Fri 06 May 2022, 10.55-11.15
Prof Robert Beckford, University of Winchester
What is the role of the scholar-activist? In this multi-media presentation, Robert Beckford will review twenty years of anti-racism in British theological education.
Reflecting on the material impact of a range of texts (film, music, art, audio, logos), Beckford will propose the necessity of a Garveyite politics of ‘self-help,’ intersectional praxis, and loving blackness as essential features for impactful scholar-activism.
Click here to view Prof Beckford’s slideshow presentation in Prezi. The full versions of the films/radio drama are:
- ‘Ghetto Britain‘ (C4 2007)
- ‘Empire Pays Back’ (C4 2005)
- ‘Incarnation: no blacks no Irish no dogs’ [music video] (2016)
- ‘After the Flood: Christianity, Racism and Reconciliation’ (2022)
- ‘Jesus Piece’ [radio drama] (BBC Regions, 2018)
About the speaker
Robert Beckford‘s academic roles are; professor of Climate and Social Justice at the University of Winchester, professor of Black Theology at the Queen’s Foundation in Birmingham and professor of theology at Vrije Universiteit, (Vu) Amsterdam. He is the author of eight monographs exploring the interfaces of theology, black popular culture and social justice.
His current research is a political critique of gospel music (Decolonizing Gospel Music: A Black British Revolutionary Praxis, Bloomsbury, Oct 2022). Beckford is also a BAFTA Award-winning filmmaker and has presented over twenty films for the BBC, Channel 4 and Discovery USA. His most recent film, ‘After the Flood’ (Cinematic release, May 2022), explores the entanglements of Christianity, Slavery and Reconciliation.
Robert also researches as an black music writer/producer. His most recent album is a decolonial gospel album, ‘The Jamaican Bible Remix’ (2017).