Working to Breaking Point: Una Marson’s Broadcasting Career at the BBC
Join us to trace the career and professional experiences of Una Marson, a Jamaican feminist and writer who was the first Black woman producer at the BBC. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power event held in collaboration with University of Glasgow Media, Culture & Society.
School of Social and Political Sciences; College of Social Sciences Hub
Date: Thursday 01 October 2026
Time: 15:00 - 16:30
Venue: Online
Category: Public lectures, Academic events, Student events, Staff workshops and seminars
Speaker: Dr Anthony Frampton and Yvette Rowe, University of the West Indies, Jamaica
Una Marson, the first Black woman who was a full-time producer at the BBC registered significant broadcasting accomplishments despite enduring unique challenges. She was a colonial subject and Pan-Africanist who pushed against entrenched cultural prejudices to develop a legendary broadcasting presence. Despite her remarkable accomplishments, her dismissal by the BBC left her sidelined and forgotten. This talk will use textual analysis with grounded theory to examine data that traced Marson’s professional experiences. Articles, books, audiovisual materials, and internal BBC memos are reviewed to establish a contextual narrative of Marson’s tenure at the BBC. The analysis suggests scholars pursuing a comprehensive understanding of the contributions of Black pioneers should interrogate the nuances of their private struggles and the implications of their personal losses. This approach is important because narratives of Black exceptionalism rooted in values that embrace colonialism, racism and imperialism have typically ignored or undervalued Black lives, and have missed critical insights.