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Society

Essays and videos on social issues, history, political life and the future
Painting of a woman with a sword defending a fort from attackers; other figures fight with swords and wooden poles and carry stones.

essay

Race and ethnicity

The forging of countries

Two distinct and conflicting forms of nationalism – civic and ethnic – helped create the nation-states of Europe

Luka Ivan Jukić

Black-and-white photo of a man in a suit and hat grabbing another man by his collar in front of a bar with bottles.

essay

Political philosophy

C L R James and America

The brilliant Trinidadian thinker is remembered as an admirer of the US but he also warned of its dark political future

Harvey Neptune

Photochrom image of a narrow street lined with Middle-Eastern buildings; people are walking down the middle of the street and some are holding umbrellas.

essay

Nations and empires

The paradoxes of Mikha’il Mishaqa

He was a Catholic, then a rationalist, then a Protestant. Most of all, he exemplified the rise of Arab-Ottoman modernity

Peter Hill

Ancient Mayan ruins, including a prominent stone pyramid, surrounded by dense green jungle under a cloudy sky.

essay

Archaeology

Beyond kingdoms and empires

A revolution in archaeology is transforming our picture of past populations and the scope of human freedoms

David Wengrow

President Eisenhower and Kwame Nkrumah talking. Nkrumah is wearing traditional African attire and pointing at Eisenhower, who is wearing a suit.

essay

Global history

The route to progress

Anticolonial modernity was founded upon the fight for liberation from communists, capitalists and imperialists alike

Frank Gerits

Illustration of two people high-fiving, with colourful abstract shapes around them representing conversation and connection.

video

Language and linguistics

The little Peruvian guide to public speaking that conjures up a grandiose world

7 minutes

Three cracked ceramic shards with painted faces are arranged on blocks, with strands of twisted rope resembling hair against a blurred green and blue background.

video

The ancient world

Archeological discoveries animate the life of the warrior queen who took on Rome

6 minutes

Black and white image of Japanese soldiers in battle gear marching with a Rising Sun Flag, superimposed with large Japanese calligraphy characters on a plain background.

essay

Nations and empires

Chastising little brother

Why did Japanese Confucians enthusiastically support Imperial Japan’s murderous conquest of China, the homeland of Confucius?

Shaun O’Dwyer

A historical map of Southern Europe, including parts of Austria, Hungary, Italy, Turkey, and the Balkans. Features cities such as Milan, Vienna, Rome, and Constantinople, with regions distinguished by different colours. Sea names such as the Adriatic and Mediterranean are also visible.

essay

Nations and empires

A United States of Europe

A free and unified Europe was first imagined by Italian radicals in the 19th century. Could we yet see their dream made real?

Fernanda Gallo

a crowd of women dressed in black  face the camera

essay

Politics and government

India and indigeneity

In a country of such extraordinary diversity, the UN definition of ‘indigenous’ does little more than fuel ethnic violence

Dikshit Sarma Bhagabati

An oversized yellow plastic revolver gun displayed outside a brightly painted shop. There are palm trees in the background

essay

History of technology

Why America fell for guns

The US today has extraordinary levels of gun ownership. But to see this as a venerable tradition is to misread history

Megan Kang

People decorating a school courtyard with green and yellow bunting.

video

Architecture

West Africa was once an architectural laboratory. Is it time for a revival?

12 minutes

Gold sew-on clothing appliqué in the form of two Scythian archers back to back.

essay

War and peace

Legacy of the Scythians

How the ancient warrior people of the steppes have found themselves on the cultural frontlines of Russia’s war against Ukraine

Peter Mumford

A portrait of a man with glasses and a cap, adorned with garlands of flowers, and surrounded by strings of marigolds and leaves.

essay

Religion

Inventing Hindu supremacy

Vinayak Savarkar ridiculed Gandhi, preaching that anti-Muslim violence was the only means to unite India into a nation

Mihir Dalal

A footballer in the Manchester United red strip runs past cheering fans in the stadium

essay

Sports and games

The moral risks of fandom

Players, coaches and team owners sometimes do terrible things. What, if anything, should their fans do about that?

Jake Wojtowicz & Alfred Archer

Medieval illustration of a couple in bed on the left and a king holding a sceptre, interacting with several figures and a horse on the right.

essay

History

The mythos of leadership

How the biblical King David and Machiavelli’s Prince can help us understand the dominant view of leaders as individualists

Moshik Temkin

A close-up of a weathered, rusty metal plate attached to a deteriorating wooden surface with bolts, showing corrosion and peeling layers.

essay

Global history

One ship, many stories

How a single, unglamorous, workaday merchant vessel tells the history of the 19th-century world in many violent chapters

Boyd Cothran & Adrian Shubert

A row of traditional British terrace buildings with shops on the ground level, under a clear blue sky with some white clouds.

essay

Architecture

The new architecture wars

Traditionalist and modernist architecture are both mass-produced, industrial and international. Is there an alternative?

Owen Hatherley

A vintage illustration of a steam train crossing a bridge over a river with a town and mountains in the background, surrounded by lush greenery.

essay

Global history

Reconstructed hemisphere

In the 19th century, civil wars tore apart the US, Mexico and Argentina. Then came democracy’s fight against reaction

Evan C Rothera

Medieval painting of a bearded man in ornate armour on horseback, hunting in a forest. He holds a spear as his horse rears over a slain animal.

essay

Global history

The Asian world order

Before modern Europe existed there was a grand, interconnected political world, rich in scientific and artistic exchange

Ayşe Zarakol

Black-and-white photo of two men standing behind a sign that reads “What is the line between us?”, gesturing towards a partition with another person’s hand visible.

video

Art

The irreverent duo who thumbed their noses at the Soviet Union and the US art world

11 minutes

Two fashionably dressed women in modern style hijabs descend steps beneath a blue sky

essay

Religion

Secularism in Iran

Postcolonial intellectuals and Iran’s rulers agree that secularism is just Western imperialism in disguise. They are wrong

Patrick Hassan & Hossein Dabbagh

Many figures in traditional dress are gathered beneath a structure from which hang paper lists. In the foreground are horses. The colours are muted with age

essay

Education

The exam that broke society

Keju, China’s incredibly difficult civil service test, strengthened the state at the cost of freedom and creativity

Yasheng Huang

Japanese and five-colour flags waving in the foreground with a sunset and two silhouetted figures on a horizon in the background, text in Japanese on the right.

essay

Nations and empires

Settler colonialism

Displacing and destroying peoples by colonisation is not just a historical Western evil but a global and contemporary one

Lachlan McNamee