The Devilish History of Devil’s Island
French Guiana's Devil’s Island has witnessed some of humanity’s hardest moments, from the brutalities of slavery to the punishments of penal servitude.
Tapping Cultural Values Against Domestic Violence
Southeast Asian Americans navigated evolving cultural norms while building grassroots organizations to combat violence against women.
A Blind Beetle Named Hitler?
The case for changing offensive names of animals and plants, and how it can be done
Self-Publishing and the Black American Narrative
Bryan Sinche’s Published by the Author explores the resourcefulness of Black writers of the nineteenth century.
Mining for European Art
Advances in painting in early modern Europe were the product not just of artistic innovation but of changes in mining and manufacturing technology.
Healing Music, Self-Coups, and Monkey Business
Well-researched stories from Smithsonian Magazine, Slate, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Çatalhöyük: Its Story Continues
Our understanding of the Neolithic city of Çatalhöyük continues to evolve as archaeologists challenge inherited biases in the face of new material evidence.
Surrealism in Cinema, 100 Years On
A century after the publication of the first Surrealist manifesto, the role played by film in the movement is still unfolding.
Wilhelm Reich: Twice Burned
A psychoanalyst and physician, Reich fled the Nazis only to be detained by the US as an “enemy alien” during World War II. And then came the sexual revolution.
Recovering the Malay Manuscripts of South Africa
Descendants of those trafficked from Southeast Asia to South Africa by the Dutch, Cape Malay Muslims use surviving kietaabs to connect to their heritage.