Graduating senior Kimberly Melgoza researches how mind-altering substances have been used in rituals across Latin America. She’ll bring her studies to Yale Divinity School this fall.
USC faculty members and 40 other experts from diverse fields produce a report on the triumphant and tragic moments in L.A.’s history.
Puritans chopping down a festive Maypole in 1629 was a harbinger of future destruction, a USC historian notes.
USC Dornsife’s Thomas Ward of anthropology covers Vodou, witchcraft and shamanism, while focusing on “white magic” used for holistic healing.
The tradition of Christian dance did not happen overnight. For the first five centuries of Christianity, the church opposed dancing. But as time went on dance continued to be integrated into Christianity.
Betty Grebenschikoff and Ana María Wahrenberg hadn’t seen each other since their families fled Berlin. More than 80 years later, astute work by a foundation indexer brought them back together.
USC experts discuss how COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on the Black community connects to a long history of upending Black families in America, from slavery to incarceration.
Just in time for Black History Month, you’ll find thousands of primary documents — including letters and photos — available with a few keystrokes and the click of a mouse.
Mexico played an important role in helping escaped slaves find freedom — and in shaping the U.S. Civil War, argues USC Dornsife’s Alice Baumgartner.
USC experts weigh in on the Black family, which has been “reverenced, stereotyped and vilified from the days of slavery to our own time,” according to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
USC English professors reflect on the books that soothed and uplifted them during a tumultuous year.
It wasn’t because they were joyless and humorless. USC’s Peter Mancall, who researches the Puritans, says it was about their desire to impose their will on the people of New England – natives and immigrants alike.
Joan Flores-Villalobos brings to life the women who journeyed to Panama for money, love and adventure during the construction of the famous canal.
USC Dornsife’s Sabina Zonno and Lynn Dodd have received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to develop an immersive world around a Renaissance-era manuscript.
Mark Padoongpatt’s examination of Thai immigrants landed him air time on a Hulu show hosted by Padma Lakshmi.
While in-person worship remains risky, some congregations are reimagining their communities online. USC experts address the intersections of religion, a pandemic and a historic social movement.
The glory heaped on the Pilgrims puzzles USC historian Peter Mancall: Native Americans had met Europeans in scores of places before 1620, the Plymouth colony attracted relatively few migrants and it lasted only 70 years.
Accounts of demon sex go as far back as the Book of Genesis, a USC scholar of early Christianity notes.
Through their research on plagues dating back to the late 19th century, USC Dornsife historians have discovered striking parallels between the coronavirus and previous outbreaks.
A USC Annenberg doctoral student discovers how social media can cut both ways.
Lourdes Ashley Hunter and her Trans Women of Color Collective focus on those in their community who have not had access to resources, opportunities and support systems.
As protestors take to the streets, USC Dornsife faculty offer reading suggestions that provide historical and cultural background on the roots of American racism.
Staff scan centuries-old gilded pages and send them to eager faculty and students from behind closed doors at USC Libraries.
A USC Dornsife historian revisits several moments when Americans had to choose between human health and making money, noting that the money usually wins out.