common interpretation is that the seed represents c... Read More about Sankofa dialogues: Making things to make sense of colonial saturated embodied landscape.

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.

Haile Selassie in exile, and life in the city of Bath (2018)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

This talk sets the scene of the circumstances of how and why Emperor came to the UK in exile, and how he came to settle in the city of Bath.

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.

An auto-ethnographic dialogue with archive (2018)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

This provocation offered an analysis of a piece of photographic artwork I produced, a self-portrait inbetween two enslaved Africans. The Africans portrayed are named Jack and Delia, enslaved on a South Carolina plantation, photographed by Joseph T. Z... Read More about An auto-ethnographic dialogue with archive.

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.

Ethiopian echoes in the British landscape (2017)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

Presentation about my ongoing work and research at Fairfield House, Bath, the former residence of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I. I discuss engagements with the site using creative media, arts and research, relationships with the local communitie... Read More about Ethiopian echoes in the British landscape.

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.

Photographic Dialogues: Moving Stills (2017)
Book

Special issue looking at photographers who shoot moving image, and the relationship between the creative approaches.

We ran the Moving Stills symposium in April 2016, which explored the practices of photographers who also produce moving image work... Read More about Photographic Dialogues: Moving Stills.

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.

Five corners of reggae music (2016)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

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.

Speech given at the Afrika Eye Film Festival, 12 Novem... Read More about Five corners of reggae music.

Hidden presence: Comparative study of visualising the presence of Black people living in Georgian era Britain – an analysis of two participatory creative history projects (2016)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

This paper will discuss the outputs and findings of three recently completed creative history projects, which worked in participatory ways to explore and visually respond to the lives of Black people living in Georgian and Victorian era Britain. All... Read More about Hidden presence: Comparative study of visualising the presence of Black people living in Georgian era Britain – an analysis of two participatory creative history projects.

Civic cultures and modalities of place-making (2016)
Book Chapter

Acts of creative citizenship require places, where challenges and tensions generate energy, inviting resolution through creative collaboration. In this chapter we aim to shed light on processes of place-making, whether they occur in physical, digital... Read More about Civic cultures and modalities of place-making.

What came first, the Black or the Arts? An autoethnography (2016)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

This highly personal paper will discuss what inspired me about the Black Arts Movement and the critical decade’, and how has it continued to influence my arts practice and thinking.

Growing up in Bath in the 80s, leaving school in 1988 aged 16 to... Read More about What came first, the Black or the Arts? An autoethnography.