Part dialogue, part diagnosis, Transitions turns to the humanities to understand how we arrived at our present moment and what might carry us forward.

The legacies of Britain’s colonial past continue to shape the cultural landscape. The advent of AI has unsettled what it means to be human in the face of ruthless profiteering. In the aftermath of Thatcherism, ordinary people are surrounded by images of vast material wealth while having access to less and less – whether that be housing, public services, or cultural institutions.

In Transitions: On Culture, Crisis, and the Human, writers and friends Jay Bernard and Sita Balani consider these questions, taking the UK as a microcosm of the world. Guided by Stuart Hall’s notion of ‘conjuncture’, they draw on literature, social theory, and lived experience to offer an urgent account of our fractured present. From the personal and local through to the global, their dialogue is inflected by a commitment to the humanities, narrative, and universal horizons, in a political culture determined to devalue them.