If you go through the history of ancient Rome, you will find the stories of many important men.
What you won't find are the tales of many great women. Women in Roman history are given little to no mention.
There is one major exception to this, however: Livia Drusilla.
Learn more about the most powerful woman in Roman history, and determine if she was one of history’s most shrewd Machivelliean characters or if she was just misunderstood on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
China’s urban landscapes are full of radically different architectural styles which memorialise different eras in the country’s political past, from the remains of imperial palaces or city walls, to Republican-era shophouses, early-PRC medium-rise apartments, and soaring glass buildings of twenty-first-century vintage. But lodged – both temporally and physically – between these latter two are constructions from a time that is only now beginning to receive more attention, namely the early reform period of the 1970s-90s.
This is exactly the timespan covered in Cole Roskam’s excellent new book Designing Reform: Architecture in the People's Republic of China, 1970-1992(Yale UP, 2021) which shows that architecture had a key place in the emerging political, social and cultural developments of China’s pivotal post-Mao years. Examining stylistic, institutional, sociological and aesthetic aspects to Chinese architecture and its cross-border entanglements, this is a book which – as we transition deeper into Xi Jinping’s ‘new era’ – has much to say about an intriguing and occluded period of recent history which is not just Chinese but truly global.
Ed Pulford is an Anthropologist and Lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Manchester. His research focuses on friendships and histories between the Chinese, Korean and Russian worlds, and indigeneity in northeast Asia.
The term cacica was a Spanish linguistic invention, the female counterpart to caciques, the Arawak word for male indigenous leaders in Spanish America. But the term’s meaning was adapted and manipulated by natives, creating a new social stratum where it previously may not have existed. This book explores that transformation, a conscious construction and reshaping of identity from within.
Cacicas feature far and wide in the history of Spanish America, as female governors and tribute collectors and as relatives of ruling caciques—or their destitute widows. They played a crucial role in the establishment and success of Spanish rule, but were also instrumental in colonial natives’ resistance and self-definition.
Margarita R. Ochoa and Sara V. Guengerich's edited book Cacicas: The Indigenous Women Leaders of Spanish America, 1492-1825 (U Oklahoma Press, 2021), noted scholars uncover the history of colonial cacicas, moving beyond anecdotes of individuals in Spanish America. Their work focuses on the evolution of indigenous leadership, particularly the lineage and succession of these positions in different regions, through the lens of native women’s political activism. Such activism might mean the intervention of cacicas in the economic, familial, and religious realms or their participation in official and unofficial matters of governance. The authors explore the role of such personal authority and political influence across a broad geographic, chronological, and thematic range—in patterns of succession, the settling of frontier regions, interethnic relations and the importance of purity of blood, gender and family dynamics, legal and marital strategies for defending communities, and the continuation of indigenous governance.
This volume showcases colonial cacicas as historical subjects who constructed their consciousness around their place, whether symbolic or geographic, and articulated their own unique identities. It expands our understanding of the significant influence these women exerted—within but also well beyond the native communities of Spanish America.
Jane Scimeca is Professor of History at Brookdale Community College
The 8th and final(???) Jan 6. Hearing happened in prime time on Thursday. We saved our Monday deep dive for it! As usual, Andrew breaks it down with clips! Also, Bannon found guilty! and Jeff Clark hit with disciplinary hearings! What a great day!
Pope Francis apologized on Monday to a crowd of survivors, advocates and others in Alberta, Canada, for the Catholic Church’s historic role in the mistreatment, abuse and even death of Indigenous children throughout the country. We wanted to put the spotlight on Indigenous people and how they reacted to the Pope’s apologies after decades of working for this moment.
And in headlines: a sixth, lesser-known co-defendant in the Central Park Five case was exonerated; Myanmar’s military executed four democracy activists; and a Brooklyn pastor was robbed during church services.
Crooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffee
House Democrats—with the assistance of 47 Republicans—on July 19 passed the Respect for Marriage Act. The bill would federally recognize any marriage if it is legally performed in any of the 50 states, and would allow the attorney general to file civil action lawsuits against states that refuse to recognize marriages from other states.
The bill, which would formally repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, now goes to the Senate, where it will require 60 votes to overcome a likely filibuster.
While recent polling data suggests that Americans overall are more in favor of gay marriage than generations prior, Heritage Foundation research assistant Jared Eckert warns that the House-passed bill could have dire consequences if passed by the Senate and signed into law by President Joe Biden.
“If one state—just one state—recognizes polygamy as a legitimate marriage or legal marriage, then basically, the federal government has to do that,” says Eckert.
Eckert joins the show today to discuss that and other possible unintended consequences of the Respect for Marriage Act, and what states can do to ensure their rights aren’t trampled on.
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Biden is reported to be “on the mend” from COVID-19, even as Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., says he has contracted the virus.
Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., proposes raising the mandatory age for commercial pilots to retire from 65 to 67 years old.
New polling data suggests 2 in 3 Americans favor term limits for Supreme Court justices.
The American southwest is in a megadrought. Water levels in lakes are dropping, threatening the local environment as well as agriculture, hydroelectric power, and the people living there. As global temperatures rise, it could be a preview of worse things to come.
Guest: Dr. Jason Smerdon, ocean and climate physicist, and Lamont research professor at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and co-director at the Earth Institute Faculty.
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