Radical Object: A Handmade Rifle Confiscated by British Soldiers during the Mau Mau Uprising

By Rachael Minott March 23, 2018 Histories of the Present, Radical Objects 0 comments

A handmade wooden gun confiscated by the British during the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya made its way into Birmingham’s museum collection.

Radical Objects: New Zealand’s Socialist Cross of Honor and Antimilitarist Protest

By Jared Davidson February 16, 2018 Histories of the Present, Radical Objects 0 comments

Medals for antimilitarism. Jared Davidson on New Zealand’s Socialist Cross of Honour and the personal tales of the antimilitarist movement.

Radical Objects: Migration and Museums – A Response

By Chris Whitehead January 24, 2018 Histories of the Present, Radical Objects 0 comments

‘The lifejacket is a symbol and a provocation’, Christopher Whitehead responds to Manchester Museum’s acquisition.

Radical Objects: A Radical Jug?

By Ruth Mather January 8, 2018 Histories of the Present, Radical Objects 0 comments

How do we determine whether an object is radical? Ruth Mather on the Farmer’s Arms jug at the People’s History Museum.

Radical Objects: A Refugee’s Life Jacket at Manchester Museum

By Bryan Sitch December 7, 2017 Histories of the Present, Radical Objects 0 comments

How are museums responding to the refugee crisis in Europe? Bryan Sitch on Manchester Museum’s acquisition & display of a refugee’s life jacket from the Greek island of Lesvos.

Radical T-Shirts from Thailand

By James Buchanan June 20, 2017 Radical Objects 1 comment

The political schism is often dubbed “Red versus Yellow” due to the colour of the t-shirts worn by the two rival movements.

The Radical History of a Bed Sheet

By Sasha Handley June 6, 2017 Radical Objects 4 comments

Anna Maria Radcliffe created a bed sheet that functioned as an instrument of personal and communal memory, and as an agent of religious and political resistance.

Radical Objects: The Peasants’ Revolt Badge

By Stephen Williams April 19, 2017 Radical Objects 1 comment

Stephen Williams recounts the 1981 Peasants’ Revolt on Blackheath in South London, galvanising the left’s resistance to a Tory majority and commemorating the 1381 march.

Radical Objects: Covenanter Gravestones as Political Protest

By Valerie Wallace April 4, 2017 Radical Objects 2 comments

Memorials marking the graves and celebrating the sacrifices of the Restoration martyrs can be read as political texts.

The Pacifist Handkerchief

By Vera Mackie October 31, 2016 Radical Objects 0 comments

The pacifist handkerchief invites reflections on contested memories in modern Japanese history.