Natalie Hyacinth is Researcher and Research Manager on the ERC funded Sonic Street Technologies project at Goldsmiths, University of London. Natalie’s research is intersectional and interdisciplinary, incorporating themes from Cultural Geography, Black Studies, Philosophy and Afrofuturism. Natalie has worked on a number of academic projects including as a Senior Research Associate on the Bristol based ESRC project Everyday Integration, as a Doctoral Researcher on the AHRC Making Suburban Faith research project, as well as publishing a report on Black Archives in the UK for the Race in the Geography group for the Royal Geographical Society. Natalie is a founding member of the Black Music and Cultures Research Group London that seeks to centre Black female writings and thought on diaspora Black music and culture and makes and thinks about sonic worlds as part of the Sonic CyberFeminisms Collective. Natalie inherited a large collection of vinyl records from her father including many Dub and roots reggae records. As part of her heritage and cultural and spiritual lineage she believes it is important to share this music and message of love and unity through the music through DJing and radio shows, as well as continuing the sonic explorations of her Caribbean forebearers by experimenting with new sounds and sonic technologies, a creative practice she explores under the name The Black Astral.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Anderson, B, Hyacinth, N. & Jepson, D. (2021) Precarity and Everyday Integration in Bristol Report, University of Bristol, UK, available at https://ach.org.uk/news-and-features/precarity-and-everyday-integration-bristol

Hyacinth, N. (2019) Black Archives in the UK Report: Opportunities, Challenges and Moving Forward, Royal Geographical Society, UK, available at https://raceingeography.org/2019/08/01/race-black-archives-in-the-uk-report-2019/

Gilbert, D., Dwyer, C., Ahmed, N., Cuch, L. & Hyacinth, N. (2018) The hidden geographies of religious creativity: Place-making and material culture in West London faith communities. Cultural Geographies, (18) 07, pp.1-19

Hyacinth, N. (2021) SonicCyber Feminisms Special Issue, Feminist Review, April 2020

Themed book review of The Race of Sound: Listening, Timbre and Vocality in African American Music by Nina Sun Eidsheim, SonicCyber Feminisms Zine, 2019, available at https://cargocollective.com/soniccyberfeminisms/zine

FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS

Black British Music in the 20th Century Edited Collection, 2022
Paper: Dub Come Save Me: The Diasporic Roots of UK Dub

Black British Gospel Music: Navigating Race and Faith After Empire Book, 2023
Paper: Gifts and Talents: Sacred and Secular Musical Performance at a suburban Pentecostal church

Area Journal Special Issue on Digital Humanities and Archives, 2022
Paper: Roots and Routes: Black Digital Life and the Archive