Ramadan in The UK

By Moatter Gulfam

Moatter Gulfam is from Pakistan and studies MA Political Communication at Goldsmiths, University of London. She loves doing photography, doing Arts and Craft. She is also involved in working towards educating young children in Pakistan.

Edited by Izzy Judd

Exploring Contemporary Latin American Ecofiction. Pola Oloixarac’s Dark Constellations

By Sara Karim

Sara is an alumna of the MA in Literary Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is an avid reader of world literature, eco-fiction and science fiction. In June 2022, she performed a poetry reading of one of her poems at the Heidelberg Literature Festival. Her literary interests include the works of Samanta Schweblin, Pola Oloixarac, Clarice Lispector, Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Rabindranath Tagore.

Edited By Aisha Azam

‘Your body is a battleground.’ (Barbara Kruger) Discuss the representation of the gendered body in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping. (Extract)

Sensitive content: violence, suicide

by Elodie Adey

This extract is from an essay I wrote for my Writing Culture and Society module. It is concerning the female position in literature with a focus on abjection and transcendence.

Elodie Adey is a former GoldDust Chronicle Editor and English graduate of 2022. She can now be found at the monthly Safeword poetry night in Amersham Arms. Come down if you fancy an open mic slot!

She can be found on Instagram at @elodie_adey and @safewordpoetry.

from the Editor

This was so interesting and insightful. I especially liked the focus on generational gender expectations, and the censorship/sanitation of womens bodies over the years (surpise, we vomit).

Shayda Soleiman

How woke went broke

by Janice P. Northcroft

How woke went broke explores the evolution of the word woke – a Black American expression of solidarity which has been dragged through the linguistic mire by the Right. 

Woke’s demise can be considered part of a wider political agenda to suppress activists’ calls for social change. To this end, the essay offers a cautionary tale about the power of language – specifically, the way it can be weaponised to the detriment of minoritised and marginalised people.

Janice P. Northcroft is studying for a master’s in Sociocultural Linguistics at Goldsmiths, and loves to explore the relationship between language, culture and society. She previously worked in marketing for charities and public sector organisations. Through her academic and professional writing, Janice aims to give a voice to minority groups unheard or misunderstood.

‘Neoclassical Economic Theory in a Nutshell’

by Henri Rutschmann

Have you ever wondered what influences you when you buy a special product or service? What are the underlying economic reasons and motives for these purchases? The essay gives an overview of patterns our buying decisions tend to form by diving into consumer behavior, something that is believed to be influenced by the “rational part” of ourselves (Neoclassical Theory). 

Henri Rutschmann is a 1st year Management with Entrepreneurship student. His biggest aspiration is to create his own enterprise, which made him convey deep research into neoclassic consumer behaviorist theory. He is very invested in his work, and would like to share it with others.

The Discrepancies of Modernity: Women’s spaces and identities in 19th Century Paris and French visual culture.

Heera Gul is a second-year Fine Art and Art History student. Her practice currently focuses on the intertwined colonial histories rooted in her dual heritage identity. She is interested in exploring notions of plurality and otherness, seeking to transgress and interrogate conventional modes of documentation in favor of alternative systems of knowledge and communication. Her work is also oriented around the regenerative use of materials and renegotiating our relationship with waste with an emphasis on DIY and collaborative making practices. 

Her work can be found at @ammipesca on Instagram or on her website: https://heeragul01.wixsite.com/website

The conundrum of desire

by Emma Kausc

The conundrum of desire is a piece of academic work outlining the notion of subversion in Céline Sciamma's Portrait de la jeune fille en feu while problematising Slavoj Zizek’s stance. It aims to embody a contradiction to his quote and to also elaborate on the notion of the male gaze and its skillful deconstruction. Ultimately, The conundrum of desire is an homage to Sciamma’s art of filmmaking.

Emma Kausc is a czech born author based in London, where she studies Anthropology and Media at Goldsmiths College. Her debut book Cycles (2017) was nominated for the Jiří Orten award. Both her prose and poems have been published internationally. Apart from that she frequently publishes cultural criticism in various magazines and newspapers.

Overtones of Resistance within Black Vernacular Culture

by Maria Riga

Overtones of Resistance within Black Vernacular Culture is a piece of academic work outlining what studying popular music can reveal about the formation of ‘Black Atlantic’ culture. It aims to embody a contradiction to hegemonic, colonial and racist ideas and also to elaborate on the notions of diaspora and popular music.

Maria used to be a chef, but is now an aspiring radio presenter and scriptwriter. A lifelong dream of hers is to become part of a revolution that will turn the world into a colourful, inclusive and kind place. She lives and studies in London and is a gig/festival freak. https://www.mixcloud.com/mario-ri/

https://soundcloud.com/maria-riga-949867185/manifesto

The processes of ‘othering’ and the colonial gaze in The Act of Killing (2012).

by Niamh Fennell

I wrote this essay for my Politics of the Audiovisual module and found myself becoming increasingly passionate about the subject, perhaps even too emotionally invested. However, my passion clearly came through in my writing as I was ecstatic to receive a top grade.

Niamh Fennell is a third year Media and English student. She is interested in theories of race, gender, ‘othering’ and postcoloniality. After graduation she plans to further pursue these interests in a Masters. Outside of university and theoretical debates, Niamh is also a fiction writer and poet, taking inspiration from her own mixed heritage and upbringing.

The narrative I constructed around living with a colostomy bag

by Maisie Goulsbra

“The way I thought about my own illness shifted over the course of a third year Media module I took, ‘Embodiment and Experience’. Its original convenor was Professor Lisa Blackman but when I studied it, it was run by Doctor Louise Chambers who was one of my favourite lecturers whilst studying at Goldsmiths. Her guidance was helpful and reassuring, and the texts we read were some of my favourite things on my degree. Submitting something so personal with a new mindset, gave me the feeling that everything had come full circle; university had helped me understand the world better and myself better. A very cliché finale to my studies…”

Maisie studied Media & English. Her areas of interest were identity, the self, and subjectivity. She was longlisted for Penguin WriteNow 2020 scheme for her fiction. Her subject matter touches often touches upon personal experience of living with a disability, as in this short essay, ‘The narrative I constructed around living with a colostomy bag.’

Insta/Twitter: @maisiegoulsbra        Portfolio: www.maisiegoulsbra.com

Theatricality and Performativity

by Fulya Barou

Fulya is a theatre & performance maker, researcher, and trainer. Her research and works are informed by her trained disciplines of ballet, theatre, and performance studies with her eclectic background in political science and psychoanalysis. Her research interests are; Interculturalism, Political and Activist Performance, Applied Theatre – particularly theatre with refugees and immigrants, and theatre in prison – Performance Theory, Actor Training and Acting Theory – particularly the use of cognitive science in the acting process – and Performance Philosophy. Fulya enjoys talking about existential crisis and unicorns in her spare time – by linking these two subjects together, yes!

The Representations of British People Through British Films

by Mafalda Costa

Mafalda Costa is a 2nd year BAJ student. Outside the university, she is a singer-songwriter who has travelled around Europe with her music. As a journalist, she delves into societal issues, arts and culture. Through a cinematic writing, she invites readers to dance with her words.

What remains ‘Left out’: A short note on ‘Oronooku’, Aphra Behn and the whiteness of Western feminism.

by Rachael Brown

“This piece interrogates how Aphra Behn, often represented in academic circles as an iconoclastic proto feminist trailblazer, actually embodies the same narrow, white perspective of female liberation that mainstream feminism is criticized today for. Her novel ‘Oroonoko’ is frequently understood as one of the first anti-racist abolitionist texts, but in reality it’s treatment of the black female figure of Imoinda, reveals how Behn’s commitment to proto feminist and anti-racist ideals begins and ends with her own symbolic needs. This reality draws a powerful parallel to today’s discourses surrounding feminist intersectionality and the flaws of ‘White Feminism’.”

Rachael is a writer, artist and Masters student studying MA Media And Communications here at London Goldsmiths. She is passionate about fighting paradigms of oppression and changing society through creative media. When she isn’t writing blogs, short stories and songs you can find her playing video games, singing 1930’s jazz and trying out new recipes.

Jose Mourinho: Not Quite My Hero, But Something Close

by Ricardo Domingos

More Than Just Football for Excitement

by Harry Isra M

Postporn Society

by Marta Gonzalez Pascual