GRAPHIC NOVEL + ONLINE EXHIBITION

Black Oot Here: Dreams O Us

How do we learn about the past while living and dreaming in the present?

Co-authored by Francesca Sobande and layla-roxanne hill, illustrated by Chris Manson, translated in Scots by Lesley Benzie, and translated in Scottish Gaelic by Naomi Gessesse. Freely available, along with an accompanying animation: blackinscotland.com

Black Oot Here and There is an online exhibition that builds on this work. This wider collaboration focuses on Black life in Scotland and Wales. The exhibition brings together photography, music, video, paintings, poetry, a short story, recorded conversations, and more, by Black people in/from Scotland and Wales.

JOURNAL ARTICLEs, commentaries, and reports

Sobande, F. (2025) Blackness and metal: From nu metal to baddiecore [Open access]. Museum of Youth Culture.

Sobande, F. (forthcoming) “Black alt”, social media, and music sub-genres [Open access]. Museum of Youth Culture.

Sobande, F. (forthcoming) B(l)ack in the archives and on the beat [Open access]. Museum of Youth Culture.

Preece, C., Rojas Gaviria, P., Cappellini, B., Kerrigan, F., Hewer, P., Higgins, L., and Sobande, F. (2025) Let’s ROC: A dynamic experience-based roadmap for relational engagement. European Journal of Marketing.

Sobande, F. (2025) Children are our future, let’s support theirs [Open access]. Representology.

lasade-anderson, t. and Sobande, F. (2024) Ideology as/of platform affordance and Black feminist conceptualisations of “cancelling”: Reading Twitter [Open access]. Television and New Media.

Sobande, F. (2024) Challengers: A cultural studies commentary on the fire and ice of filmic desires [Open access]. European Journal of Cultural Studies.

Sobande, F. and Amponsah, E-L. (2024) Demands, displays, and dreams of “Black joy” during times of crisis [Open access]. Ethnic and Racial Studies.

Sobande, F. and Williams, J. (2024) “Swelce” and “Heat Wentz”: The politics, para-sociality, and pairing of sports and popular music. [Open access]. Flow: a critical forum on media and culture.

Rosa-Salas, M., Sobande, F., Steinfield, L., Thomas, K.D., and Timke, E. (2024) Roundtable on the challenges of doing intersectional work in advertising [Open access]. Advertising & Society Quarterly 25(3).

Sobande. F. (2024) “He is a total sweetheart”: UK reality TV and technologies of populist publicity [Open access]. Journal of Cinema and Media Studies.

Sobande, F. (2024) White and gendered aesthetics and attitudes of #pandemicbaking and #quarantinebaking [Open access]. European Journal of Cultural Studies 27(3): 389–407.

Smart, A., Williams, R., Weiner, K., Cheng, L., and Sobande, F. (2024) Ethico-racial positioning in campaigns for COVID-19 research and vaccination featuring public figures [Open access]. Sociology of Health & Illness.

Weeks, K., Sobande, F., Newman, J., Hearn, A., Soper, K., and Littler, J. (2024) Special section: Left Feminisms [Open access]. Feminist Theory 0(0).

Sobande, F. (2023) “Real” emo: Mythologizing and marketing emo music [Open access]. Flow: a critical forum on media and culture.

Sobande, F., Saha, A., and Hesmondhalgh, D. (2023) How cultural workers address racism in the digital age [Open access]. Report on a research project funded by the Digital Futures at Work Research Centre.

Sobande, F. (2023) The digital nesting of Black feminism [Open access]. European Journal of Women’s Studies.

Sobande, F. (2023) I wear my sunglasses to dream: Nope, Black dreaming, and grains of grief. The Arrow: A Journal of Wakeful Society, Culture & Politics.

Sobande, F. (2023) Black media nostalgia in Britain [Open access]. Cultural Studies 38(3): 434–453.

Emejulu, A. and Sobande, F. (2023) Intersectional vulnerabilities and the banality of harm: The dangerous desires of women of color activists [Open access]. Meridians.

Sobande, F. (2023) 20 Feet from Stardom and a long way from equality [Open access]. Films for the Feminist Classroom.

Sobande, F., Hesmondhalgh D. and Saha, A. (2023) Black, Brown and Asian cultural workers, creativity and activism - the ambivalence of digital self-branding practices [Open access]. The Sociological Review.

Sobande, F. and Basu, M. (2023) “Beyond BAME, WOC, and ‘political blackness’”: diasporic digital communing practices. [Open access]. Communication, Culture & Critique.

Sobande, F., Kanai, A. and Zeng, N. (2022) The hypervisibility and discourses of ‘wokeness’ in digital culture [Open access]. Media, Culture & Society.

Sobande, F. and Klein, B. (2022) “Come and get a taste of normal”: Advertising, consumerism and the Coronavirus pandemic [Open access]. European Journal of Cultural Studies.

Rosa-Salas, M. and Sobande, F. (2022) Hierarchies of knowledge about intersectionality in marketing theory and practice. Marketing Theory. [Open access post-print version available here]

Sobande, F., Williams, S. and Bishop, S. (2022) Editors’ introduction: the twentieth anniversary issue of Feminist Media Studies. Feminist Media Studies, 21(8): 1265–1269.

bruce, k., Walcott, R., Kihoro Mackay, K., Osei, K., lasade-anderson, t. and Sobande, F. (2022) Black feminist and digital media studies in Britain. Feminist Media Studies. [Open access post-print version available here]

Sobande, F. (2022) The celebrity whitewashing of Black Lives Matter and social injustices. Celebrity Studies.

Sobande, F. and Emejulu, A. (2021) The Black Feminism Remix Lab: On Black feminist joy, ambivalence, and futures [Open access]. Culture, Theory and Critique.

Sobande, F. (2021) By us, for us? Past and present Black feminist publishing narratives and routes. Women: a cultural review.

Sobande, F. and Wells, J. R. (2021) The poetic identity work and sisterhood of Black women becoming academics. Gender, Work and Organization. [Open access post-print version available here]

Sobande, F. (2021) Screening Black Lives Matter: On-screen discourses, distortions, and depictions of Black Lives Matter. Feminist Media Studies.

Sobande, F. (2021) The internet’s “transnational” boyfriend: digital (re)presentations of celebrity men. Feminist Media Studies. [Open access post-print version available here]

Sobande, F. (2021) Spectacularized and branded digital (re)presentations of Black people and Blackness [Open access]. Television & New Media, 22(2): 131–146.

Mimoun, L., Trujillo-Torres, L. and Sobande, F. (2021) Social emotions and the legitimation of the fertility technology market [Open access]. Journal of Consumer Research. DOI: 10.1093/jcr/ucab043.

Sobande, F., Schoonejans, A., Johnson, G.D., Thomas, K.D. and Harrison, A.K. (2021) Enacting anti-racist visualities through photo-dialogues on race in Paris. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, 40(2): 65–179.

hill, l-r. and Sobande, F. (2020) (Re)viewing race, the marketplace, and public space through the lens of photography. Journal of Marketing Management, 36(13-14): 1169–1177. DOI:

Sobande, F. and Osei, K. (2020) An African City: Black women’s creativity, pleasure, diasporic (dis)connections and resistance through aesthetic and media practices and scholarship. Communication, Culture & Critique, 13(2): 204–221.

Sobande, F. (2020) “We're all in this together”: Commodified notions of connection, care and community in brand responses to COVID-19 [Open access]. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 23(6): 1033–1037.

Sobande, F., Fearfull, A. and Brownlie, D. (2020) Resisting media marginalisation: Black women’s digital content and collectivity. Consumption Markets & Culture, 23(5): 413–428. [Open access post-print version available here]

Poole S.M., Grier S.A., Thomas K.D., Sobande, F., Ekpo, A.E., Torres, L.T., Addington, L.A., Weekes-Laidlow, M. and Henderson, G.R. (2020) Operationalizing critical race theory in the marketplace. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. December 2020.

Thomas, K.D., Davis, J.F., Wilson, J.A.J., and Sobande, F. (2020) Repetition or reckoning: confronting racism and racial dynamics in 2020 [Open access]. Journal of Marketing Management, 36 (13-14): 1153–1168.

Linabary, J. R., Cruz, J.M., Allen, B.J., Chalupa, J.A., Dempsey, S.E., Glenn, C.L., Harris, K.L., Long, Z., McDonald, J., Musleh, S., Oktaviana, F.H., Parker, P.S. and Sobande, F. (2020) Envisioning more equitable and just futures: Feminist organizational communication in theory and praxis. Management Communication Quarterly.

Sobande, F. (2020) Woke-washing: "Intersectional" femvertising and branding “woke” bravery. European Journal of Marketing, 54(11): 2723–2745. [Open access post-print version available here]

Sobande, F. (2019) Awkward Black girls and postfeminist possibilities: representing millennial Black women on television in Chewing Gum and Insecure. Critical Studies in Television, 14(4): 435–450. [Open access post-print version available here]

Sobande, F. (2019) Memes, digital remix culture and (re)mediating British politics and public life. IPPR Progressive Review, 26(2): 151–160.

Sobande, F. (2019) How to get away with authenticity: Viola Davis and the intersections of Blackness, naturalness, femininity and relatability. Celebrity Studies, 10(3): 396–410. [Open access post-print version available here]

Sobande, F. (2019) Femvertising and fast fashion: Feminist advertising or fauxminist marketing messages?. International Journal of Fashion Studies, 6(1): 104–113.

Sobande, F., Mimoun, L. and Trujillo Torres, L. (2019) Soldiers and superheroes needed! Masculine archetypes and constrained commodification in the sperm donation market. Marketing Theory, 20(1): 65–84. [Open access post-print version available here]

Sobande, F. (2018) Accidental academic activism – Intersectional and (un)intentional feminist resistance [Open access]. Journal of Applied Social Theory – Special Edition: Futures and Fractures in Feminist & Queer Education, 1 (2): 83–101.

Sobande, F. (2017) Watching me watching you: Black women in Britain on YouTube. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 20(6): 655–671. [Open access post-print version available here]

POETRY

• Sobande, F. (2024) Branching. Black Oot Here.

• Sobande, F. (2024) Seafoam. Black Oot Here.

• Sobande, F. (2024) Winged. Black Oot Here.

• Sobande, F. (2024) Nestling. Black Oot Here.

• Sobande, F. (2024) Nights. Black Oot Here.

• Sobande, F. (2023) Elixir o dreams. Black Oot Here.

• Sobande, F. (2021) Cariad [Love]. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers.

• Sobande, F. (2021) Green velvet. GEM Collective.

• Sobande, F. (2021) Haar. GEM Collective.

• Sobande, F. (2021) Slow. GEM Collective.

• Sobande, F. (2021) Late falling leaves. GEM Collective.

BLOG-POSTS AND EDITORIALS

Sobande, F. (forthcoming) Aaliyah’s turn as a vampire in the nu-metal film Queen of the Damned is an often-overlooked part of her legacy. The Conversation.

Sobande, F. (2024) Black digital currents. NERO.

Sobande, F. (2024) I’m Not Okay: emo is alive and kicking at Barbican retrospective. The Conversation.

Sobande, F. (2024) Moving in silence and the business of being “anti-social media”. University of California Press.

Sobande, F. (2024) Dove’s latest ‘Real Beauty’ drive – and why AI will be harder to ditch than it thinks. The Conversation.

Sobande, F. (2023) Succession and Scotland: Logan Roy and the art of ‘nation branding’. The Conversation.

Sobande, F. (2023) On the myth of “caring capitalism” versus “predatory capitalism”. Margins.

Sobande, F. (2023) On foggy temporalities and feelings: Knowing, sensing, and creating beyond linear timelines. Margins.

Sobande, F. (2023) Netflix’s You: the real monster of series four is ‘dark academia’. The Conversation.

Sobande, F. (2022) Black artists don’t just make hip hop – why recognition of metal, punk, rock and emo by MOBO is long overdue. The Conversation.

Sobande, F. (2022) Why emo endures: the comforting nostalgia of emo on vinyl. The Vinyl Factory.

Sobande, F. (2022) Welcome to When We Were Young's Big Tech parade. Paste Magazine.

Sobande, F. and hill, l.r. (2022) Black oot here: The new book archiving Black Scottish history. The Skinny.

Sobande, F. and hill, l. r. (2022) Black oot here. Black Lives in Scotland.

Sobande, F. (2022) On Nope, the mundanity of grief, and solace in spectacle. Margins.

Sobande, F. (2022) “Imaginative practice”, impact, and intersectionality. Bath Business and Society.

Sobande, F. (2022) Feeling at home at work? Inequalities, inclusiveness, and changing work environments. Digit.

Sobande, F. (2022) On Black women’s digitally mediated experiences of academia in Britain. Margins.

Sobande, F. (2022) On Black feminist opacity and angst: Beyond (self)brand optics and pressures to perform positivity. Margins.

Sobande, F. (2022) In excess? On photography, memories, and meaning-making. Margins.

Sobande, F. (2022) Influencer marketing: 5G helps next-gen creators level up. Verizon.

Sobande, F. (2022) On digital disengagement and the lives of Black women in Britain. POSTSCRIPT.

Sobande, F. (2022) The meaning(fulness) of Black women’s digital diasporic lives. POSTSCRIPT.

Sobande, F. (2021) On beyond branding “brand activism” and whitewashing critiques of capitalism. Margins.

Sobande, F. (2021) On dial m for the mirage of memories. Margins.

Sobande, F. (2021) CGI influencers: when the ‘people’ we follow on social media aren’t human. The Conversation.

Sobande, F., Schoonejans, A., Johnson, G.D., Thomas, K.D., and Harrison, A.K. (2021) Strolling with a question. Independent Social Research Foundation Bulletin Issue XXIII: Race and Markets, pp. 13–26.

Sobande, F. (2021) The politics of digital peace, play, and privacy during the COVID-19 pandemic: Between digital engagement, enclaves, and entitlement. The Sociological Review.

Sobande, F. (2021) “Are we all in this together?”: Reflecting on a year of COVID-19 marketing messages. Developing Economics.

Sobande, F. (2021) On year 1 of “(Me)me, Myself, and I” and digitally mediated grief. Margins.

Sobande, F. (2020) On digital remixing and regulations. Margins.

Sobande, F. (2020) The revolution will not be branded: Social struggle, commodified. Disegno.

Sobande, F. (2020) On “(me)me, myself, and I: The power and politics of digital remix culture and online inequalities”. Margins.

Sobande, F. (2020) On Black women’s trauma and The Haunting of Bly Manor. Margins.

Sobande, F. (2020) Brands’ optical “allyship” and opportunistic responses to Black social justice activism. Discover Society.

Sobande, F. (2020) Between digital labour, leisure and liberation. Journalism, Media and Culture - the official JOMEC school blog.

Sobande, F. (2019) Stereotypical and (super)heroic representations of masculinity in sperm donation marketing. Discover Society.

Sobande, F. (2018) On Black girlhood: “Bone Black” by bell hooks and “Zami” by Audre Lorde. Project Myopia.

Sobande, F. (2018) On cultural appropriation. Real Review #7. 

Sobande, F. (2018) Fenty beauty: An inclusive beauty brand is born. In Media Res.

Sobande, F. (2017) “YouTube has become a really important place”: Black women’s self-representation and solidarity online. British Sociological Association.