Ildi Tillmann, at The Equiano Project, brings a fresh perspective on the question of historical erasure and asks what is lost when race becomes ‘a means to power’: In his recent documentary, What Killed Michael Brown, the author and narrator, Shelby Steele, makes various observations about American history, of which two particularly caught my attention. “We […]
Between Native And Foreign Lands: Learning To Live On The Boundary
Dr Alain J.E. Wolf, lecturer at the University of East Anglia, offers a personal reflection on the loss and belonging that can accompany the experience of emigration and suggests that there are responsibilities on both sides – immigrant and host nation: As a lecturer in languages and cross-cultural communication at a U.K University, and a […]
Why Debate And Discussion Has Shifted Towards Identity Politics
Emma Gilland at The Equiano Project considers the difference between a strong sense of self-identity and the political and ethical shallowness of identity-as-a-label. She suggests identity politics speaks to a vacuum created through a combination of two important trends: the demise of class-based voting, and the inability of the established political class to fill this […]
A Frenchman in Rural England
In his reflections on life as a French academic working in a British university, and living in a rural English village, Alain Wolfe finds more openness and tolerance in his village than his workplace. A refreshing counter-narrative to much received opinion that that sees academics as the enlightened ones and others as bastions of intolerance: […]