When I first started my research on propaganda and culture in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, the study of propaganda was considered rather dated, or was relegated to the study of European fascism, Stalinism or dictatorships in post-colonial nation states. Even…
Confusing films Watching narrative films can be one of the most engrossing aesthetic experiences possible. It can also be completely alienating – there are few things more boring than a boring film! But some films can be both engrossing and…
In the final part of this five-part series on African American film, Geetha Ramanathan discusses 2017 hit “Get Out” alongside Kathleen Collins’s “The Cruz Brothers and Miss Malloy” to consider different ways race relations are portrayed on screen. Click here…
In part four of this five-part series, Geetha Ramanathan uses two examples to consider how African American films of the 1970s and 1980s explored America’s relationship with race. Click here to read part one of the series. Over the course of African…
In part three of this five-part series, Geetha Ramanathan explores the use of American mythology and folklore in two African American films. Click here to read part one of the series. The great mythology of the US is written on…
In part two of this five-part series, Geetha Ramanathan considers the use of the “ancestral archive” to discuss gender models and sexuality in African American films. Click here to read part one of this series. Artists from the US, the…
In this five-part series, Geetha Ramanathan, author of Kathleen Collins: The Black Essai Film (Edinburgh University Press, 2020), explores over a century of African American films and what they tell us about African American history both on and off screen.…
To celebrate the release of Muslim Preaching in the Middle East and Beyond: Historical and Contemporary Case Studies, editors Simon Stjernholm and Elisabeth Özdalga take us through five essential things you should know about Muslim preaching. 1. Synchronised sermons When…
The past years have seen many commemorations in the Israeli–Arab conflict: 100 years since the Balfour Declaration (2017), seventy years since Israel was created (2018), fifty years since the 1967 war (2017), thirty years since the first intifada (2017), and…
A staple in cinema for decades, the vampire movie is a genre that is constantly being rejuvenated with fresh blood. Michael Guarneri looks to Italian cinema to introduce five vintage vampire movies you might not have seen. 1) L’ultima preda…