Yamamba
In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch
Alluring, nurturing, dangerous, and vulnerable the yamamba, or Japanese mountain witch, has intrigued audiences for centuries. What is it about the fusion of mountains with the solitary old woman that produces such an enigmatic figure? And why does she still call to us in this modern, scientific era? Co-editors Rebecca Copeland and Linda C. Ehrlich […]
The Kimono Tattoo
“I jostled her shoulder and noticed when I did that her skin was cold to the touch….her entire torso was covered in tattoos from her collar bone to the midline of her thighs. All were of kimono motifs—fans, incense burners, peonies, and scrolls.” This ghastly scene was the last thing Ruth Bennett expected to encounter […]
Electrifying Mexico
Technology and the Transformation of a Modern City
Many visitors to Mexico City’s 1886 Electricity Exposition were amazed by their experience of the event, which included magnetic devices, electronic printers, and a banquet of light. It was both technological spectacle and political messaging, for speeches at the event lauded President Porfirio Díaz and bound such progress to his vision of a modern order. […]
Now playing: Propaganda at the movies
As China prepares for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party, thousands of theaters have been instructed to screen at least two propaganda films each week. But
political jargon and ideological mandates may not sit well with 21st-century moviegoers, argues Zhao Ma, associate professor of modern Chinese history and culture in Arts & Sciences.
42 Today
Jackie Robinson and His Legacy
New collection explores Jackie Robinson’s compelling and complicated legacy Before the United States Supreme Court ruled against segregation in public schools, and before Rosa Parks refused to surrender her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama, Jackie Robinson walked onto the diamond on April 15, 1947, as first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers, making history as the […]
Sam Fox School, CRE2, Pulitzer Arts Foundation welcome artist-in-residence Jordan Weber
Multidisciplinary artist Jordan Weber will discuss his work March 9. Weber is currently exploring questions of incarceration and healing in St. Louis as part of a new project, co-sponsored by the Sam Fox School, the Pulitzer Arts Foundation and the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity.
‘The Dilemma of the Black Republican’
Jackie Robinson’s baseball career is synonymous with Civil Rights advancement. But his life also illuminates a period of dramatic electoral realignment.
Africa Initiative awards new round of pilot grants
The spirit of international collaboration is still strong at Washington University, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of eight teams recently received funding from the Africa Initiative for new research projects on the continent.
Q&A with Christine Sun Kim
With her spare line and sly, deadpan humor, Christine Sun Kim investigates sound as a physical and social phenomenon while also interrogating the cultural hierarchies in which sound operates. In her new mural for Washington University’s Kemper Art Museum, the artist and Deaf activist highlights how the weight of history and everyday experiences intertwine to affect the lives of Deaf people.
WashU’s French Connexions named French Embassy Center of Excellence
The French Connexions Cultural Center at Washington University in St. Louis has been elected to the Centers of Excellence of the Embassy of France.
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