Dr Robert Beckford supervises PhDs on African Diasporan Religions and Cultures.

Current PhD areas of research include:

• Neo Pentecostalism and Gang Culture
• African Caribbean sacred music
• Caribbean Diasporan Church in America
• Black Political Theology
• Sexuality in African Caribbean and African American Churches
• Representation of Black males in African American film
• Theology of homelessness
• Theological reflection on how to stay sane as a black person in Britain

Dr. Beckford's own current research centres around Filmmaking, Social change and Black urban life. Currently he is working on a theological exploration of documentary filmmaking. The research engages in a dialogue between the prophetic criticism model of Cornel West and post-structural theories of 'race' and 'identity' to produce an new analysis of documentary film production and the 'politics of representation.' To be published in 2007/8.