Category: Academic
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Laboratory Scotland: the ‘radical’ Local Government Reform and Re-Reform in Scotland, 1963-1996
Written by Inge Erdal. Over the decades, Scotland has witnessed an enormous amount of centralised wrangling with its local government structures. From Royal Commissions to Governance Reviews, the political structure of the nation has rarely been shaped by local communities.
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Rehabilitating Haitian Vodou
Written by Charlie Horlick. Haitian Vodou is a syncretic set of religious practices grounded in the experiences of Atlantic Slavery. They have been attacked since their very inception.
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John Dee: Elizabeth’s Tudor ‘Wizard’
Written by Melissa Kane. A key advisor of Elizabeth I, early supporter of a British Empire, and student of the supernatural, the life of John Dee has somewhat fallen to the wayside of Tudor history, but what did he bring to Tudor life and its legacies?
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From Creativity to Repression: Art and Revolution in Russia, 1905-1935
Written by Jack Bennett. Founded in 1915 by avant-garde artist Kazimir Malevich, Suprematism as an art movement concerned itself with “the supremacy of pure artistic feeling.” Although it would eventually fall victim to Stalinism and creative oppression, its legacy remains as a key movement during the Russian Revolution.
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The European Union and its Totalitarian Nightmare
Written by Inge Erdal. The concept of totalitarianism has a long and twisted history through Europe’s twentieth century. It has been latched upon from all political angles, but does it really have any analytical use?
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The Russian Civil War: the White’s War to Lose
Written by Finlay Cormack. Whilst Europe was in the grips of the First World War, civil war was devastating Russia. What appeared in the initial years of fighting to be a likely victory for the anti-Bolshevik White Army, internal struggle and foreign intervention would inevitably lead to their downfall.
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The Second Cataract Fortresses
Written by Alex Smith. The fortress system of Nubia is often overshadowed by the pyramids when discussing Ancient Egyptian architecture. Key for regulating trade and its role in offensive policy, Alex Smith revisits this complex system in the south of Egypt.
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Communism, virtue and the ideal commonwealth in Thomas More’s Utopia
Written by Nikita Nandanwad. Thomas More’s Utopia is frequently regarded as his best work, but how does his depiction of Utopia correlate with modern communism, and how should we understand More’s intention with this work?
Retrospect Journal 