#modern imperialism

[sublimecoffeefestival]

As an archaeologist, I ONLY refer to this place as Looty Booty.

Because make no mistake, they ARE looters. They pay money to illegally acquire artifacts and architectural features on the black market. There have been links to them and some of the terrorist attacks and Syria, because a lot of these black market transactions fund horrific groups.

And before you come at me with “well, they’re playing for it,” these are often objects of cultural patrimony, which cannot, by definition, be owned by any one person. These items are collectively owned by everyone. In the US, we have laws that protect against Indigenous objects—burial goods, sacred objects, objects of cultural patrimony. Looting of archaeological materials is also a war crime. And the erasure of these objects and sites, funded by companies and individuals and governments, have contributed massively to the contestation of land and history in many places (see Palestine right now).

Looting is illegal. The purchase of looted items contributes to terrorism and cultural genocide.

ngl I keep forgetting that Hobby Lobby is a real store that people go to. That people actually think of it as a craft store and not as a crazy Christian mass artifact smuggler. I google "Hobby Lobby" and get a page full of results that make me go "wtf is this craft supplies and operating hours shit, I thought we all knew this place for smuggling looted cuneiform tablets out of Iraq"

[imperialnyx]

Can’t lose if you don’t add your ships ✨

[honouredsnakeprincess]

so, why do magical girls (when they are depicted with weapons) usually depicted as using weapons of a previous era? there are a hundred fencers, a dozen musketeers, but practically no magical girls with anything used after the first world war.

[sehicks]

I'm so absolutely devastated by everything that's happened over there 😔 The desperation of the Palestinians caught between Israel, Hezbollah, and Hamas is heavy. They will not come out of this well and Israel, Iran, and (by extension) Russia will only gain power. It's sickening. I'm sick. What a disgusting thing to do in the name of wealth and greed.

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, by Ilan Pappé (2006)

Just a reminder that Israel was built, by design, on ethnic cleansing.

[mahoganygold213]

[cosmic-fault-comic]

Nu'Ko'yo - Place of Reeds "Big City"

The word "Nu'Ko'yo" exists in other Mexican languages!!, In Nahuatl it is called "Tollan"!!

It is supposed to be a metaphor for how people in these cities become packed together and near each other. Not unlike wetlands plants and cattails.

It can refer to many cities in precolumbian mesoamerica, many of them with rich and colorful histories. Many of them full of migrants from all over Mexico and beyond.

Cities now are the same, all pushing people closely together in a furious broth of connection.

So why are they full of systemic injustices.

Next page: Noô - Face

[autismmydearwatson]

Still more important is the realization that all those generations of British people (largely men), who were educated in the classics, were being taught to understand and sympathize with the Greeks and Romans. When thinking of the long confrontation between the Celts and Romans, therefore they instinctively sided with the Romans. They would have all read Tacitus' warning: "Remember, they are barbarians..." For the Romans were seen as the bearers of civilization and the ancient Britons as the uncivilized.....

All manner of pressure was brought to bear to ensure that British schoolboys empathized with Rome. From the sixteenth century to the mid-twentieth, every educated person was required to learn Latin. Caesar and Tacitus were among the very first authors which all those pupils were obliged to read. Yet no one taught them anything about the Celts, let alone a Celtic language. Even today, when the teaching of classics in the United Kingdom has sharply declined and Celtic studies receive a measure of official support, for every British schoolchild that learns even a little about the native Celtic heritage, there are a hundred that still learn about the heritage of Rome.

A whole literary genre was devoted to strengthening the bond of identity between the modern Britons and the Ancient Romans. Any number of books and poems have been written to invite the reader to stand in Roman shoes, to put oneself shoulder to shoulder with the legions in the eternal struggle of civilization against barbarity.

-Norman Davies, The Isles

[corvidcaeneus]

Happy 4th of July! May this country crumble into nothing more than a hellish memory so that the rest of the world might finally be free.

[whereserpentswalk]

There is an entity in North America that wanders the bounds of the country. Nobody has seen all of it, its too large, and no soul on earth has seen its mouth has lived. It's the size of mountains, great and dark, with dark smoke coming off its endless body. Most people who have seen it have only seen its claws, long and black, reaching dow out of the sky, or seen its body as a massive shape in the distance. And it kills sometimes. It kills sometimes.

You always know when it's coming. The other magical creatures are always the first to sense it. Ghosts and spirits return to their realms and practitioners find their gods and devils quiet, cryptids migrate to lands they rarely see, things that can appear human have sudden business trips, and even the last dragons in the forests of the west know to fly away. Then the birds go, and the rats if they can, and the cats seem nervous. Then it comes. You always see it's shadow first, and hear it before anything else.

Every now and than it'll go somewhere, perhaps a dying mall, perhaps a small backwater town somewhere in the mountains, ever so often it's seen in Detroit or a similarly dying city, and even on occasion it may visit the South Bronx or Sckid Row. It will play it's little game, destroying a block or two of buildings, crushing some souls, or grabbing some to take into it's mouth. Useally it's deaths number in the hundreds. And then it will disappear. When it leaves it leaves ruins and death, children without parents, businesses ruined whose workers will be left to starve, bodies left bloody on the street, dead or forever disabled, half eaten and half crushed. There are lakes of blood, and dams of rubble.

It has a deal with the leaders of America, the businessmen, the politicians, the clergymen, that it will never kill what they care about, never them, never where they live, never what makes them money. But other than that it's free to kill, and nobody will say they can stop it. But they've made sure it knows that it's destruction will only ever reach a certain kind of community. The creature often leaves residue, it's shed scales are made of a valuable material, and the oil it leaves in its path can be harnessed. And many who've made deals with it wouldn't mind if it oh so tragically crushed a town or neighborhood where they could build a new more lucrative community, or perhaps just another mall. And so it goes. And so the creature cannot be stopped. Not for that the bombs won't hurt it, but simply that the bombs won't fall.

[justacynicalromantic]

If you are an English speaker and looking for a report "from the ground" on what is happening on the Norther border of Ukraine in Kharkiv Oblast👇

[centuryberry]

What are some of their attempts to convince Wukong? What Modern dating methods do they try (and occasionally butcher)? Old ones that don't quite translate (or Wukong pulls Amnesia)?

I sense shenanigans.

(And also have been struck by the image of Wukong opening a door to find one of the trio laying in bed with a "F*ck me" sign above them.)

(I was then subsequently struck by the image of Wukong responding, "Uhhhhh, I can't read? *closes door*"

When RinRin, Macaque, and Shanzha started their attempts in luring their husband to bed, they were completely blatant…in traditional standards.

Romantic gestures in that era were subtle. A simple exchanging of gifts would be a proclamation of eternal love. And there are so many secret languages: the language of flowers, the language of fans, etc.

(Warning: Slightly suggestive)

RinRin preferred slipping in sly, subtle innuendos in conversations and teasing Wukong like she used to do when they were young. She also likes using food as a tool to be touchy and suggestive. (Those poor bananas.)

Macaque would drag Wukong out to walks in the garden and anywhere else pretty. He would cling onto his arm during walks while wearing all the pretty hairpins and jade pendants that OG!Wukong had gifted him throughout the years of their marriage.

Unlike the other two, Shanzha doesn’t have any history with Wukong and is in an unstable position, so she’d be less blatant. She’d show off her skills in archery and would spar with him to encourage contact. She’d also wear clothing that would turn slightly sheer with enough sweat during these sessions.

When all of this didn’t work, the three of them would outright ask Wukong to come visit their rooms.

All of this, of course, flew over Wukong’s modern head. The first time he accepted, he thought it was a sleepover. Shanzha and RinRin were too shocked to correct him when he visited them for the night (he tried to recreate scrabble lol) but Macaque doubled down and scared Wukong off when he made it clear what he invited him into his room for.

It was a little heartbreaking for Macaque but that sting was quickly eased when Wukong came to him with flowers the next morning and babbled about his amnesia. He played dumb and would continue to play dumb.

Unfortunately, upon every “failure,” the three became more and more bold. (Thus, the hilarious scenario you painted in your ask. They had to spell it out for him at that point.)

When it was revealed that Wukong came from another world and time, everything clicked. They shifted gears. Instead of approaching all of this like spouses, they would then approach this as suitors. This would be a courtship.

After wiggling as much info about modern day courtship out of Yue, they took a try at this “dating” thing. It was…fun. There was a bit of flower giving and hand holding. They would watch plays together with snacks (a try at a movie date). They would try to make homemade food with varying results (RinRin and Macaque burnt their offerings). They snuck out of the palace in disguises once to have a casual date without the pressures of court.

(Though they did bungle up the “Netflix and Chill” idea and flustered the hell out of Wukong lmao. Yue only added that one as a joke.)

Wukong would see all this effort and be so, so flustered and yet so, so happy. He’s a bit of a romantic so he’s a bit of a sap about these things. Even if the results aren’t perfect, he appreciates the effort and he tries to reciprocate traditionally (though the three are beyond subtleties at this point and prefer the modern straightforwardness.)

[fafayayarhen]

i know i'm late and the game was won but i still wanted smth spaus so i promise i'll probably have another better doodle of the recent spain vs france match

funny story i didn't watch spain vs germany for like a good chunk UNTIL the extra time bcs i was keeping up to date with through the google live thingy open on my phone so i kept glancing at it

i blew up the gc when germany scored like eXCUSE YOUUU So i joined my mum in the living room and watched the rest of the game and it was wAY TOO TENSE (I'M NOT EVEN INTO SOCCER!!!!)

anyway yeah spaus but eurocup and u can't tell me austria didn't get a bit TOO passionate when he first started watching and he wasn't even interested at first but then...

roddi just wanna support his ex-hubby thank u 💜💛✨✨✨✨✌️

[imperialnyx]

A place of worship..

shrine provider @dannymans66

[chadlesbianjasontodd]

Closely connected to the act of name signing was the act of writing poems on walls. As scholars have already pointed out, with beginnings traceable to the Six Dynasties, wall poems (tibishi) were already very widespread during the Tang. By Christopher Nugent's count, well over one thousand entries in the Complete Tang Poems had titles indicating that they began as inscriptions on some surface other than paper or scrolls. These surfaces included walls at places of gathering and transit, such as post stations, scenic sites, inns, and increasingly in the latter part of the Tang, Buddhist temples, which also served public roles for lay gatherings and performances. (100)

In one anecdote, a latecomer casts aspersions on a first writer's literary skills, comparing him to the general Xiang Yu (232-202 BCE), who was infamous for having learned just enough writing to manage his name: "Li Tang signed his name on a pavilion in Zhaoying County. When Wei Zhan [jinshi degree 865] saw it, he took a brush and dashed off a taunt: 'The rivers of Wei and Qin brighten the eyes, / but why is Xiren short on poetic spirit? / Perhaps he mastered only what Beauty Yu's husband could / learning to write just enough to put down his name.' " ... It would not be a stretch to imagine the sniggering of those who read this inscription in a frequented pavilion. (102)

For a degree seeker in Chang'an, these circuits of information and judgment received more discussion than the actual examination itself. Tang literati wrote copiously about activities such as name signing, public exposure, and triumph. It would not be an exaggeration to say that in ninth-century temples and popular recreation areas, the vertical spaces were teeming with verses that clamored for attention. (104)

selections on poetic graffiti from linda rui feng's city of marvel and transformation: chang'an and narratives of experience in tang dynasty china (university of hawaii press, 2015)

[fatehbaz]

Whitewash is extremely moral. Suppose there were a decree requiring all rooms in Paris to be given a coat of whitewash. I maintain that that would be a police task of real stature and a manifestation of high morality, the sign of a great people. -- Le Corbusier

A shocking call for compulsory whitening is made at the end of a key modernist manifesto. The pronouncement is associated with the signature whiteness of modern architecture -- an aesthetic regime that was presented as a complete revolution of the built environment in the 1920s and became the unconscious default setting of everyday life. Just look at the predominantly white background of most of the kitchens, offices, living rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms around the world [...]. Le Corbusier didn’t simply call for whitewash to be imposed by the police in the name of health. It was meant to act as a form of policing in its own right, a technology of surveillance that would put in motion an ever-expanding culture of self-policing. Whitewash exposes every dimension of life in front of it to judgement. It acts like “a court of assize in permanent session” that will “give a power of judgement to the individual,” and thereby “make each one of us a prudent judge.” [...] A “Law of Ripolin” -- the brand name of the hard impermeable and washable enamel “sanitary paint” invented at the end of the nineteenth century [...] is needed to ensure that all interiors are painted white to target any form of dirt or darkness:

Imagine the results of the Law of Ripolin. Every citizen is required to replace his hangings, his damasks, his wall-papers, his stencils, with a plain coat of white ripolin. His home is made clean. There are no more dirty, dark corners. Everything is shown as it is. Then comes inner cleanness [...]. When you are surrounded with shadows and dark corners you are at home only as far as the hazy edges of the darkness your eyes cannot penetrate. You are not master in your own house. Once you have put ripolin on your walls you will be master of yourself. [...]

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Whiteness manufactures health, morality, and intelligence. [...] The office of a modern factory that is “clear and rectilinear and painted with white ripolin” is a place of “healthy activity” and “industrious optimism.” [...] Le Corbusier’s routinely authoritarian and often explicitly eugenic and fascist impulses, associations, and actions make him an easy target. But there are endless, quieter, ultimately more controlling and insidious celebrations of whiteness in other hands. Le Corbusier is but a tip of the vast iceberg of whiteness. [...]

The very idea of an interior is the effect of this everyday violence. Architecture is never simply complicit with authority. Authority without architecture might not even be thinkable. [...]

There is no apolitical concept of health; no natural body or brain waiting to be cared for or abandoned by medicine and architecture that is not already an effect of those biopolitical regimes.

It is through the question of sickness that architecture reshapes the human. The idea of a healthy architecture is always about the health of a small group relative to multiple others [...]. Whiteness is coded as a fragility requiring protection through continual acts of preemptive violence. Whiteness is not a thing but a defense and deployment of power over others. [...]

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Whiteness in Le Corbusier’s The Decorative Art of Today, for example, is simultaneously the most modern thing to do, the very symptom of modernity, and the most ancient of gestures. [...] Le Corbusier’s argument was first published in a late 1923 issue of L’Esprit Nouveau [...]. It was, after all, the extended “Voyage d’Orient” of 1911 (including the Balkans and Greece, but especially Turkey) where Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, the young architect from a small mountain town in Switzerland who would a decade later rename himself “Le Corbusier,” became “besotted with white” and convinced that the future of architecture was white. Whiteness is discovered in the lands of the non-white; of those seen to be closer to deeper human history and therefore to be admired and learned from. In fact, the very point of going to the East was to encounter its “great white walls” as an antidote to the self-absorbed decadence of architecture in the North, as Jeanneret explained [...]. Jeanneret expresses nostalgia for the more intact and mesmerizing whiteness of the great mosques and vernacular houses of Constantinople (Istanbul) [...] [and] “Algiers-the-white.” [...] This pervasive sense of contamination provoked the call for a second, more explicit law to impose whiteness not only onto industrial culture, but also onto its victims: the people of color and places seen as newly “unhealthy” -- requiring, as it were, a dose of “their” own medicine. [...]

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The “white” architecture of the 1920s drew on countless experiments in whitening buildings in the name of health. This included, precisely, the use of Ripolin that had already become standard in clinics, hospital wards, and sanatoria rooms at the turn of the century.

In 1899, for example, the Touring-Club de France, inspired by one of its [...] cyclist members who was a doctor, started a campaign for an easily disinfected “hygienic room” in hotels that would be Ripolin-lined [...]. Hotel rooms were treated as hotspots for contagion [...]. Given the largely upper-middle-class membership of the club, this anxiety about disease was also class anxiety, fear of the unclean other. The tourist was to be mobile yet isolated by a prophylactic whiteness that would itself travel in advance.

The Touring-Club exhibited such a prototype “white room” with toilette and toilet spaces designed by Gustave Rives at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris -- strategically placed just inside the entrance of the Palais de l’hygiène [...]. The Touring-Club installed a series of such model chambres hygiéniques in automobile shows, congresses on tuberculosis, and international fairs. It was successful in persuading thousands of hotels to install such spaces [...].

Ripolin was used “everywhere,” for example, on the walls of the “hygienic housing” project for workers in Paris by Henri Sauvage and Charles Sarazin in 1903–1904. [...] The project was originally intended to feature a radical all-glass street façade with every window surrounded by webs of floor-to-ceiling hexagonal glass blocks [...] which would have been the most polemical housing structure possible, the most therapeutic role of glass, more extreme even than any sanatorium. The design was produced in immediate response to the new public health law of 1902 and the associated new building regulations. [...]

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It is always about control of the threatening other of epidemic disease and control of the laboring poor, itself coded as dark, migrant, and contagious, a disease in its own right. And throughout this discourse of control, there is a seemingly “modern” disdain for disease-incubating ornament in favor of smooth white surfaces. [...] What is remarkable in the end is this trans-historical resilience of whiteness [...]. It orchestrates life and death.

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All text above by: Mark Wigley. “Chronic Whiteness.” e-flux (Sick Architecture series). November 2020. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

[chamerionwrites]

Aimé Césaire saying that colonization works to decivilize the colonizer truly lives in my head rent-free