BRITISH journalist/musicologist Vivien Goldman will conduct a three-week course on the legacy of reggae legend Bob Marley at New York University, early next year.

Topics in Recorded Music: Bob Marley & Post-colonial Music is the title of the course which runs from January 7-26. According to a statement from the university, Goldman will look at how Marley overcame personal challenges and social prejudice “to become a musical and revolutionary leader of the 20th Century”.

The course, Topics in Recorded Music: Bob Marley & Post-colonial Music, runs from January 7-26.

The London-born Goldman, who first worked with Marley as a publicist for Island Records in London during the early 1970s, is known as the ‘Punk Professor’. She teaches courses in punk and reggae at NYU.

Goldman has written two books about Marley who died from cancer in May 1981 at age 36. They are Bob Marley, Soul Rebel — Natural Mystic which was released in 1981, and The Book of Exodus: The Making and Meaning of Bob Marley and The Wailers’ Album of the Century which was released in 2006.

‘Recorded Music’, the NYU statement added, will “examine the history of Jamaica, its culture and connection with Britain; Marley’s evolution as a writer and musician; his creative partnerships with artistes like The Wailers and dubmaster Lee Perry; his lifelong battle to control the business of his music; and his commitment to Pan-Africanism and Rasta as a way of life”.

Goldman covered the vibrant British punk scene after her stint as Marley’s publicist. In the 1970s, she worked with several independent magazines as well as rock bands like The Pretenders. She maintained a strong link with Island, helping to promote the label’s diverse roster of acts which included Grace Jones, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Aswad, Burning Spear, and U2.