Elena Vanden Abeele investigates the functions, symbols and hidden meanings behind the parsol in the 19th century.
Can the contents of an academic book be expressed by means other than words? In centuries past, it was common for a book to have a lavishly illustrated cover which, through signs and symbols, informed the prospective reader what the…
The guest editors of the Somatechnics Special Issue, ‘Trans Temporalities‘, draw on their inspirations for the issue theme, as well as highlighting experiences of gender nonnormative subjects and the significance of time, discourse and materiality in understanding the [complicated] lives…
By Ben Clements. My Scottish Affairs research looks in detail at recent survey data on religious decline and secularisation in Scotland, using Scottish Social Attitudes and British Social Attitudes surveys to analyse affiliation and attendance in Scotland across 1992-2014. Historically,…
In the early years of China’s Civil War, the Communist army and leadership sought refuge from Nationalist troops in the remote western district of Fujian Province known as Tingzhou. Here, for over three years, the leaders of the fledgling Communist…
Last month we celebrated the writing of Hélène Cixous, both as part of Women’s History Month and of OLR’s 40th Anniversary. This month, we are sticking with the ever-wonderful Cixous as we delve into Gilles Deleuze’s article, ‘Hélène Cixous…
Who was Richard Owen? Richard Owen (1804–1892) is one of the most important British biologists of the nineteenth century. He made significant contributions in the field of comparative anatomy. One aspect of his scientific output continues to be overlooked, namely…
A woman walks across a bridge. She is looking at her mobile. She seems to be in a hurry. Close to her, a person lies injured on the pavement. Several people attend to the injured person. The woman is wearing…
By Martin Kratz In 1978, Anthony Burgess published several translations of work by the nineteenth-century Roman poet G.G. Belli. Burgess’s longstanding engagement with Belli had culminated the previous year in the publication of ABBA ABBA (1977), a hybrid novel/literary translation.…
By Valerie Cumming and Alexandra Kim The year 2017 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Costume as a journal and we are celebrating this milestone in a number of different ways. The most obvious is that Costume‘s cover design has been…