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.
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.
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Morality tales
From cowardly men to wayward wives, pre-modern superstitions transmitted social norms as well as scares, writes Eleanor Janega
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Playing on the dark side: An interview with Dawn Ray’d
Gerry Hart speaks to Simon Barr of Dawn Ray’d about black metal, its relationship with the far right and its radical potential
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The global spectres of ‘Asian horror’
Bliss Cua Lim looks at how the female ghost subgenre illuminates efforts to globalise ‘Asian horror’
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A history of the Marxists Internet Archive
The Marxists Internet Archive, an online home for radical history, has a fascinating history of its own, writes Jack Archie Stewart
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War Inna Babylon – review
Tara Okeke explores an important exhibition that offers a compelling history of Black life in Britain through the lens of people, place and struggle
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The lies we tell about men who kill
Mental health crisis is often used to explain mass murder. The framing only detracts attention from tackling misogyny and male violence, argues Alex Birch
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Women of colour climbers are scaling new heights
Competitive climbing made its Olympic debut in 2021. Hannah Zia reflects on her love of the sport – and considers barriers to participation facing other women of colour