“Simple, Wholesome Food” for a New American Nation
In the aftermath of the Revolutionary War, Americans faced understandable anxiety about what their society would look like—and what they should eat.
Valentine’s Day in Egypt
In recent decades, celebrations of Valentine’s Day have become common in Egypt. But, as anthropologist Aymon Kreil found, opinions on the holiday are mixed.
Fish Addiction: An Ancient Greek Paranoia
An obsession with eating fish mapped onto all sorts of social anxieties, from gluttony and gambling problems to wasteful spending and licentiousness.
Diapers and the Invisible Work of Poverty
The parenting work of the impoverished may not be visible, but the lengths poor mothers go to to obtain diapers reveal their engagement and vulnerability.
The Eternal, Essential Apartment
We may think of the apartment building as the ultimate symbol of modern urban living, but as a typology, it dates to antiquity.
Catholics Against Racism
As early as the 1930s, Black Catholic parishioners formed alliances with their white counterparts to put their churches in service of anti-racist goals.
The Age of Wonder Meets the Age of Information
What can past eras of information overload teach students about critically consuming content in the present?
How Minnesota Became a Queer Hmong Mecca
Despite policies meant to scatter immigrants from the same ethnic group across the United States, the Twin Cities area became a refuge for LGBTQ Hmongs.
Ivory Towers: Good or Bad?
The ivory tower has always been metaphoric, but as Steven Shapin shows, its symbolic value has shifted over the centuries.
