Biking While Black in DC
Because of its political structure, Washington became a test case in federally mandated laws that enabled racially discriminatory policing of public space.
When French Citrus Colonized Algeria
The citrus industry in Algeria honed French imperial apparatuses and provided a means for France to define and shape the behavior of its colonial subjects.
How Jazz Albums Visualized a Changing America
In the 1950s, the covers of most jazz records featured abstract designs. By the late 1960s, album aesthetics better reflected the times and the musicians.
Women Warriors Make Great Propaganda
The presence of female fighters gives legitimacy to armed rebellions and increases the chances of support from international NGOS and other external actors.
Nella Larsen’s Lessons in Library School
Larsen’s novels were influenced by her training in the New York Public Library system, where she faced rigid ideas about the racial classification of knowledge.
Taiping: China’s Nineteenth-Century Civil War
Partially coinciding with the American Civil War, the Taiping “Rebellion” in China was one of the most destructive conflicts in history.
Dorothy Richardson and the Stream of Consciousness
Though often associated with Virginia Woolf and James Joyce, “stream of consciousness” novels spilled first from the pen of British modernist Dorothy Richardson.
Defining and Redefining Intersex
The transatlantic circulation of ideas between Baltimore and Zurich consolidated and standardized treatments of intersex infants in the 1950s.
The Ethics of On-Screen Violence in The Sympathizer
Film scholar Sylvia Shin Huey Chong offers a feminist reflection on the theme of rape in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer-winning novel The Sympathizer.
Demystifying Sovereign Wealth Funds
Opaque, state-controlled investment vehicles, sovereign wealth funds wield enough power to redirect or disrupt global economies.