Latest columns

Conspiracy theories, Capitol riot, fiction,

The Capitol Riots: Democracy, Post-truth and Fiction

Column

Odile Heynders

19/01/2021

7 minutes to read

In light of the Capitol riots, Odile Heynders claims that we have to reflect on fiction and its development in time, in order to understand how the concept is used and functions in today’s society.

image of a clustered red and clustered blue communication network with just a few connections linking the two

Capitol riots, echo chambers and democracy

Column

Lauren Zentz

18/01/2021

5 minutes to read

The problem of corporate media is not their creation of echo chambers; it is that media organizations have allowed people whose views run against democracy to gain such a large following that their lies are now seen by many as fact.

Jan Blommaert, in memoriam, sociolinguistics,

Semiotic futures: celebrating Jan Blommaert’s radical scholarship

Column

Ana Deumert

11/01/2021

8 minutes to read

In this column Ana Deumert pays tribute to Jan Blommaert's scholareship, focusing on the text From Fieldnotes to Grammar (2013), and the possibility of formulating a 'new science of language'.

jan Blommaert, hart boven hard, socialism

Jan Blommaert's struggle

Column

Jenny-Louise Van Der Aa

11/01/2021

2 minutes to read

Jan Blommaert has recently passed away. Jenny Van der Aa reflects on his political and democratic engagement as one of his former close collaborators at Tilburg and Ghent University.

Behrouz Boochani, activism, no friends but the mountains

Literary Activism: Behrouz Boochani’s No Friend but the Mountains

Column

Odile Heynders

19/11/2020

6 minutes to read

Kurdish journalist / philosopher Behrouz Boochani spent nearly 5 years in a detainee camp on Manus island texting messages from a hidden mobile phone. The messages were composed to a literary novel, winning a prestigeous prize in 2018.

Mustapha Khayati, situationist international, marx

Insurgent Words: The Political and Linguistic Work of Mustapha Khayati

Column

Ana Deumert

22/10/2020

7 minutes to read

This column reflects on the political/linguistic thought of Mustapha Khayati, his role in the 1968 uprisings and his preface to a Situationist Dictionary.

How an 'essay writing robot' is echoing the voice of its creators

Column

Inge Beekmans

06/10/2020

9 minutes to read

The essay that was written by language generator GPT-3 and edited by The Guardian might teach us more about our own fears and hopes for the future of technology than about the objectives and intentions of Artificial Intelligence.

Elena Ferrante’s Disappearing Act

Column

Inge van de Ven

07/09/2020

7 minutes to read

Good news for Elena Ferrante’s fans. The mysterious Italian bestseller author’s last and eighth novel, The Lying Life of Adults, is now available in book stores all over the world.

nevertrump, Lincoln project, republicans against trump

The new Jeremiahs: #NeverTrump and the rise of the Lincoln Project

Column

Robert Moore

24/06/2020

5 minutes to read

Over the past several weeks a new force has emerged in the 2020 US presidential election, one that has already reshaped the ecology of political communication in America—even as it has received relatively scant coverage in the US media, and almost none in Europe.

BLM, black lives matter, Floyd, Trump, racism, anti-racist culture

The George Floyd Uprising and Anti-Racist Culture Change

Column

Rosalyn Negrón

18/06/2020

9 minutes to read

As of today, protests condemning George Floyd's murder by police officer Derek Chauvin have taken place in all 50 U.S. states (more than 750 U.S. cities), and in more than 60 countries. The anger and despair that was channeled through massive uprisings, now mingle with hope and possibility. A return to status quo appears to no longer be politically viable.