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Black and white headshot of author Livia Gershon

Livia Gershon

Livia Gershon is a freelance writer in Nashua, New Hampshire. Her writing has appeared in publications including Salon, Aeon Magazine and the Good Men Project. Contact her on Twitter @liviagershon.

Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbul, 1792

Hamilton’s Real Immigration Story

The popular musical poses Alexander Hamilton as a symbol of the value of immigrants brought to America, but over time, his party became increasingly xenophobic.
Source: https://archive.org/details/argentoratentiislapponia01scheffer/page/n323/mode/2up

Colonialism, Resistance, and Liquor

For both the Shawnee of North America and the Sámi of northern Europe, alcohol provided by colonizing powers was a symbolic and practical political issue.
A screenshot from Civilization V

History and Civilization

The Civilization video games may not convey actual history very well, but they’ve encouraged generations of young people to learn more about the past.
Colourful silhouettes of people with weight issues.

Weight in the Sociology Classroom

Body weight is in some ways a trickier topic for sociology students than other stigmas. One professor explains how he approaches the challenge of discussing it.
Isador Lubin, Chief of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1937

Where Do Economic Statistics Come From?

Many ways of measuring the economy came about in the decades between the American Civil War and World War II. We’ve been arguing about them ever since.
Aboriginal slaves and prisoners on Rottnest Island, c. 1883 or 1910

How Forced Labor Built Western Australia

The nineteenth-century colonial economy of Western Australia depended on unfree labor, whether from indentured workers, convicts, or Indigenous people.
Still Life with Rabbit by Johann Amandus Wink

Vegetarian Heretics and the Christian Church

Since the religion’s early days, Christian thinkers have treated vegetarianism sometimes as heretical, sometimes as evidence of saintly asceticism.
A dog in Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, Mongolia

The Sacred and Profane Dogs of Mongolia

In Mongolia, dogs are close companions to humans and a key part of a cosmology with Buddhist and shamanic influences. But they’re also seen as unclean.
President Truman addresses the closing session of the 38th annual conference of the NAACP at Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C., 1947

Why Did Truman Support Civil Rights?

Truman’s domestic agenda attempted to solve the problem of Black American oppression while undermining the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
Coronation of a Black Queen on the Day of Kings by Carlos Julião, c. 1770

The Roots of Catholic Samba

Since the early days of African enslavement in Brazil, Black Brazilians have cultivated rituals that mix Catholic and African elements in the form of holy Samba.
From Missione in prattica. Padri cappuccini ne Regni di Congo, Angola et adiacenti

Kongo, Interpreted

In the sixteenth century, Kongo’s government trained young nobles to provide interpretation and cultural mediation between Europeans and Kongolese.
German Singing Society, 22nd Infantry, Ft. Keogh, May 13, 1894

German Song in America

In the late 1800s, German American singing festivals united German immigrant communities and brought new kinds of cultural activities to the United States.
Indian Coffee House, Mohan Singh Place

Coffee for the Resistance

During Indira Gandhi’s autocratic Emergency in 1975, one New Delhi coffeehouse became a key gathering place for opponents of her politics.
SWAT Team members

Military Policing and Militarizing the Police

The use of military strategies inside the borders of the United States has long been connected with racial politics.
The 18th Regiment arrives during the Homestead Strike of 1892

How Steelworkers Stopped a Paramilitary Movement

Despite failing to break the Homestead Strike in 1892, the Pinkerton Agency demonstrated the extralegal threat paramilitary agencies created for Americans.
Ethnographic map of the Missouri Valley made by Inquidanecharo, great leader of the Ricara nation

Mapping “Indian Country”

In the early 1800s, the Native people of the Plains region didn’t generally think about their land in terms of tribes, territories, or racial difference.
The logo of the Christ Apostolic Church in Dublin, Ireland

Healing Dance at an African Church in Ireland

For congregants at the Yoruban-influenced Christ Apostolic Church in Dublin, sacred dance is a form of mental health care.
The Canada Lumberman, 1882

French Canadians in the New England Woods

Immigrants from Quebec held a distinct position in an American labor landscape in which experts viewed different “races” as being suited to different kinds of work.
The road to Mount Mulanje in southern Malawi

Existentialists in Malawi

Proverbs and popular songs from Malawi examine and express ideas similar to those found in European existentialism.
Chiesa del Redentore, Venice

Bringing Turkish Style to Europe

In seventeenth-century Europe, architects adopted styles from the Ottoman empire to create new kinds of social spaces including public baths and coffeehouses.
Military formations during a Victory Day military parade, marking the 75th anniversary of the victory in World War II, on June 24, 2020 in Volgograd, Russia.

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.
An illustration of a cowboy with a serious expression

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.
Atlas Mountains

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.
Calvin presiding over a colloquium in Geneva, 1549.

When Singing Was a Crime

Calvinist reformers in sixteenth-century Geneva frequently punished people for immoral behavior—like singing.
A dog riding the Moscow metro

Dogs of the Moscow Metro

The public attitude toward the adventurous dogs who have mastered the Moscow metro system has roots in an egalitarian Soviet culture.