History

Despite selling few paintings during her lifetime, feminist icon Frida Kahlo continues to be widely celebrated for her boundary-pushing work. Through her art, most notably her self-portraits, Kahlo created images of female beauty which diverged from early twentieth century ideals. Her work afforded her an outlet to share personal trauma, exploring  taboo themes from a […]

As if composed of a lost set of newsreels, it evokes an observational truth similar in style to guerilla filmmaking – Pontecorvo calls this “the dictatorship of the truth”. He achieves this truth through meticulous reconstruction, using real life locations, such as rebuilding bombsites, and non-professional actors, including petty thieves and a former National Liberation […]

What do Björk, Massive Attack and Neil Young have in common? Despite the temptation to reply, people I’ve cried to in the car (looking at you middle-aged men still stuck in the hacienda), it might surprise you that each act has been part of a larger global effort to fight climate change with music.  In […]

It has now reached the time of year when your focus will primarily be on Long Essay or Dissertation writing. It is also the time when, if you have not yet devised a game-plan for your writing, you should be starting to think about drawing one up. It is important to make a plan, and stick […]

Ireland has often been described as England’s blueprint for colonialism. Since the 12th century, the kings of England have claimed dominion over Ireland and the Irish have been resisting British dominion ever since. If Ireland was England’s blueprint for colonialism, then Ireland has also served as a blueprint for anti-colonial resistance. On May 3rd, 2021, […]

On the 7th February 2012, Britain celebrated the bicentenary of the birth of one of the greatest literary figures; Charles John Huffam Dickens. Dickens’ work resonates throughout British popular culture; with Oliver Twist’s famous words of “Please Sir, can I have some more?” and the iconic character of Ebenezer Scrooge symbolising those who lack the […]

Strict gender roles existed throughout the Tudor Dynasty, affecting all sectors of society. Tudor men believed that their role was being the head of the household whilst women, on the other hand, were raised to believe that they were inferior to men. The Tudor Dynasty somehow both adhered to and rejected these expected gender roles. […]

It is widely argued that Oliver Cromwell was simply a ‘king in all but name’ and no better than the tyrannical regime he helped overthrow. His army credentials served to enforce the idea that the English Republic was a military dictatorship characterised by the banning of Christmas, strict Puritanism and widespread oppression, particularly in Ireland. […]

The Manchester Museum opened its newly refreshed exhibitions of archaeology and Egyptology at the end of last semester. The Museum is nestled at the very heart of the University, across the road from University Place. It has a tremendously varied collection, ranging from Dinosaurs to (living) poisonous frogs and from anthropological to geological artefacts. The […]

Professor Paul Fouracre’s book Frankish History: Studies in the Construction of Power has recently been published in Ashgate’s Variorum Collected Studies Series. Dr Yangwen Zheng edited The Chinese Chameleon Revisited: From the Jesuits to Zhang Yimou which was also published recently. Dr Pedro Ramos Pinto wrote a chapter entitled ‘Why Inequalities Matter’ published in Reducing […]

Frida Kahlo’s legacy lives on today, not just because of her work, but because of herself as an individual. She was a resilient, creative, free-spirited person and her work continues to impact feminism and other communities. Her art was boundary-breaking and the transparency in her work continues to remind people that the moulds and boxes […]

In 2001, the infamous terrorist organization, Al-Qaeda, hijacked two passenger planes, using them as weapons to launch an attack on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon. Not only did these attacks result in the deaths of almost 3,000 innocent people, but they also resulted in a traumatised United States, intent on […]

“Manchester’s collection is worth almost as much as the Louvre’s” commented French art critic Théophile Thoré regarding the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857 – the largest art exhibition to be held in the UK and possibly in the world. While the British public milled pleasurably around the Exhibition’s ‘Oriental Court’, soaking in the triumphant […]

The history of the burgeoning counterculture in Britain often centres around London, with underground magazines and newspapers such as Oz, Frendz and the International Times being identified as the alternative press of the day. Although London was a countercultural epicentre, the existence of Grass Eye and Mole Express in Manchester illustrate the countercultural movement in […]