Rachel Bolle-Debessay

Rachel
Bolle-Debessay ︙


I am an early-career researcher in Anglophone literary and cultural studies, specialising in Afro-diasporic literary practices. My research investigates how these traditions use sound, voice, and performance as forms of knowledge-making that contest literary canons. I focus on practices that survived racial exclusion not only through writing but also through oral transmission, the body, and rhythm, making visible the aesthetic and epistemological modes that Eurocentric thought has long suppressed.

By treating sound as a form of knowledge, I trace the politics of representation and the decolonial aesthetics of diasporic expression, and ask how these practices let us experience culture, history, and identity differently.

I hold a PhD in English Literature and Performance Studies from King's College London, where I worked on dub poetry, under the supervision of Professor Paul Gilroy. My thesis is now a monograph on the early dub poetry of Linton Kwesi Johnson and Michael Smith, under contract with Brill (forthcoming 2026).

Alongside my university research, I develop projects that create conditions for different voices to be heard. These projects challenge dominant ways of knowing and being. They de-centre the forms of knowledge and authority that have historically determined who gets to speak, and who does not. The aim is straightforward: more equality in who has agency over ways of living. This means making space for voices that exist at the margins of normative thinking, and working toward social cohesion, justice, and a more equitable life in common.
 Research interests
Epistemology & knowledge production
Canon formation & literary value
Decolonial aesthetics
Gender, race & sonic culture
Archives, memory & transmission
The politics of form  

Education

PhD
English Literature & Performance Studies | King’s College London, 2020
Thesis: “Dub Poetry: A Study Beyond Predefined Interpretations”, under the supervision of Prof. Paul Gilroy
Master
Subject-Matter Didactics & Educational Sciences (English and Music) | University Institute of Teacher Education, Geneva, 2014
Master
Music Pedagogy | Haute École de Musique (HEM), Geneva, 2013
Master
English Language & Literature | University of Geneva & University of Sydney (exchange), 2011
Bachelor
English Language & Literature; Musicology | University of Geneva, 2009


Current academic position

2024 - 2026
Invited Researcher | ECAL (École Cantonale d'Art de Lausanne)
Project: Parasonic

Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of English and American Studies | University of Vienna
Project: Poetry Off the Page (ERC/FWF PI: Assoc. Prof. Julia Lajta-Novak)
2025 - 2026
External lecturer | University of Vienna
2021, 2024
Parental Leave


Awards & Distinctions

2026
International teaching collaboration “DIY: Alternative Modes of Cultural Production in Modern and Contemporary Anglophone Literatures” (co-initiator), supported by Circle U

Circle U. Postdoctoral Mobility Fellowship research stay | Université Paris Cité

FWF funding for an open-access grant for the monograph (in progress)
2022
Essay Prize, Wasafiri, “Dub Poetry and Theatre in Conversation: The Development of a Caribbean Performance Poetics”


Editorial roles

· Network Editor, H-Net Network Poetry Performance Research | launching 2026

· Co-editor, Open Library of Humanities – Special Collection International Advances in Poetry Performance Research | forthcoming 2026

· Lead Editor, Project Bibliography and Research Blog, Poetry Off the Page | University of Vienna, since 2023

· Committee Member, Annotated bibliography Lectures du monde | ISJM, Geneva, 2023


Other employment & Community engagement
Secondary Education Teaching
2022 - 2023
English and Music Teacher | Gymnase de Nyon, Switzerland (ages 16–20)
2012 - 2017
English and Music Teacher | Collège André-Chavanne, Geneva (ages 15–19)

Cultural Leadership and Community Engagement
2018 - 2024
Coordinator and Project Manager | Association de Médiatrices Interculturelles (AMIC), Geneva
Conceptualisation, fundraising, and delivery of participatory cultural projects connecting marginalised communities, cultural institutions, and public authorities.

· Geneva Museum of Ethnography: Jebena (2022-23)
Intercultural programme supporting the museum’s shift toward community, co-creation and decolonial exhibition practice.

· International Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (Geneva), Musée Gruérien (Bulle), Musée d’Ethnographie (Neuchâtel): Lectures Alternatives (2019-21)
Cultural participation programme for migrants with limited access to museum spaces, funded by the Swiss Commission for Migration.

· International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights: Kids Guernica (2023)
Intergenerational art project exhibited at Geneva’s human rights forum, amplifying the voices of marginalised families to a civic audience.

· Festival Far°: Cohabitations Multiples & Nouveaux Imaginaires (2024)
Bi-national (France–Switzerland) project on intercultural urban cohabitation, engaging young migrants and public institutions.
2014 - 2018
Volunteer | Association de Médiatrices Interculturelles (AMIC), Geneva
Supported the integration of unaccompanied minors and young adults through tutoring, cultural activities, and liaison with schools, social services, and cultural institutions.