A note on the existential significance of Miguel de Unamuno’s metafiction. His novels question the ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ which is the bedrock of workaday human reality. (A retropost from 2011).

An article (20 p., PDF) about the claims and reality of traditional spiritual and rational philosophy, how they have set back, damaged, and obstructed improvements of the human condition, and how we can overcome these impediments to a thriving existence and find a new beginning.

Vae terrae et mari! * QRt by PRURITUS MIGRANS * CC: BY-NC-SA

‘Independence’ for bantustans was universally rejected by the international community in
the late 1970s and early 1980s. How the status of Lesotho and Swaziland as
internationally recognised states deeply embedded in South Africa’s economic and
political orbit differed from that of the bantustans was clear in some cases, murky in
others. The a…[Read more]

WARNING! * PRURITUS MIGRANS * CC: BY-NC-SA

The Irish Sea which separates Great Britain and Ireland has often been written about in terms of divisions, threats, and hazards. Facing each other across that sea, the coast of Wales and Ireland’s eastern seaboard have a more complex story to tell, one characterised by intimate if troubled lines of connection. A place of passage for centuries, t…[Read more]

ALARM BELLS! * QRt by PRURITUS MIGRANS * CC: BY-NC-SA

Silent Bells! * QRt by PRURITUS MIGRANS * CC: BY-NC-SA

Giggle Bells! * QRt by PRURITUS MIGRANS * CC: BY-NC-SA

Two sections of a book comparing creation myths from ancient Greece and Rome with their Japanese counterparts from the early 8th Century Kojiki (古事記, “Records of Ancient Matters”). These fusion essays are summations of previous book sections by Greek and Japanese authors on the elements of fire and air, respectively, and, drawing from Plato and J…[Read more]

little GREEN men * QRt by PRURITUS MIGRANS * CC: BY-NC-SA

OPPRESS!ON * QRt by PRURITUS MIGRANS * CC: BY-NC-SA

How could the ideal of a universal brotherhood of mankind be realized in an age of nationalism, colonialism and culture wars? “With God, for fatherland and humanity?” is the first comprehensive study of masonic internationalism. It explores, with a focus on England, France, Germany, and Italy, how European masonic associations promoted or opposed…[Read more]

From the first moment the CFR (Fernández Rivero Collection) had among its objectives the formation of a collection of historical photography that would serve to understand the reality of the photographic phenomenon (especially in Spain) as a whole. From this point of view, it was clear that family photography should have its space in the…[Read more]

MMQR * QRt by PRURITUS MIGRANS * CC: BY-NC-SA

The “Spanish influenza” pandemic that struck Egypt in fall 1918 resulted in the death of eleven out of every one thousand people. Despite the mass suffering caused by the pandemic, it has been largely ignored by historians. I describe how the Egyptian public health service was unprepared for a major health crisis because resources were red…[Read more]

BLACK AND WHITE * QRt by PRURITUS MIGRANS * CC: BY-NC-SA

Good Mourning, Burma! * QRt by PRURITUS MIGRANS * CC-BY-NC-SA

ABSURDISTAN * QRt by PRURITUS MIGRANS * CC: BY-NC-SA

Once the manufacturing powerhouse of the nation, Detroit has become emblematic of failing cities everywhere—the paradigmatic city of ruins—and the epicenter of an explosive growth in images of urban decay. In Beautiful Terrible Ruins, art historian Dora Apel explores a wide array of these images, ranging from photography, advertising, and tel…[Read more]