Sonjah Stanley Niaah
Sonjah Stanley Niaah is a Jamaican scholar, international speaker and Senior Lecturer in Cultural Studies at the University of the West Indies’ Mona Campus where she was Director of the Institute of Caribbean Studies & Reggae Studies Unit. She is currently Director of the Centre for Reparation Research. She is a leading author, teacher and researcher on Black Atlantic performance geographies, popular culture, and the sacred, and Caribbean Cultural Studies more broadly. She holds international appointments as member of the International Scientific Committee of the Slave Route Project (UNESCO), Senior Research Associate (honorary), Rhodes University, and Advisor, International Cultural Diversity Organisation. She is the author of numerous publications among them the acclaimed Dancehall: From Slave Ship to Ghetto (2010) and editor of Dancehall: A Reader on Jamaican Music and Culture (2020) among others. Her research and opinions have appeared in various media, among them Netflix, The Guardian, BBC, The Washington Post, NPR, The Fader and Pop Matters. In 2019 she introduced the Sound Culture book series at the UWI Press which is dedicated to publishing original work on Caribbean music. She has served as Vice Chair of the international Association for Cultural Studies for which she coordinated the first conference held in the Global South at the UWI (2008). Dr Stanley Niaah has served on the boards and editorial collectives of numerous academic associations, institutions and journals including Cultural Studies, The Black Scholar and DanceCult. A Jamaican nationalist and Caribbean regionalist at heart, she is involved in efforts to promote national and regional development specifically the cultural and creative industries through her current / past work on the Culture Advisory Committee of the Jamaica National Commission for UNESCO, Jamaica Reggae Industry Association, Jamaica Association of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, as Assistant Chief Examiner for the Caribbean Examination Council Advanced Proficiency Examination in Caribbean Studies, secondments to JAMPRO and the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture, the Entertainment Advisory Board, and Museums Division of the Institute of Jamaica.
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Books by Sonjah Stanley Niaah
Dancehall is one of eight musical genres created in Jamaica and, in the past two decades, it has become one of the most influential Jamaican cultural exports since reggae. The impact of dancehall extends far beyond Jamaica and is evident in music genres (such as hip hop, trip hop, jungle, reggaeton, South African kwaito and Nigerian Afrobeats) and international fashion, film and dance.
This interdisciplinary volume documents various aspects of dancehall’s global impact, evolution and influence in gender, political economy, geography, ethnomusicology, spirituality, music production, fashion and language. Each selection interrogates the range of meanings ascribed to dancehall culture, a phenomenon which has been seen to be associated with violence, crime and debauchery. This collection exposes the immense cultural work towards self-expression and identity in post-colonial Jamaica which takes shape through dancehall and the contributors apply a new level of seriousness, depth and academic rigour to dancehall studies.
Contributions by Bibi Bakare-Yusef, Zachary J.M. Beier, Louis ChudeSokei, Carolyn Cooper, Joshua Chamberlain, Robin Clarke, Lena Delgado de Torres, Nadia Ellis, Julian Henriques, Audene S. Henry, Ray Hitchins, Andrea Hollington, Donna P. Hope, Dennis Howard, Kate Lawton, Erin MacLeod, Larisa Kingston Mann, Peter Manuel, Wayne Marshall, Bruno Muniz, Andrea Shaw Nevins, “H” Patten, Joseph Pereira, Anna Kasafi Perkins, Agostinho Pinnock, Tracey Skelton, Norman Stolzoff, Krista Thompson, Marvin D. Sterling and Garth White
Papers by Sonjah Stanley Niaah
Dancehall is one of eight musical genres created in Jamaica and, in the past two decades, it has become one of the most influential Jamaican cultural exports since reggae. The impact of dancehall extends far beyond Jamaica and is evident in music genres (such as hip hop, trip hop, jungle, reggaeton, South African kwaito and Nigerian Afrobeats) and international fashion, film and dance.
This interdisciplinary volume documents various aspects of dancehall’s global impact, evolution and influence in gender, political economy, geography, ethnomusicology, spirituality, music production, fashion and language. Each selection interrogates the range of meanings ascribed to dancehall culture, a phenomenon which has been seen to be associated with violence, crime and debauchery. This collection exposes the immense cultural work towards self-expression and identity in post-colonial Jamaica which takes shape through dancehall and the contributors apply a new level of seriousness, depth and academic rigour to dancehall studies.
Contributions by Bibi Bakare-Yusef, Zachary J.M. Beier, Louis ChudeSokei, Carolyn Cooper, Joshua Chamberlain, Robin Clarke, Lena Delgado de Torres, Nadia Ellis, Julian Henriques, Audene S. Henry, Ray Hitchins, Andrea Hollington, Donna P. Hope, Dennis Howard, Kate Lawton, Erin MacLeod, Larisa Kingston Mann, Peter Manuel, Wayne Marshall, Bruno Muniz, Andrea Shaw Nevins, “H” Patten, Joseph Pereira, Anna Kasafi Perkins, Agostinho Pinnock, Tracey Skelton, Norman Stolzoff, Krista Thompson, Marvin D. Sterling and Garth White
The Institute of Caribbean Studies and the Reggae Studies Unit at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus announce the fifth bi-ennial Global Reggae Conference under the theme "Dancehall, Music and the City”. This conference is being staged at a time when we celebrate Bob Marley’s birth and the very foundation, the space – dancehall – through which the world has consumed seven distinct musical genres in mento, ska, rocksteady, reggae, nyabinghi, dub and dancehall. This conference also comes at a time when Kingston celebrates its designation as a creative city for music by UNESCO in December 2015.
The conference intends to open discussions about contemporary considerations for Jamaican music spaces, genres, cross-fertilization, production and economy using Kingston as a backdrop for discussing the foundational space of the dancehall as a main theme.
The conference will also honour the work of Professor Carolyn Cooper, CD, founder of the Global Reggae Conference, Bob Marley Lecture Series and co-founder of the Reggae Studies Unit. Her contributions to the field of cultural studies have paved the way for researchers and practitioners, often bridging the gap in research and practice for Jamaican popular music genres, reggae, and especially dancehall.
Slated for Reggae Month 2017, the conference will provide a platform for timely updates on discussions, research and development in reggae and dancehall locally, regionally and internationally. GRC2017 offers academics, researchers, artistes, musicians, scholars, cultural practitioners, entrepreneurs and music lovers from around the world a warm and welcoming environment to share their research, experiences, perspectives and passion for Jamaican music.