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A history of pathologising trans women
Cathy Brennan looks at the medical tradition of categorising trans women based on sexuality and its continuing power in transphobic politics.
Kongo’s Antonian Queen
Joseph Callow writes on a Kongolese icon who declared herself the embodiment of a Christian saint and started a movement against early European colonialism.
How the Tignon Laws backfired
Maxine Harrison remembers an oppressive law that sparked a new wave of independent self-expression.
The Suburbs of Hell: 500 years of polluted air in London
In December, air pollution was cited as a factor in the death of 9-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah. Tom Banbury examines the history of the capital’s smog.
The first anti-vaxxers
Jo Nayler discusses the introduction of smallpox variolation to Britain in the 1700s, the switch to vaccination, and the protests staged against both.
A political history of ‘Afro Blue’
Hugh Morris describes how a jazz track made the leap from song to symbol.
The other Bobby Sands
Chas Newkey-Burden writes on the songs and poetry of Bobby Sands, a figure best known for his election as an MP, his hunger strike, and ultimately, his death.
Fanfiction: an alternative pornographic history
Kalli Dockrill asks where fanfiction – a site of sexual exploration in the twenty-first century, particularly for women – fits into a male-dominated history of erotica.
Street names and statues: How to mark a legacy
Jaco Prinsloo considers the contested legacies of major figures of South Africa’s history, and what they tell us about the complicated politics of memory.
The rise, fall, and rise again of women’s football
Rebecca Johnson writes about women’s football in its first heyday, and the sustained campaign that barred women from the pitch for forty years.
Dismantling racist mathematics
Ray Mwareya and Nyasha Bhobo speak to Pali Lehohla, the statistician tasked with dismantling apartheid South Africa’s racist data-collection systems in the 1990s.
The vagina missing from space
Jessica Thomson writes on the anatomic shortcomings of 1973’s Pioneer Plaque, and the intergalactic implications of our censorship of human bodies.
Squatting the City
Danny Magill looks back on the rise and fall of London’s squatting movement in the 1970s, and what it tells us about the power of collective action in the face of housing crisis today.
Songs of resistance
Clare Church considers the contributions made by three iconic performers to the cause of Free France during World War II.
Remembering Middlesbrough’s race riots
George Walker looks back on the four nights of racial violence that took place in Middlesbrough in 1961, and asks how that history can help us challenge rising tensions today.
The other Bobby Sands
Chas Newkey-Burden writes on the songs and poetry of Bobby Sands, a figure best known for his election as an MP, his hunger strike, and ultimately, his death.
Dismantling racist mathematics
Ray Mwareya and Nyasha Bhobo speak to Pali Lehohla, the statistician tasked with dismantling apartheid South Africa’s racist data-collection systems in the 1990s.
Songs of resistance
Clare Church considers the contributions made by three iconic performers to the cause of Free France during World War II.
It’s relative: family history and Ireland’s original Bloody Sunday
Niamh Carroll’s great-grandfather was shot by British soldiers 100 years ago. Here, she reflects on the effects of oral history on political perspective.
Kongo’s Antonian Queen
Joseph Callow writes on a Kongolese icon who declared herself the embodiment of a Christian saint and started a movement against early European colonialism.
The Suburbs of Hell: 500 years of polluted air in London
In December, air pollution was cited as a factor in the death of 9-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah. Tom Banbury examines the history of the capital’s smog.
The first anti-vaxxers
Jo Nayler discusses the introduction of smallpox variolation to Britain in the 1700s, the switch to vaccination, and the protests staged against both.
Street names and statues: How to mark a legacy
Jaco Prinsloo considers the contested legacies of major figures of South Africa’s history, and what they tell us about the complicated politics of memory.
culture
A history of pathologising trans women
Cathy Brennan looks at the medical tradition of categorising trans women based on sexuality and its continuing power in transphobic politics.
How the Tignon Laws backfired
Maxine Harrison remembers an oppressive law that sparked a new wave of independent self-expression.
A political history of ‘Afro Blue’
Hugh Morris describes how a jazz track made the leap from song to symbol.
Fanfiction: an alternative pornographic history
Kalli Dockrill asks where fanfiction – a site of sexual exploration in the twenty-first century, particularly for women – fits into a male-dominated history of erotica.
radical history for all
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