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In Trinidad and Tobago, Carnival is one epic fete. It’s also, historically, a venue of public resistance for society’s most oppressed members. Each year, tens of thousands of women clad in sequined bikinis, feathered headpieces and beads take to the streets. Some deride this trend as demeaning, but to the women who march, “bikini mas” is a strong feminist statement.
Enjoy this and the rest of our coverage from the week, from fire in north-east India to pulp fiction in Pakistan and the drug war in the Philippines.
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Are you feelin’ it?
Andrea De Silva/Reuters
Gabrielle Hosein, The University of the West Indies: St. Augustine Campus
Some deride a Carnival trend in which women revel in the streets wearing swimsuits and feather boas. But to feminists, 'bikini mas' is a highly political act.
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A bunch of Khasi children fire-fighters watch on, as the flames erupt in a slash and burn episode.
Mirza Zulfiqur Rahman
Mirza Zulfiqur Rahman, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati
In North-east India, children of the Khasi Hills (Meghalaya) learn slash and burn cultivation, an intergenerational yet controversial indigenous practice.
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David K Wright, Seoul National University
The world's biggest desert used to be green, lush and full of hippos. A new theory suggests humans could have tipped the environment over the edge.
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Dar Digest (story ‘Muhafiz’), February 2015. Free from the fetters of common natural laws, horror stories represent a society’s fears and prejudices.
J.Schaflechner
Jürgen Schaflechner, University of Heidelberg
Pakistani pulp fiction often portrays Hindu characters as evil demons and Muslims as heroes, an attempt to spread nationalist ideology.
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Prime Minister Mark Rutte saw off far-right challenger Geert Wilders.
Yves Herman/Reuters
Richard Maher, European University Institute
EU leaders will breathe a sigh of relief after the centre-right saw off the populist threat.
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Residents look on as a police investigator inspects the body of a suspected drug pusher, along an alley in Quezon city.
Romeo Ranoco/Reuters
Phelim Kine, City University of New York
After a short suspension of anti-drug operations, President Rodrigo Duterte has resumed his bloody war.
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