The thesis seeks to investigate the relations between dancehall music, power structures and notions of gender in Jamaica seen in the light of postcolonial theory. The primary purpose of the study is to discuss the connections between the age of slavery, modern day society and dancehall music’s overt homophobia.

Johannes Frandsen Skjelbo demonstrates that there are many complex reasons behind Jamaica's institutionalised homophobia — religion and slavery legacy being some of the oldest and most powerful. He also shows how music arguably is a part of the reproduction of this homophobia. Tentatively, he suggests that some pre-slavery, African, taboos concerning the body and its functions are also involved in the complex.

Research questions
“Elements which normally are considered as ‘belonging together’ in Western musicology, becomes somewhat detached in the Jamaican music-making process,” writes Skjelbo, explaining that this implies that intertextuality and coherence between text and music perhaps cannot (or should not) be interpreted like they are in the research of for instance rock music.

The debate surrounding homophobic expressions in Jamaican music has international political overtones. The thesis goes into depth with the lyrics of the anti-gay song ‘Boom Bye Bye’ and sees it as an example of how a small nation, Jamaica, uses popular music to claim its right to self-determination. Dancehall’s possible role in the spreading of AIDS is briefly discussed.

Dancehall in Denmark
In Denmark, as well as in other European countries, there has been a heated discussion of the possible consequences of letting unmistakably homophobic songs sound on the public arena. The discussion has been complicated by the fact that the Danish dancehall-communities are not homophobic, but rather see the debate as a discussion of freedom of speech. They also point to their detachment of music and words as a reason for playing songs, which, on the face of it, could be illegal under certain circumstances.

Johannes Frandsen Skjelbo concludes his thesis with a brief discussion of the connections between music and physical as well as symbolic violence.