Dr Joseph Powell

Profile

My research focuses on Rastafari spirituality and the lived experiences of Rastafari communities in Caribbean and in the UK.

Prior to joining Leeds I spent three years on a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Cambridge where I also completed my PhD and MPhil in Theology and Religious Studies. I taught at Cambridge and on undergraduate and postgraduate papers across the anthropology of religion, religion and conflict and faith and ecology. I also previously served as a Lecturer at Brimingham Newman University.

Alongside my research I am Editor of the Biblical Studies journal The Expository Times, have worked as a script consultant for a BBC Bitesize production on Rastafari belief and have also served as an expert witness in criminal judicial proceedings.

I have written for the Conversation and the Jamaica Gleaner. I was appointed Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2023, and was awarded Teaching and Learning Fellow for 2024 by the British Association for the Study of Religion.

Responsibilities

• Programme Lead, Liberal Arts

Research interests

I am a religious studies scholar and ethnographer of Rastafari spirituality. My British Academy funded research constituted a three year ethnographic project examining the experiences of Rastafari serving in the UK Armed Forces. Utilising unprecedented fieldwork access I sought to examine Rastafari encounters with violence, both physical and cosmological, whilst also exploring how Rastafari military personnel navigate discrimination, gendered norms and the environmentally destructive nature of war.

My PhD research explored Rastafari ecologies and environmental ethics through ethnographic fieldwork in St Lucia/Iyanola. This built on my MPhil research which explored contemporary dietary practice amongst Rastafari communities in Jamaica and the UK.

I have has produced numerous journal articles, conference papers and encyclopaedia entries on Rastafari, from the elemental language of Rastafari influenced music to Rastafari encounters with Covid-19.

I also maintain an active interest in the interaction between faith and football, and am just completing a three year research project which explored the hermeneutical strategies of elite level football coaches in the UK.

Qualifications

• PhD in Theology and Religious Studies, University of Cambridge (2022)
• MPhil in Theology and Religious Studies (World Christianities), University of Cambridge (2017)
• BA in Theology, University of Exeter (2016)

Professional memberships

• Caribbean Studies Association
• British Association for the Study of Religions

Student education

In the School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science I am a Lecturer in Liberal Arts and Religion. I also served as Programme Leader for Liberal Arts and am responsible for all academic aspects of the BA in Liberal Arts. I teach on modules across all levels of Liberal Arts study.

Research groups and institutes

• Centre for Religion and Public Life