Asia
Photograph of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese Activist
This photograph of a powerful woman, Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi, shows her use of national dress in a Southeast Asian political context. Aung San Suu Kyi was educated overseas and married to an Englishman. Yet she always wears Burmese national dress complete with a flower in her hair.
Painting of Imelda Marcos, Philippine First Lady
Politicians are astute experts on the symbols and meaning of dress as part of self-representation. For women, the politics of dress are highly significant.
Sati Handprints
This image of the hands of Hindu widows and concubines of the ruling family of the Rajput state of Jodhpur, also known as Marwar, memorializes the devotion of these women and the high status of the men for whom the women committed sati.
Sati Engraving: A Gentoo Woman Burning Herself
From the late 1500s and into early 1800s, adventurous and artistically talented European men and a few women traveled to Asia and India, in particular, to see sites and cultures considered exotic.
Map of Ichan Qala
This type of image is known as a map. Represented on this paper is the old, walled city that forms a part of the larger, contemporary city of Khiva, Uzebekistan. This image covers one half of one side of the page of the map.
Barada Panel in Great Mosque in Damascus
The panel shown here is five meters (16.7 feet) above ground level on the wall in the courtyard of the Great Mosque in Damascus. The original image is created in mosaic technique.
Analyzing Paintings and Prints
The modules in Methods present case studies that demonstrate how scholars interpret different kinds of historical evidence in world history.
Vulgarly Called the Wanton
This print is called Vulgarly called the Wanton and was created by the artist Utamaro in 1802. It portrays a woman engaged in frivolous or indulgent behavior, providing a sense of how people understood urban Japan during the Tokugawa period.
The Drunkard
This print, titled, The Drunkard, portrays a woman engaged in frivolous or indulgent behavior. It is a ukiyo-e woodblock prints from the Tokugawa or Edo period in Japan (1600 to 1867) created by the artist Utamaro in 1802.
Analyzing Official Documents
The modules in Methods present case studies that demonstrate how scholars interpret different kinds of historical evidence in world history. In the video below, historian Dina Khoury analyzes two official proclamations by the government of the Ottoman Empire.