Image by Liz Linder, courtesy of WBUR Democracy relies upon objective and accurate news coverage, rigorous investigative reporting, and thoroughly informed analysis. But recent attacks on the media—from real incidents of fraudulent claims to constant accusations of “fake news”—have increased the sense of urgency to protect the role of the free press. Anthony Brooks, a […]
Behind every rape kit is a survivor waiting for justice that may never come. Each day, thousands of kits containing potentially vital DNA evidence languish untested in police and crime lab storage units across the United States. Many have sat untouched for years, long past the statute of limitations for sexual assault. How could such […]
In 1998, DNA testing corroborated what family histories and the archival record had shown all along. Thomas Jefferson fathered children by Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman on the Monticello plantation. This connection was denied by naysayers for centuries but is widely acknowledged today. An accurate account of the Hemingses is now shared at Monticello, thanks […]
D.Q. Slotkins Was it a trick of the light? A figment of your imagination? Or just a dream from which you couldn’t quite wake? The yawning terrors of the night usually recede by dawn, but they sometimes linger as shadows in our minds. The horrors we can see, hear, and prove are frightening enough, but […]
In the past few years, white supremacist appropriation of medieval symbols and imagery has become more visible than ever, from “white knight” KKK imagery to crests and shields at rallies. This alt-right cosplay is in part the outcome of unexamined biases in the popular imagination as well as blindspots within the academy. What is at […]
Mohamad Hafez, Reflections What traces do lives pre- and post-war leave behind, and how do you represent the experience of forced migration? Reproducing the war-torn landscapes of contemporary Syria, Mohamad Hafez creates multi-media sculptures and paintings that represent Middle Eastern streetscapes and buildings besieged by civil war, deliberately contrasted with hopeful verses from the Quran […]
Is there such a thing as the perfect crime? Can someone truly disappear without a trace? In the right hands, forensic evidence can reveal the hidden story behind a crime scene. It also can give voice to the dead, who can no longer testify about the circumstances surrounding their fate. But do the clues left […]
Who, what, when, where, why, and how? From childhood, these questions construct the foundation of knowledge gathering and problem solving. Seemingly basic, they are essential to progressing from inquiry to answer, from simple thought to complex networks of understanding. And yet, these most central questions often are overlooked in our harried pursuit of information and […]
In the last 25 years, we have displaced much of our culture, work, and recordkeeping into the digital domain. While this turn has vastly enriched many lives, it has also amplified divides, accelerated inequalities, elevated the possibility of historical amnesia, and brought us new and onerous forms of labor. But it is not irreversible. Digital […]
D.Q. Slotkins, Selfie of a Young Man in Red by Circle of Raphael, c. 1505/2017 The selfie is everywhere, but in some ways, it is nothing new. Self-portraiture—for critical examination, personal expression, public display, and demonstration of craft—has a long history, but in its current digital form does it expand or shrink one’s perception of […]
In survival and in grief, with resilience and creativity, residents of Puerto Rico and other islands continue to live through the extreme, forced reversion from the digital world to analog life. After catastrophic failures of basic infrastructure, wrenching decisions and practical strategies have introduced radical approaches to the far-reaching consequences of colonialism, the implications of […]
William Bullard, Thomas A. and Margaret Dillon Family, ca. 1904, archival inkjet print 2016, Worcester Art Museum Images of the black subject—artistic, documentary, and anthropological—are forever fixed in the popular imagination through photography. From the medium’s beginning, race and gender have determined the reception of photographic portraits, politically and aesthetically. Coupling the aspirations of their […]
