Category: Features
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History’s Underground Current, the Marxist Theory of History, its Faults, and Possible Resolutions
Written by Inge Erdal. Marxism has often been critiqued as teleological – reliant on an inevitable march towards communism through the motor of class struggle. Althusser may offer a route out of this critique through his notion of the “underground current.”
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The Female Body, Discipline, and Liberation: A Foucauldian Reading of Ghost in the Shell’s Museum Scene and AKB48’s Heavy Rotation
Written by Lingxiao “Linda” Gao. The 1995 Japanese cyberpunk anime film, Ghost in the Shell, and AKB48’s 2011 song, Heavy Rotation, can be read through a Foucauldian lens.
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Book One to Book Two: Writing Histories of Atlantic Slavery
Professor Vincent Brown joined Retrospect for an interview titled, “Book One to Book Two: Writing Histories of Atlantic Slavery.” Here, we offer an edited transcript of the conversation
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“A Matter of History”: The 1776 Report and the Battle over American Education
Written by Jess Womack. Former-President Trump’s 1776 Commissions is a threat to historical truth-telling. Worryingly, its removal is unlikely to stop the use of history to further white supremacy.
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Navigating the Voyage of St. Brendan
Written by Jack McGlone. Voyaging into the unknown was a constant for the early Medieval explorer. What drove them? What did they write down? And, might their hope offer inspiration for us today?
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Bangs of Expectations and Other Weird and Wonderful Christmas Traditions
Written by Sophie Whitehead. Christmas is filled with many weird and wonderful traditions, but where exactly did they come from? From Henry VIII’s turkeys to Mariah Carey’s Christmas Number One, each tradition has its own history.
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Io Saturnalia! How to Welcome in the Festive Season like a Roman
Written by Hazel Atkinson. Saturnalia pre-dated today’s Christmas. In Ancient Rome, how was it celebrated? And, why was it necessary?
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A Case of Confabulation? The Psychology Behind the Reykjavik Confessions
Written by Kat Jivkova. Two disappearances in the 1970s sparked what would become known as the Reykjavik Confessions. The investigation was problematic from the start, with the interrogation methods creating problems of confabulation.
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