The album cover for Michael Jackson’s album Dangerous was painted by American pop-surrealist artist Mark Ryden. In it, he depicts a world in which the boundaries between human and animal, living and dead…
In 1919, Ivy MacKusick, an art student at UCL’s Slade School of Fine Art, completed a Portrait of a Man in His Shirtsleeves. We know nothing about the man of African descent depicted in this portrait…
Race-related demonstrations, Title IX disputes, affirmative action court cases, same-sex marriage bans. These issues made headlines in all spheres of the media this year. However, thoughtful articles on…
One in three people in Britain describe themselves as being very or a little racially prejudiced, according to a recent British Social Attitudes Survey. How are middle-class black families coping with…
Standing in the social rooms of Robinvale Football Netball Club on presentation night is perhaps like standing in any sports club in regional Australia when their vote count is on. There are the usual…
A large group of protesters have successfully shut down an exhibition in London. Curators intended Exhibit B, a “human zoo” comprising caged and chained black actors, to demonstrate the evils of slavery…
It was a matinee screening in a small town in Massachusetts. I’d stayed for the credits, feeling an odd need to confirm that I’d heard Dido on the soundtrack. Only one other person had been in the cinema…
In recent years there has been a significant shift in understandings of transgender identity. So often caught up with ideas about sexuality, the liberalisation of attitudes towards gays and lesbians has…
Eunice Goes, Richmond American International University
In the past week, Conservative HQ has been busy in trying to dismiss the significance of the resignation of the Foreign Office minister Sayeeda Warsi. Whereas the Downing Street spin machine has distilled…
The issue of race has been in the news a lot lately with the canning of proposed amendments to Australia’s Racial Discrimination Act, attempts by extremists to commit genocide on cultural minorities in…
In a recent BBC documentary, celebrity chef and former model Lorraine Pascale reflected on her turbulent experience of growing up as an adopted child; a period interspersed with time spent in foster care…
Matthew Weiner, the creator and “showrunner” of Mad Men, is famous for his pernickety attention to detail. The office furniture, clothing, and hairstyles of Mad Men must change, faithfully, with each year…
“Hope and change” may have driven the first presidential campaign for Barack Obama, but many educators and public education advocates have been discouraged by Obama’s education policy. While the US secretary…
In 1825 the African-American actor Ira Aldridge came to London in The Slave’s Revenge. Before abolition, he had no hopes of working on the stage at home, but he became one of the most popular Shakespearean…
Anthropological images of alien peoples have long been a staple in the collections of Australia’s institutions of cultural memory. From the invention of photography – and indeed before, through the hands…
The Oscars were a triumph for racial diversity. For the first time, a film with a black director won Best Picture, and Lupita Nyong'O won best supporting actress. And black British talent is currently…
The news that the cultural theorist Stuart Hall has died aged 82 will produce much mourning and remembrance across the world. One of Britain’s leading intellectuals, Hall had a huge influence both within…
In December, I was catching up with a friend over a few glasses of wine. My friend is a white male in his 60s. A passer-by, also a white male, about the same age, stopped by our table. It quickly became…