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David Pilgrim has spent decades collecting racist pictures, signs, and knick-knacks. Now he's sharing his collection with the world.
A culture of racism/descrimination goes far beyond the overt acts of racism; it permeates all aspects of society. This museum uncovers that to show the all-encompassing impact of racism in the Jim Crow era. To visit the museum's wesite see: http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/ 
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Nina Jablonski says that differing skin colors are simply our bodies' adaptation to varied climates and levels of UV exposure. Charles Darwin disagreed with ...
This insightful TED video explains the biological and geographic reasons for the evolution of skin pigmentations. Nina Jablonski says that differing skin colors are simply our bodies' adaptation to varied climates and levels of UV exposure. See the TED-ED lessons for this video at: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/nina-jablonski-breaks-the-illusion-of-skin-color
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Another International Women's Day just behind us - the 101st - and it is hard to know whether to celebrate or give in to despair. "From London to Lahore," says Oxfam, "inequality between men and...
What do the stats say? This is a nice breakdown that highlights the global differences in gender equality.
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Kazuo Ueda toiled quietly in southern Japan for two decades in a quest both impressive and quixotic: compiling the world's first Yiddish-Japanese dictionary.
This is a fascinating podcast demonstrating cross-cultural interactions. Who would have ever imagined a Japanese-Yiddish dicitionary?
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African Americans and whites have starkly different views about the circumstances surrounding the shooting of Trayvon Martin, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds.
Opinion polls that swing widely based on race, ethnicity or religion always fascinate me. This underscores the cultural differences within the United States today (and no, we definitively do NOT live in a post-racial society).
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After a five year ban, FIFA agreed officially to allow players to wear the Muslim hijab (headscarf) during football games and all sports.
Many Islamic activists argued that FIFA was descrimating against Muslims by banning the hijab. Why change it now? Why would FIFA have made this ruling 5 years ago in the first place? Via Mr. David Burton
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"Nearly 200 years after his death, Napoleon Bonaparte is finally getting the greatest honor our age can bestow: his own theme park. Napoleonland -- stop laughing -- was concocted by a former French minister to rival Disneyland in its immersive fun and totemic cultural status. Shopping! Dining! Re-enactments of the Battle of Austerlitz! Not a bad rehabilitation for an all-conquering megalomaniacal exiled emperor." Culture and heritage are packaged in places such as theme parks as a commodity--what should we make of these spaces? What do they say about the society that creates them? What are the economic, cultural and political motives for creating such as space? Via Amarji
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Seth Dixon: This promotional video speaks to me because regardless of platform, I think that educational technologies should be used to foster the exact same type of learning environment that is described in this video. The Social Media Classroom isn't about "wowing" student with cool technologies. That flashiness is the educational equivalent of a twinkie. Fluffy, empty calorie that don't nourish. The ideological essence of content curation IS what good educators have always sought to do: only now there are new platforms for this process
Robin Good: Curatr, an elearning platform built upon the idea of discovery through the curation and sense-making of existing information. Curatr is about the construction of the scaffolding that allows people to learn and to find the resources that should help them best learn what they are interested into.
Via Robin Good
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"Last night, ESPN.com’s mobile web site posted an offensive headline referencing Jeremy Lin at 2:30 am ET. The headline was removed at 3:05 am ET. We are conducting a complete review of our cross-platform editorial procedures and are determining appropriate disciplinary action to ensure this does not happen again. We regret and apologize for this mistake."
This gaffe, whether intentional or not, belies the cultural 'otherness' that Asian-Americans receieve within the world of sports (and other arenas). The fact that this is such a big story (trending on twitter), THAT is the big story about the state of cultural diversity within the United States and and the power of a word. Some say it's a commmon phrase that was meant harmlessly, but considering it's probably the most offensive headline that could have been used in that situation, you have to wonder. It's that wondering that reminds us all of a more overtly racist past that isn't feeling so far in the past right now.
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The illegal and denounced practice of “baad,” the giving of girls as payment for offenses committed by their relatives, is pervasive in parts of Afghanistan, according to human rights workers.
Deeply rooted cultural traditions that clash with modern values are increasingly politically problematic. How should cultural practices such as this been changed? By pressure from people on the outside? Through efforts by those from within the society?
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This song shows many of the strange cultural, economic and political situations that we can see today, mainly because of globalization.
For the lyrics to this song (in Spanish), see: http://www.quedeletras.com/letra-cancion-disneylandia-bajar-63741/disco-12-segundos-de-oscuridad/jorge-drexler-disneylandia.html
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We are bombarded with advertisements that are cultural artifacts. Within these artifacts they express ideas of normalcy, values, goals and appropriateness. Any one image can be dismissed as an aberration, but the preponderance of evidence suggests that these images don't just reflect culture--media portrays shape culture and the cultural values being shaped aren't pretty.
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This is an interesting portal into a counter-cultural movement that is reacting against the governance of information technologies. As globalization has created greater ability to communicate, the desire to regulate and control that has grown...and the desire to resist that regulation has likewise grown. FYI: the video contains some strong language.
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Like a detective at a crime scene, chief language inspector Antons Kursitis scans the lobby of a hotel in downtown Riga. He spots a brochure that lists hotel services in Russian only, a flagrant violation of Latvia's language laws.
"Protecting the Latvian language — that is, safeguarding its supremacy over Russian — has been a priority here since the Soviet occupation ended two decades ago. Those efforts face their biggest test yet on Saturday, in a referendum on whether to make Russian the country's second official language." What historical, political and demographic factors shape this cultural issue of language? Why is language often seen as so crucial to cultural identity?
The Latvian voters have spoken: in a massive voter turn-out, they struck down the referendum that sought to make Russian an official language. "Latvia is the only place throughout the world where Latvian is spoken, so we have to protect it," said Martins Dzerve, 37, in Riga, Latvia's capital. "But Russian is everywhere." For more on the vote, see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17083397
Jason Schneider's curator insight,
March 5, 2015 4:54 PM
About 35 percent of Latvia's population (5,000,000) contains Russian ancestors. Russia does not want to give Latvia credit for practicing Russian languages and the Russian heritage because Russian feels like since they take up about 11% of the world, they don't need to share their heritage with any other country. It's kind of like copyright laws that Russia seems to have. 
Martin Kemp's curator insight,
December 17, 2015 1:37 PM
this article is great. the latvians are doing the right thing. in the place you live and where you are from, the people should speak your language and follow your rules. you should be worried about what the native people want and not what others want. be proud of your culture and preserve it.
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Laws in Hungary have criminalized homelessness at a time when the country is in financial crisis and poverty is on the rise.
Homelessness is the eternally "out-of-place" activity or state of being. It transgressiong middle class norms of acceptable uage of public spaces. So what should a society do about/for the homeless?
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In season five of cricket's Indian Premier League, the teams' Western-style cheerleaders are taking on a decidedly Indian look, reports Shamik Bag.
What happens when westernized cheerleading arrives in India's massively popular cricket sporting events? After a backlash against the cheerleaders, they culturally reinvented the practice and made it their own, in a fusion of global and traditional cultural practices.
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"I spent a lot of years living in Soviet Russia and wrote my first book on Queer in Russia. Back then there was a joke: 'In America, you send your gays to Camp San Francisco. Here we send our gays to Camp Siberia.'"
The tolerance/acceptance of homosexuality and sexual norms in general vary highly from place to place.
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Sanford, Florida was founded as a transportation town, with admirable public space and smart urban planning.
The distinction between public and private space (and the netherworld of publicly owned private spaces) have played important roles in the #occupywallstreet #OWS movement. Why is public space playing a role in the case and the reactions to the legal case?
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This is a beautiful photoessay of the Hajj, with excellent captions that shows many of the cultural customs that are associated with the massive pilgrimage. The tremendous influx of tourists/pilgrims into the Mecca area, there is a huge economic industry that supports and depends on the tourists. For a BBC article about the market impacts of the Hajj, see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11777483
Elizabeth Allen's comment,
December 6, 2012 11:21 PM
The photos show what an immense congregation this event really is. If a picture is worth a thoudsand words, than this collection is a jackpot. The colors are captivating, green costumes of participants in the military parade, the hands holding the beads for sale. In the article from bbc.co.uk it is interesting to learn that such a religious event is an opportunity for economic gains. From merchants selling beads and rugs to visitors all the way to hotels capitalizing on the religious pilgrimage. It is amazing to know that every Muslim should make this trip as long as he/she is healthy and can afford to.
Crissy Borton's curator insight,
December 11, 2012 8:55 PM
These photo’s are amazing! Number 12 with the crowd of people and the ambulance in the middle shows the massive amount of people. Their heads look like dots in a sea of white. These pictures show what words just cannot describe. 
Jacob Crowell's curator insight,
December 15, 2014 1:23 PM
One of the five pillars of Islam is the Hajj. A pilgrimage to mecca that has the byproduct of being economically prosperous. Every year droves of people flock to Mecca. Where they stay, what they eat, what they buy all pump money in the local economy. Although it was not meant to be an economic cash cow, the Hajj definatley provides businesses with an influx of money. This shows how religion definatley has economic repercussion and that all facets of geography are interconnected.
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This amazing Hambone performance by Samuel Hicks starts out at a normal pace and then increases in tempo to a blazing finish. Shot in North Carolina back in ...
Folk cultural traits being distributed by popular culture technologies.
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Uzbekistan cancels a much-loved Valentine's Day concert in the latest move against Western culture, report the BBC's Johannes Dell and Shodiyor Eshaev.
On my Google+ page (Geography Education) or Facebook account, I posted the thought on Valentine's Day, "who doesn't love love?" Not that the Uzbek people don't love love, but the goverment officials in the 'Department for Enlightenment and Promoting Values' isn't feeling the love. He issued a decree to "not celebrate holidays that are alien to our culture." This is an active attempt to supress the diffusion of globalized cultures since, from his perspective, it would tarnish their local culture. Instead, the Uzbek government wanted to celebrate a local hero born on February 14th. Is it possible to stop the spread of popular culture today? Do you see this as a noble or disguided effort?
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China's consumer market is massive, and breaking in isn't easy. Some U.S. products have struggled. But in recent years, an old American sneaker has become an unlikely success story: the Converse Chuck Taylor All Star.
This is a great vignette highlighting cultural diffusion, cultural capital and interregional interactions in a globalized economy.
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This sign that I spotted on a popular beach really sums it up well: "We kindly request that you respect Thai culture by not sunbathing nude". Thai people are taught from an early age to be modest.
Cultural norms differ from place to place, and Thailand has a reputation as a destination for sexual tourism. While there are numerous cultural norms that many in the West might see as 'relaxed,' that does not mean that they are not more conservative in other ways. The Thai tourism board is trying to encourage people to come, but to bring some cultural sensitivity for the local norms and customs.--not an easy balance to maintain.
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Time has stood still on the tiny rural island of St. Helena, South Carolina. And the people who live there, descendants of West African slaves who call themselves "Gullahs," want to keep it that way.
Diffusion, language, cultural syncretism, folk culture and globalization are themes that can all be taught using this old National Geographic article on Gullah culture.
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