The Content of Our Caricature

The Content of Our Caricature

African American Comic Art and Political Belonging

Traces the history of racial caricature and the ways that Black cartoonists have turned this visual grammar on its head. Revealing the long aesthetic tradition of African American cartoonists who have made use of racist caricature as a Black diasporic art practice, Rebecca Wanzo demonstrates how these artists have resisted histories of visual imperialism and […]
Five lessons from HIV to guide COVID-19 approach

Five lessons from HIV to guide COVID-19 approach

Over the years, the global HIV response has provided the modern medical community with valuable experience about responding to outbreaks and preventing the spread of the disease. These lessons should inform our approach to COVID-19 — especially in lower-income and Black communities, according to Shanti Parikh, associate professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.
WashU Expert: Coronavirus failures suggest problem with innovation policy

WashU Expert: Coronavirus failures suggest problem with innovation policy

All of the issues surrounding COVID-19 trace back to a single legal stream, says an expert on drug policy and health law at Washington University in St. Louis. The lack of diagnostic testing. The lagging development and distribution of personal protective equipment. Shortages of ventilators. Finding prescription medication to treat the disease. They all are related by law and policy.
Black Lives and Spatial Matters

Black Lives and Spatial Matters

Policing Blackness and Practicing Freedom in Suburban St. Louis

“Black Lives and Spatial Matters” is a call to reconsider the epistemic violence that is committed when scholars, policymakers, and the general public continue to frame Black precarity as just another racial, cultural, or ethnic conflict that can be solved solely through legal, political, or economic means. Jodi Rios argues that the historical and material […]
When the conspiracy is real

When the conspiracy is real

Umbrella Man. Outside agitators. Agents provocateur. As protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd continue, conspiracy theories and “false flag” charges have flown fast and furious. But sometimes the conspiracy is real. In “F.B. Eyes: How J. Edgar Hoover’s Ghostreaders Framed African American Literature” (2015), William J. Maxwell, professor of English in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, details a decades-long harassment campaign waged against prominent African American writers and activists.
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