Sonjah Stanley Niaah

{{short description|Jamaican scholar}}

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| alma_mater = University of the West Indies

| thesis_title = Kingston's dancehall : a story of space and celebration

| thesis_url = https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/{{{64122588}}}

| thesis_year = 2004

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Sonjah Stanley Niaah is a Jamaican scholar, cultural activist, and writer. She is known for her work on dancehall, old and new Black Atlantic performance geographies, ritual, dance, festivals, cultural and creative industries, as well as popular culture and the sacred.

Education and career

Stanley Niaah has a B.S. from the University of the West Indies (1991) and received her diploma in sociology in 1997 from the University of the West Indies. In 2004, she earned a Ph.D. in cultural studies from the University of the West Indies,{{Cite thesis |title=Kingston's dancehall: a story of space and celebration |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/64122588 |date=2004 |language=English |first=Sonjah |last=Stanley Niaah|oclc = 64122588}} which made her the first Ph.D. cultural studies graduate from the University of the West Indies.{{Cite web |last=Knight |first=Candiece |date=March 22, 2021 |title=Jamaica Observer Limited |url=https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/all-woman/sonjah-stanley-niaah_217457 |access-date=2022-03-19 |website=Jamaica Observer}} She was also the first to be appointed lecturer, and senior lecturer in Cultural Studies, and in 2015, Stanley Niaah was named director of the Institute of Caribbean Studies and the Reggae Studies Unit.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}} She is also the inaugural Rhodes Trust Rex Nettleford Fellow in Cultural Studies.{{Cite web|title=Inaugural Rex Nettleford Prize in Cultural Studies {{!}} Marketing and Communications Office, The University of West Indies at Mona|url=https://www.mona.uwi.edu/marcom/uwinotebook/entry/1331|access-date=2020-11-24|website=www.mona.uwi.edu}}

Work

Stanley Niaah is a Jamaican nationalist and Caribbean regionalist at heart, she is involved in efforts to promote cultural and creative industries,{{Cite web |last=Gardner |first=Claudia |date=2022-02-19 |title=Jamaican Youth Give Peter Tosh No Justice After Viral 'Equal Rights' Quiz Video |url=https://www.dancehallmag.com/2022/02/19/features/jamaican-youth-give-peter-tosh-no-justice-after-viral-equal-rights-quiz-video.html |access-date=2022-03-19 |website=DancehallMag |language=en-US}} and speaks up for respect for all cultures.{{Cite news |last=Chappell |first=Kate |date=October 31, 2018 |title=Many Jamaicans bleach their skin, but few people talk about it. A dancehall star wants to change that. |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/10/31/jamaican-dancehall-star-takes-her-countrys-discrimination-against-dark-skin/ |access-date=2022-03-19 |issn=0190-8286}}{{Cite web |last=JOHNSON |first=RICHARD |date=October 12, 2021 |title=Jamaica Observer Limited |url=https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/she-s-royal-dr-stanley-niaah-calls-on_233468 |access-date=2022-03-19 |website=Jamaica Observer}} She is an advocate for connecting education and music in Jamaica.{{Cite web |last=Chappell |first=Kate |date=June 18, 2019 |title=Economic reggae: Jamaican bank sells recovery with songs |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/economic-reggae-jamaican-bank-sells-recovery-songs-63784129 |access-date=2022-03-19 |website=ABC News |language=en}} and has spoken on the actions taken by women to improve their presentation to the public.{{Cite web |title=Taking Surprising Risks For The Ideal Body |url=https://www.wbur.org/npr/124700865/story.php |access-date=2022-03-19 |website=www.wbur.org |language=en}} Her 2010 book on Dancehall was reviewed by multiple venues,{{Cite journal |last=Hope |first=Donna P. |date=2013 |title=Review of Dancehall: From Slave Ship to Ghetto |journal=NWIG: New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids |volume=87 |issue=1/2 |pages=195–197 |doi=10.1163/22134360-12340031 |jstor=24713466 |s2cid=162235239 |issn=1382-2373|doi-access=free }}{{Cite web |title=Beyond Boundaries: Sonjah Stanley Niaah's DanceHall {{!}} Small Axe Project |url=http://smallaxe.net/sxsalon/reviews/beyond-boundaries-sonjah-stanley-niaahs-dancehall |access-date=2020-11-24 |website=smallaxe.net}} including Caribbean Quarterly{{Cite journal |last=THOMAS |first=DEBORAH A. |date=2011 |title=Review of Dancehall: From Slave Ship to Ghetto |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41708490 |journal=Caribbean Quarterly |volume=57 |issue=3/4 |pages=123–124 |jstor=41708490 |issn=0008-6495}} and Caribbean Studies.{{Cite journal |last=Miranda |first=Katherine |date=2011 |title=Review of DanceHall: From Slaveship to Ghetto |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41495106 |journal=Caribbean Studies |volume=39 |issue=1/2 |pages=276–278 |jstor=41495106 |issn=0008-6533}} More recently, her commentary can be viewed in documentary films or film series such as Samuel L. Jackson's Enslaved and Move (Netflix).

Selected publications

  • {{Cite book |last=Stanley Niaah |first=Sonjah |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/759157157 |title=Dancehall : from slave ship to ghetto |date=2010 |publisher=University of Ottawa Press |others=Canadian Electronic Library |isbn=978-0-7766-1905-7 |location=Ottawa [Ont.] |oclc=759157157}}
  • {{Cite journal |last=Stanley Niaah |first=Sonjah |date=2008-05-08 |title=Performance Geographies from Slave Ship to Ghetto |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/1206331207308334 |journal=Space and Culture |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=343–360 |doi=10.1177/1206331207308334 |bibcode=2008SpCul..11..343S |s2cid=220749640 |issn=1206-3312}}
  • {{Cite journal |last=Stanley-Niaah |first=Sonjah |date=2004 |title=Kingstons's Dancehall |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/1206331203257100 |journal=Space and Culture |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=102–118 |doi=10.1177/1206331203257100 |bibcode=2004SpCul...7..102S |s2cid=145093911 |issn=1206-3312}}
  • {{Cite journal |last1=Hendrickson |first1=Michael |last2=Stanley Niaah |first2=Sonjah |date=2018-03-26 |title=A study on the creative industry as a pillar of sustained growth and diversification : the film and music sectors in Jamaica : lessons from case studies of successful firms and ventures |url=https://repositorio.cepal.org/handle/11362/43410 |language=en}}

References

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