Jamaican Sound Systems and Knowledge Systems: Practice-Based Research (PBR) in Popular Culture

Working with popular street cultures in the Global South offers scope for practice-based research (PBR) to go beyond its application creative practitioners galleries and theatres of North. We start from an account a “reasoning session” reggae sound system owners, selectors, engineers staged as PBR event Kingston, Jamaica. Such music across have their own specialist apparatus playing recorded and—most important investigation—their embodied, situated, tacit knowledge systems. These include sophisticated arts selecting music, tuning up system, value culture communities which they originate, well strategies current challenges, such police harassment lack government recognition or support. Accessing grassroots systems requires not only good rapport local but also close cooperation organizations university researchers. demands sharing findings—for example, by screening documentary film we made reasoning session participant. It is concluded that practitioners’ ways knowing revealed can help challenge conventional ideas about nature itself.