A Fierce Devotion to the “Empress of Hell”
Medieval dramatizations of the confrontation between the Virgin Mary and King Herod offered a symbolic resistance to tyranny.
Tutivillus Is Watching You
For medieval scribes, mistakes couldn’t be easily shrugged off, as Tutivillus, the stickler demon, was always looking over their shoulders.
Amy V. Margaris on the Role of the Archaeologist
Anthropological archaeologist Amy V. Margaris argues that to do our best science, we need a diverse group of practitioners—in the field and in the museum.
When You Know That Loan Won’t Be Repaid
Refusing to loan a friend money can have social repercussions. What strategies do would-be lenders use to make these interactions less fraught?
Documenting a Disappearing Architecture
The Heinz Gaube Lebanese Architectural Photographs Collection, supported by an innovative mapping project, details threatened buildings across Lebanon.
A House Divided—Between Front and Back
In many restaurants, front and back of house workers are divided by language and culture in ways that affect the careers of both groups.
LEGO: Brick by Ideological Brick
Toys, even ones marketed as tools for the imagination, are never value neutral.
For the Love of Gamers and Goals, It’s Cross Reference!
Or maybe this week’s puzzle is really about Greek salad and gulleys.
Listening to White Working-Class Women in Coal Country
Researchers interviewed women in a Pennsylvania coal-mining town to understand how they coped with social and economic changes tied to deindustrialization.
Learning about Language: An In-Class Activity
A scholar of the medical humanities shares ideas for helping students discover how language shaped past cultural attitudes—and still shapes them in the present.