Cancel culture, the practice of denying somebody a platform for their views or boycotting their work, is seen as a modern phenomenon, the product of the social-media age, but archaeologists and historians might disagree. The word ‘boycott’ is itself an indication that the practice is not new. Meaning to ostracise somebody as a protest against their values for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons, the term was first used in the 1880s and refers to Charles Cunningham Boycott (1832-1897). He suffered the wrath of the community in County Mayo in the north-west of Ireland as part of a campaign against the exploitation of tenants by landlords organised by the Irish National Land
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