Tuesday, 15 October 2019 at 5:30 pm – Tuesday, 15 October 2019 at 7:30 pm

Robert Beckford: “Babylon Makes the Rules: The Colonial Complex in the Formation of Contemporary Black British Gospel Music in Post-War Britain”

* * * THIS EVENT HAS BEEN REARRANGED FOR TUESDAY 15TH OCTOBER, SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE * * *

Date: Tuesday 15th October 2019

Time: 5.30pm - 7.30pm

Location: Geoffrey Manton LT7, Manchester Metropolitan University

Tickets: Free – available on Eventbrite

How might we meaningfully reflect on the church’s complicity with racial terror in the Caribbean? And what is the role of British gospel music in articulating the memory of slavery, its continued impact and its overcoming? Entangling ideas from theodicy (the problem of evil), pentecostal epistemes (prayer, singing) and Christina Sharpe’s “In the Wake: On Blackness and Being” (creative and critical cultural production) this practice-based presentation explores the sources for a new urban ’social gospel music’ genre.

Followed by a wine reception.

Professor Beckford researches in written, visual and audio texts and has won numerous awards, including two international awards, a BAFTA, and a Jamaica National Diaspora Award. He is the author of six books, and has presented over twenty television documentaries on commercial television stations, including Channel 4, BBC 2, BBC4 and Discovery USA.

This lecture is part of the History Research Seminar Series at Manchester Metropolitan University.

There will be a wine reception after the lecture.