Traditions

French

  • Photographer Ed Alcock on Brexit, boyhood and Brits
    His photography captures faces, figures and fleeting moments, and gives us the bigger picture when it comes to the social, cultural and political landscape. Franco-British photographer Ed Alcock is the winner of the Prix Niépce Gens d'Images, France's oldest photography award, and he joins us to discuss the imagery that caught the jury's attention. From […]
  • Rise of the Northstar on France's soaring metal scene
    French rap metal band Rise of the Northstar formed in 2008, but have been making a name for themselves over the last few years touring Europe and the Americas and collaborating with other hotly tipped French metalheads Landmvrks. They recently released their fourth album "Chapter 04: Red Falcon Super Battle! Neo Paris War!!" and sold […]
  • Top Paris exhibits of 2026 – from Matisse and Renoir to Martin Parr
    The coming year brings a host of new exhibitions to the French capital, including blockbuster shows from modern masters Matisse and Renoir, to photographer Martin Parr’s witty observations on environmental destruction, and an exploration of the history of video game music.
  • 'Stranger things' ends after 10 years
    Netflix has released the final episode of one of its biggest original hits, with the season five finale of Stranger Things going live on the platform at 1 a.m. GMT; the 1980s-set sci-fi adventure series has captured the cultural zeitgeist and become Netflix’s longest-running cash cow, as Carys Garland explores.
  • Brigitte Bardot to be buried January 7 at Saint-Tropez cemetery
    The funeral for French cinema icon Brigitte Bardot will take place in her hometown of Saint-Tropez on January 7, her foundation said on Monday, as France wrestles with how to pay tribute to a cultural legend who in her later years championed far-right views, even being fined for hate speech.
  • The week in pictures: US strikes on Nigerian jihadists, AFCON 2025 and the death of Brigitte Bardot
    Morocco hosted the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations, Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital with more than 650 drones just two days before Christmas, the US carried out strikes against militants linked to the Islamic State group (IS) in Nigeria, and the cinema world paused to remember Brigitte Bardot: FRANCE 24 looks back at the week's […]

India

  • Colonial Photographs of Kerala: Unnamed People and Forgotten Lives in the Archive
    In Kerala’s colonial photography archives, people gaze back at us – some named, categorized, but many left entirely unrecorded. These photographs from British-era Kerala capture moments of stillness: people working, posing, witnessing. But behind each frame lies a pressing question that colonial visual records often fail to answer: who were these people? Hands crossed; gaze […]
  • Looking at Colonial Photographs : Memory, Posture, & Place
    Have archival photographs ever looked back at you? Dragged you into its frames? Made you pause not just to see, but to feel, to guess, to remember, or to imagine? There is a strange alchemy when one is looking at colonial photographs. A photograph can certainly freeze time. It can, however, also disrupt time. It […]
  • When the Queen Becomes Colonial Mother: Nationhood and Empire under Victoria Regina
    In 1877, when Queen Victoria (r. 1837–1901) assumed the title of Kaisar-i-Hind, British officials sought to monumentalize her as a figure of peace and imperial stability. In India, however, her image emerged as a divine sovereign across sections of society. Her likeness appeared as traditional handmade dolls, in temple reliefs and reports from the late […]
  • Digital Rasa: Can Ancient Indian Aesthetic Theory Guide Our Engagement with Manuscripts and Photographs online?
    You’ve tapped a link and arrived here. As you scroll, words and images unfold, perhaps you zoom in, linger or pause at something that catches your eye. Through these subtle gestures, an emotional response arises, and you begin to wonder. This emotional stirring is what the ancient Indian aesthetic theory of rasa alludes to and […]
  • Decoding the Visual Identity and Design of Young India Record Label
    Record collectors, like archaeologists love to dig! And just as archaeological finds reveal the context of a civilisation, album art offers visual clues to what a record sounds like. While album artworks reflected their music genres, they also served as an essential marketing tool. In an era before algorithmic playlists, it was the album cover (on records, […]
  • The Elephant in the Bodleian: a 19th-century Manuscript Reflects Indigenous and Colonial Approaches to Knowledge
    In George Orwell’s essay Shooting an Elephant (1936), the narrator, a colonial police officer in Burma, describes the chaos caused by a tame elephant that has gone “must,” its mahout twelve hours away in the wrong direction. The incident culminates with the officer shooting the animal, despite knowing he should not. This invites a broader reflection: […]

Japanese Culture and Language

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