In the first of a series on ‘Radical History after Brexit’, John Gallagher highlights how monolingualism is historically strange, and calls for a greater focus on multilingualism and language learning.
Historians’ Watch
COVID-19: When history has no lessons
What value do the lessons of the past have in shaping strategies for managing the COVID-19 outbreak? In this article, Guillaume Lachenal and Gaëtan Thomas argue that an over-reliance on the allure of ‘pandemic precedents’ needs to be replaced with an enhanced understanding of the capacity of present crises to resist historical interpretation.
Skin before Colour in Early Modern Europe
When, how, and why did skin colour matter in early modern Europe? Hannah Murphy explores how science could make the known strange.
Lies, damned lies, and racist statistics
How has the whitewashing of race science and eugenics shaped racist ideologies in the present-day political mainstream? Anne Hanley argues that genetic determinism continues to shape deep-seated assumptions about ‘natural’ racial and gender differences.
Debating “Discoveries”: Colonialism & Public History in Portugal
With debates over the public history of empire and colonialism intensifying across Europe, Afonso Dias Ramos explores the controversy in Portugal over the use of the term “Discoveries” to encompass the country’s complex colonial past.
Sarah Ann Robinson, Working-Class Women’s Poetry, and the Yorkshire Factory Times
How did Victorian working-class women writers use the radical press to relay their experience of the factory floor? Kirstie Blair introduces Sarah Ann Robinson, a virtually unknown Lancashire weaver and poet, whose verse is being collected as part of the AHRC project ‘Piston, Pen & Press: Literary Cultures in the Industrial Workplace’.
The QE2 Bridge and the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) Hangover
What are the origins of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) hangover? David Anderson drives onto the QE2 bridge to analyse the legacies and landscapes of PFI.
