Close

Events

Racism, anti-racism and the politics of popular culture

Hosted by the Department of Media and Communications

In-person and online public event (Old Theatre, Old Building)

Speakers

Professor Anamik Saha

Dr Francesca Sobande

Chair

Professor Lee Edwards

Racism and antiracism clash on a daily basis in media discourse. This joint talk reflects on current practices of "othering" in popular media and probes the nature and meaning of media diversity amidst far right appeals to media representation. These practices point to shifts in whom a plural media system can and ought to serve and why.

Francesca will discuss the pop culture portrayals of vampires, immortality, and the racial politics of desiring "demons", and Anamik will address the turn to diversity in media and the ascendency of the far right.

Meet our speakers and chair

Anamik Saha is Professor in Race and Media at the School of Media and Communication at the University of Leeds. He researches race, culture and media, with a focus on creative and cultural industries and ‘diversity’. His books include Race and the Cultural Industries and Race, Culture and Media. His latest book The Anti-Racist Media Manifesto is co-authored with Francesca Sobande and Gavan Titley.

Francesca Sobande (@Chess_Ess) is a writer and senior lecturer in digital media studies at the School of Journalism, Media and Culture at Cardiff University. Her books include Big Brands Are Watching You: Marketing Social Justice and Digital Culture and Consuming Crisis: Commodifying Care and COVID-19. Her recent work includes the co-authored book The Anti-Racist Media Manifesto that is co-authored with Anamik Saha and Gavan Titley.

Lee Edwards (@leemoya) is Professor of Strategic Communications and Public Engagement in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE, where she also serves as Deputy Head of Department (Education) and Programme Director for the MSc Strategic Communications and Society. She teaches and researches public relations from a socio-cultural perspective, focusing in particular on how power operates in and through public relations work.

More about this event

This event will be available to watch on LSE Live. LSE Live is the new home for our live streams, allowing you to tune in and join the global debate at LSE, wherever you are in the world. If you can't attend live, a video will be made available shortly afterwards on LSE's YouTube channel.

The Department of Media and Communications (@MediaLSE) is a world-leading centre for education and research in communication and media studies at the heart of LSE’s academic community in central London. The Department is ranked #1 in the UK and #3 globally in the field of media and communications (2024 QS World University Rankings).

Hashtag for this event: #LSEEvents

LSE Blogs
Many speakers at LSE events also write for LSE Blogs, which present research and critical commentary accessibly for a public audience. Follow British Politics and Policy, the Business Review, the Impact Blog, European Politics and Policy and the LSE Review of Books to learn more about the debates our events series present.

Live captions

Automated live captions are available at this live event. Please note that this feature uses Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology, or machine generated transcription and is not 100% accurate.

Photography

Photographs taken on behalf of LSE are often used on our social media accounts, website and publications. At events, photographs could include broad shots of the audience and lecture theatre, of speakers during the talk, and of audience members as they participate in the Q&A.

If you are photographed participating in an event Q&A but would not like your photograph to be stored for future use, please contact events@lse.ac.uk.

Podcasts
We aim to make all LSE events available as a podcast subject to receiving permission from the speaker/s to do this, and subject to no technical problems with the recording of the event. Podcasts are normally available 1 week after the event. Podcasts and videos of past events can be found online.

Social Media

Follow LSE public events on X for the latest updates on all our events and ticket releases. 

Livestreams and archive videos of past lectures are shared on our YouTube channel while event podcasts can be found on the LSE Player.

Event updates and other information about what’s happening at LSE can be found on our Facebook page and for live photos from events and around campus, follow us on Instagram. 

Attending our events in-person or online? Join the conversation using #LSEEvents.

Accessibility
If you are planning to attend this event and would like details on how to get here and what time to arrive, as well as on accessibility and special requirements, please refer to LSE Events FAQ.  LSE aims to ensure that people have equal access to these public events, but please contact the events organiser as far as possible in advance if you have any access requirements so that arrangements, where possible, can be made. If the event is ticketed, please ensure you get in touch in advance of the ticket release date. Access Guides to all our venues can be viewed online.

WIFI Access
LSE has now introduced wireless for guests and visitors in association with 'The Cloud', also in use at many other locations across the UK. If you are on campus visiting for the day or attending a conference or event, you can connect your device to wireless. See more information and create an account at Join the Cloud.
Visitors from other participating institutions are encouraged to use eduroam. If you are having trouble connecting to eduroam, please contact your home institution for assistance.
The Cloud is only intended for guest and visitor access to wifi. Existing LSE staff and students are encouraged to use eduroam instead.

From time to time there are changes to event details so we strongly recommend that if you plan to attend this event you check back on this listing on the day of the event.

How can I attend? Add to calendar

This public event is free and open to all. This event will be a hybrid event, with an in-person audience and an online audience. 

For the in-person event: No ticket or pre-registration is required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis. For any queries see LSE Events FAQ.

For the online event: Registration for this event will open in the first half of January.

For any queries email events@lse.ac.uk.

Share

  Sign up for news about events