concept

Whiteness is a modern, colonial invention. It was devised in the 17th century and used to provide the logic for genocide and slavery. The first recorded mention of “white people”, historians concur, is in English playwright Thomas Middleton’s 1613 play, The Triumphs of Truth. Ever since the 17th century, people across the world – from the Dominican Republic and Morocco to India and New Zealand – have been variously granted or denied rights on the basis of being deemed white or non-white. Whiteness thus has consistently entailed opposition, power and subjugation. Research shows that this theme of whiteness as power and unity has persisted even as the boundaries of whiteness have shifted. As European powers colonised various parts of the world, they implemented and refined racial categori...

When John Keats died 200 years ago, on Feb. 23, 1821, he was just 25 years old. Despite his short life, he’s still considered one of the finest poets in the English language. Yet in addition to masterpieces such as “Ode to a Nightingale” and “To Autumn,” Keats’ legacy includes a remarkable concept: what he called “negative capability.” The idea – which centers on suspending judgment about something in order to learn more about it – remains as vital today as when he first wrote about it. Keats lost most of his family members to an infectious disease, tuberculosis, that would take his own life. In the same way the COVID-19 pandemic turned the worlds of many people upside down, the poet had developed a deep sense of life’s uncertainties. Keats was born in London in 1795. His father died i...

Tag: concept

Used As A Tool Of Oppression, Whiteness Is An Invented Concept

Needed Now More Than Ever – John Keats’ Concept Of ‘Negative Capability’ – Or Sitting In Uncertainty