Why are gendered forms of authority in pre-colonial Indigenous societies often historicized as sacred or relational, while those in pre-modern Muslim contexts are more often framed as patriarchal and oppressive?
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How did Indigenous societies in the Australian continent adapt their farming and land management practices to survive the climatic shifts during the Last Glacial Maximum (20,000+ years ago), including land aridity?
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Is it anachronistic or inappropriate for a historian to analyse kinship systems and social relations in pre-colonization Aboriginal societies through concepts like “patriarchy”? If so, what other frameworks are suitable to analyse gender roles or social hierarchies in these societies?
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[Book] Mónica M. Salas Landa, Visible Ruins the Politics of Perception and the Legacies of Mexico's Revolution (University of Texas Press, 2024)
This subreddit is for requesting and sharing specific articles available in various databases.
How did Indigenous populations in the Australian continent respond to major environmental changes such as the drying of Lake Carpentaria or the extinction of megafauna? What historical evidence do we have about this?
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As art historian, when you visit a place with an unfamiliar artistic tradition, how do you responsibly engage with local art and craft? What strategies do you use to ensure your engagement supports artisans, honors local knowledge, and avoids perpetuating harmful stereotypes or extractive tourism?
This is a community of art enthusiasts interested in a vast range of movements, styles, media, and methodologies. From novice to professional, please feel free to share your favorite articles, essays, and discussions on artists and artworks.
In comparison to other premodern political traditions, did Islamic governance include a symbolic or poetic register that went beyond religious law and doctrine?
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To what extent can non-permanent structures, such as those used by Indigenous Australian communities prior to colonization, be meaningfully studied as part of architectural history, and what methodological approaches could be used for this inquiry?
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Is there any historical evidence of intermarriage and shared ritual practices between Indigenous Australians and Melanesian/Papuan groups in the Torres Strait before European colonisation?
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Between the 1700s and early 1900s, when Makassan trepangers visited northern Australia, did their Islamic beliefs influence the Indigenous communities they encountered, and how were these ideas received?
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Given their early arrival and significant contributions to Australia’s inland exploration and infrastructure during the 19th and early 20th centuries, why did the Afghan cameleers and their descendants remain largely absent from formal political life in colonial and post-Federation Australia?
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When and how did the practice of real-time analysis of election results during vote counting develop, and what historical factors accounted for its emergence as a distinct form of electoral observation, separate from pre-election polling and post-election analysis?
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If stoicism and mindfulness are in vogue today as lay self-help tools, what ideas filled that role in the 17th to 20th centuries?
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Why is competitive exam-based recruitment central to the public sectors of India and Pakistan, but absent in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand? To what extent do these differences reflect divergent colonial administrative logics in settler vs extraction colonies?
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Historically, male royalty and elites in India wore elaborate jewelry as a marker of status, divinity, and warrior identity. What caused the the decline and shift in cultural attitude toward male adornment in India?
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Catholicism frames the relationship between spiritual leaders and followers using the metaphor of fatherhood (“Father” for priests and the Pope). Are there historical antecedents to this use of filial imagery in pre-Christian contexts, and if so, what factors contributed to its emergence?
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Did historians in the past tend to have more chauvinistic motivations than they do now? If so, what caused the change?
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Is there merit to the claim that the radical dimension of Martin Luther King Jr.’s political thought – particularly his critiques of capitalism, imperialism, and the structural entwinement of race and class – have been erased in dominant historical narratives and collective memory?
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Does the mistreatment of junior lawyers by senior lawyers have a long history, or is it a modern phenomenon? How have power dynamics between senior and junior lawyers evolved across legal history?
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What was the US intellectual culture like in 1992 that enabled Francis Fukuyama’s sweeping “end of history” claim to not be outright dismissed in some academic circles?
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Did early encounters between China and the Muslim world result in changes in gender norms in each respective communities?
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Was circumcision status ever been used as a marker of identity in war to identify friend versus enemy?
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Historically, when did voluntary migration away from one’s community of origin stop being viewed as a betrayal of their community? Did this differ across cultures?
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Throughout history, how have the meaning and use of the term “human shield” — commonly invoked by military and statesmen to justify attacks that would likely cause civilian casualties — changed?
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For Gurkha and Sikh soldiers in the British Indian Army who saw their loyal military service as a source of pride and prestige, how did they reconcile these positive feelings towards Empire following the Jallianwala Bagh massacre?
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