University News Last updated 16 April
Trailblazing DJ Trevor Nelson charts his journey from a shy record collector to one of the UK’s most influential champions of Black music in the latest edition of Representology: The Journal of Media and Diversity.
In a powerful interview with Sir Lenny Henry, Nelson recalls his childhood in Hackney as the son of St Lucian parents and the “beautiful multicultural” community that shaped his worldview and creative identity.
He reflects on how an upbringing rooted in hard work, discipline and cultural pride laid the foundations for a pioneering broadcasting career - one that would help redefine the sound of British radio and bring Black music to wider audiences.
Henry and Nelson also reflect on the systemic barriers faced by earlier generations of Caribbean migrants - from underemployment to entrenched inequality - and the resilience required to overcome them.
Elsewhere in the issue, Jaldeep Katwala, Incoming Director of the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity, delivers a powerful personal essay exploring mental health, institutional bias and lived experience within the UK’s mental health system.
The edition also features contributions tackling some of today’s most urgent media and cultural debates - from BBC Charter reform and representation in UK newsrooms to disability in reality television, and class in the hospitality industry.
Click here for the new issue of Representology.