Blogs

A number of thought provoking studies on race and performance in American culture have demonstrated that class identities in America have been constructed through the symbolic use of  African American bodies.  The bulk of these studies have looked at minstrelsy in 19^th century America.  David Roediger (1991) has shown that minstrelsy, a popular form of Vaudeville-type entertainment wherein White performers (usually male) blackened their faces with burnt cork in order to impersonate African Americans, played a key role in White working class formation before t  read more »

The eruption of race in the current American presidential campaign has been a reminder of its volatility in American history and politics. The decision of Barack Obama to run for the Presidency has seen him transformed from an African American freshman United States Senator to a national figure whose political fortunes have become tied to the possible transformation of American political culture and its life.  read more »

Rwandans are remembering the genocide of Tutsis 14 years ago, which was the culmination of a racist script written in Europe and then rehearsed in the continent for over 100 years with an African cast.  read more »

Very senior officials of the American, French, British, and German governments recently held fruitful discussions with their Nigerian counterparts in Accra, Ghana. The purpose of the meeting was to amicably resolve disputes that have developed over exclusive rights to treat the minor ailments of Nigerian rulers and ‘top government functionaries'.  read more »

"Are the legitimate political institutions of our societies in a position to redress even the most perilous situations by democratic intervention in the process of actual decision making, as traditional political discourse keeps reassuring us, despite all evidence to the contrary?"

István Mészáros

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