Articles

Abstract Expressionism emerged amid a tense post-war climate, as a new genre of art that seemed so devoid of representational form or meaning that it could not be political. However, it was precisely this apparent apoliticality that made it so intensely political. Historiography on the topic has followed what I am inclined to call a ‘top-down’ trend. As outlined by Eva Cockcroft and Frances Stonor Saunders, those in power consciously used the art of the Abstract Expressionist

Postcards have long been linked to memory formation, sold primarily as ‘souvenirs’, a term itself deriving from the French verb souvenir...

The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) was set up in 1948 following the 1942 Beveridge report, a cross-party report which established its...

Russell Barnes is a Director and Producer for the documentary production company ClearStory. Clare Burns has worked in television...

What does it mean to defend the dead? To tend to the Black dead and dying: to tend to the Black person, to Black people, always living in the push toward our death? It means work. It is work: hard emotional, physical, and intellectual work that demands vigilant attendance to the needs of the dying, to ease their way, and also to the needs of the living. —Christina Sharpe[1] A world divided into compartments, a motionless, Manicheistic world, a world of statues: the statue o

The origins and definition of the word ‘Americanitis’ are opaque at best. It is generally believed to have appeared in medical journals of the late nineteenth century, describing a particular nervous ailment found in the inhabitants of the United States of America. Thought to cause disease, heart attack, nervous exhaustion, and even insanity, Americanitis was seen as a serious threat to the American public. In fact, in 1925, Time Magazine reported that Americanitis was respon

Introduction Arendt’s account of modernity and The Human Condition (1958)[1] Opening the final section of The Human Condition...

Introduction Canonical Penance in the early Church and the modern concept of prison, broadly construed, are both processes of...

In his seminal 1961 work The Destruction of the European Jews , Raul Hilberg proposed a thesis that sought to explain a perceived lack of...

1 To become an administrative official in imperial China necessitated following a burdensome path from an early age. To begin with, a...

Well-known for her book Bananas, Beaches and Bases , exposing the embedded systemic and institutionalised patriarchy that is evident not only in global politics, but in the political science and literature of international relations, Professor Cynthia Enloe is one of the most compelling feminist theorists and political scientists of the twenty-first century. Currently a Research Professor of Political Science at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, Professor Enloe h

Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook, or press down its tongue with a cord? Can you put a rope in its nose, or pierce its jaw with a hook? Will it make many supplications to you? Will it speak soft words to you? Will it make a covenant with you to be taken as your servant forever?[1] * The rich symbolic inner workings of Hobbes’ Leviathan have been much commented on in the centuries since its publication, with most attention being given to its incomparable frontispi

The family is often presented as an opponent to the state as the location of power, or as an alternative to state institutions. The 2004...

Manuel Rabaté is Director of Louvre Abu Dhabi. He has taught Arts & Cultural Management at Paris-Dauphine University and Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi. He is a Knight of France’s National Order of Merit. Dr Souraya Noujaim is Scientific, Curatorial & Collections Management Director of Louvre Abu Dhabi. She has studied the British Museum’s Arabic weights and measures, and has been Islamic Art History Chair at the École du Louvre. Louvre Abu Dhabi sits at a tense but

It didn’t take long for the backlash against last summer’s enthralling ESPN Michael Jordan documentary The Last Dance to arrive. Before...

1. Introduction Music theory is white. —Philip Ewell Thus begins Philip Ewell’s article ‘Music Theory and the White Racial Frame’.[1] His...

Fig 1. Returning (detail of SYNTERESE (Father Demosthenes Demosthenous 2020, mosaic)). Akropoli-Strovolos. Courtesy of Father Demosthenes...

This piece was written in the direct aftermath of George Floyd’s murder on 25 May 2020. Since then, having also been selected as an...

A recent study in the United States indicated that the rate of Americans identifying themselves using political terms has almost doubled...

Conventional wisdom tells us that the first civilisation to be governed in a manner comparable to our own was Ancient Greece—the world’s first democracy.[1] Such discourse has contributed to popular belief that earlier civilisations, of which Egypt is probably the best-known example, might be interesting in myriad ways but surely have little to offer scholars of modern government. Egypt, according to established narrative, was an absolute monarchy, where Pharaoh did as he ple

The forging of a life in culture, economics, and security My formative years were marked by my parents’ hopes and dreams that I would...

Introduction The 2015 Paris Agreement was a pivotal moment in the struggle against climate change. While previous climate agreements...

For far too long, Ashutosh Gowariker’s Swades (2004) has maintained its status as an Indian cinema cult classic. It is a film about a...

1. The fish are alright Historically and presently, the United Kingdom has identified and presented itself as a maritime nation.[1] Fisheries, historically a significant source of employment, cultural identity, and economic output, are a vital component of the UK’s seafaring character. Amidst the decline of other British coastal industries, fishing, also in a state of ‘managed decline’,[2] is perhaps the UK’s final remaining material link to this maritime heritage. Our ar