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Culture and media

Taking our cue from Raymond Williams’ ‘culture is ordinary’, we explore how politics works through old and new media, books, film, stage and screen, music and sport.

We cover a breadth of themes, from representations of class, race and gender in the arts, to progressive and reactionary uses of nostalgia, to the grassroots voices democratising the channels of communication.

media

Taking our cue from Raymond Williams’ ‘culture is ordinary’, we explore how politics works through old and new media, books, film, stage and screen, music and sport.

We cover a breadth of themes, from representations of class, race and gender in the arts, to progressive and reactionary uses of nostalgia, to the grassroots voices democratising the channels of communication.

media

  • A fire engine with fire fighters along side and on top of it in the middle of a road, with burning buildings and bright fires behind it

    From the Ashes – review

    Grief and loss are inescapable parts of the fight for a better world, but Sarah Jaffe demonstrates that they are compatible with resilience and determination, writes Joana Ramiro

  • A woman delivering a presentation in front of a large screen, showing an image of a girl wearing a large VR headset and various digital icons behind her

    Black box archive: preserving culture in the age of generative AI

    Will AI-generated content take over the internet? Florence Smith Nicholls explores automated threats to open access – and the caring work of preserving online cultures

  • A montage of graffiti style colours cover a rave scene with a banner that reads: 'The city is ours'

    Is rave culture political?

    Despite facing state repression, rave culture continues to be a space for political expression and collective action, writes Alex Carter

  • A pencil drawing of a man addressing a crowd from a car rooftop next to a photograph of protestors on their knees surrounded by teargas

    Kenya’s youth-led revolution

    Rasna Warah reports on how young people in and beyond Kenya are using social media to challenge corrupt, old-school politicians

  • A cartoon green frog with a red Groucho Marx disguise on a black and green grid background

    Behind the ‘Great Firewall of China’

    Jiannan Shi reports on China’s internet censorship – and the creative ways people are finding to sidestep it

  • A circle of blue illustrated heads shouting at each other on a black and green grid background

    Breaking up with my X

    Tom Whyman traces a personal journey with Elon Musk’s social media platform: from a coming-of-age love story to Twittering off

  • A row of marching yellow humanlike figures with pigtails with headsets on a black and green grid background

    Twitch and the online left

    Political livestreaming shows news consumption has become a form of community participation in which political ideology is reinforced, argues Samuel Rafanell-Williams

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