Angela Dimitrakaki (b. 1968, Greece) is an art historian and a novelist. She holds a BA in Archaeology from the University of Athens, an MA in Gallery Studies from the University of Essex and a PhD in Art History from the University of Reading. She is Lecturer in Contemporary Art at the University of Southampton and her research and teaching explore the political dimension of contemporary art practice and theory, with particular reference to the methodologies of Marxist feminism. Her creative writing focuses on the intersection of pop culture, globalisation and historical consciousness. She has published two novels and a collection of short stories with Oxy, Athens (1997, 1999, 2002) and a novella with Autrement, Paris (2004). Her third novel is coming out in October 2006 with Hestia, Athens. Her second novel, Antisea, was shortlisted for the Diavazo Best Novel Award.

James Furner studied social and political sciences at Cambridge (BA, 2000) and philosophy at Sussex (MA, 2001). He went to Heidelberg University, Germany, as an exchange student (2001-3), working part-time in the English department, and as an occasional translator and DJ. Since 2003 he has been a post-doctoral candidate in the philosophy department at Sussex. His PhD thesis, entitled ‘Marx’s Account of Base and Superstructure’, aims to interpret the metaphor in light of its emergence from Marx’s critique of the young Hegelians. He has also taught courses at Sussex on social and political philosophy and Marx. Research interests include social, legal and political philosophy; Marx; Hegel and the Young Hegelians. His article ‘Marx’s Critique of Samuel Bailey’ appeared in Historical Materialism 12:2 (2004).

Jim Kincaid was a member of the Editorial Board of Historical Materialism from 2002 to 2006. He has published a number of articles in the journal on the political economy of East Asia and on Marxist value theory. He is currently Visiting Senior Research Fellow in the School of Politics and International Studies, Leeds University.