K O N T R A

• 2012-05-27 212 notes

  lotusprince:

  The zombie armour of Katō Kiyomasa, daimyo of Azuchi-momoyama, conqueror of half of Korea and vanquisher of Chinese general Yang Hao – his armour is meant to look like a rotting corpse

  Source: lotusprince

• 2012-05-24 161 notes

  Do not assume that gender politics or feminist concerns come in neat and familiar packages. Instead, allow your research to expand your view of what a “feminist politics” may be. It could be, for example, that protests against neoliberal market restructuring in Egypt are understood within a broad political framework that includes notions of gender justice. As Saba Mahmood and Lila Abu Lughod have taught us, liberal feminism’s assumptions as to what constitute “feminist politics” or “feminist causes” are at best flawed. At worst they are exercises in epistemological hegemony and the violent remaking of the world according to secular and neoliberal rights frameworks. Furthermore, do not assume that what we call the “feminist canon” is exhaustive or that it is not constituted through a series of exclusions, hierarchies, and imperial histories. After all Simone de Beauvoir, who taught us all that a woman is not born but made, also wrote in terms we now recognize as “Islamophobic” about women “under” Islam in Algeria at the time when Algeria was a French settler colony. This does not mean we should dismiss de Beauvoir, just as it would be too easy to condemn Hegel or Marx for their “views” on Africa. Rather, it is crucial to critically inhabit and navigate the reality that the western canon was, and is constituted through producing a series of “selves” and “others.

  — How Not to Study Gender in the Middle East by Maya Mikdashi  (via bad-dominicana)

  (via bad-dominicana)

  Source: jadaliyya.com

• 2012-05-21 377 notes

  Knowledge Applied Is Power: Communism - Recommended starting points:

  antisocial-socialist:

  1. Principles of Communism - Friedrich Engels
     Download: here
     
  2. The Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels
     Download: here
     
     
  3. The State and Revolution - V.I. Lenin
     Download: here

  Once you have read those, read these:

  1. The German…

  Source: antisocial-socialist

• 2012-05-20 451 notes

  

  picturesofwar:

  The scars of a Japanese man injured during the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

  Hiroshima, Japan - 1951

  (Photo by Werner Bischof.)

  Source: picturesofwar

• 2012-05-19 679 notes

  

  Source: despiertayrebelate

• 2012-05-18 121 notes

  hanguknamja:

  Ignored by mainstream media, Asian Americans turn to online videos

  Catch Kevin Wu’s latest comedy program on YouTube, and you might think he’s nothing more than a young Asian American talking to a camera in his bedroom. But almost each of his shows command at least 2 million views — rivaling the nightly TV audiences of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

  A disproportionate share of YouTube’s top personalities are minorities, a striking contrast to the most popular shows on mainstream television, where the stars are largely white. These minority-produced, home-grown shows are drawing massive audiences — the top one has 5.2 million subscribers — enough to attract the attention of major advertisers.

  “A lot of U.S. marketers are leaving minority audiences on the table,” said Seneca Mudd, the director of industry initiatives at the Interactive Advertising Bureau. “Advertisers would ignore that trend at their own peril.”

  Among the 20 most-subscribed-to channels on YouTube, eight feature minorities. Most are Asian American. .. Nearly 80 percent of minorities regularly watch online videos, compared with less than 70 percent of whites, the Pew Internet & American Life Project says.

  Wu, who ranks 11th among YouTube channels, said he does not intentionally target Asian American issues. But those viewers more easily understand his jokes on dating, stereotypes and the generational clash between parents and kids, he said. “I just tell my stories honestly, and usually Asian Americans will relate to me because they say, ‘That’s how I am and with my parents,’ ” he said.

  For minorities, the medium offers a way to push back against stereotypes on network television, said Maureen Guthman, the head of brand strategy and acquisitions for the African American-focused channel TV One. Blacks can present themselves “completely unfiltered and without [someone] telling us, ‘You’ve got to be more this’ or ‘You’ve got to be more that,’ ” she said.

  Source: hanguknamja

• 77 notes

  

  fotojournalismus:

  A march to mark International Day Against Homophobia in Managua, Nicaragua, May 17, 2012.

  [Credit : Esteban Felix/AP]

  Source: fotojournalismus

• 221 notes

  

  fuckyeahlesbians:

  [Image: Photo of two women, one dark-skinned and butch and the other femme, light-skinned, and maybe Asian, embraced and smiling.]

  São Paulo (by Lucha LésbiKa)

  Source: flickr.com

• 2012-05-16 2,994 notes

  pervertsofcolor:

  masteradept:

  thexangorepublic:

  Long before the Kardashians could get ass implants, the Hottentot images coming out of Southern Africa inspired European women in the 19th century to enhance their profiles with the available technology.

  The Bustle.

  Women of Color that everyone should know: Sarah Baartman (also known as the Hottentot Venus. Google her and prepare to be horrified.

  Sarah Baartman was viewed as a sideshow freak for the shape of her body. As enlightened POC, we can celebrate our bodies and appreciate all our fun freakiness but we should always be aware of the ways that our bodies have been exploited throughout history. To me, being a pervert of color means knowing the difference between appreciation and oppression. This is a great example to me that a fetish (for big asses, for example) isn’t inherently wrong but the way it manifests can be incredibly fucked up.

  Source: thexangorepublic

• 51 notes

  

  Source: capacity