In Coffee, Rhum, Sugar & Gold: A Postcolonial Paradox, ten artists explore the implications of colonialism’s violent legacy.
colonialism
Posted inArt
One Museum’s Complicated Attempt to Repatriate a “Benin Bronze”
The RISD Museum has held this Benin bronze head in its collection for 80 years. “No one would have given it up unless under duress,” the curators say. But tracing its provenance and repatriating it is no simple matter.
Posted inFilm
A Cuban Filmmaker’s Brutal Satire of Religion and Colonialism
Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s The Last Supper plays as part of Film Forum’s ongoing series The Hour of Liberation: Decolonizing Cinema, 1966-1981, which presents both classic and overlooked anti-imperialist films.
Posted inArt
Pseudoarchaeology and the Racism Behind Ancient Aliens
Where, exactly, the idea of ancient aliens building the pyramids began — and why some academics think racism lies at the heart of many extraterrestrial theories.
Posted inArt
Mel Chin’s Tongue-in-Cheek Encyclopedia of the World
He stares down the evils that have driven history, intervenes in public spaces, and collaborates with science — all in service to strengthening community
Posted inNews
Tanzania Joins International Movement Demanding Return of Human Remains in Germany
Tanzanian activists, and at least one government official, want Germany to repatriate the skull of a chief who was killed after fighting German colonists in East Africa.
Posted inArt
An Artist Takes Issue with a Brand’s Appropriation of Black Detroit
With “Rethink Shinola,” scholar and artist Rebekah Modrak has created a biting, minutely researched critique of an appropriative re-branding of Detroit.
Posted inArt
An Artist’s Powerful Letter on Post-Hurricane Puerto Rico
Yasmín Hernández lives in Puerto Rico, and instead of attending a panel discussion at El Museo del Barrio in New York last week she sent this letter outlining the realities of post-hurricane life for an artist.
Posted inArt
Reflections on Asmara’s Modernist (and Colonial) Dream
It’s hard not to question why Asmara was named a World Heritage Site, especially as the country is reeling from decades of hardship.
Posted inBooks
The Racist Caricatures of African Soldiers that Soothed French Colonial Anxieties
With a Weapon and a Grin, a new book by Stephan Likosky, traces the iconography used to infantilize African soldiers who fought in the French army during World War I.
Posted inFilm
The Complicated Legacy of Gertrude Bell, the Englishwoman Who Helped Colonize the Middle East
A new film looks at the life of the female explorer, spy, translator, and archaeologist, who’s been largely written out of history.
Posted inArt
Deluxe Redux: ‘Asia in Amsterdam’ at the Peabody Essex
SALEM, Mass. — The Dutch East India Company wrested control of the Asian spice trade from the Spanish and Portuguese, went on to own virtually all of Indonesia, and monopolized trade with Japan for 200 years.