Notes towards placing The Wire’s depiction of African-Americans in the context of American TV crime drama
Critics have justifiably praised The Wire for its rounded African-American characters, and the risks it took in foregrounding ‘black Baltimore’ – risks that have…
The Wire generally avoids simple characterisations of heroes and villains in favour of ambiguous, finely drawn characters. Our expectations of characters’ behaviours are constantly challenged and played with. But in this world of complex motivations and contradictory actions, the lawyer Maurice Levy stands out…
Race, as a key marker of difference, helps individuals navigate contemporary life, and static notions of identity are often grounded on racial bodies connected to fixed thoughts of Blackness and Whiteness. Popular media representations, serving as sites of contestation regarding…
Before, and at a notably accelerated pace since the unfortunate events of 2001, the notion of “life” in the United States has been reduced to an abstract reference to health and safety. Security has taken precedence over quality of life,…
Review of: Tejaswini Niranjana (2006) Mobilizing India: Women, Music, and Migration between India and Trinidad. London: Duke University Press.
Review can be read at anti-babel. (Due to copyright restrictions, this article can only appear on the reviewer’s own website).
Before rehearsing those wonderfully myopic arguments about the internet as a space of unlimited freedoms beyond censorship, it’s worth bearing in mind the corporate nature of social networking sites like Facebook. Though you might not consider the ethics of corporate…
Review of: Gautam Malkani (2007) Londonstani, HarperPerennial; and Nirpal Singh Dhaliwal (2006) Tourism, Vintage.
With last year’s protests surrounding the filming of Monica Ali’s Brick Lane the debate on authenticity and representation yet again reared its head. It seems a…
Something unusual happened yesterday in a city built largely on the artifice of celebrity. Millionaire heiress and ‘Simple Life’ star, Paris Hilton was led screaming from an LA courtroom to an uncertain future and the possibility of actually completing her…
…people are fascinated, terrified and fascinated by this indifference of the Nothing-to-see, of the Nothing-to-say…
Such was the reckoning of Big Brother propounded in a late lecture by the freshly dead Jean Baudrillard. His words are familiar, his argument quite…
Hip-Hop has emerged as a serious area of study in the US. This article in the San Francisco Chronicle – ACADEMIC HIP-HOP? YES, YES Y’ALL by Reyhan Harmanci gives a useful overview of the rise of Hip-Hop studies in the…
