‘Dance a yaad before you dance abroad’: reggae as a production culture in Jamaica and the UK, 1969 – 1981

Torrens, Benjamin Patrick (2026) ‘Dance a yaad before you dance abroad’: reggae as a production culture in Jamaica and the UK, 1969 – 1981. Doctoral thesis, Birmingham City University.

Preview

Text Benjamin Patrick Torrens PhD Thesis_Final Version_Final Award January 2026.pdf - Accepted Version Download (8MB)

Abstract

This doctoral research project uses ethnographically-informed media and cultural history to explore reggae’s past and think about ways we might study it.

The study offers insights into a number of issues of debate within media and cultural studies about the study of popular music as a mediated signifying culture and the importance of the past to the present. By focusing on aspects of reggae’s past that have been marginalised in its extant histories, we can explore sound as an act of signification and pluralise the ways in which the meaningfulness of this music culture, both during its ‘golden age’ and in our current conjuncture, is conceptualised.

The central thesis of this research is that the transnational nature of reggae production culture, its construction in mediated discourses, and the contributions of its musicians, are examples of such marginalised aspects, despite being (and remaining) crucial influences on the ways reggae has sounded to multiple audiences. Additionally, the research makes the case for the significance of reggae’s past into its cultures today.

In surveying the field, the thesis is built on a review of literature from reggae history, popular music studies, media and cultural studies, ethnomusicology and history studies. Primary data was identified or created through archival searches in Jamaica and Britain, oral histories and ethnographic observation and participation in two locales of reggae’s transnational world. These materials were analysed using discourse analysis of historical narratives and verbatim speech, textual analysis of press and televisual material, (auto)ethnographic writing, and political economy.

The findings are presented through five micro-histories of commercial recordings, which set out rich detail on the temporal cultural location of each record, before expanding outwards to make some broader points about the dominant but contested stories of reggae’s past, the agency of musicians in creating this culture and their part in the creation of reggae in its transnational locales. The micro-histories also allow the testing of (auto)ethnographic methods as a way to extend our understanding of reggae’s past in the present. These approaches could be applied to other musics and music cultures in popular music and jazz studies. Beyond its significance to the academic study of reggae, this research contributes to an expanded framework for the preservation and contemporary dissemination of reggae that highlights its transnational nature, its mediation and the agency of musicians.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Dates:	Date Event 29 January 2026 Accepted
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Reggae; production culture; Jamaica; popular music; music history
Subjects:	CAH25 - design, and creative and performing arts > CAH25-02 - performing arts > CAH25-02-02 - music
Divisions:	Arts > English and Media > English Doctoral Research College > Doctoral Theses Collection
Depositing User:	Louise Muldowney
Date Deposited:	07 Apr 2026 11:49
Last Modified:	07 Apr 2026 11:49
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/16953

Actions (login required)

View Item