What does rap tell us of social change and conflict in the French Republic? Paroma Ghose explores how its themes reveal a socio-political conversation with the state.
Histories of the Present
‘An Equality of Injustice’: The Sex Buyers’ Bill and Lessons from History
The “Sex Buyers’ Bill” now pending in Parliament aims to protect women from exploitation by criminalizing men who buy sex, yet it is vehemently opposed by UK sex workers. Julia Laite explores the tangled history and woeful consequences of attempts to outlaw the trade in sex.
Referendums Yet to Come
In the latest from our ‘Radical History after Brexit’ series, Aoife O’Donoghue & Colin Murray explore Northern Ireland’s Brexit dilemma, and consider referendums yet to come.
‘Building Welfare States’: Report on an Online Conference
Amidst the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic it seems that virtual conferences are here to stay. In the first half of this post, PhD student Ed DeVane reflects on the experience of ‘doing’ an online event. The second half of this blog serves as a report on the proceedings of the ‘Building Welfare States’ conference, hosted (online) by Warwick University, 23rd – 25th September 2020.
Of, or For Mary Wollstonecraft?
Is Maggi Hambling’s ‘A Sculpture for Mary Wollstonecraft’ attuned to the intellectual accomplishments of the woman it was created for, or to the particular struggles of women in the present? Vic Clarke investigates.
The Faces of Trump’s America
What does it mean to write a history of the lived experience of injustice and suffering in Trump’s America? Jane Caplan examines a life caught in the interstices of Trump’s Covid-19 strategy and his attacks on healthcare and public institutions.
Amy Coney Barrett, Enoch Powell and IVF politics
When it comes to IVF politics, have the British been too quick to paint Americans as occupying the anti-scientific fringe? Laura Beers responds after the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the US Supreme Court.