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(Originally posted elsewhere on 11 October 2025.) Once, as child of about twelve years old, gossiping about Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Alien (1979) being among my fave movies. This prompted an adult to ask something to the effect of: “Not too scary? What ARE you scared of?” I said
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(Originally posted elsewhere on 4 June 2024.) Going through some recent essays from e-flux Journal on intersections of gender and trans-ness with colonialism and imperial imaginaries (of music, architecture, geography). Tried to collect most that were relevant in one place. All can be read online: Subscribe “Hija de
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(Originally posted elsewhere on 22 July 2020.) Fantastic message. Thank you. Subscribe “Has anyone talked about peoples’ emotional responses to these places?” Absolutely. I’ll riff here, and then share some more direct excerpts from those scholars/theorists/writers in an additional post. And I’m with you, regarding the
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(Winterbottom excerpt originally posted elsewhere on 2 August 2023. Kathirithamby-Wells excerpt originally posted elsewhere on 12 August 2023.) Two excerpts which work in conversation. Is the influence of Madras (and Malaya) “outsized” in the history of British power consolidation in South and Southeast Asia? Subscribe From scholars Anna Winterbottom
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(Originally posted elsewhere 6 November 2022.) This is obvious rehashing for those already familiar with the term “Banana Republic,” the expansion of plantations in the early twentieth century, and the violent history of US dominion in the Greater Caribbean region. Though I’m partially compelled to rehash it today since
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(Originally posted elsewhere on 18 April 2020.) Me when I’m eating and savoring good food: “Thank you, Andes. Thank you, cloud forest of the high Andes, perpetually shrouded in mist. Thank you, dense tropical rainforest of the upper Amazon along the rugged eastern slopes of the Andes. Thank you,
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(Originally posted elsewhere on 31 October 2023.) Just putting Michel de Certeau’s original (and seminal) The Practice of Everyday Life (1980) in conversation with geographer Mike Crang’s later discussion of de Certeau (2000). Subscribe Because it’s Halloween, and each scholar mobilizes the notion of “haunted” urban space,
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(Originally posted elsewhere on 14 August 2020.) Fun stuff here. Comes from cultural studies/folklore analysis angle. Unsure if it would be embraced by a historian. Neat to think with/about, however. Ancient Roman folklore not anywhere near my wheelhouse, so I can’t corroborate; just in a mood for
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(Originally posted elsewhere on 13 July 2023.) I made this for a discourse on imperial science: Subscribe Captioned it: “Dutch imperialist infighting. Inadvertently undermined by his own earnest protege.” But maybe worth contextualization! So I’ll merely suggest the text of scholar Walter Klein. There are other implications at play
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(Congo post originally from 8 May 2022; French finance post originally from 18 April 2023.) (Image added 2026. Image by Jarry1250, a Wikimedia Commons user, uploaded 18 August 2011 and released into the public domain at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CFA_Franc_map.svg) Just putting scholars’ work
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Still self-critical of these; reading has since broadened
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The 'last' white rhinos and the 'Green Sahara'