Dr Francesca Sobande

(she/her)

Publication

• Date
• Type

Research

• Black Oot Here: Black Lives in Scotland: What does it mean to be Black in Scotland today? What is it like to dream of Black Scottish history? Based on intergenerational interviews, survey responses, photography, and archived material, Black Oot Here: Black Lives in Scotland (Bloomsbury, 2022), co-authored with layla-roxanne hill, offers a unique snapshot of Black Scottish history and the here and now. Black Oot Here co-creations also include the freely available graphic novel, Black Oot Here: Dreams O Us (ESRC/AHRC funded, 2023), illustrated by Chris Manson and translated in Scots (by Lesley Benzie) and Scottish Gaelic (by Naomi Gessesse). An accompanying animation was co-created with Oran Rose O’Sullivan / Leeds Animation Workshop and features music by Nathan Somevi. The project website is: blackinscotland.com.
• Consuming Crisis: Commodifying Care and COVID-19: Consuming Crisis (SAGE, 2022) accounts for how consumer culture capitalised on Coronavirus, and how brands claim to care while telling us to “keep calm and consume”. This analysis of the power and politics of marketing examines an eclectic mix of campaigns, content, and experiences. It outlines the societal significance of fast-fashion adverts, banana bread's pandemic 'moment', university social media strategies, and how digital technology mediates memories and work. Based on the belief that brands cannot be activists, this book considers how they construct care, camaraderie, culture, and so-called ‘normal’ life.
• "Woke-washing" and alleged "Brand Activism": Francesca critically analyses the relationship between branding, marketing, social justice, and digital culture. Her work on “woke-washing” (European Journal of Marketing, 2019) was picked up by Yahoo! News, The Independent, Quartz, and MSN. Big Brands Are Watching You​ expands on such work to examine corporate culture and morality in the marketplace, from the branding of companies and nations to TV portrayals of big business and the workplace (Industry, Partner Track, Severance, Succession, The Bold Type, You).
• The Meanings and Messages of Vlogs about University Life: Cardiff University’s Research Opportunities Placement (CUROP) scheme involved Jeevan Kaur and Francesca Sobande researching how and why universities and their students make use of vlogging. This was a critical digital discourse analysis of “university life” YouTube vlogs, including vlogs created by influencers independently of universities, and vlogs created for/in partnership with universities. The analysis aids understanding of considerations, opportunities, and challenges involved in students' and universities' use of vlogs.
• How Cultural Workers Address Racism in the Digital Age: Francesca was principal investigator on this project with Dr Anamik Saha (Goldsmiths, University of London), Professor David Hesmondhalgh (University of Leeds), and research assistant Jason Roberts (Cardiff University), supported by the Digit Innovation Fund (funded by ESRC). The work was based on 30 interviews with workers in the creative and cultural industries. The research focused on how people address racism and pursue paid work in sectors that shape public culture. Findings feature in the article “Black, Brown and Asian cultural workers, creativity and activism: The ambivalence of digital self-branding practices” in The Sociological Review.
• Transdisciplinary Photovoice Project on Race and Markets: In collaboration with Dr Guillaume Johnson (Paris Dauphine University) and as part of her involvement in the Race in the Marketplace (RIM) Research Network, Francesca was co-principal investigator on an Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) funded project. It was based on a two-day "photovoice workshop" prior to the RIM Forum (2019), which focused on photographic and creative documentation of racism and the racial history of Paris. Outputs include the ISRF Bulletin Issue XXIII: Race and Markets and the article “Enacting anti-racist visualities through photo-dialogues on race in Paris”.
• The Digital and Media Experiences of Black Women in Britain: For over eight years Francesca has been researching the digital and media experiences of Black women in Britain, continuing from her PhD thesis Digital Diaspora and (Re)mediating Black Women in Britain (2018), and culminating in her book – The Digital Lives of Black Women in Britain (2020, Palgrave Macmillan), and several related journal articles. Chapter 2: Black Women and the Media in Britain is open access and was among the Springer Nature 2020 Highlights as it was one of the most popular book chapters published by them that year.

Teaching

Francesca is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).

She leads the following modules (2024/25):

• Undergraduate - (Me)me, Myself, and I: The Power and Politics of Digital Remix Culture and Online Inequalities
• Undergraduate - Representations

Previously led (2019/20):

• Postgraduate - Critical Issues in Creative Labour

Previously co-led with Dr Arne Hintz (2019/20):

• Postgraduate - Understanding Digital Media

Contributes to a range of other modules as a guest lecturer, including the following in 2020/21:

• Undergraduate - Branding and Identity
• Undergraduate - Employability: Knowledge, Skills & Experience
• Undergraduate - Media and Gender
• Postgraduate - Datafied Society
• Postgraduate - Putting Research into Practice 2

Biography

Prior to joining Cardiff University in 2019, Francesca taught critical marketing and advertising modules such as Marketing: A Critical Introduction (MA), E-Commerce and M-Commerce (UG), and Global Marketing Management (UG) at Edge Hill University. While completing her PhD at the University of Dundee (2015-2018), Francesca was a tutor on modules such as Management Concepts in Context (UG), International Business Environments (UG), and The Business of Human Rights (UG).

During her doctoral research on "Digital Diaspora and (Re)mediating Black Women in Britain", Francesca received two conference paper awards and a scholarship to participate in the inaugural Race in the Marketplace Forum (American University). As a Foundation Scotland Fran Trust grant recipient in 2017, Francesca presented international research on “Black Diasporic Identity (Re)Mediation”. 

Before working as a university lecturer Francesca worked in a range of communications roles in higher education, the arts, and non-profit sector. Francesca's experience of digital pedagogy includes co-leading a course with Daniel Lynds (Davidson College) on "Critical Visual Dialogues" at the Digital Pedagogy Lab in 2020, learning about different digital pedagogical approaches when attending the Digital Pedagogy Lab as a Fellow in 2019, and developing the Cardiff University undergraduate module "(Me)me, Myself, and I: The Power and Politics of Digital Remix Culture and Online Inequalities".

News articles:

Supervisions

Francesca Sobande co-supervised Emma-Lee Amponsah's (Ghent University) doctoral project, "BLACK CONNECTIVITY: A
Qualitative Exploration of Black Cultural Media Practices and Collective Identities in Belgium". She has been involved in the supervision team for a range of past doctoral projects, including the work of Ina Sander (Cardiff University) on "Critical Big Data Literacy".

Previously, Francesca was co-supervisor of Khensani de Klerk's (University of Cambridge) Mphil in Architecture and Urban Design project, "public aGender: Investigating the relationship between public infrastructure and urban violence experienced by women of colour in Cape Town, South Africa". 

Currently, Francesca is co-supervisor of Folashadé Ajayi's (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) doctoral project on Black activism in Europe. 

Current supervision

Sandra Eyakware

Research student

Clara Souza

Research Student/Graduate Tutor

Olivia Thorne

Graduate Tutor

Engagement

Francesca is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and is involved in the Advisory Board of the international Race in the Marketplace Research Network. Her research contributes to scholarly, sector, industry, and public discussions about media, markets, work/labour conditions, digital culture, and structural inequalities. Francesca’s work particularly focuses on the digital experiences of Black women in Britain, dynamics between brands and social justice, and Black life and recent history in Scotland. 

Below are examples of the ways that Francesca’s work engages with and supports a range of different spaces and sectors. 

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Black Life, History, and Dreams in Scotland

To develop freely available, multilingual (e.g., Scots, English, Scottish Gaelic), and multi-media materials on Black life/history in Scotland, Francesca Sobande and layla-roxanne hill co-authored the graphic novel Black Oot Here: Dreams O Us (illustrated by Chris Manson, translated in Scots by Lesley Benzie, and translated in Scottish Gaelic by Naomi Gessesse).

An accompanying animation was created by Leeds Animation Workshop and was soundtracked by Nathan Somevi. 300+ print copies of the free graphic novel have been shared (e.g., through schools, community spaces, youth clubs, libraries, bookshops). This project involved co-creating work that is intended to support children and young people. An ESRC/AHRC IAA “initiator” award (2022–2023) aided this work, and it is being built on with the support of an IAA “accelerator” award (2023–2024). Such projects are part of the ongoing collaborative work of Francesca Sobande and layla-roxanne hill, who received a Society of Authors grant (2019) in support of their book Black Oot Here: Black Lives in Scotland (Bloomsbury, 2023). More information about the broader Black Oot Here project is available here: www.blackinscotland.com

Digital Experiences of Work and Inequalities 

Francesca shared work on “digital/remote working” to support NHS workers during the COVID-19 crisis (2022) as part of a research session for agiLab / NHS on “Feeling At Home at Work? Inequalities and ‘Inclusiveness’ in Changing Work Environments”. This research was cited in a paper on “Remote and Hybrid Working”, written by the Smith Institute for UNISON – the public service union. Building on such work, in 2024 Francesca delivered an online session on "(In)visible experiences and places of work" for agiLab / NHS. Her research, writing, and broader work has been drawn on by a wide range of organisations, including but not limited to, the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT), Flicker Productions, the International Labour Organization, and Moving Body Arts: Fights, Intimacy and Movement for TV/Film.

Evidence Submitted to Public Inquiries

• Written evidence for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee and Joint Committee which was cited in the UK’s Online Safety Bill draft. (2021)

• Oral evidence for the DCMS Select Committee's influencer culture inquiry. (2021)