Mashup at the Intersection of Deco and Hip-Hop
Archived at Cornell University, a collection of flyers promoting dance-inspiring DJ sets in the Bronx established the visual identity of a new cultural era.
What Veterans’ Poems Can Teach Us About Healing on Memorial Day
A scholar and military veteran proposes that poems written by veterans that focus on honoring those who have died in service can help heal an ailing nation.
A Primer on Settler Colonialism
What is this “settler colonialism” that’s become all the rage? Let’s take a closer look.
When History is a Matter of “National Security”
Since the mid-1990s, Russian authorities have insisted on particular understandings of some parts of the country’s history as a matter of national security.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850: Annotated
The Fugitive Slave Act erased the most basic of constitutional rights for enslaved people and incentivized US Commissioners to support kidnappers.
American Individualism and American Power
The American habitus was forged partly by the conquest of Native land and partly by the experiences of superiority and entitlement among white enslavers.
Pyramids of the Present
We associate pyramids with ancient civilizations, but contemporary humans appear to have an affinity for the peaked structures as well.
Modern Nomads in the Atlas Mountains
For pastoralists who live and work in the mountains of Morocco, the lifestyle is difficult but worthwhile. It’s also threatened by economic and climate change.
The Trouble with Reentry
Reentry of space junk in the 1970s forced First Nations communities into a reckoning with Cold War geopolitics and a burgeoning envirotechnical disaster.
When Singing Was a Crime
Calvinist reformers in sixteenth-century Geneva frequently punished people for immoral behavior—like singing.