The recent attack on Salman Rushdie reminds us that the debates on limits of freedom of expression are not new. Or rather, the form these debates take has been a feature of our culture for several decades (defending freedom of …
Tag: Academia
I’m Being Cancelled! Update 1
I’ve spent most of today reading How Woke Won by Joanna Williams. Williams is a core member of the RCP/Spiked! crew that have done a lot to push the war on woke into public consciousness. I’m starting to think my …
Research on free speech and live art
I’m spending the summer researching theories of performativity and theatricality in politics to think about how the ‘war on woke’ is a way of performing an ideology of reactionary liberalism. I want to understand how concepts of ‘free speech’ are …
Steve McQueen’s Small Axe – Mangrove
We mustn’t be victims, but protagonists of our own story
I want this line spray painted across every government briefing and policy document relating to modern race and racism. It feels like it could be spoken by a Spiked contrarian …
Alternatives to the Academic Essay
During lockdown I was amazed at the quality of online work the students produced for the performative writing module I teach at Rose Bruford, so much so that I and the programme directors have decided to make a permanent change …