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Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of the Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023 in Stockholm, Sweden. (Kevin Mazur / Getty Images for Parkwood)

BY SALLY ANDERSON BOSTRÖM | Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour has been making waves across Europe for the last month. Many of us were unprepared for the power she would unleash. We had to be in our seats an hour before the show began, and the venue was buzzing in anticipation. When she finally appeared, in a metallic body suit with winged shoulder pads, it quickly became apparent that the vibe of the show was Afrofuturism. Her 2020 visual album Black Is King has already been analyzed through the lens of this cultural movement, and it seems Beyoncé is continuing these futuristic visuals on her world tour.

Afrofuturism is a trending movement in literature, music and the visual arts, seen as a way of understanding the African diaspora, not by looking back, but by looking forward. This gaze towards the future is a hopeful gesture that moves beyond the traumas of the past (and present). Characterized by elements of science-fiction, technology, cosmic exploration and alternate realities, it has been exploding in popular culture.

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Nadezhda Azhigikhina is a Russian journalist and executive director of PEN Moscow since 2018. From 2013 to 2019, she was vice-president of the European Federation of Journalists.

BY JACKIE ABRAMIAN | Ms. spoke with Russian journalist and activist Nadezhda Azhgikhina about the global demise of journalism and women’s roles in peace negotiations between Russia and the U.S.

“I believe it’s possible for women in Russia and in Ukraine to find a common language and help each other. It’s women’s potential which expedites and eases a common language of peace so that we can all overcome the consequences of the tragedy we collectively face today.”

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BY REPRESENTWOMEN | Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation. 

This week: The percentage of women in state legislatures has steadily increased, but the gender gap is far from being bridged; President Biden and Vice President Harris celebrate Juneteenth with Opal Lee, the advocate who helped turn Juneteenth into a national holiday; bias against women is as entrenched as a decade ago, says a new U.N. report; “student loan debt is a true albatross on the ankles of young Black women and young, low-income people everywhere”; and more.

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Tune in for a new episode of Ms. magazine's podcast, On the Issues with Michele Goodwin on

Apple Podcasts + Spotify.

In this episode, Dr. Goodwin is joined by Ann Grundy to celebrate Juneteenth—which comes at a fraught moment in U.S. history. In 2023, Juneteenth comes with vestiges of the past, as book bans targeting queer, Black and Indigenous authors sweep the nation. Dr. Goodwin and Grundy remind us that these bans aren’t just attacks on critical race theory or women’s studies. They’re attacks on democracy and the First Amendment itself.

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