top of page
The right's new boogeymen: investigating the demonization of immigrants and trans people in political discourse
Illustrations by Grace McKenna Immigrant populations and transgender people have always been a target of societal mistreatment. Today, though, they face a new wave of political villainization so overt that it has caused even the staunchest of conservatives to waver in their support for their parties’ agendas. Much of the world is watching in horror as the Trump Administration carries out the “largest deportation operation in history” . Even the ostensibly more progressive La
Gwynne Capiraso
Feb 124 min read
Soliloquies from Solitary, Bars behind Bars: Why was all the most influential literature written in prison?
Illustrations by Grace McKenna Antonio Gramsci was an Italian Marxist who was imprisoned in 1926 for his critique of fascism and remained behind bars until just before he died in 1937. His prison notebooks, which defined the importance of cultural hegemony, are still widely referenced in politics today. When I studied Gramsci in one of my courses, my professor joked that it was ironic how many works of legitimate, published literature from the 30s have been deemed outdated an
Gwynne Capiraso
Jan 294 min read
Sonam Wangchuk, Ladakh and the Petition for Constitutional Right to Dissent in India
Illustrations by Grace McKenna On the 6th of October 2025, the Supreme Court of India issued notice in the most significant Habeas Corpus petition in India’s democratic memory since Additional District Magistrate, Jabalpur V. Shivkant Shukla . The case at hand pertains to the detention of the 2018 Magsaysay Award winner Sonam Wangchuk: a scientist, educator and climate activist based in Ladakh, India. The plea has been filed by Dr Gitanjali Angmo, Sonam Wangchuk’s wife, seve
Anuj Nakade
Oct 23, 20256 min read
Endurance: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 80 Years After
Illustrations by Grace McKenna Public memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has long been shaped by a U.S.-centred narrative that frames the...
Ami John
Oct 8, 20253 min read
That Sydney Sweeney Campaign: American Eagle’s Marketing Misfire
Illustrations by Grace McKenna ‘Sydney Sweeney has great jeans/genes.’ It’s a tagline that’s ricocheted across social media, sparking...
Keya Desai
Aug 25, 20253 min read
Scarves, Spirituality and Stereotypes: The Double Standard of South Asia in the Western Imagination
Illustrations by Grace McKenna With Coachella in April and the Met Gala in May, for the last few months my social media has been flooded...
Srishti Ramakrishnan
May 22, 20255 min read
La Guajira: Abundant Energy, Scarce Water
La Guajira — a Colombian peninsula bordering Venezuela — is home to one of the largest open coal mines in the world. This area was first...
Nicolle Delgado
Dec 19, 20243 min read
“I was handing out Oreos to children while forces were killing 12 people in the same area”: life as a volunteer in the Venezuelan refugee crisis.
Ria Threadgold, an Edinburgh Law student, speaks of an all encompassing sense of guilt and nihilism when she left the Venezuelan refugee...
Becca Johns
Dec 8, 20244 min read
bottom of page