Gabrielle Berlinger
An interview with scholar and folklorist Gabrielle Berlinger, a professor of American Studies at the University of North Caroline Chapel Hill.
A Natural History of Flat Earthers
How is it that in 2017 there are still Flat Earthers? Perhaps first we need to look back at the myth of Christopher Columbus.
How Portland Became a Hipster Utopia
How did Portland, Oregon become a hipster haven? While other cities declined in the 60s and 70s, Portland looked at what they did and planned the opposite.
When Ward Cleaver Caused Social Anxiety
In the early 1960s, an Illinois Children and Family Services worker tried to figure out how TV dads were impacting contemporary American fathers.
The Antikythera Shipwreck Keeps Revealing Wonders
In the first century B.C.E., a Roman ship sank near the Greek Island of Antikythera. In 1900 some off-course sponge divers discovered the wreckage.
Bog Butter Barrels and Ireland’s 3000-Year-Old Refrigerators
Wooden Bog Butter Barrels are possibly the most beautiful things you can find in a bog. But why did people throw their butter into bogs?
Bonnie Nardi
Welcome to Ask a Professor, our series that offers an insider’s view of life in academia. This month we interviewed Bonnie Nardi.
Ancient Maps Are Mirrors for the Ancient Psyche
The Book of Curiosities of the Sciences, and Marvels for the Eyes, an eleventh-century Arabic geography, is still a wonder.
What Does It Mean to Own an Animal?
Those who view animals as property misunderstand the nature of property, a legal scholar suggests.
The Racialized History of “Hysteria”
Even three decades after “hysteria” was deleted from the DSM-III, some of the word’s diagnostic power obviously still remains.