By Darren Elliott-Smith, Senior Lecturer in Film, Media and Gender, University of Stirling
In Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Gillian Anderson plays Billy, a reclusive actress famous for playing a classic “final girl”. That’s the last woman left alive to confront the killer in a slasher movie. “It’s all about flesh … and fluids,” she explains when discussing the appeal of the fictional Camp Miasma franchise, the series of slasher films at the heart of this affectionate meta-slasher.
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun’s follow-up to the critically acclaimed queer…
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By Adam Farquhar, Research Associate in the School of Law, University of Edinburgh
Donald Trump’s Board of Peace published a 15-point roadmap for Gaza in late July in which Hamas would hand its weapons to a committee of Palestinian technocrats, certified by an international verification body, and Israel would withdraw from the strip in phases. After Israel officially rejected the plan on August 9, US envoy Jared Kushner flew to the Egyptian coast to
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By Nhlanhla Mpofu, Researcher in TESOL & Literacy, University of Notre Dame Australia
Simthembile Xeketwana, Senior Lecturer, Stellenbosch University
In many South African classrooms, learners continue to experience the subject of history through the language, concepts and perspectives inherited from colonial traditions. Changes have been made to what children are taught. But the curriculum changes might not be enough to change what children learn in history classrooms.
The reason for this is that English continues to dominate as the language of learning and teaching in most secondary schools. This is despite the fact that South Africa officially recognises…
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By Sheila Petty, Professor Emerita of Film Studies, University of Regina
African film festivals were once quite rare, but in the past decades they’ve been growing in the continent and mushrooming around the world. A recent open access book explores these events through case studies.
The book’s editor, African cinema scholar Sheila Petty, has also written chapters in it about the role film festivals play in creating a living and lasting conversation about African culture.…
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By Simon Pooley, FLS, Lambert Reader in Human-Wildlife Coexistence, Birkbeck, University of London
The okapi’s story reveals how Indigenous knowledge shaped its discovery, while colonialism, mining and conflict now threaten this remarkable rainforest animal.
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By Marloes Janson, Professor of West African Anthropology, SOAS, University of London
The highway between Lagos and Ibadan was built in 1978 at the height of Nigeria’s oil boom. Lagos is the country’s largest city, with an estimated population of over 20 million, and Ibadan the third-largest and home to a globally renowned university.
But the boom years are over and rising traffic and decades of neglect have turned the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway into one of Nigeria’s…
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By Ivis García, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University
Drought and a ruptured pipeline have forced Puerto Rico into revolving water shut-offs. For many people, the disruption started years earlier, as did loss of faith in the utility.
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By Thomas Moore, PhD Candidate in Philosophy, University of Sheffield
A visit to my friend in a remote Yorkshire village led me into a three-month immersion in one of Britain’s most remarkable forms of social care.
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By Rachel Woods, Associate Professor of Medical Education, University of Nottingham; University of Lincoln
Supplement shelves can give the impression that almost everyone needs something. Yet for generally healthy adults, a review of 84 studies found that routine vitamin and mineral supplements offered little or no protection against cardiovascular disease, cancer or early death.
Taking a supplement without a clear reason may also cause harm. High doses of some water-soluble vitamins can cause harm, and too much vitamin…
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By Steve Benford, Professor of Collaborative Computing, University of Nottingham
Director James Cameron’s acclaimed sci-fi movie Aliens turns 40 in August. It’s a sequel to Ridley Scott’s claustrophobic breakout hit Alien, made in 1979. Where the original featured one terrifying creature, Cameron’s movie features hundreds – and pits them against a squad of space marines.
A host of intriguing technologies make an appearance, including interstellar travel, hypersleep (where humans are preserved in stasis for long space journeys) and terraforming (making other worlds liveable for humans).
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