Cannabis, Race, and Mental Illness in Britain, 1980-1993

by | 04 Jul 2021 | Race, Ethnicity and Equality, Writing Race

Were late-twentieth century British psychiatrists racist? Or psychiatry as a discipline? Or were they both products of the wider society they were situated within? For the ninth post in the RHS’s ‘Writing Race’ blog series, Jamie Banks investigates “cannabis...

Nigerian cultural heritage abroad: the case of an Itsekiri chief

by | 28 Jun 2021 | Race, Ethnicity and Equality, Writing Race

How do we study the material culture taken from Africa during colonialism, and what do we do about its continued alienation from places and communities of origin? Bringing us the seventh post in the RHS ‘Writing Race’ blog series, Allegra Ayida considers the material...

Why does the commemoration of slavery and its victims remain so difficult in France?

by | 21 Jun 2021 | General, Race, Ethnicity and Equality, Writing Race

How do modern European nations remember the abolition of slavery, and how does this affect campaigns for racial justice? In the latest post from the RHS ‘Writing Race’ blog series, Olivia Durand introduces her research on France’s complicated relationship with...

When Rhodes was not built

by | 13 Jun 2021 | Race, Ethnicity and Equality, Writing Race

Statues and commemorations of Cecil Rhodes provoke strong reactions. Recent calls for removal have focused especially on statues at the universities of Oxford and Cape Town, prompting others to argue for their retention or contextualisation. In this latest post for...

Race, Prostitution and the British Empire

by | 24 May 2021 | Race, Ethnicity and Equality, Writing Race

In what ways did colonialism redefine and enforce concepts of sexual behaviour, and how do historians best recover the lives of those affected? In this fifth post of the RHS ‘Writing Race’ blog series, Sudeshna Chatterjee introduces her research on the governance of...

‘The women had saved the situation’: Indian women’s work in war and famine

by | 04 May 2021 | Race, Ethnicity and Equality, Writing Race

The work undertaken by lower caste Indian women during the Second World War is both surprising and shocking. For the latest post in the ‘Writing Race’ blog series, Urvi Khaitan — a current PhD researcher — reveals how tens of thousands of women worked above and below...