In May 2017, the Israeli Knesset passed the nation-state bill in its first round. This bill emphasizes Israel being Jewish and democratic. A casualty of this bill is the Arabic language. Arabic has been an official language in a law…
By Lena Wånggren What is an ‘unwomanly’ woman? Or an ‘unsexed’ woman? At the end of the nineteenth century, both these terms were common invectives for any woman who went against the established gender ideals of the time. Meanwhile, some…
An extract from the introduction of Spanish Erotic Cinema, edited by Santiago Fouz-Hernandez If there is something that the various writings on aspects of eroticism in Spanish films reveal it is that it is impossible to understand the history of…
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,…
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…
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 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…