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  • History A large, multistoried, light colored stone building with a turret and spire.

    March 12, 2025

    Researching, Refocusing, and Developing a Topic

    John Cardoza is a retired attorney and 2023 online MA graduate. After an initial, unfinished foray into graduate history at UCSB in the late 1970s, he attended law school at UC Davis and was employed in Ventura County as a prosecutor and family law attorney.

  • History

    February 27, 2025

    The Cultural Power of Barbecue among Enslaved Americans

    Brigitte Brown completed the history MA capstone in the summer of 2024. Her defense video examines barbecue culture among slaves in the Antebellum southern United States. Drawing from a rich collection of oral histories, she explores how barbecue functioned as an important meal created by and for black enslaved Africans.

  • History typed letter

    February 21, 2025

    Archival Research and the Importance of Physical Documents

    This post by Glenn Summers delivers a tactile and analytical discussion of some sources on the 1913 strike at Leith Docks, a key event during the UK’s Great Labour Unrest. These sources were discovered during the Scotland Archives Experience in June 2024.

  • HistoryPhilosophyReligious Studies

    May 29, 2024

    How to Write a Book: Advice from a Professor

    Dr. Katherine Bynum is an Assistant Professor and historian with a focus on Black and Brown freedom struggles. Currently, she is working on her book, Unite and Be Free: The Formation of a Multiracial Coalition against Police Brutality in Dallas. We sat down with her and asked how she created her book. 

  • HistoryPhilosophyReligious Studies

    May 22, 2024

    Ceviche and Peru:  A Developmental Dish and The Changing Culture

    Ceviche, seviche, or “cebiche,” a popular Peruvian dish, brings a different image to mind depending on who you ask. Yet, this recipe and the many ways anyone can prepare it have solidified itself as the national food of Peru, representative of its environment, culture, and growth.

  • HistoryPhilosophyReligious Studies

    May 8, 2024

    From Sacrifice to Snack

    In ancient Peruvian culture, even the dead ate peanuts. Originating from the peaks of the Andes mountains, peanuts are not nuts at all but legumes and are more closely related to beans than cashews. For approximately 7,500 years, peanuts survived as a popular staple in humanity’s diet, and, in ancient times, religious rituals offered peanuts as sacrifices to the gods.