All posts tagged: Colonialism

The weight of the Three Lions: Football, colonialism, diaspora | World Cup 2026

The weight of the Three Lions: Football, colonialism, diaspora | World Cup 2026

Published by Sam Flores

When England takes on Ghana, a former British colony, there is something you should pay attention to. Watch Kobbie Boateng Mainoo, one of the most talented young players in all of football, then watch Brandon Thomas-Asante, Jerome Opoku and Antoine Semenyo. All four of these young men share very similar backgrounds and stories. All four born in England, socially and culturally shaped by English football, all with Ghanaian heritage. Yet only Kobbie Mainoo plays for England, while the others play for Ghana. Things like this make me question my allegiances. They make me wonder who I should truly root for. But we will get to that. This is for the keep-sports-out-of-politics crowd: Many of England’s 26 players are sons or grandsons of people from Caribbean and African countries. Most of those countries are former colonies of the British Empire. Football has never been just a game. It has always been a mirror. Research from the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford has revealed that nearly a quarter of the 1,248 players selected for national …

Pope Leo XIV arrives in Angola, where oil wealth and mass poverty collide

Pope Leo XIV arrives in Angola, where oil wealth and mass poverty collide

Published by Sam Flores

NAIROBI (RNS) — Pope Leo XIV arrived in Angola on Saturday afternoon, touching down in the capital, Luanda, to begin a three-day visit expected to focus on economic inequality, youth unemployment and governance in one of Africa’s most resource-rich nations. The visit, part of his broader tour of Africa, brings the pope to a country where vast oil and mineral wealth contrasts sharply with widespread poverty — a reality religious leaders say is likely to shape his message in the days ahead. Religious leaders in the country told RNS they expect the pope will address both moral and structural challenges facing the country. “This visit is coming at a time when many people are questioning the direction of the country,” Fr. António Caetano Neto, a Catholic priest in Angola, told RNS by phone. “There is hope that the pope will speak about justice, accountability and the dignity of ordinary people.” Angola is overwhelmingly Christian, with more than 90% of the population adhering to various denominations. A former Portuguese colony, Angola is home to one of …

Politics of Black hair: why grooming rules are under scrutiny across the diaspora | Colonialism

Politics of Black hair: why grooming rules are under scrutiny across the diaspora | Colonialism

Published by Sam Flores

Last month a Jamaican woman said her teenage son had been pulled from lessons because school staff had deemed his afro hairstyle inappropriate. “The dean of discipline called me to state that my son has been removed,” Michelle Scott said. “You’re telling me that you took him, a fifth-form student, out of classes to go and get a haircut?” The school, Ardenne high in Kingston, Jamaica, denied the boy had been removed from class, but said he had been spoken to about the “alleged infraction”. According to Jamaica’s school grooming guidelines: hair must be neat, clean and well-maintained at all times. Disputes over natural Black hairstyles continue to surface throughout the African and Caribbean diaspora, raising questions about the extent to which grooming rules, rooted in colonial ideas about “neatness”, still shape how Black hair is treated in workplaces and classrooms. This is apparent even in Black-majority countries that were once colonised. Schools in countries such as Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda continue to require girls to cut their natural hair before they are allowed to …

The Docteur Is In | David Beal

The Docteur Is In | David Beal

Published by José Betancourt

In January 1960 Brussels hosted a “Round Table” conference of Congolese and European leaders to negotiate the future of the Belgian Congo. Anticolonial resistance had surged across Africa over the previous decade; in the Congo the antagonism had reached its peak in 1959 after colonial authorities killed dozens—possibly hundreds—of protesters in the infamous Léopoldville riots. Looking to avoid the kind of protracted independence war that had engulfed Algeria, while also maneuvering to retain some control of the mineral-rich Congo in the coming decades, the Belgians agreed to organize a set of meetings with Congolese political leaders, who presented a united front in demanding formal independence. The conference, which lasted for weeks, was a high-stakes political bargaining session determining when and how power would be transferred. But it was also a kind of international theater, in which a new generation was announcing itself on the world stage. Representing the Congo were not just the major players from different factions of the independence movement—Patrice Lumumba, Joseph Kasavubu, Moïse Tshombe, and dozens of others—but also members of two …

When Gender Policing Backfires | Blog of the APA

When Gender Policing Backfires | Blog of the APA

Published by Jenni Sidey

Recently, I was coming home from a conference, and I had just gotten through TSA at an airport that I had been to before. I noticed something that I had noticed the previous time I was there, which is a startlingly long line. The line that I had noticed previously is the line to the women’s restroom. I usually notice the line to the women’s restroom at major events, whether Comic-Con, a concert, a speech, or a book signing; the lines for women and men are literally night and day. This moment at the airport was no different. As per usual, there was no line for the men’s room; men and boys went in and out of the restroom like clockwork. Yet the line for women and girls moved more slowly than molasses on a cold winter’s day. The long women’s bathroom line is not an unusual phenomenon, but it is still painful to witness. We can make planes, trains, cars, and Wi-Fi fast, but not the restroom line designated for women and girls. One …

#Science and Culture in Latin America, Alejo Stark

#Science and Culture in Latin America, Alejo Stark

Published by Jenni Sidey

Most introductory philosophy of science courses begin by presenting the traditional positivist view of science as objective, descriptive, and value-free, usually as a historical position that will later be critically examined. Science and Culture in Latin America is likewise a philosophy of science course, taught as an upper-level class at the University of Utah, but it is one that reorients this familiar starting point by foregrounding the philosophical significance of science’s embeddedness with culture, power, and values. Although the course is interdisciplinary (it was cross-listed as a Spanish course and a History and Philosophy of Science course), its central questions remain philosophical: What counts as scientific knowledge? How do values shape inquiry? How should we understand scientific practices embedded in colonial and Indigenous contexts? In contrast to standard syllabi that assume students already inhabit a positivist framework, this course begins by challenging that assumption and situating science within broader cultural and political worlds. We begin with familiar debates concerning the nature of science and how we tell its history: we discuss Galileo Galilei, Thomas Kuhn, and …

Christian nationalism isn’t limited to US, say scholars meeting in Chicago

Christian nationalism isn’t limited to US, say scholars meeting in Chicago

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — Scholars from around the world are gathering in Chicago this week to focus on Christian nationalism, which they say is growing in influence globally. “Christian nationalism is not a single ideology, nor is it confined to one nation,” said Abimbola Adelakun, associate professor of global Christianity at the University of Chicago Divinity School and organizer of the conference. “Across the world, Christianity is being invoked to legitimize political authority and exclusionary visions of belonging. This conference brings global perspectives together to better understand how these movements operate and why they matter.” The first of what organizers say will be an annual event, the conference is designed to look at issues affecting Christians around the world, said Adelakun. “This year, we’re looking at Christian nationalism, because it’s the most topical issue,” she said. “We are trying to understand this phenomenon of Christian nationalism. What does it mean for Christianity?” she said. “What does it portend, and where do we go from here?” She said the scholars invited to the conference have defined Christian nationalism …

The Mechanics of Colonialism: Newtonian Metaphors in History

The Mechanics of Colonialism: Newtonian Metaphors in History

Published by Sam Flores

In the late 17th century, Isaac Newton published his “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy,” laying out three laws of motion that forever changed the way we understand the physical world. In classical physics — the physics of machines — these laws are universal: they describe everything from falling apples to the orbits of satellites. But in the centuries that followed, the language and logic of these laws seeped into political thought. Whether consciously invoked or unconsciously mirrored, Newton’s principles provided a seductive framework for the expansion of empires — and the suppression of resistance — as natural, even inevitable. Newton’s laws landed in a country at relative peace. In England, the relative absence of large natural predators meant communities faced fewer immediate threats to survival. By contrast, in many African regions, the constant presence of predators like lions, hyenas and wild dogs created strong incentives for cooperation and mutual support. Daily survival often depended on coordination, shared knowledge and collective defense, fostering cultures in which collaboration was essential. These societies were by no means uniform; …