REGGAEDREAD

Jamaican roots. Global reasoning.

Reggae Dread
Academy.

Explore the music. Study the history. Follow the evidence.

Guided learning in roots reggae, Rastafari and Africa–Caribbean history. Choose a course and make room to listen, read and reason.

Explore the courses
Self-paced studyGuided listening & readingInstructor: Reggae Dread

The course collection

Find your next
way into the roots.

Open a course through its image, title or study link. Each page brings its own sources, activities and teaching guidance.

Winston Rodney, Burning Spear, on stage at Reggae Geel in Belgium in 2023.

Roots reggae / Artist study

Burning Spear:
The Voice, the History,
the Message

Study Winston Rodney’s connection to Marcus Garvey through music, memory and historical evidence. Begin with “Garvey in the Groove,” a source-comparison lesson.

8 modules75-minute signature lesson
Explore Burning Spear

Includes guided listening, a comparison worksheet and instructor notes. External music access may require an account or subscription.

Cover of Enter the Lion, a book about Haile Selassie’s 1966 state visit to the Caribbean.

Rastafari / History & reasoning

One Visit.
Different Meanings.

Explore Haile Selassie’s Caribbean visit through a guided study of Enter the Lion. Examine how official records, testimony and published accounts answer different historical questions.

60-minute starting routeExtended book study
Explore the history lesson

Start with the free publisher introduction. The extended activities require access to the book; review and access limits are explained on the course page.

David Hinds of Steel Pulse playing guitar in Antwerp in 2022

British roots reggae / Music & resistance

Steel Pulse:
Handsworth, Resistance
& the World

Explore British roots reggae, Rastafari and Garveyism. Compare music, a 1978 campaign poster and the band’s own account in the signature lesson, From Handsworth to Rock Against Racism.

8 modules75-minute signature lesson
Explore Steel Pulse

Includes guided listening, three printable worksheets and instructor guidance. External audio access may require an account or subscription.

Peter Tosh performing in 1978Toots Hibbert performing in 2010

The Wailers / Toots and the Maytals

Peter Tosh & Toots Hibbert:
Voices with Roots

Explore Tosh’s founding role in the Wailers and Hibbert’s work with the Maytals. Compare musical address, justice and historical evidence in Equal Rights, Everyday Pressure.

8 modules75-minute signature lesson
Explore Tosh & Toots

Ten listening searches, four printable worksheets and instructor guidance. External audio access may require an account or subscription.

Related Presto 8N disc-cutting machine, not the 6N

Sound-system history / Jamaican makers

Dubplates & the Presto 6N
in Jamaica

Study Angus Tarnawsky’s Sonic Street Technologies essay through original Reggae Dread activities. Trace the relationship between recording equipment, sound and community knowledge.

8 modules80-minute signature lesson
Explore Dubplates & the Presto

Six listening searches, four printable worksheets and instructor guidance. Photograph shows a related Presto 8N, not the 6N.

RASTAFARI’S
TRANSNATIONAL
ARCHIVERecord → Report → InterpretationTrace every claim to its source.

Rastafari / Sovereignty & archival research

Locating Black Nationalist Sovereignty in Rastafari’s Transnational Archive

Study Peyton White’s University of Texas at Austin research report through original Reggae Dread activities. Ask who gets to define freedom and how evidence shapes historical interpretation.

8 modules80-minute signature lesson
Explore Rastafari’s Archive ↗

Six listening searches, four printable worksheets and instructor guidance. Independent course; no university endorsement implied.

Jamaican Riddim Economics: Coolie Dance, Bam Bam and Music Rights, with a Jamaican producer and woman engineer reviewing a vinyl record.

Rastafari / Livity / Source comparison

A Day of Livity—
Whose Account?

Explore Rastafari livity through published accounts featuring Jah9 and Sister Carol. Compare practitioner testimony with media framing, distinguish personal commitments from reported practices, and learn how to describe everyday life without generalizing about an entire community.

60-minute lesson 3 linked readings 2 printable worksheets
Explore the Livity Lesson

Includes a source-comparison matrix, guided writing activity, instructor notes, model response and assessment rubric. Separate printing options for students and instructors.

REGGAE DREAD / ACADEMYJackieJackson.The basslines.The band. The memory.LISTEN · CREDIT · PRESERVE

Reggae bass / Credits & preservation

Jackie Jackson:
The Basslines, the Band
& the Memory

Follow six listening selections, investigate recording credits and connect Jackson’s musicianship to the Toots Academy. Build an oral-history and preservation plan of your own.

8 modules 60-minute signature lesson
Explore Jackie Jackson

Includes six listening entries, four printable worksheets, two research templates and instructor guidance. External audio access may require an account or subscription.

Symbolic illustration of two records, headphones, a microphone and a notebook; not archival evidence

Guided Listening / Music History & Credits

Who Made This Record?
Marcia Griffiths, Sonia Pottinger
& the Evidence Behind the Sound

Listen to two recordings, compare credits with an artist’s account, and create a guide that recognizes documented contributors.

8 modules75-minute signature lesson
Explore Who Made This Record?

Includes four printable worksheets, a six-page packet, a listening-card builder and instructor guidance. External audio may require an account or subscription. Cover: symbolic AI-generated illustration.

Images: Burning Spear photograph by Peter Verwimp, CC0 / Wikimedia Commons. Enter the Lion cover: Duke University Press publicity image. Steel Pulse photograph: Peter Verwimp, Antwerp, 6 May 2022, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0; resized and cropped for display under the same license. Peter Tosh photograph: TimDuncan, 1978, Commons, CC BY 3.0. Toots Hibbert photograph: Karl Simpson, 2010, Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0; watermark removed by R8cocin8. Both cropped for display; the Toots adaptation retains CC BY-SA 2.0. These photos show separate performances. Presto 8N photograph: oaktree_brian_1976, CBC Broadcast Centre, Toronto, 2017, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0; resized for display under the same license. Course guides are independent educational materials.

The Academy approach

Listen closely.
Reason carefully.

01 / LISTEN & READ

Start with the source.

Spend time with the music, the testimony or the document. Notice what it actually says before deciding what it means.

02 / COMPARE & QUESTION

Make room for context.

Ask who created the source, when and for whom. Different perspectives can deepen understanding without settling every question.

03 / REFLECT & SHARE

Carry the learning forward.

Use the course exercises to build a careful explanation. Credit the people and sources that helped you reach it.

Beyond the classroom

Keep the
reasoning going.

Follow the stories, sounds and lived traditions that connect Academy learning to the wider Reggae Dread community.