- Schwarze, T. and Fatsis, L. (2022). Copping the blame: the role of YouTube videos in the criminalisation of UK drill music. Popular Music, 41(4), pp. 463–480. doi:10.1017/s0261143022000563.
- Fatsis, L. (2021). Book review: Ballad of the Bullet: Gangs, Drill Music, and the Power of Online Infamy. Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal, 17(3), pp. 439–441. doi:10.1177/1741659020951654.
- Fatsis, L. (2019). Grime: Criminal subculture or public counterculture? A critical investigation into the criminalization of Black musical subcultures in the UK. Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal, 15(3), pp. 447–461. doi:10.1177/1741659018784111.
- Fatsis, L. (2019). Policing the beats: The criminalisation of UK drill and grime music by the London Metropolitan Police. The Sociological Review, 67(6), pp. 1300–1316. doi:10.1177/0038026119842480.
- Fatsis, L. (2018). Becoming public characters, not public intellectuals. European Journal of Social Theory, 21(3), pp. 267–287. doi:10.1177/1368431016677977.
Contact details
Address
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom
About
Overview
(Dr.) Lambros Fatsis | FHEA (he/him) joined the Department as a Senior Lecturer in Criminology in September 2023. He previously taught at the University of Brighton, the University of Southampton and the University of Sussex.
At Southampton, he won a Faculty Teaching Award, a ‘Most Engaging Lecturer’ award and was nominated twice for the Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Award and the Students’ Union ‘Best Academic Support’ award. At Sussex, he won an Excellence in Teaching Award and was nominated for a Student Led Teaching Award. At Brighton, Lambros won an Outstanding Research & Enterprise Impact Award.
Fusing Cultural Criminology with Black radical thought, his scholarly interests and expertise revolve around police racism and the criminalisation of Black/Afro-diasporic music culture(s) from the era of colonial slavery to the present day.
When he doesn’t teach or write, Lambros continues to exist as a never-recovering vinyl-head and lover of Afro-Caribbean music — playing all-vinyl DJ sets as Boulevard Soundsystem and boasting collaborations with household names of the UK and European soundsystem reggae scene that include: Roots Garden Records, MC Brother Culture, MC Ishu, Ras Styler (House of Roots) MC Champian (Jamdown Rockers, Tighten Up), Serocee (Jambrum), MC Trooper, DJ Cut La Vis, Anna Mystic and Blend Mishkin.
PHD SUPERVISION
I would be delighted to receive proposals for doctoral studies in my areas of expertise as listed below:
• Cultural and Critical Criminology
• Criminalisation of Black/Afro-diasporic music(s)
• Police racism
• Black British history and subcultures (especially soundsystem culture)
• Sociology of public and intellectual life
Qualifications
- PhD in Sociology, University of Sussex, United Kingdom
- MSc in Sociology, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom
- BA Hons in Sociology, Bangor University, United Kingdom
- Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCertHE), University of Southampton, United Kingdom
- Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, Higher Education Academy, United Kingdom
- Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, Higher Education Academy, United Kingdom
Awards
- University of Brighton (2021) Outstanding Research & Enterprise Award
- University of Southampton (2019) Most Engaging Lecturer Students’ Union Academic Award
- University of Southampton (2018) Best Academic Support Students’ Union Academic Award
- University of Southampton (2018) Vice Chancellor’s Teaching Award
- British Society of Criminology (2018) Blogger of the Year Award
- University of Southampton (2017) Faculty Teaching Award
- University of Sussex (2016) Excellence in Teaching Award: Outstanding or Innovative Undergraduate Teaching
- University of Sussex (2015) Student-Led Teaching Award on Assessment and Feedback, and Support for the Learning Experience of Students
Languages
French (can read and understand spoken) and Greek, Modern (1453-) (can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review).
Research
Research Focus/Expertise
My research focuses on police racism and the criminalisation of Black/Afro-diasporic music(s), drawing primarily on Cultural Criminology and Black radical thought. I am particularly interested in how certain forms of public expression and creativity are not only marginalised in the relevant academic literature, but also criminalised by law enforcement agencies and the legal penal system more broadly. As such, my work addresses ‘deviance’ as a racialised political category in the context of Britain's colonial past and institutionally racist present, with a particular emphasis on policing.
Overview of Published Research
Parts of my research on the policing of UK grime and drill music have been published in highly-ranked journals like The Sociological Review and Crime, Media, Culture , alongside multiple contributions to edited volumes for prestigious academic publishers and university presses. I am also the co-author of Policing the Pandemic: How Public Health Becomes Public Order (with Melayna Lamb) and The Public and Their Platforms: Public Sociology in an Era of Social Media (with Mark Carrigan). I am currently working on a monograph–provisionally entitled: Beats behind bars: Black music, racism and criminal injustice – for Manchester University Press (expected publication date: January 2025)
Research Impact/Knowledge Exchange
I regularly provide expertise on debates around policing and the criminalisation of Black music subcultures to a variety of print, broadcast and online media and international policy-making organisations that include: the British Society of Criminology blog, StopWatch, Discover Society, The Conversation, The Sociological Review blog, Identities, The Guardian, The Independent, Huffington Post, BBC Radio Sussex, the prominent Brazilian newspaper O Globo and the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In January 2019, I was announced as the winner of the first-ever ‘British Society of Criminology Blogger of the Year Award’ in recognition of my article ‘Policing Black Culture One Beat at a Time’. As an expert in the policing of Black music genres, my work has also been featured in the British Society of Criminology Podcast, the Oxford Centre for Criminology podcast, the Media Law Podcast, the Transforming Society podcast, the Mixed in Key Podcast, a short documentary on UK drill music: ‘TRUE 808 | UK Drill’ and a longer feature on Italian and UK drill music for the national Italian television network RAI3.
Since 2020, I have been regularly called upon to act as an expert witness (for the defence) in criminal trials, where rap and drill music is being used as evidence against the defendant. I am also a member of the Prosecuting Rap Expert Network, made up of scholars and experts in rap and Black youth culture. In May 2022, I was appointed as an Advisor to the Brighton-based youth music charity, AudioActive and a member of the Art, Not Evidence campaign against the criminalisation of drill.
Publications
Publications by category
Books (2)
- Fatsis, L. and Lamb, M. (2021). Policing the Pandemic How Public Health Becomes Public Order. Policy Press. ISBN 978-1-4473-6107-7.
- Carrigan, M. and Fatsis, L. (2021). The Public and Their Platforms Public Sociology in an Era of Social Media. Policy Press. ISBN 978-1-5292-0107-9.
Chapters (8)
- Fatsis, L. (2024). Beat(s) for Blame: UK Drill Music, ‘Race’, and Criminal Justice. In Dale, P., Burnard, P. and Travis, R. (Eds.), Music for Inclusion and Healing in Schools and Beyond Hip Hop, Techno, Grime, and More Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-769267-7.
- Fatsis, L. (2023). The Road, in Court: How UK Drill Music Became a Criminal Offence. In Levell, J., Young, T. and Earle, R. (Eds.), Exploring Urban Youth Culture Outside of the Gang Paradigm Critical Questions of Youth, Gender and Race On-Road (pp. 100–114). Bristol, UK: Policy Press. ISBN 978-1-5292-2557-0.
- Fatsis, L. (2023). From Overseer to Officer: A Brief History of British Policing Through Afro-Diasporic Music Culture. In Cavalcanti, R.P., Squires, P. and Waseem, Z. (Eds.), Southern and Postcolonial Perspectives on Policing, Security and Social Order (pp. 45–61). Bristol, UK: Policy Press. ISBN 978-1-5292-2366-8.
- Fatsis, L. (2023). Decriminalising Rap Beat by Beat. Music in Crime, Resistance, and Identity (pp. 63–77). Routledge.
- Fatsis, L. (2023). Arresting Sounds What UK Soundsystem Culture Teaches Us about Police Racism and Public Life. Black Music in Britain in the 21st Century Liverpool Studies in the Polit. ISBN 978-1-80207-840-4.
- Fatsis, L. (2021). Policing the Union’s Black: The Racial Politics of Law and Order in Contemporary Britain. In Gordon, F. and Newman, D. (Eds.), Leading Works in Law and Social Justice (pp. 137–150). Abingdon, UK: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-367-71455-0.
- Fatsis, L. (2021). Sounds Dangerous: Black Music Subcultures as Victims of State Regulation and Social Control. In Persak, N. and Di Ronco, A. (Eds.), Harm and Disorder in the Urban Space Social Control, Sense and Sensibility (pp. 30–51). Abingdon, UK: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-367-55265-7.
- Fatsis, L. (2019). Ensinando (com) imaginação sociológica – sugestões para acender uma esperança. In Ehlert Maia, J.M., Lopes Dos Santos, Y., Blank, T. and Fonseca, V. (Eds.), Como você ensina?: educação e inovação no ensino de história e de ciências sociais Editora FGV. ISBN 978-85-225-2156-2.
Internet publications (14)
- Fatsis, L. (2024). Racism Runs Riot. British Society of Criminology Blog.
- Fatsis, L. When cops analyse drill, but get it wrong still.
- Fatsis, L. Stop Blaming Drill for Making People Kill.
- Fatsis, L. Black Tools for White Schools.
- Fatsis, L. Who’s Afraid of Critical Race Theory Today.
- Fatsis, L. Does Drill Kill? Moral panics, Race and Music.
- Fatsis, L. News of Police Racism May Shock, But Should It Surprise.
- Fatsis, L. Black Radical Thought in Sound.
- Fatsis, L. Inside the COVID-19 State: Protecting Public Health Through Law Enforcement.
- Fatsis, L. Thinking about Knife Crime Beyond Dangerous Myths and Comfortable Untruths.
- Fatsis, L. When Police Racism is Denied, Does it Go Away.
- Fatsis, L. Why the UK needs its own Black Lives Matter moment to wake up to police racism.
- Fatsis, L. Policing Black Culture One Beat at a Time.
- Fatsis, L. Now that Grime is Pop, When Will the Panic about Drill Music Stop.
Journal articles (5)
Media (2)
- Fatsis, L. and Oliver, A. (2024). When Art Becomes Evidence.
- Gordon, M. and Fatsis, L. (2023). Chasing Black Folk Devils, One Beat at a Time: UK Drill Music, Police Racism and Street Knowledge.
Other (2)
- Fatsis, L. Book review: Ballad of the Bullet: Gangs, Drill Music, and the Power of Online Infamy.
- Fatsis, L. Book Review: Sensory Penalities: Exploring the Senses in Spaces of Punishment and Social Control.
Professional activities
Consultancy (12)
- AudioActive (Charity) (May 2022 – present)
Trustee (until August 2023) and Advisor (August, 2023-present) - Prosecuting Rap (Nov 2019 – present)
https://sites.manchester.ac.uk/prosecuting-rap/home/legal/ - ZMS Legal (Private Sector)
Independent Expert Witness for the Defence - MetroLaw Solicitors
Independent Expert Witness for the Defence - Tuckers Solicitors (Private Sector)
Independent Expert Witness for the Defence - Lawtons Solicitors
Independent Expert Witness for the Defence - Carson Kaye Solicitors
Independent Expert Witness for the Defence - Hine Solicitors
Independent Expert Witness for the Defence - 25 Bedford Row: Criminal Barristers
Independent Expert Witness for the Defence - Cambrose Solicitors
Independent Expert Witness for the Defence - RBB Law
Expert Witness Statement Report - SVS Solicitors
Expert Witness Statement/Report
Events/conferences (25)
- Rhyme and Reality: Youth work in the booth. Queen Mary University of London in collaboration with Spotlight Creative Youth Service (2024). Panel Member. Invited speaker.
Paper: "Crhyme": How rappers’ rhymes are turned into ‘crimes’, due to legal penal tactics that transform creative expression into a legally punishable offence
Author: Fatsis, L.
Description: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rhyme-and-reality-youth-work-in-the-booth-tickets-881316680917 - Regulating Music and Sound (Merton College, University of Oxford). (Workshop) (2024). Panel Member.
Author: Fatsis, L.
Description: https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/cc269368-d9e3-455f-83dc-e94b3d157bfe/ - Race and Justice Seminar Series (University of York, BSC Race Matters Network). (Seminar) (2024). Invited speaker.
Paper: Spitting Truth(s) to Power: Rap Music as Evidence of Racial Injustice
Author: Fatsis, L.
Description: https://www.york.ac.uk/sociology/about/department/race-and-justice-seminar-series/2024/spitting-truths/ - New Frontiers in Evidence. (2023). Invited speaker.
Paper: Rap Evidence in the Courts of England and Wales
Author: Lambros Fatsis
Description: https://www.innertemple.org.uk/events/?id=EVT01490 - Society of Labour Lawyers/Labour Conference. (Conference) (2023). Invited speaker.
Paper: Drill music and racial bias in criminal trials
Author: Fatsis, L. - The XXII European Society of Criminology Conference. (2023). Invited speaker.
Paper: When the Exception Makes the Rules
Author: Fatsis, L. - Policing and Public Health: Logics of Power and Resistance (University of Liverpool). (2023). Invited speaker.
Author: Fatsis, L.
Co-authors: Lamb, M. - North South Criminology Conference (Dublin City University). (Conference) (2023). Invited speaker.
Paper: Policing Black Music(s) Here, There and Now: A Brief History in Three Beats
Author: Lambros Fatsis
Description: Plenary Talk - Fight The Power Conference, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). (2023). Invited speaker.
Paper: Sounds Bad: Policing UK Drill Music One Beat at a time
Author: Lambros Fatsis - CRASSH University of Cambridge. (2022). Invited speaker.
Paper: Thinking Against Babylon, One Beat at a Time: Black Music as Radical, De-colonial Epistemology
Author: Fatsis, L. - Hodder Education Sociology Conference. (2022). Invited speaker.
Paper: Policing UK Drill Music: Institutional Racism Reloaded?
Author: Fatsis, L. - SOAS Graduate Summer Institute: Creative, Decolonised Research Methods and Impact. (2022). Invited speaker.
Paper: Black Music as Method: An Intellectual Provocation Beyond the white Mainsteam
Author: Fatsis, L. - Race and Resistance (TORCH Oxford). (2022).
Paper: A Conversation on Prisons, Policing, and Abolition
Author: Fatsis, L.
Co-authors: Lamble, S. - Sonic Rebellions (University of Brighton). (2022). Invited speaker.
Paper: Speakers’ Corner: Soundsystem Culture as Black Radical Epistemology
Author: Fatsis, L. - Reimagining the prison system (Bristol University Press Webinar). (Seminar) (2022). Invited speaker.
Author: Fatsis, L.
Description: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPqY7553yi4 - Contemporary Urban Music for Inclusion Network (University of Cambridge). (2022). Invited speaker.
Paper: Beat For Blame: UK Drill Music, “Race” and Criminal Injustice
Author: Fatsis, L. - The Sights of Criminal Justice (University of Sheffield). (2021).
Paper: Is It Even Art: Policing Against UK Drill Music
Author: Fatsis, L. - Prosecuting Rap Conference, University of Manchester. (2021). Invited speaker.
Paper: Beat Catchers: Policing “Race” Through Rap, One Rhyme at a Time
Author: Fatsis, L. - National Combatting Gangs, Violence and Weapon Crime’ Conference. (2021). Invited speaker.
Paper: Thinking About ‘Gangs’, Violence and ‘Crime’ Beyond Dangerous Myths and Comfortable Untruths
Author: Fatsis, L. - Policing Culture Conference (University of Sussex). (2020).
Paper: From Overseer to Officer: A Brief History of British Policing Through Hip-Hop Culture’
Author: Fatsis, L. - SCDTP research methods festival. (Conference) (2019). Invited speaker.
Paper: Doing research with Words, Sound & Power: A De-colonial Provocation
Author: Fatsis, L. - British Council and Newton Fund Researcher Links Workshop, University of Brasilia, Brasilia. (2019). Invited speaker.
Paper: Danger in Their Rhymes: Policing Black Music Subcultures Out of Intellectual and Public Life
Author: Fatsis, L. - Research for social impact: purpose, connections and tensions of engaged (University of Southampton). (2018). Invited speaker.
Paper: “What D’You Call ‘Em?” Re-thinking the role of intellectuals in public life with different protagonists in mind
Author: Fatsis, L. - Seminário ‘Como Você Ensina? Novos desafios e estratégias no ensino de Ciências Sociais e História, Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). (2017). Invited speaker.
Paper: Suspect Sounds: Policing Against Black Music in the UK and Brazil
Author: Fatsis, L. - American Society of Criminology (Annual Meeting 2016) Area IV, Sub area 16: Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality. (2016). Invited speaker.
Paper: Policing the beats: The criminalisation of Black musical subcultures by the London Metropolitan Police
Author: Fatsis, L.
Keynote lectures/speeches (7)
- Keynote Address for the ‘Working with Chaos: Exploring Lived Experience Conference, Sound Connections. London, UK (2023). https://www.sound-connections.org.uk/events/working-with-chaos-exploring-lived-experience/
- Policing Emergencies’, Edinburgh Radical Book Fair. Edinburgh (2022). https://lighthousebookshop.com/events/policing-emergencies
- What’s Culture Got Do With It? Reintroducing Policing as a Cultural Institution (CJC, University of Warwick Law School). University of Warwick (2022).
- Out of Tune, Out of Place and Out of Order: A Brief History of Policing Against Black Music(s), Centre for Applied Sociology seminar series, University of Greenwich. (2021). https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=sirZ4AUXaY8&pp=ygUTI2NocmlzdG9waGVybGFtYnJvcw%3D%3D
- Beat Cops: What the Policing of UK Grime & Drill Music Teaches us about Police Racism in the UK, Centre for Criminology, University of Essex. (2021).
- Thinking with Music about Police Racism, State Violence and Social Justice, AA School of Architecture Summer School. (2020). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFmwZaPX7m4
- Keynote Speech at the SCDTP End of Year Conference. University of Southampton (2018).
Media appearances (18)
- Glow with the Flow Podcast. (2024) Glow with the Flow Podcast (radio).
- The Criminalisation & Policing of Black Music in the UK. (2023) The Criminalisation & Policing of Black Music in the UK (unknown).
- Digga D: trial by fire. (2023) Dazed (magazine).
- Music Journalism Insider Lambros Fatsis Interview. (2023) Music Journalism Insider Lambros Fatsis Interview (website).
- People of colour more likely to be fined for lockdown raves, data shows. (2022) The Guardian (newspaper).
- What is Policing For? (2022) What is Policing For? (unknown).
- “Sound of Da Police” Exploring the Relationship between Black Creative Expression and Criminal Justice System. (2022) “Sound of Da Police” Exploring the Relationship between Black Creative Expression and Criminal Justice System.
- Spitting innocence: the use and abuse of drill lyrics in court. (2022) Rolling Stone (magazine).
- Policy Exchange report linking drill music to violence ‘inaccurate’ and ‘misleading’. (2021).
- Criminologists slam ‘misleading’ Policy Exchange report linking drill music to youth violence. (2021) The Independent (newspaper).
- The Criminalisation of Drill Music. (2021) The Criminalisation of Drill Music (unknown).
- The Police v Black Music: A Century of Censorship, State Violence and Resistance. (2020) Esquire (magazine).
- Vous avez le droit de garder le silence. (2020) L'Apostrophe (website).
- Interview with Lambros Fatsis (British Society of Criminology Podcast). (2020) Interview with Lambros Fatsis (British Society of Criminology Podcast) (unknown).
- Race and Music. (2020) Race and Music (unknown).
- True 808, UK Drill Music. (2020) True 808, UK Drill Music (unknown).
- How Grime’s Origins Show a Path to Cultural Resistance. (2020) Novara Media (website).
- Lambros Fatsis, Sociologo "Escrever Vai Muito Alem do Texto". (2017) O Globo (newspaper).
Media appearances (2)
- The Racial Problem with the UK's Rap Ambassador (the griot(s) podcast). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR4m8m8SSgs
- How Black British rappers are being censored by the police. https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/61547/1/how-black-british-rappers-are-being-censored-by-the-police-art-not-evidence?utm_term=how-black-british-rappers-are-being-censored-by-the-police&utm_content=buffer4b27a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=dazedtw
Online article
- Polarise, Divide and We're Done. (2015). I Kathimerini
Radio programme
- BBC Radio Sussex – Sussex Breakfast. BBC Radio Sussex
Television programme
- Sounds of Gangs. RAI3 https://www.rai.it/ufficiostampa/assets/template/us-articolo.html?ssiPath=/articoli/2021/07/Il-Fattore-Umano-presenta-Sounds-of-Gangs-f9d2faa1-8e5a-4ef0-8f62-6cb41dd88d43-ssi.html