MARY CONWAY is frustrated by a new play that loses its drama amid the moral dilemma of re-settling children in the aftermath of WWII
‘Challenges posed by a world in which race matters’
GORDON PARSONS recommends a book that will keep the reader, black or white, fully engaged and, as importantly, self-questioning
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES: 'Being black connotes a lack of a right to anything'
Acclaimed as a masterpiece when it premiered, this study of story-telling in an Irish pub more than lives up to expectations, says MARY CONWAY
SYLVIA HIKINS relishes a comedy that dives deep into Liverpool’s divided loyalties
Reviews of new releases by Wednesday, Suede, and Nation of Language
AYOUSH LAZIKANI introduces her guide to the many ways in which the Moon was interpreted in medieval times
An analysis of the choices facing the US left has to reach beyond the confines of the Democrat party, suggests RON JACOBS
Fear of Black Consciousness
Lewis R Gordon
Allen Lane, £20
“I CAN’T breathe.” George Floyd’s dying words have established an iconic meme resounding throughout the world.
Just as the asphyxiating coronavirus “sees” no boundaries, responding most effectively to pre-existing conditions, Lewis Gordon, a leading Afro-Jewish existentialist philosopher, recognises that “our pre-existing pandemics of neoliberalism, neoconservatism, fascism, and their accompanying racism” provided vulnerable social sites for the virus to spread more efficiently.
Gordon quotes WEB Du Bois, the famous social scientist, educationist and socialist, founder of the NAACP: “Being born black does not entail in social scientific terms what it means to be black.”
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GORDON PARSONS is riveted by a translation of Shakespeare’s tragedy into joyous comedy set in a southern black homestead
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GORDON PARSONS endures heavy rock punctuated by Shakespeare, and a delighted audience
GORDON PARSONS advises you to get up to speed on obscure ancient ceremonies to grasp this interpretation of a late Shakespearean tragi-comedy
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GORDON PARSONS is enthralled by an erudite and entertaining account of where the language we speak came from
MARJORIE MAYO welcomes challenging insights and thought-provoking criticisms of a number of widely accepted assumptions on the left
RON JACOBS recommends a book filled with history and political theory that provides both a basis and inspiration to create a way forward
FIONA O’CONNOR recommends an accessible and entertaining survey of post-war French philosophy and its relation to contemporary capitalism