Identity – Manchester Historian

Simon Tseko Nkoli (1957 – 1998) was an anti-apartheid leader and gay rights campaigner in South Africa. He has a legacy of intersectional activism, winning victories against both racial and homophobic discrimination.

When Pêro Vaz de Caminha arrived in Brazil on the 22nd of April 1500 aboard Pedro Alvares Cabral’s voyage of ‘discovery’, he was awestruck. The letter he wrote to the Portuguese King Manuel I is in stark contrast to those written by other explorers of the period.

In 2022, people who identify with the label ‘gay’ do so in a world that is perhaps more confused than it has ever been about what it wants to do with ‘gay’ people. In the UK, homosexuality was partially decriminalised in 1967, and more than two decades ago the age of consent for same-sex partners was brought down from 21 to 16 (equal to that of straight couples). It wasn’t until 2014 that same-sex marriages were allowed to take place in Britain. But, more recently, the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill was passed in Florida, preventing classroom discussion of gender identity and sexuality in public schools, and the latest bill to be drafted by Republican lawmakers would see a similar legislature implemented at a federal level.

The effect of menstruation on females in concentration camps has often been omitted from popular research. Until recently, the history of the body has been somewhat omitted from historiography regarding the Holocaust, yet menstruation must be recognised as a feature which defined the female experiences of the Holocaust. Menstruation became a symbol of the horrific atrocities and struggles imposed upon the female body. This article will therefore explore whether menstruation in concentration camps was a gender identity crisis, or whether it facilitated female solidarity within the camps.

‘No, tell me where you’re really from.’ Not as recent a phenomenon as we may think… Ata Rahman looks at everyday racism by exploring his own family’s roots.