On the destiny of our species: reading Octavia E. Butler’s Parables series

Rémy-Paulin Twahirwa explores the sociological relevance of science fiction author Octavia E. Butler’s Parables series of novels, published between 1993 and 1998, reflecting on what these stories can teach us about our species, its (un)dying past and its (un)living future

How to teach repair into a doomed world: from a sociology of doom to a sociology of repair

In November 2021, Christiana Ajai-Thomas, a MSc student in Sociology at LSE, coined the term ‘sociology of doom’ to engage critically with how sociology, as a discipline that ‘disciplined’ our minds[1], has been harming black students: To study sociology leaves me hyperaware of my own oppression. Every reading, essay and class is traumatic,” she confesses in her stunning piece. I propose here to continue the conversation instigated by Ajai-Thomas by turning our attention from the student to the teacher. This is not to diminish the importance of the experiences shared by Ajai-Thomas, but rather to broaden the conversation to include those who, like her, enter the field of sociology only to encounter feelings of despair, untimely deaths, and well, hell. Because, it is true, to be black in an anti-black world is to live in “a constant state of rage.”[2

Author Q and A with editor Phil Crockett Thomas and contributors on abolition science fiction

In this author Q&A, Rémy-Paulin Twahirwa speaks to editor Phil Crockett Thomas and contributors about their recent collection, Abolition Science Fiction, a collection of short science fiction stories written by activists and scholars involved in prison abolition and transformative justice in the UK

Book review: Empire’s endgame: racism and the British state by Gargi Bhattacharyya, Adam Elliott-Cooper, Sita Balani, Kerem Nişancıoğlu, Kojo Koram, Dalia Gebrial, Nadine El-Enany and Luke de Noronha

In Empire’s Endgame: Racism and the British State, Gargi Bhattacharyya, Adam Elliott-Cooper, Sita Balani, Kerem Nişancıoğlu, Kojo Koram, Dalia Gebrial, Nadine El-Enany and Luke de Noronha explore how shifting ideas of race and nation have legitimated the expansion of punitive state powers and practices in the UK, resulting in the heightened control, punishment and stigmatisation of racialised minorities. This is a valuable commentary on racism in contemporary Britain that encourages readers to be agile and novel in making connections between the past and present, between now and yesterday, to confront the problems of today, writes Rémy-Paulin Twahirwa. Empire’s Endgame: Racism and the British State. Gargi Bhattacharyya, Adam Elliott-Cooper, Sita Balani, Kerem Nişancıoğlu, Kojo Koram, Dalia Gebrial, Nadine El-Enany and Luke de Noronha. Pluto Press. 2021