It is difficult to overstate the importance of Stuart Hall’s work to international media and cultural studies, or the enormous loss his passing in 2014 represented to all who had been influenced by his writing, public lectures and media appearances. As we live through our present historical conjuncture, many of us ache for Hall’s insights into the myriad political, social, economic and cultural crises afflicting the globe.

Hall may not be able to speak directly to us about ongoing developments in the global pandemic, the intensification of climate change, the resurgence of emboldened white supremacy, or the increasing instability of the democratic project, but his existing contributions still stand as a crucial resource for those scholars, educators, artists and activists who are committed to looking starkly and deeply at what Hall called the ‘dirty outside world’, and using what they see there to inspire work that is meant to not just analyse but to transform, to paraphrase Marx.