Dr Francesca Sobande is a writer who researches the power and politics of media and the marketplace. Her work focuses on digital remix culture and music, Black diaspora(s) and archives, Black feminism and pop culture, nostalgia and subcultures, creative work and education, and the internet and cultural memory.
RECENT BOOKs and co-creations
Francesca is Reader in Digital Media Studies at Cardiff University, where she teaches critical and creative approaches to media, music, and meme culture. Her books include Big Brands Are Watching You: Marketing Social Justice and Digital Culture (University of California Press, 2024), Consuming Crisis: Commodifying Care and COVID-19 (SAGE, 2022), and The Digital Lives of Black Women in Britain (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020).
Francesca is also co-author with layla-roxanne hill of Black Oot Here: Black Lives in Scotland (Bloomsbury, 2022) and the free graphic novel Black Oot Here: Dreams O Us (ESRC/AHRC, 2023), illustrated by Chris Manson and translated in Scots (by Lesley Benzie) and Scottish Gaelic (by Naomi Gessesse). An accompanying animation, co-created with Leeds Animation Workshop, features music by Nathan Somevi. Recent writing by Francesca and layla-roxanne includes Look, Don’t Touch: Reflections on the Freedom to Feel (404 Ink, 2025).
Previously, Francesca worked in communications in higher education, the arts, and non-profit sector. Her bylines include Disegno, Paste Magazine, Folding Rock, Real Review, and The Vinyl Factory.