Category: Academic
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Modernisation Theory: Challenging British Exceptionalism and the Unilinear Model
Written by Ella Raphael. Modernisation Theory refers to a model of societal transition, originally meaning the movement from a ‘traditional’ society to an ‘advanced’ society. Since the seventies it has been a topic of contentious debate.
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Teach-Out Review: Indigenous Politics and Revolutionary Movements in Latin America
Written by Anna Nicol. On Tuesday 3 March, Dr Emile Chabal, the Director of the Centre for the Study of Modern and Contemporary History, organised a Teach-out led by Dr Julie Gibbings (University of Edinburgh) and Dr Nathaniel Morris (University College London). Focusing on Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua, Dr Gibbings and Dr Morris aimed to…
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Teach-Out Review: How Slavery Changed a City: Edinburgh’s Slave History
Written by Lewis Twiby. As part of the teach-outs currently happening in solidarity with the UCU Strike, the History Society and the African and Caribbean Society hosted a very informative talk on Edinburgh’s connection to the slave trade.
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Casualisation, Contracts, and Crisis: The University in the early 21st Century
Written by: Jamie Gemmell. Following the publication of Dr Jake Blanc’s letter to his students, Jamie Gemmell has conducted interviews with other striking lecturers to shed light on why UCU voted in favour of industrial action.
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Beyond Pop: The Extremes of 1970s Britain
Written by Jack Bennett. The music of the 1970s reflected the extreme divisions and polarisations within Britain, revealing the intersection of popular culture, politics and economics. What emerged during this decade was a cyclical process of adoption and outpacing regarding cultural trends.
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War & Peace: Art in Ducal Milan
Written by Joshua Al-Najar. Art was a key tool for renaissance cities to disseminate ideas and fashion an identity in a pluralistic, competitive society. Scholarship has tended to focus on the programmes undertaken in republics, such as Florence and Venice – perhaps less considered is how dynastic systems were able to deploy the Renaissance’s lessons…
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New York and the LGBTQ+ Community over a Century
Written by Lewis Twiby. The anonymity of big cities allows persecuted sub-cultures and identities to find room to exist. London, Berlin, and Paris are just three examples of cities with flourishing LGBTQ+ communities. In the United States, New York was one of the major sites for gay liberation. Throughout the twentieth century a flourishing and…
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Mapping the Medieval World
Written by Tristan Craig. By the Middle Ages, cartographic practices showed increasing scope and refinement due to expansions in world trade, however there remained a large disparity between maps which attempted to depict an accurate world view and those which served a predominantly ecclesiastical purpose.
Retrospect Journal 