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Self & Society.

Identity, power and the everyday: how we live with each other, and with ourselves.

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Latest in Self & Society Time Regained in a Vacuum Edward Learman writes through a sleepless night to trace the school memories, isolation and half-answers behind a decade of clinical depression. Edward Learman · 1 February 2016

31 Jan 2016 31 Jan 2016 A 21st Century Problem – Maintaining ‘A Room of One’s Own’ Yasmyn Shaikh takes Virginia Woolf's room of one's own into the 21st century, where debt and precarity make creative space ever harder to keep. Yasmyn Shaikh

18 Aug 2015 18 Aug 2015 On Survival: Lessons from a Festival Exploring Sexual Abuse Tanaka Mhishi reports from Clear Lines, the UK's first festival exploring sexual violence and consent through theatre, art, comedy and discussion. Tanaka Mhishi

30 Jun 2015 30 Jun 2015 To see an ocean of dreams in a mere teardrop as Wichita falls After losing a friend to suicide, Benjamin Eli Levine writes on empathy through Chen Si, who patrols Nanjing's bridge to talk strangers back from the edge. Benjamin Eli Levine

9 Jun 2015 9 Jun 2015 The Cost Of A Pretty Penny An unasked-for glass of tea leads Aryanna Prasad to examine beauty as women's unofficial currency and the real cost of a pretty penny. Aryanna Prasad

2 Jun 2015 2 Jun 2015 All For None And None For All: The Depressive Effects of Western “Progress” Aryanna Prasad links America's individualist creed to its silence around mental illness, where saying 'I need help' takes the greatest courage. Aryanna Prasad

20 May 2015 20 May 2015 “NOT ALL MEN” Misogynist Buzzwords & their Implications Sam unpacks 'not all men' and other misogynist buzzwords, showing how each derails feminist criticism while posing as harmless common sense. Sam

8 May 2015 8 May 2015 Dear Fellow Humans #GE2015 Elsie Bryant's letter to fellow humans before the 2015 election: a plea to vote with empathy for social justice, equality and the environment. Elsie Bryant

14 Apr 2015 14 Apr 2015 “You may house their bodies but not their souls” Taimour Fazlani reads Gibran against the tuition-fee system, arguing that debt and dogma are stripping the soul from British university learning. Taimour Fazlani

24 Mar 2015 24 Mar 2015 Why ZOD Culture Matters, and Why There Is Hope One of our students is the founder and editor of ZOD Culture; other students have written for it. I admire them for what they do. Dr. Michael Neu

3 Mar 2015 3 Mar 2015 The Changing Cultural Paradigm Ancoats, once Manchester’s industrial heartland, is now a test case for urban renewal where cultural planning, artist-led change, and gentrification collide. Daisy Kidd

1 Mar 2015 1 Mar 2015 Peace ZOD Culture follows the word peace from Gandhi through the commodified counter-culture, asking what it still means beneath the branding. ZOD Culture Editorial Team

26 Feb 2015 26 Feb 2015 Why America Needs Black History Month Every February, Black History Month returns to inspirit black innovators and remind white America that black lives matter. Aryanna Prasad

27 Jan 2015 27 Jan 2015 Materialism that Undermines Capitalism David Gould argues postmodern relativism disarms critique of capitalism, and that taking objects' value seriously is a materialism that resists. David Gould

24 Jan 2015 24 Jan 2015 Would you shoot the president? Would you shoot the president to stop a nuclear strike? Elijah Joshua Pryor dissects the dilemma and what such questions reveal about morality. Elijah Joshüa Pryor

21 Jan 2015 21 Jan 2015 The systematic sexual abuse of young girls The Independent Inquiry CSE into Rotherham revealed that approximately 1400 children were sexually exploited in the borough situated in the South of Yorkshire. Emily Hoyle

20 Jan 2015 20 Jan 2015 Sexism in The Media & Its Violent Implications After intervening to protect two girls from harassment, student Tugce was fatally attacked in Germany, framing this essay’s critique of sexism and violence. Stop Bild Sexism

13 Jan 2015 13 Jan 2015 The Importance of Diversity in Cinema Anthony Laurence on cinema's representation problem and why film must offer heroes and role models who are not, by default, white men. Anthony Laurence

6 Jan 2015 6 Jan 2015 “Every Pair of Jeans Has its Story” Taimour Fazlani looks past the style blogs' devotion to ask what fashion costs, tracing every pair of jeans back to the hands that made it. Taimour Fazlani

23 Dec 2014 23 Dec 2014 Education and Power I: Machine Minds Tom Moulton traces capitalism from feudal origins to a dominance so normalised that 9-to-5 work and excess consumption now pass for human nature. Tom Moulton

11 Nov 2014 11 Nov 2014 The False Idols Series Part I: Lest We Forget Dave Martin questions the remembrance ritual of 'lest we forget', asking what exactly we remember, why, and whom the ceremony really serves. Dave Martin

1 Nov 2014 1 Nov 2014 Global Visionaries: Erick Matsanza – Spice Chungu Orsod Malik speaks with Erick Matsanza and Spice Chungu, African visionaries whose work defies the West's bleak single story of the continent. Orsod Malik

17 Oct 2014 17 Oct 2014 Dear College Kids, Would You Listen to Samantha White? Aryanna Prasad watches Dear White People as a biracial student and asks whether Justin Simien's satire can make America talk honestly about racism. Aryanna Prasad

3 Oct 2014 3 Oct 2014 Genocide begins with the Silence of the World Zekarias Kebraeb is a human being who can fly because he has wings in his soul. To us Zekarias Kebraeb is an immigrant. Just an immigrant. Benjamin Eli Levine

23 Sept 2014 23 Sept 2014 Normativity Part III: Ethnocentrism & Normativity In 2014 the issue of identity is still one of relevance in Britain. Newspapers paraphrase Enoch Powell on a seemingly weekly basis. Dave Martin

15 Sept 2014 15 Sept 2014 Normativity Part II: Heteronormativity and the LGBTQIA community Dave Martin examines heteronormativity and the UK's first same-sex marriages, asking which social norms still exclude the LGBTQIA community. Dave Martin

16 Aug 2014 16 Aug 2014 Pornography: Instructional? Fantastical? Or Neither? Jeremy Barras tests adult actresses' claims of empowerment against the industry's realities, asking if porn is instructional, fantasy or neither. Jeremy Barras

4 Aug 2014 4 Aug 2014 Normativity Part I: The Atheist Doctrine Dave Martin examines how forum atheism mirrors the religions it rejects, assembling a doctrine and narrative of its own from anti-theist polemic. Dave Martin

9 Jun 2014 9 Jun 2014 ‘no Justice, no Peace’ in a white supremacist capitalist patriarchy Benjamin Eli Levine traces 'no justice, no peace' from Rodney King to Mike Brown through bell hooks' white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. Benjamin Eli Levine

1 Jun 2014 1 Jun 2014 Acknowledging Privilege Oppression is a system in which one group maintains supremacy over another, simple enough. How exactly does one group maintain supremacy over another? Orsod Malik

16 Apr 2014 16 Apr 2014 Doctoring What It Means To Be Desi An overheard Starbucks conversation leads Aryanna Prasad through the careers, marriages and expectations that define what it means to be desi. Aryanna Prasad

9 Apr 2014 9 Apr 2014 The ‘Melting Pot’ Myth A classmate's question about the melting pot leads Aryanna Prasad through August Wilson's plays to the myth at the heart of American diversity. Aryanna Prasad

31 Mar 2014 31 Mar 2014 The New Great Migration: From the Furnaces to the Basketball Court Via Alfredo Vea's gods go begging, Jeremy Barras follows the new Great Migration from the furnaces to basketball courts sold as escape routes. Jeremy Barras

11 Mar 2014 11 Mar 2014 From the Depths of a Melting Pot into the Circles of a Neoliberal Inferno: Part I Benjamin Eli Levine maps how neoliberal ideology and identity politics atomise us into cells of a panopticon while claiming to set us free. Benjamin Eli Levine

24 Feb 2014 24 Feb 2014 TRUTH, BELIEF & THE FLOATING CHRYSANTHEMUM The Involuntary Bystander separates truth from belief, tracing how personal certainty hardens past the point of sanity in faith, sport and science. The Involuntary Bystander

1 Feb 2014 1 Feb 2014 Feminism – Challenging Basic Conceptions Orsod Malik leaves a Brighton lecture on women's liberation startled by how many of his peers still resist the basic conceptions of feminism. Orsod Malik

14 Jan 2014 14 Jan 2014 Duggan’s Just Deserts Or Have We Deserted Justice? Oliver Brooks dissects the inquest that ruled Mark Duggan's shooting lawful and asks what an unarmed man's death means for British justice. Oliver Brooks

23 Dec 2013 23 Dec 2013 Slut Shaming & the Censorship of Music Videos Emily Hoyle takes on slut-shaming and the calls to censor music videos, asking why Miley Cyrus became the scapegoat for a sexualised culture. Emily Hoyle

19 Sept 2013 19 Sept 2013 The Female Gaze, Women Viewing Sexualised Women Emily Hoyle asks why women look at sexualised women, from lingerie campaigns to magazine covers aimed at a female, not male, audience. Emily Hoyle

16 Aug 2013 16 Aug 2013 Is The Excuse For Ignorance Inexorable? After Lee Rigby's murder, Jeremy Barras confronts the reflex to damn Islam wholesale and asks whether the excuse for ignorance is inexorable. Jeremy Barras

16 Aug 2013 16 Aug 2013 Raunchy Role Models & The Women Who Look Up To Them Emily Hoyle asks why young women idolise pop's hypersexualised stage acts and what raunch culture sold as girl power teaches its youngest fans. Emily Hoyle

Self & Society archive · 41 essays