The International Space Station Archaeological Project (ISSAP), co-directed by Alice Gorman and me, is the first full-scale, systematic archaeological investigation of the material culture from a site of human activity in space. We started in late 2015, in response to a number of phenomena, including a growing desire to move the focus of space…[Read more]

Lukács is widely recognized as being the first critical theorist to have explicitly developed the idea of a “standpoint theory”. According to such a theory, members of oppressed groups enjoy an epistemic privilege regarding the nature of their oppression. However, there is no agreement regarding what precise argument Lukács offers for his claim…[Read more]

South African universities’ use of digital technologies in learning has increased in recent years. Given that
social exposure, the context and pedagogic uses of technology influence learning expectations and
learner involvement, it is important to understand students’ experiences of the use of different
technological tools. This article emp…[Read more]

Globally, student support mechanisms focus almost exclusively on academically ‘under-performing’
students, especially as insofar as academic development practices are concerned. This article makes a
case for a shift in approach. Using the context of one country, South Africa, we sought to better
understand the strengths that academically…[Read more]

This paper presents an analysis of data derived from thousands of publicly available photographs showing life on the International Space Station (ISS) between 2000 and 2020. Our analysis uses crew and locational information from the photographs’ metadata to identify the distribution of different population groups—by gender, nationality, and spa…[Read more]

“Ideal theorists” in contemporary liberal political theory argue that we can only arrive at a conception of what our most important political values require by reference to an imagined ideal state of affairs and that we must therefore, to some extent, engage in utopian thinking. Critical theorists, from Marx and the Frankfurt School, have tra…[Read more]

In 1955, Disneyland opened its doors and the American public descended into the fantastical world of Walt Disney. While Disneyland corresponded to the company’s growing brand as a movie-making empire, it also reflected the way that the original American colonies and the ever-developing Western frontier shaped the American mindset. Based on the…[Read more]

Flattened, the tire was. Pedalling with great strength, I push myself forward in the country road illuminated by lonely street lamps, leading the front tire—headstrong—advancing. Trailing behind, the synthetic black rubber greets the asphalt paved road with a kiss from a frail body. In turn, a bathetic road rash of a romance cut short by the jea…[Read more]

Stefano da Putignano’s Trinity (1520) depicts Jesus on the cross placed between the legs of an enthroned God the Father with the dove of the Holy Spirit connecting the two. Located in the small southern Italian city of Turi, this painted stone statue is one of the earliest examples of a human-sized statue of God the Father. It is unique in its m…[Read more]

This article provides preliminary insight into the creation of colonial visual culture. Using visual examples, the author shows how the encounter between European and Amerindian was, at first, apparently deprived of moral judgement, later being increasingly signified through moral and physical monstrosity, especially the female body, which served…[Read more]

This article provides preliminary insight into the creation of colonial visual culture. Using visual examples, the author shows how the encounter between European and Amerindian was, at first, apparently deprived of moral judgement, later being increasingly signified through moral and physical monstrosity, especially the female body, which served…[Read more]

The focus of this article is a speculative argument on the relation between photography and testimony as one that situates the viewer on a particularly powerless, but responsibility-laden position. Articulating Nilufër Demir’s viral 2015 photograph of Aylan Kurdi, and Walter Kleinfeldt’s 1918 photograph of an unknown fallen soldier, as images bear…[Read more]

The focus of this article is a speculative argument on the relation between photography and testimony as one that situates the viewer on a particularly powerless, but responsibility-laden position. Articulating Nilufër Demir’s viral 2015 photograph of Aylan Kurdi, and Walter Kleinfeldt’s 1918 photograph of an unknown fallen soldier, as images bear…[Read more]

The current article focuses on the approach to Walter Benjamin’s theory of the author as producer, narrowing it down to the case of photography. In the attempt to both expanding and testing Benjamin’s theory, the article speculates through an approach ranging from philosophy to visual culture propos-ing, at its end, a photographic principle in tun…[Read more]

The current article focuses on the approach to Walter Benjamin’s theory of the author as producer, narrowing it down to the case of photography. In the attempt to both expanding and testing Benjamin’s theory, the article speculates through an approach ranging from philosophy to visual culture propos-ing, at its end, a photographic principle in tun…[Read more]

Marianne Hirsch’s concept of “liquid time” states that photographs are not fixed into static permanence but remain dynamic and unfixed as they acquire new meanings in new circumstances. I had not considered this concept until I began going through family photographs after my grandfather passed away. There I was, sitting on the sofa in my grand…[Read more]

The Ward, The Noble Ward, Saint John’s Ward, Old Chinatown, and most recently, the Bay Street Corridor all describe a particular area of Toronto bordered by College Street, Yonge Street, Queen Street, and University Avenue. Historically this area was the landing point for immigrants to Canada and over time became what was considered by the local g…[Read more]

Adorno’s conception of “serious art” posits that art rejects mimesis, has autonomy from the world as well as from itself but can, however, simultaneously be about the world. Autonomy, from my vantage, has always signaled will, volition, positive and negative freedom. Positive freedom being freedom from internal restraints—the art being autonom…[Read more]

“Biopolitics” has become a popular concept for interpreting the COVID-19 pandemic, yet the term is often used vaguely, as a buzzword, and therefore loses its specificity and relevance. This article systematically explains what the biopolitical lens offers for analyzing and normatively criticizing the politics of the coronavirus. I argue that…[Read more]