By Niels Boender The sudden ubiquitousness of debates about historical memory, driven by important awakenings regarding systematic injustices, have thrust historians to the centre of what is now popularly called ‘the culture wars’. This offers an opportunity for historians to share their findings in ways that palpably impact understandings of global and national histories, as […]
By Mattie Webb Following the 1976 Soweto uprising, the international press derided the ongoing episodes of South African police violence against youth protestors, compelling some multinationals to reconsider their operations in a country that denied human rights to the majority of its population. The United States has a history of investment with South Africa. Dating […]
By Emma Wordsworth Food, despite being both a biological necessity and a symbolic cultural touchstone, has only recently been recognised as a major historical force. As historian David Arnold persuasively argued in 1988, “food was, and continues to be, power in a most basic, tangible, and inescapable form”.[1] Certainly, in the early 1870s, the issue […]
By Lauren Brown. ‘To the people death knows no colour, and, as such, rates of pay should be adjusted in that spirit.’[i] This statement, featured in the West African Pilot in 1941, encapsulates a key issue faced by British African soldiers who fought during the Second World War. It is an issue that has still […]
By Sami Risk. As we approach the 2020 US presidential election, we may consider one of the more controversial acts committed by the Trump administration – the unilateral retreat from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on 8th May 2018. Not only did it bring into question the legal principle pacta sunt servanda – […]
By Pelayo Fernández García. Don Álvaro de Navia Osorio, third Marquis of Santa Cruz de Marcenado was born in Puerto de Vega (Asturias, Spain) on December 19, 1684. [1] His family influences allowed him to become maestre de campo (later colonel) of the Principality of Asturias’ tercio (later regiment), shortly before the beginning of the […]
By Anna Adima. Asian-Ugandan-hosted literary salon; South African-owned nightclub; glittering social scene – for Uganda’s multiracial elite in the 1960s, Kampala offered ample opportunities for socialising and entertainment. Unlike Nairobi, the capital city of neighbouring Kenya where Britain had established a settler colony and an accompanying apartheid system, Kampala was touted as a liberal city […]
By Anna Nicol. Art frequently operates as a “vehicle of memory”, adding tangibility to past events. Sociologist Elizabeth Jelin coined the phrase to refer to how cultural products connect ‘individual subjectivities, societal or collective belonging, and the embodiment of the past.’[1] Artistic mediums are particularly innovative at creating space for counter-memories and marginalised narratives under […]
By Jessica A. Fernández de Lara Harada Mexico and Japan share histories of empire and colonisation. Formerly known as New Spain, Mexico was colonised by Spain from 1521 to 1821 and, after independence, the US occupied half of its territory and gradually increased its economic and military influence. Following 250 years of self-isolation, in 1854 […]
By Joseph Wagner The study of Scottish interactions with the world outside of Europe in the seventeenth century has greatly expanded over the past twenty-five years. It has been galvanised by moving away from a focus on Scotland’s ‘national’ attempts at empire-building, such as the unsuccessful attempts to colonise Nova Scotia in the 1620s and […]