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Culture

Image of the Mahabodhi Temple: a stepped pyramid with round dome-shaped structure (stupa) on top
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Mahabodhi Temple

This photograph shows the Mahabodhi Temple complex. The temple is a part of Bodh Gaya a religious place in the Gaya District in Bihar that is one of the four and most important pilgrimages associated with the life of Gautama Buddha.

Shipping Company Route Map from 1889
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Shipping Company Route Map from 1889

This route-map of the Messageries Maritimes shipping company displays the main routes connecting metropolitan France to its empire in the Indo-Pacific. While the map dates to 1889, these routes retained their basic structure through the 1950s.

An image of Elisabeth Chapman's quilted bedcover. The quilt is pieced together using multiple patterned fabrics.
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Quilted bedcover of Elisabeth Chapman

This quilted bed cover was likely made for the marriage of John and Elisabeth Chapman on September 19, 1829.

A detail of the Love Letter, showing two women. One holds a letter while the other stands next to her.
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The Love Letter by Jan Vermeer

Painted in the last phase of his career, Dutch artist Jan Vermeer’s The Love Letter is a work of oil on canvas that depict

A woodblock print from a scene in the Tale of Genji depicting a women looking down at a man from a balcony. Black ink on cream background.
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Yamamoto Shunshō’s The Tale of Genji

Largely considered the first novel, The Tale of Genji was written by Murasaki Shikibu, a noblewoman and lady-in-waiting du

Image of newspaper. Transcription in folder.
Teaching

Short Teaching Module: Music and Decolonization in the Black Atlantic

The decades after World War II witnessed rapid decolonization of European empires and a dramatic increase in independence movements for colonized peoples.

Album cover shows people marching on the left. On the right is the shape of Ghana with the colors of the Ghana flag. Text below it reads "United We Build a Strong Nation".
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Lord Kitchener, “Birth of Ghana,” 1957

On March 6, 1957, the Gold Coast Colony declared its independence from Britain and became Ghana, the first West African nation to break from European colonial rule.

Image of newspaper. Transcription in folder.
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George Browne “Freedom for Ghana”

While living in London in the early 1950s, the Trinidadian calypsonian George Browne (whose stage name was Young Tiger) penned a calypso called “Freedom for Ghana” that caught the attention of George Padmore, the Trinidadian pan-Africanist intellectual and journalist, who wrote about it in the Gh

Construction drawing of a social housing high-rise in La Duchère, 1960.
Teaching

Social Capital in World History: Lyon and Pittsburgh as Examples

Lyon, France, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, are connected by the thread of social capital, or people power.  This essay situates social capital as an non-financial asset possessed by people who have little wealth, but who use a variety of strategies to facilitate community improvements.

Les Minguettes in Vénissieux, south of Lyon, 1969.
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Social Housing development in France

In addition to La Duchère, other social housing developments in greater Lyon included Les Minguettes in Vénissieux, where 9,200 units for 35,000 residents were constructed between 1966 and 1973, and the 8,300-unit Mas du Taureau, built between 1970 and 1980 (in addition to La Grappinière, with a