Re-Imagining the past

I'm Dr. Jo, an archaeologist focusing on gender in later prehistoric Western Europe. I'm fascinated by historical representations in all media and how they influence the way we perceive social relations in the past.

[apricitystudies]

this is a breakdown of how i go about doing research for my essays! do keep in mind i am an arts student, so i don’t know how well this method carries over into other disciplines. check out my other guides to writing essays here and here!

[thetudorslovers]

"As long as i live i will have control over my being"

Artemisia Gentileschi,was an Italian painter, daughter of Orazio Gentileschi, who was a major follower of the revolutionary Baroque painter Caravaggio. She was an important second-generation proponent of Caravaggio’s dramatic realism.

A pupil of her father and of his friend the landscape painter Agostino Tassi, she painted at first in a style indistinguishable from her father’s somewhat lyrical interpretation of Caravaggio’s example. Her first known work is Susanna and the Elders (1610), an accomplished work long attributed to her father. She also painted two versions of a scene already essayed by Caravaggio (but never attempted by her father),such as Judith Beheading Holofernes. She was raped by Tassi, and, when he did not fulfill his promise to marry her, Orazio Gentileschi in 1612 brought him to trial. During that event she herself was forced to give evidence under torture.

Shortly after the trial she married a Florentine, and in 1616 she joined Florence’s Academy of Design, the first woman to do so. While in Florence she began to develop her own distinct style. Unlike many other women artists of the 17th century, she specialized in history paintingrather than still life and portraiture. In Florence she was associated with the Medici court and painted an Allegory of Inclination (c. 1616) for the series of frescoes honouring the life of Michelangelo in the Casa Buonarotti. Her colours are more brilliant than her father’s, and she continued to employ the tenebrismmade popular by Caravaggio long after her father had abandoned that style.

[eireneofathens]

mini-history meme : favourites of @leroichevalier → 2 PERIODS (chosen by me) | 1 of 2: Early Modern Europe during the Age of Enlightenment

[ottomanladies]

On this day in Ottoman history - 9 July - Ayşe Sultan the younger died:

Ayşe Sultan was the elder daughter of Ahmed III and Musallî Kadın, her younger sister being Zübeyde Sultan, and she was born on 10 October 1715. She was usually called Ayşe Sultan “the younger” to distinguish her from Mustafa II’s daughter Ayşe Sultan “the elder”.

In 1728 she was married to Silâhdâr Istanbullu Kunduraçı-zâde Mehmed Paşa (later Grand Vizier), though the marriage was consummated only in 1733. After his death, she married Ahmed Râtib Paşa, son of Topal Osman Paşa, with whom she had one child: Rukıyye Hanım-Sultân (1744-1780).

Having survived her second husband as well, her brother Mustafa III married her to Silahdâr Mehmed Paşa. The couple never lived together, probably because of the princess’ dislike for her new husband.

Ayşe Sultan died on 9 July 1775 and was buried in the New Mosque, where her daughter Rukıyye rests beside her. Although she reportedly had pious foundations in Ankara and İzmit, it is not known what they were about.

sources: Yılmaz Öztuna - Devletler ve Hanedanlar, Necdet Sakaoğlu - Bu Mülkün Kadın Sultanları, M. Çağatay Uluçay - Padişahların Kadınları ve Kızları

[archaeologicalnews]

Yes, That Viking Warrior Buried with Weapons Really Was a Woman

The ancient warrior was given a prestigious Viking burial, complete with deadly Viking weapons, a bag of gaming pieces (possibly to represent military command) and two horses, one bridled for riding. This mighty warrior — long thought to be be a man — made headlines in 2017 when researchers in Sweden announced that the individual was, in fact, a woman.

The intense scrutiny that followed caught the researchers by surprise.

The barrage of questions from the public and other scientists was unrelenting: Were the researchers sure they had analyzed the right bones? Was there more than one body in the burial, of which one was surely a man? And if the warrior’s sex was indeed female, is it possible they were a transgender man?

Now, in a new study published online yesterday (Feb. 19) in the journal Antiquity, the researchers of the original study have reaffirmed their conclusion that this mighty individual was a woman. The new study addresses all the questions people raised, and more. Read more.

[archaeos]

I spent two years at a top university, was taught by some of the finest modern archaeologists, and THIS is what I learned. 

[sword-snobby]

TANIS - THEY FOUND TANIS!!

A fangirling Stephen Colbert is just too adorable and wonderful…

[awed-frog]

Okay, you need to make sure you play this game at some point. Maybe not today or anything, because you’ll need about thirty minutes and a serious willingness to understand how it works, but - it’s so worth it. It’s basically an answer to our occasional frustration - why do assholes always come out on top? - and the beautiful thing about it is that not only does it explain how that happens, but also how we can change it.

“In the short run, the game defines the players. But in the long run, it’s us players who define the game.”

[youngnoblewoman]

This is fascinating if you’re into math or sociology or computer programming or all of the above.

[skeptictankj]

Everyone, everywhere, without exception, should play this thing through.

[anathaeum]

Don’t check just this - check out all of Nicky Case’s work. They’re a brilliant creator and I heavily recommend checking out at least one of their projects.  Their website can be found here.

Parable of the Polygons - an interactive experiment that shows how tiny individual biases can collectively cause segregation on a massive scale.

To Build a Better Ballot - an interactive experiment that shows the alternatives to the voting systems we currently use and how they can be more representative and democratic, along with their faults.

Coming Out Simulator - a short interactive story/novel about coming out, based off of Case’s own experiences. Not one I’ve played myself but still one I can recommend.

Loopy - a very simple but useful tool to show how systems interact with each other and how things can self-propagate.

We Become What We Behold - “ a game about news cycles, vicious cycles, infinite cycles.“ A short five-minute game about news and media. Warnings for violence, blood, death and stress.

[thebrothersjonas]

writing conclusions in papers is like the stupidest thing ever though like what’s the point of dedicating an entire paragraph to “so yeah i know you just read my paper but this is a summarization of what you read in case you need to be reminded about what you just read” like why can’t the paper just end 

[field-thistles]

I keep seeing this post and similar ones, and if y'all’s teachers and professors have left you with the idea that a conclusion is a summary, they have failed you in a big way.

Your conclusion is your “so what’s the fucking point” section. You’ve given you’re reader a lot of info and now they need to know why they care. Depending on the type of paper you should be giving a plan of action, explaining how this knowledge changes our understanding of the topic, link your paper to other disciplines, suggest further areas of study, etc.

One of the best pieces of writing advice I’ve ever received is that if you can’t envision yourself dropping the mic and strutting off stage at the end of your conclusion then it’s probably not strong enough.

[inspirelocked]

“So whats the fucking point” is more helpful than all 6 years I’ve probably been writing papers

[elodieunderglass]

Listen up, chucklefucks: I have a point to make.

Some shit went down. Here are the receipts.

Here is the tea.

^ Introduction, supporting paragraphs, conclusion: a basic essay structure.

[arrghigiveup]

Yes, hello, this. I could also go on about the introduction. The introduction is not just the place to give a quick summary and then your stand. It is there to interest your reader, give context, and–if you’re writing an argumentative essay–define the terms upon which your argument rests and make whatever clarifications and restrictions are necessary. If you’re writing an essay in response to a set essay question, it’s also the place to break down your question and point out any assumptions that may be inherent in it–assumptions that you may or may not then choose to question.

The way you choose to define your terms and set the boundaries of your discussion can change the arguments you make. Done properly, the introduction should provide a firm foundation for your argumentative points, and make everything flow a lot better.

[vexie-chan]

In some cases it’s your “so what?” Paragraph. Your call to action.

Intro: I’m about to splain you a thing

Body: heres my thing and here’s why I’m right

Conclusion: now that you know this, here’s what you should do with/about it.

[the-language-journey]

Our Mother Tongues is a pretty interesting site about Native American languages! You can see videos and hear audio recordings of people speaking different Native languages from all over North America. The Project is dedicated to saving and promoting the learning of Native American languages, and focuses on the importance of keeping them alive. Check it out!

[qqueenofhades]

bruh those are the ancestors to white people in europe anyway, it really doesn't change a damn thing to the whites lmao

Hi there. I’m guessing this is about my post from a couple days ago, about the ancestors of the people who built Stonehenge? That has unexpectedly gotten pretty popular, which is cool. I’m not entirely sure what you’re getting at here, tbh, but I’m guessing that you mean it doesn’t matter if the people/culture of prehistoric/BC Europe was multi-coloured/multi-racial/nonwhite, because the white supremacists still won’t care or notice or change their beliefs about Europe Being White ™ to start with. And to some degree, you’re right. People who are absolutely convinced that Europe was always white are not going to change their minds because of one article on the internet. I’m not even going to try. But also, there’s still value to be had in knowing this, circulating it, and pointing it out.

First of all, Stonehenge (as I noted in the post) is a famous symbol of “Englishness” or “British culture” and so forth, one of the most visited monuments in England, and every year, it’s a major gathering place for nu-pagan and druidic and New Age rituals and so forth. There are elements of that culture which are right-wing and white supremacist and neo-Nazi, and discovering that Stonehenge was in fact built by the descendants of people who came to England as Mediterranean and Middle Eastern migrants is… fitting, even if it won’t be acknowledged by said white supremacists. But the thing is, as Sirius Black would say, the world isn’t split into good people and Death Eaters. There are plenty of people who aren’t active white supremacists, who aren’t even necessarily right-wing – ordinary mainstream, non-evil, next-door-neighbor kinds of people, whose basic and underlying belief is that Europe is/was historically white, that people of colour “don’t have a history” or have never made lasting contributions to civilisation, so on and so forth. This is obviously nonsense. But the level of historical education is so low that it is passed on, especially in Western school systems and their attendant racial and imperial roots, as received wisdom. Making information that contradicts that belief available is not going to solve that problem by itself. But (as is noted on my blog) I’m a historian. This is the kind of thing I do.

Next, there’s the case of Derek Black, the son of the founder of Stormfront and godson of David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the KKK. He was the heir of the entire modern American white nationalism movement, and was prepared to succeed as its leadership. Then he went to college, started studying medieval history in order to support said white nationalism, and he… couldn’t find anything he had been taught, about what was supposedly present to justify a historically white Europe. Derek eventually fully renounced his family’s hateful belief system and became a left-wing activist (and is a PhD student working on medieval Islam). You can read more about that entire saga. What it came down to was that even the most indoctrinated white supremacist was able to encounter information that challenged and eventually deconstructed his beliefs, and while that is not going to happen with everyone, the need for historical education remains central. It might be tempting to just throw up our hands and figure there’s nothing anyone can do, and as I said, I am not expecting that to happen in all or even most cases. But the narrative has to be established. We have to make the information available and to engage in this kind of work anyway. Derek Black’s father complained that he was exposed to so much “multiculturalism” at his liberal college that he finally “succumbed.” Medievalists have recently engaged in all kinds of wrestling with our social and moral responsibilities and the fact that the discipline has in fact often been used to produce similar white-supremacist narratives. And we still have a lot of work to do, trust me.

There’s also what I call the “misogyny crutch” in well-meant liberal media, TV, and film (especially historically themed ones). How many times have we seen a character quickly and lazily coded evil because they mistreat women and/or are racist? This isn’t in dispute; we know these things are bad. But it also means that if we’re allowed to think that sexism and racism and misogyny and homophobia and so forth only exist in obvious and irredeemable villains, we are spared the need to wonder if it exists in ourselves. In that same vein, most people, and even most white people, aren’t Nazis. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t hold the same kind of inherently or passively racist beliefs. So if they look at my dashed-off Tumblr post and see the faces of Whitehawk Woman and Cheddar Man, the ancient Britons who are decidedly not white, maybe they notice that, and it makes them think. It is not going to Fix All Racism, but hey. It’s there.

Basically, there is never a bad or wrong time to destroy “Europe Was Always White!!!” It needs to be demonstrated as a lie often and loudly, especially by people (such as me) who are white themselves. People of colour should not be the only ones who have to say it. We should never assume that it’s obvious or that it’s unimportant or that it can just be assumed. We have to talk about race, especially in terms of a political and social environment that is re-weaponizing white supremacy and translating that to the government of Western countries (as it has for most of post-Columbus history). So no, maybe it doesn’t change a damn thing. But at least we will have started the conversation and not let toxic lies pass unchallenged. And that, if nothing else, is all we can do.

So yes.

[qqueenofhades]

DNA reveals origin of Stonehenge builders

Ancestors of the people who built Stonehenge travelled west across the Mediterranean to get to Britain.

So there’s been a study published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution on the genetic origin of the people whose descendants built Stonehenge in about 3000 BC, and it looks as if they came from Anatolia (modern Turkey) and the Mediterranean as part of a major Neolithic migration to northern Europe. They joined previous settlers, including Whitehawk Woman, who lived in Sussex about 5,600 years ago. There’s a picture of her reconstruction in the linked BBC article, but I’ll also put it below:

“Cheddar Man,” who lived in Britain c. 7000 BC, looked like this:

Oh, and the paper suggests that this new wave of Neolithic migrants (again, whose descendants built Stonehenge, that favoured icon of nu-pagan and white-nationalist and right-wing English Heritage sorts everywhere) joined a European society that was visibly and extensively multicultural by about 6000 BC.

I don’t know about you, but I feel as if the fact that Stonehenge was built by the descendants of dark-skinned Middle Easterners and Mediterranean refugees who had immigrated to a diverse Britain probably isn’t going to get put on EDL websites any time soon, and this delights me.

[historicwomendaily]

historicwomendaily celebration week: favorite thespian (nadz’ pick)

Honoria “Atang” dela Rama - Hernandez was a Filipino singer and sarswela performer who became the first Filipino film actress.

Atang was born in Pandacan, Manila on January 11, 1902. As early as age seven, she was already being cast in Spanish zarzuelas such as Mascota, Sueño de un Vas, and Marina. 

At the age of 15, Atang starred in the sarsuela Dalagang Bukid, which became her star-making role with her performance of the song Nabasag na Banga. Later on, when the sarsuela was adapted into film, Atang played the same role.

During the American occupation, Atang fought for the dominance of the art forms of kundiman and sarswela over other Western forms that were entering the country, firmly believing that the local forms express the Filipino soul best. 

Besides performing in major Manila theatres like the Teatro Libertad and the Teatro Zorilla, Atang also went on tours around the country, performing in local plazas and introduced kundiman and sarswela for the indigenous groups in Northern Luzon and Mindanao, defying the classist tradition of theatre. At the height of her career, she also did concerts internationally, performing in cities like Hawai’i, San Francisco, Shanghai, and Tokyo.

Atang’s extraordinary vocal and acting talent is credited with the success of Filipino sarswelas and dramas. Aside from being a performer, she was also a theatrical producer, writer, and talent manager. She also wrote her own sarswelas like Anak ni Eba, Aking Ina, and Puri at Buhay. In 1979, at the age of 74, she was hailed as the Queen of Kundiman and Sarswela, singing her same star-making song Nabasag na Banga at the formal ceremony.

On May 8, 1987, “for her sincere devotion to original Filipino theater and music, her outstanding artistry as singer, and as sarsuela actress-playwright-producer, her tireless efforts to bring her art to all sectors of Filipino society and to the world,” Atang dela Rama was proclaimed the National Artist of the Philippines for Theatre and Music.

[historicwomendaily]

historicwomendaily celebration week: favorite real-life heroine (nadz’ pick)

María Josefa Gabriela Cariño de Silang was one of the first Filipino women revolutionary leaders against Spanish colonial rule.

Born in 1731 in Ilocos Sur to a trading Spanish - Ilocano father and a Tingguian mother, Gabriela received a Christian education from the town’s parish priest and later on from the town’s nearby convent school. The priest also arranged for her a marriage in 1751 to a wealthy businessman named Tomás Millan, who died only three years into their marriage.

Now an independently wealthy widow, Gabriela met a fellow Ilocano named Diego Silang, whom she later married in 1757. In 1762 as a consequence of the Seven Years’ War, Britain occupied part of the Philippines, including Manila. Emboldened, Diego sought out the British forces and collaborated with them to overthrow Spanish rule. He was then appointed by the British government as governor of the Ilocos region and promised reinforcements to help him against Spain, which was never delivered.

During the revolt, Gabriela became her husband’s closest confidante and his unofficial aide-de-camp, often fighting in skirmishes side-by-side with him up until he was assassinated by their former comrades Miguel Vicos and Pedro Becbec on May 1763.

Immediately afterwards, Gabriela and the forces which remained loyal to her retreated to Tayum, Abra and sought refuge in her uncle Nicolas Cariño’s home, where she appointed her first two generals, Miguel Flores and Tagabuen Infiel.

Gabriela assumed leadership of the revolt, often appearing on horseback and wielding a bolo into battle. This image later earned her the sobriquet “la Generala.”

On September 10, 1763, Gabriela once again besieged Vigan to no avail, forcing her once more into hiding at Abra, where she was later captured. Ten days later, on the 20th of September 1763, Gabriela and her comrades were lined up in Vigan’s central plaza, hanged one by one by in full view of the crowd watching below. To add further insult to the injury, Gabriela was hanged last, being forced to watch as the life drained out of her comrades-in-arms.

The Order of Gabriela Silang, a third class national decoration award in the Philippines whose membership is restricted to women, is named in her honor.

[historicwomendaily]

historicwomendaily celebration week: favorite scientist (nadz’ pick)

Rosalind Franklin was an English Jewish chemist and x-ray crystallographer who made significant contributions that led to the discovery of the structure of DNA. She is best remembered for her famous x-ray diffraction photo of DNA, popularly known as Photo 51, which served as the crucial evidence in identifying the structure of the DNA structure as double helical, with the nucleotide bases inside the rungs, and the sugar-phosphates serving as the backbone chain.

[okayto]

This is why classes need library instruction

Student: I can’t find any scholarly articles on this subject!

Me: Okay, what’s the subject?

Student: Creating a culture of sharing in west-coast technological companies.

Me: Alright, and what/where have you tried searching?

Student: I searched “creating a culture of sharing in west-coast technological companies” on the library website!

Me:

[okayto]

I’m still mad about this because it happens frequently. Students at all levels of education need library and research instruction–they should get it before graduating high school, they should be getting it in several different classes in college, and there should be something in grad school–seriously, there are people in my master’s program who don’t know anything besides Google.

And don’t say “they should have learned in [previous level of university education].” Do you think every person continues education within a few years of their first degree? THEY DON’T. Even if they did get a then-good introduction to research, you think nothing changed between 2008 and 2018? How about the doctoral student I met today whose last degree–and last experience with academic libraries–was in 1996? How about the guy in my master’s cohort who got his bachelor’s degree in 1987?

Because look. See that very specific topic the student wanted? There may or may not be actual scholarly articles about it. But here are a few things you can do:

First, zoom out. Start broad. Pick a few phrases or keywords, like “tech companies” and “culture.” See what comes up.

Actually, back up. First, does your library’s website search include articles, or do you have to go into a database? My library’s website searches some of our 200+ databases, but not all. And you’ll need to find (in advance search or adjustable limiters that pop up after your initial search) how to limit your search to scholarly and/or peer-reviewed articles.

What other keywords are related or relevant? For the search above, you could use a combination of “silicon valley,” “company/ies” or “organization/s,” “sharing,” “collaborative,” “workplace culture,” “social culture,” “organizational culture,” and those are just the ones I can come up with off the top of my head.

Did you find something that looks promising? Great! What kind of subjects/keywords are attached (usually to the abstract, sometimes in the description section of the online listing)? Those can give you more ideas of what to search. Does it cite any articles? Look at those! Some databases (ilu ProQuest) will also show you a selection of related/similar articles.

If you’re researching a very specific topic, you may not find any/many articles specifically about your subject. You may, for example, have to make do with some articles about west-coast tech companies’ work cultures, and different articles about creating sharing/collaborative environments.

That said, this student did the right thing: they tried what they knew to do, and then reached out for help.

[beradan]

They tried what they knew to do, and then reached out for help.

[tikkunolamorgtfo]

I get goddamn professors pulling this shit, there is not one single level in the academy where research literacy isn’t lacking.  

[plaidadder]

Also: Everyone has forgotten how to browse the stacks. As in, find a book that’s relevant, go to the stacks, then look at what’s near it on the shelf. You will find stuff that way that would never turn up on a search. It really works and can be a useful supplement to electronic research even though it involves your corporeal form and books made out of paper. 

[katiemcgrath]

Women of colour who built Britain (up to WWII)  &Hover