Anti-blackness in South Asian communities – how do we break the cycle?

In the first of a series exploring the issue, Dhruva Balram discusses the history and social implications of colourism in South Asia and diaspora communities,  and how this relates to anti-Blackness worldwide. Colourism, and its close relative anti-Blackness, is a pervasive scourge that underpins any notion of progress the South Asian community attempts to make.… Read More

The African and Asian roots of White Australia

by Karen Williams I found the story of the Africans and Asians in Australia’s history as a loose thread, buried in a throwaway sentence about an enslaved South African woman, Rachel of the Cape1, who had been sentenced to seven years’ banishment from South Africa. She was convicted in a theft case in August 1830,… Read More

An introduction to the Indian Ocean slave trade

by Karen Williams  When many people think of slavery, they think of the translatlantic trade that took place between Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean. The legacy of enslavement in the Americas (particularly in the United States) is known globally through the cultural and political impact of African-American iconography, films, history and references in popular… Read More

‘The Whitewashing of Climate Change Solutions’

By Amit Singh Pope Francis has been lauded by climate change campaigners for an announcement last week in which he noted that “We have come to see ourselves as her [the earth’s] lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will.’’ The Pope went on to say that consumerism and human greed had led to… Read More

Part One: Ethnic Minority? No, Global Majority.

PART ONE Editors note: We asked 10 writers for their opinion on the classifications and terminology used to describe people. We stressed there was no right or wrong answer. Below are their answers: Read Part Two: Ethnic Minority? No, Global Majority There are a great deal of acronyms and labels used by society to address and… Read More

A Radical Education?

The Bloomsbury Bubble by Bidushi Dhungel Like every other minority student with good A level results and pushy parents, when I applied to university, I applied with a strong determination to do my family and “people” proud. After being rejected by Oxford, where I underwent the most daunting of interviews in which, during one, my… Read More

Photo Gallery: Taiwan, through the Lens of the People

I visited Taiwan for the first time 5 years ago with my wife, who’s Taiwanese; at that time, I knew next to nothing about the country’s history and people. This has made observing and photographing life here all the more interesting to me. It is also a clear signifier to me that in the West we… Read More

The Black Clouds over Peshawar and the Inescapable Vulnerability of Life

by Sanaa Alimia For a while now I have been speaking to my friends and family about the ‘black cloud’ that hangs over Peshawar. When you enter Peshawar, I don’t know how else to describe it. There is something in the atmosphere: nervousness, an unspoken tension. This is not a simplistic attempt to romanticise Peshawar as… Read More

‘Exotic’, ‘Tribal’, ‘Ethnic’ fashion?

by Samira Sawlani Walk into any store on the British high street and you are bound to see costume jewellery, artefacts and clothing which look as if they are made in Africa or branded as ‘ethnic’ or ‘tribal’ (the usage of both which are not only irritating but also problematic). Women will use these words… Read More