Category: Academic
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The History of the Bikini: Clothing as Evidence of Female Oppression
With a history dating as far back as 5600 BC, the story of the bikini is one of liberation and resistance, although not without conservative backlash. Isabelle Shaw examines the link between changing fashions and women’s autonomy.
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Memorials and Memoirs: Piecing Together the Lives of Formerly Enslaved Women
Malvina Wells, born in Carriacou around 1804, was one of a number of enslaved persons brought to Scotland during the period of colonial expansionism. Verity Limond examines the stories of women freed from slavery in Britain, where sources are sparse, to help shed light on their lives and experiences.
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LGBT History in India: A Colonial Legacy
In 2018, India overturned the section of the Indian Penal Code that criminalised homosexuality. Sophie Whitehead investigates the legacy that British colonialism has left on India’s attitudes towards LGBT people.
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Is There Anybody Out There? The Golden Record in the Twentieth-Century Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
On 5 September 1977, the Voyager 1 space probe was launched into space by NASA, containing the Golden Record. Kat Jivkova traces the history and context of the Golden Record and the criticisms it has incurred since then.
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The Soul from Homer to Heraclitus
As Greek philosophy emerged during the sixth century BCE, so too did a swelling interest in explaining the soul. Eleonora Soteriou discusses the work of Presocratic philosophers who, building upon the earliest Homeric theories, have sought to conceptualise the immaterial.
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Fascism: Art, Power, and Collections
What is the relationship between art and power? How is power exercised in the display of artwork in museums and galleries? Ash Tomkins discusses these questions and more through an analysis of a ‘degenerate art’ show in Nazi Germany and a modern-day auction of Adolf Hitler’s paintings.
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The Mona Lisa of the North: The Girl with a Pearl Earring
Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” has captivated and confounded audiences since the mid-seventeenth century. Dalma Roman inspects the various meanings that have been attached to the painting over the centuries in an attempt to better understand its historical origins.
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Early Modern Witches: Old and Female?
In today’s cultural lexicon, the word ‘witch’ is largely associated with the image of an elderly woman. But does this image reflect the real people who were tried as witches during the early modern period? Seth Silverberg delves into the historical record to challenge our assumptions and find out.
Retrospect Journal 