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History
The law in the 19th-century American South
The law in the 19th-century American South
Madison Ogletree, a McNeil Center for Early American Studies Consortium Dissertation Fellow, explains her deep dive into law and the everyday lives of free African Americans in rural areas of the slave South.
Jessica Varner on the long arc of built environment and its materials
Jessica Varner on the long arc of built environment and its materials
Varner, an assistant professor of landscape architecture at the Weitzman School, explores the intersections between architectural, environmental, and chemical history.
Sourcing early American archives of rebellion
Sourcing early American archives of rebellion
In her research, Marley Lix-Jones, an Advisory Council Dissertation Fellow at the McNeil Center, finds histories of rebellion and social connections within enslaved communities.
A seminar explores what history can be
A seminar explores what history can be
Hardeep Dhillon, an assistant professor of history in Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences, teaches a first-year seminar that explores the history of children in America while equipping students with foundational analytical skills.
Jimmy Carter remembered
Jimmy Carter remembered
Penn faculty reflect on the legacy of the former president, who led America almost a half-century ago and whose post-presidency was defined by humanitarian work and service.
Penn Libraries receives $5M bequest from medieval historian Elizabeth A.R. Brown
Penn Libraries receives $5M bequest from medieval historian Elizabeth A.R. Brown
The bequest alongside the gift of Brown’s professional papers elevates the Penn Libraries’ position as a leader for research in medieval studies.
Research connecting the land and the sea
Research connecting the land and the sea
Ph.D. candidate Chelsea Cohen, a historical and maritime archaeologist in Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences, combines terrestrial and underwater methods in her research of historical port cities, agroforestry, and maritime culture.
Patterns of Soviet Jewish emigration in the post-Stalin era
Patterns of Soviet Jewish emigration in the post-Stalin era
For four decades, more than one million Jews left the USSR despite the Soviet Union’s complex bureaucracy and opposition to emigration. Doctoral candidate Sasha Zborovsky explores the intricate dynamics.
Teaching and learning abroad in Vietnam
Teaching and learning abroad in Vietnam
In a Q&A, Fred Dickinson of the Department of History discusses his semester as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar in Vietnam and building out Southeast Asian studies at Penn.
Stringing together the history of an ancient Incan textile
Stringing together the history of an ancient Incan textile
Kyle Marini, a Barra Dissertation Fellow in Art and Material Culture at The McNeil Center for Early American Studies, is developing an interdisciplinary methodology to recreate an ancient Incan rope to illuminate Inca modes of artistic representation.
In the News
The New York Times
A century-old law’s aftershocks are still felt at the Supreme Court
PIK Professor Karen M. Tani says that granting the Supreme Court the power to set its own agenda has caused it to gravitate toward cases that have preoccupied the conservative legal movement.
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Time
Abortion has always been more than health care
In an opinion essay, Ph.D. student Christen Hammock Jones in the School of Arts & Sciences says that relying solely on expertise and professional judgment primes people to think about abortion rights as a matter of medical judgment instead of equality and autonomy.
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The Telegraph
Bankruptcy, depression and random death: Xi’s China is tearing itself apart
Victor H. Mair of the School of Arts & Sciences says that people in China have many memes that represent opting out of society.
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Chronicle of Higher Education
Stop treating students like babies
Jonathan Zimmerman of the Graduate School of Education organized an in-person 2016 discussion between Penn students and Republican students at Cairn University to foster productive conversation and find common ground.
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CBS News
Presidential historian assesses Trump’s 2024 win
Mary Frances Berry of the School of Arts & Sciences discusses Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential victory and upcoming second term.
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New Republic
The bad politics of bad posture
In her book “Slouch,” Beth Linker of the School of Arts & Sciences outlines how societal pressures have driven huge swaths of people to embrace falsehoods about posture.
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