· August, 2011

Stories about History from August, 2011

Russia: Why We Are Leaving Our Country Behind

RuNet Echo  31 August 2011

Recent months have seen a new spin on the topic of emigration that seems to be ever-present in the Russian online space. Several powerful blog posts written by people from different social groups have become a platform for expressing one's take on the present and future of the country and people's place in it.

Trinidad & Tobago: Eating for Independence

  29 August 2011

“August 31st is Trinidad’s Independence Day”: TriniGourmet.com posts her menu for this year's celebrations, which she calls “a trifecta of the new, the old, and a new twist on an old favourite.”

Jamaica: Disrespecting Garvey

  26 August 2011

President Barack Obama may have lost at least one vote in his re-election bid based on “the White House[‘s] disrespect [for] Marcus Garvey, a national hero of Jamaica”. Geoffrey Philp explains, here and here.

Uruguay Celebrates Independence Day

  25 August 2011

Today, August 25, Uruguay is celebrating 186 years of its declaration of independence. Federico Lorenzo shares [es] today's Google doodle on the search engine's Uruguayan version, and comments on the history behind the country's independence.

China: Chinese porn culture

  24 August 2011

James Griffiths from DAWEI looks into the history of Chinese porn and interviews Katrien Jacobs, a professor in the Chinese University of Hong Kong, whose new book People’s Pornography: Sex and Surveillance on the Chinese Internet will be published in October 2011.

Sri Lanka: Grease Devils Targetting Women In The North And The East

  23 August 2011

D.B.S Jeyaraj shares a report of the The Womens Action Network (WAN) on the attacks on women by assailants posing as the mythical character “Grease Devil”. The attacks have occurred mostly in the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka and the victims are generally Tamil speaking Tamil and Muslim...

Trinidad & Tobago: Honouring Pat Bishop

  23 August 2011

“Bishop would have wanted the government and corporate Trinidad and Tobago to act on their words, making real investments in sustainable, sensible projects that would educate our intellectual potential, promote our best cultural works and engage so many lost minds in their creative legacy”: Mark Lyndersay thinks that the most...

Jamaica: Obama Rejects Plea for Garvey Pardon

  23 August 2011

Geoffrey Philp is surprised by the Obama administration's rejection of the request for a presidential pardon for Marcus Garvey on the grounds that “it would be ‘a waste of time and resources’ since Garvey had been ‘dead for ages‘”, saying: “Marcus Garvey has joined the ancestors. So this plea for…exoneration...

Trinidad & Tobago: Dr. Pat Bishop Passes On

  22 August 2011

Netizens of Trinidad and Tobago are coming to terms with the loss of one of its patriots: artist and musicologist Dr. Pat Bishop, who collapsed during “a meeting with a cabinet appointed committee of high level experts on culture and the arts” this past Saturday. Online tributes soon started to pour in.

U.S.V.I.: The Power of Film

  22 August 2011

“Is there any artistic medium that raises more ugly questions of representation and power than film?” In the context of this, A Nation or Nobody blogs about film and neo-colonialism.

India: Yet Another Name Change

  20 August 2011

The West Bengal state government has decided to change the name of the state to Paschimbanga (in Bangla). Anirban explains why he doesn't support the name change.