People & culture
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The real-life family drama behind new Netflix show House of …
[ad_1] Eldest son Arthur expected that the role to be given to him, and that he’d enjoy a free hand with his controlling interest in the brewery, only to learn at the reading of his father’s will that he would be compelled to share ownership with his clever but dour brother Edward. The complicated partnership…
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Intellectual violence | Eurozine
[ad_1] In the age of mature Putinism, violence and control, accompanied by a new morality based on so-called ‘traditional values’, have become crucial instruments for managing Russian society. The use of the education system and cultural institutions to indoctrinate the population – above all young people – is a form of violence, only intellectual rather…
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“Sometimes You Gotta Fat Roll”: SoulMuppet’s Zachary Cox On …
[ad_1] Doom! The word that everyone seems to have gotten on their word of the year calendar. Everyone is “doomscrolling” or “doomposting” and even Marvel is revving up for Doomsday. But why is this the mood we find ourselves in? Are things breaking down around us, the cycles we depend on starting to fray as…
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How to Write in Cuneiform, the Oldest Writing System in the …
[ad_1] Teaching child visitors how to write their names using an unfamiliar or antique alphabet is a favorite activity of museum educators, but Dr. Irving Finkel, a cuneiform expert who specializes in ancient Mesopotamian medicine and magic, has grander designs. His employer, the British Museum, has over 130,000 tablets spanning Mesopotamia’s Early Dynastic period to…
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Why ‘the most controversial queen in history’ was so hated
[ad_1] Presented to the French court as a peace offering after years of hostility with Austria, Marie Antoinette had split allegiances that mired her in suspicions − not all unfounded − that she shared military secrets with Austria. She was deemed indifferent to the French people, and derogatory references to her as “L’Autri-chienne” (a wordplay on the French for both Austrian…
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Setting the stage for genocide
[ad_1] Over the past few weeks, Israel marked twenty years since the “Gaza Disengagement”: the 2005 operation that uprooted 8,500 settlers and pulled out its troops. Presented as a way to ease Israel’s military burden and redraw its borders, the move bypassed the Palestinian Authority and left Israel in control of Gaza’s borders, airspace, and…
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A Visual Reading of Sanskrit Manuscripts
[ad_1] What can you learn from a book you can’t read? Sanskrit manuscripts, admired for their philosophical insights are also extraordinary visual objects. In this visual reading of manuscripts from the collections at Cambridge University Library, explore how the colour red offers meaning and enchantment beyond language. You’d think in this digital age where we…
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5 GMs In A Trenchcoat: From Inside the Tent Upgrades Kids on…
[ad_1] Coming-of-age stories are an internationally beloved sub-genre of media that focuses on the crossover from childhood into adulthood. Through the protagonists, the audience explores themes like loss of innocence, cultural or societal rites of passage, and self-discovery. More importantly, this type of storytelling provides the audience with insight into other people’s lives, or a…
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Malcolm Foley’s Anti-Greed Gospel Exposes the Materialistic …
[ad_1] Every once in a while I come across a book that changes the way I look at the world. Dorothy L. Sayers’s The Man Born to Be King was one such book (though technically a play cycle rather than a conventional book). So too were Makoto Fujimura’s Culture Care, and Sandra Glahn’s Nobody’s Mother, and Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend. Each of…