An ambitious survey of the life and art of Raphael Montañez Ortiz is at El Museo del Barrio. His work still feels subversive more than half a century after he founded the museum.
Tag Archives: colonization
The Imperial Fictions Behind the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
Britain’s monarchy cannot be separated from its empire.
France’s Ransom
The Times reveals how Haiti became the poorest country in the Americas.
Aristide Demanded French Pay Reparations to Haiti. He Ended Up in Exile.
A firebrand Haitian president tried to hold France to account for its years of exploitation. He soon found himself ousted from power.
How Much Haiti’s Freedom Cost: Takeaways From a Times Series
How did the modern world’s most successful slave revolt give birth to a desperately poor nation? Here is a summary of what a team of New York Times correspondents found out.
The Root of Haiti’s Misery: Reparations to Enslavers
In 1791, enslaved Haitians ousted the French and founded a nation. But France made generations of Haitians pay for their freedom. How much it cost them was a mystery, until now.
Puerto Ricans Deserve Better Than Separate and Unequal
Puerto Ricans are still not able to access the same social safety net as other U.S. citizens.
In Senegal’s Former Capital, a Colonial Statue in Hiding Is No Longer Welcome
The city of Saint-Louis was shaped by Louis Faidherbe, a French governor who also led brutal military campaigns in West Africa. What to do with his legacy has divided Senegal.
Former French Colonies in Africa Demand a Reset
Decades after independence, many African countries are increasingly troubled by the ongoing influence of their former colonial power.
Bright Colors, Dark Subjects: Hew Locke’s Unsettling Pageant
In a major new commission for the Tate museum group in London, the British-Guyanese artist returns to the themes of empire and postcolonial reckoning that have fascinated him throughout his career.
Dark Truths About Britain’s Imperial Past
Caroline Elkins’s “Legacy of Violence” details the terrible price paid by peoples under the rule of the British Empire.
Shadows of Algerian War Loom Over Election Campaign in France
As President Emmanuel Macron addresses his country’s colonial history, echoes of that past have pervaded the messaging of right-wing candidates ahead of the voting in April.
African and European Leaders Meet Against Backdrop of Enduring Problems
A top-level meeting of all E.U. leaders and 40 African counterparts aims to reset the relationship as a partnership of equals. But migration and vaccine equity remain obstacles.
Looking Back on a Colonial Struggle, a Museum Stirs New Disputes
At the Netherlands’ national museum, describing the events in which Indonesia threw off Dutch colonial rule was never going to be easy.
How the Trojan Horse Affair Affected British Pakistanis
A scandal in 2014, known as the Trojan Horse affair, exposed what it’s like living in Britain as a British Pakistani.
Macron’s Comments on Algeria Resonate as Elections Loom
The French president acknowledged the suffering of colonists who fled Algeria after the war of independence, a group that has long voted heavily in favor of the right in France.
The Africa Cup of Nations Reveals Glimpses of a Better Continent
The Africa Cup of Nations soccer tournament shows glimpses of a different vision for the continent.
Dutch Royals to Retire Golden Coach With Echoes of Colonialism
The horse-drawn coach, a gift from the city of Amsterdam to Queen Wilhelmina in 1898, has long been the target of critics.
In ‘African Origin’ Show at Met, New Points of Light Across Cultures
Holdings from Ancient Egypt and sub-Saharan Africa come together in a masterpiece show. Now the Met should make clear how the wondrous works got here.
Barbados Drops the Queen and Becomes a Republic
The island nation swore in its first president, ending nearly 400 years of British rule. Prince Charles and Rihanna were on hand to witness the ceremony.
Tracing Mexico’s Complicated Relationship With Rice
Having arrived in the country via the Spanish Conquest, the grain’s presence poses the question: What’s native, and what isn’t, when it comes to a nation’s culinary history?
Torn From Parents in the Belgian Congo, Women Seek Reparations
Belgium has apologized for the kidnapping and deportation of thousands of mixed-race children under its colonial rule. Survivors say that reparations should be the next step.
Recognition, at Last, After Decades Decolonizing Art
Sutapa Biswas is the subject of two major exhibitions in Britain that explore the country’s imperial legacy.
Oyster Shoreline at ‘Greater New York’ Has a Pearl of a Message
Alan Michelson, a Mohawk artist, explores long-ignored aspects of American history and exploitation of Indigenous landscapes. His work at MoMA PS1 fuses modern media and Native song.
We Owe Haiti a Debt We Can’t Repay
Haitians carried out the first and only successful slave revolt in modern history, then repelled Napoleon’s forces, making way for the Louisiana Purchase.
After defeating Hernando de Soto, the Chickasaw took his stuff and remade it
Enlarge / Florida Museum archaeologist Charles Cobb holds an axe head known as a celt, one of more than 80 metal objects likely from the de Soto expedition. To create this distinct shape, a Chickasaw craftsperson reworked Spanish iron to mimic traditional stone versions. (credit: Jeff Gage/Florida Museum of Natural History)
In 1540, Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto, fresh from ravaging the Inca Empire, marched onto Chickasaw lands in what’s now northern Mississippi with 600 men and hundreds of livestock. By the spring of 1541, de Soto had offended the Chickasaw so badly that they burned his camp and drove the whole Spanish expedition off their lands. Archaeologists recently unearthed evidence that people from nearby Chickasaw communities gathered up the things the fleeing Spaniards left behind and put them to use in some innovative archaeologist.
It’s a surprisingly cool story to find buried in a paper titled “Nascent Colonialism and Heterogenous Hybridity,” but that’s academia for you.
The spoils of war
Archaeologists excavating the centuries-old Chickasaw sites in an area called Stark Farms unearthed a surprising number of European metal objects: a cannonball, a mouth harp, a bridle bit with a golden crest, and more. They also found objects which had been broken up or modified into more traditional Chickasaw tools: bits of copper shaped into beads and pendants, pieces of iron horseshoes broken and sharpened into scraping tools, and barrel bands bent, broken, and ground into sharp cutting tools called celts.
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Oxford University Scholars Refuse to Teach Under Cecil Rhodes Statue
A statue of British imperialist Cecil Rhodes at Oxford University has drawn criticism for decades. Now some academics said they would refuse to teach at the college where the statue sits.
‘Asian American’ Is a Fiction. We Still Need It.
Against the racist and sexist fiction of the “Oriental,” we built the anti-racist, anti-sexist fiction of the Asian American.
Jane Austen Museum to Address Ties to Slavery
Exhibits at the house where the writer lived in the early 1800s are being updated to add historical context. Not everyone is thrilled.
Fallen British Empire Soldiers Overlooked Because of Racism, Inquiry Finds
The graves of between 45,000 and 54,000 people who died in service during World War I did not receive proper memorials, the report said. At least 116,000 others were not commemorated at all.
In ‘Exterminate All the Brutes,’ Raoul Peck Takes Aim at White Supremacy
After the success of “I Am Not Your Negro,” HBO gave Peck carte blanche for his next big project. What resulted is a sweeping meditation on colonialism and the nature of truth itself.
Decolonizing the Hunt for Dinosaurs and Other Fossils
Younger paleontologists are working to overcome some historical legacies of their discipline and change how people learn about natural history.
Uprooting Colonialism From the Fossil-Finding Field
Younger paleontologists are working to overcome some historical legacies of their discipline and change how people learn about natural history.
Napoleon Isn’t a Hero to Celebrate
Institutions in France should pay more attention to their country’s history of slavery instead of honoring an icon of white supremacy.
In a Palace of Colonialism, a ‘Quiet Revolutionary’ Takes Charge
The academic and historian Pap Ndiaye wants to turn around an institution with a problematic legacy so it tells the story of France’s immigrants.
How the Dead Hand of Imperialism Continues to Influence World Politics
Samir Puri’s “The Shadows of Empire” examines how the legacies of empires remain important in the “first empire-free millennium.”
Lucky Luke, the Comic Book Cowboy, Discovers Race, Belatedly
For the first time in the Franco-Belgian comic book classic, Black characters have full-fledged roles and are drawn without the racist depictions that marred the genre.
Heating Up Culture Wars, France to Scour Universities for Ideas That ‘Corrupt Society’
The government announced an investigation into social science research, broadening attacks on what it sees as destabilizing American influences.
The Sinking of a Bust Surfaces a Debate Over Denmark’s Past
An artists’ group, criticized as vandals for dumping the bust of an 18th-century king, Frederik V, into Copenhagen Harbor, says it wanted to draw attention to Denmark’s role in slave trading.
A Painter Explores His Royal Roots
Roméo Mivekannin’s great-great-grandfather was an African king whose treasures were looted by colonial forces. As France prepares to return some of the artifacts, the painter is examining how the past shaped his own identity.
Report Aims at ‘Reconciling’ France and Algeria, Its Former Colony
A government-commissioned study offers proposals to address longstanding grievances. But it does not recommend an official apology and skirts the issue of systemic torture by French troops.
Humboldt Forum in Berlin Finally Opens (Kind of)
A modest ceremony inaugurated the troubled museum, one of the most expensive and ambitious culture projects in Europe. The only thing is, you can’t go in.
Return Looted Art to Former Colonies, Dutch Committee Tells Government
The Netherlands should show “a willingness to return” items taken without consent, and to do so without conditions, a report said.
U.K. Conservation Society Details Links to Colonialism and Slavery
The National Trust said a third of the properties it manages had direct links to colonialism or slavery. Some have a “hugely uncomfortable” history, it said.
The Forgotten Colonial Forces of World War II
“There’s a scattered memory of their sacrifice all over Europe.” The Allied powers relied on colonial troops to defeat the Axis, but their contributions are not often recognized.
Roanoke’s ‘Lost Colony’ Was Never Lost, New Book Says
A new book aims to settle a centuries-old question of what happened to a group of English colonists. Archaeologists said that its theory was plausible but that more evidence was needed.
French Magazine Sparks Outrage Over Racist Depiction of Black Lawmaker
Danièle Obono, a French-Gabonese lawmaker, was portrayed as an enslaved African in a fictional narrative that she described as a “political and racist attack.”
Junipero Serra’s Sins
In California, protesters have toppled statues of Junipero Serra, whose missions brutalized Native Americans. How should we think of him now?
Colonialism Made the Modern World. Let’s Remake It.
This is what real “decolonization” should look like.
For French-Algerian Families, Virus Disrupts Cherished Summer Ritual
Holidays in Algeria are a cornerstone of the cross-cultural identity of many French people with roots there. This year, they are stuck at home, and the pain is acute: “It’s sacred for us to leave.”