Articles

A constrained mother tongue is resilient in recalled memory. Those who no longer speak Belarusian tenderly piece together often painful cultural threads, processing trauma to keep their ‘mova’ alive.

The outbreak of the Lebanese civil war fifty years ago inaugurated an era of nation-state collapse in the Arab world. In failing to mediate, the international community carries responsibility for the sense of impotence felt in societies in which violence dominated everything but resolved nothing.

The nexus of radical inequality, social atomization and male victimhood has been exploited before. But why now, on such a scale? To understand the appeal of the far right today we need to examine the origins of the fascist myth of primordial male kinship.

‘The Syrian tragedy cannot be summed up simply as the murder of hundreds of thousands of human beings; it also involved the denial of any meaning to the extreme suffering of the Syrian people.’

Cultural humanitarian aid risks diminishing the complexity of creative work to ethnic kitsch: well-meaning initiatives rate nationality over content. And when the work does receive critical attention, only art that portrays trauma cuts it. Soon thereafter, Western interest fades. Could answers for meaningfully decolonizing Ukraine lie with other formerly colonized communities?

Polish writers are taking publishers to court over bestseller profits. In a book market hindered by dwindling readership and distribution cartels, the writer’s position is the most precarious. If the state supports farmers, priests and entrepreneurs, why not writers? Could reading, the cultural salve in Ukraine, be equally beneficial in Poland?

Should sexual relationships, with all their complications, really be a benchmark of societal acceptance? Vox Feminae investigates the history of asexuality and aromanticism: pathologized by psychologists and medical professionals, even at times minoritized within LGBTQIA+ communities.

European railways are often praised for their comprehensive continental coverage, yet it frequently falls short of meeting the evolving needs of the public. This episode of Standard Time discusses public investment and corruption, and how railway systems could transform.

The Serbian student movement symbolizes a generational shift and national renewal. For the first time in years, people are seeing a future for themselves and their children.

Veganism is rising in countries with the most meat-heavy diets, especially amongst the young. How did this change come about? Standard Time dives deep into the meat-free diet and how an agricultural transition could benefit farmers.

The decisive sex-change moment in movies, revealing a dramatic transformation, is far from reality. Transgender people face not only long assessment and surgery waiting lists but also bureaucratic hurdles when reassigning legal gender across countries, undermining their well-being and safety at a delicate time of becoming themselves.

With geopolitical deadlock and the widening of the conflict, prospects of an end to Israel’s destruction of Gaza are as distant as ever. But momentum for a ceasefire, and even statehood, would likely be stronger were Palestinian political factions not themselves still divided.

Second-wave feminist concerns over violence to women led to intense disagreement over pornography. For some, sexually explicit content was inherently abusive. Others explored the potential of what became sex positivity. Vox Feminae charts the emergence of US lesbian BDSM magazines from the late 1970s.

Talk of demilitarization and mobilization divides opinion. Could giving women and other feminized groups more agency in wartime decision-making flip their traditionally passive role, providing relief from trauma and injustice?

In Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, queerness isn’t just marginalized but transformed into a public enemy. Through legal restrictions, moral panics and media messaging, LGBTQ+ people have become the rhetorical stand-in for everything the government deems threatening.

Debate around the cultural sector’s structural inequality often ignores issues of class. Yet behind the success of many practising artists lies an inheritance, allowance or other class privilege. Eight portraits of Belgian artists seek literary revenge, breaking into cultural capital’s invisible economy.