10

‪This paper explores an innovative practice-as-research methodology that brings popular culture practitioners and aficionados together with academic researchers in the shared space of symposia on reggae sound system culture. As organizers, we describe what made the symposia different from the normal academic conference in terms of the range of participants, discussion topics, workshops, demonstrations, exhibitions, film showings and the sound system sessions from Roots Injection and Young Warrior. In a self-reflexive fashion some of the outcomes of the events were considered to be the intergenerational conversations, the support for women-led sound systems and the recognition and encouragement that the practitioners of the popular culture said they felt they were receiving from the academic institution of the university. This can be identified via voice recordings and social media comments as a mutual strengthening of the research culture and the sound system popular culture itself.‪