Languages

Experiencing the pandemic from abroad

When rising junior Julia Mitchell learned in March that France was about to shut down, she decided to immerse herself further in the language rather than come home, quarantining with her homestay family and finishing courses remotely.

Michele W. Berger

The unique subculture of Cuban punk

Often idealized through images of painstakingly restored Chryslers and romantic, backroom rumbas, Cuba has untold subcultures that one graduate student, Carmen Torre Pérez, is analyzing through a social history of Cuban punk.

Kristina García



In the News


The Wall Street Journal

‘Everyday Utopia’ review: The road to nowhere

“Everyday Utopia” by Kristen Ghodsee of the School of Arts & Sciences is reviewed.

FULL STORY →



Psychology Today

Correcting non-native speakers may hinder their learning

In a co-authored Op-Ed, Benjamin Franklin Scholar Sangitha Aiyer writes that well-intentioned grammatical corrections can induce unintended negative effects on non-native English speakers.

FULL STORY →



WBUR Radio (Boston)

What makes the world’s first bar joke funny? No one knows

Phillip Jones of the Penn Museum explains the history behind a Penn Museum collection of Sumerian tablets, including the world’s first documented bar joke.

FULL STORY →



The Washington Post

Family is ‘my chittis’: Kamala Harris puts her Tamil roots on the prime-time stage like never before

Vasu Renganathan of the School of Arts & Sciences commented on Kamala Harris’ use of the Tamil language on the campaign trail.

FULL STORY →



The New York Times

Peru’s queen of Quechua rap fuses the transgressive and traditional

Américo Mendoza-Mori of the School of Arts & Sciences translated the lyrics of a song by Renata Flores, a Peruvian musician who writes in Quechua.

FULL STORY →



Vice

Renata Flores brought Quechua to YouTube, and then everything changed

Américo Mendoza-Mori of the School of Arts and Sciences spoke about the need to bring the Quechua language into contemporary art forms. “The stereotype where indigenous people are seen as timeless or pure must be challenged. When native people are put in that box, we are fossilizing them,” he said.

FULL STORY →