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Cultural Identity
Japanese thought can’t be easily characterized by just a few books — but this essential guide is a great place to start.
Esperanto was intended to be an easy-to-learn second language that enabled you to speak with anyone on the planet.
The Uros of Lake Titicaca live on floating islands made from reeds. How did they get there?
A basement renovation project led to the archaeological discovery of a lifetime: the Derinkuyu Underground City, which housed 20,000 people.
Arieh Smith, a New York City-based polyglot who runs the YouTube channel Xiaomanyc, talks language-learning with Big Think.
How much do citizens really value free elections?
The tonal Native American language differentiates words based on pitch and makes Spanish conjugation look like child’s play.
'Six Persimmons,' an ink painting by the Chinese monk Mu Qi, has long been hailed as the poster child of Zen Buddhism. But is its reputation deserved?
After my father died, my journey of rediscovery began with the Czech language.
He is only out-sold by William Shakespeare and Lao Tzu.
In war zones, aggressors steal art to eradicate the cultural heritage of others. Victims, meanwhile, sell stolen art in order to survive.
Traditionally, the long history of Japanese thought has not been viewed as “philosophy” — even by Japanese scholars. It’s time for a rethink.
If you find yourself on one of these roads, it might be a while before you see another fellow traveler.
Australian soldiers fighting the Japanese recruited native New Guineans to their campaign.
In Georgia, it's becoming less common to pronounce words like "prize" as "prahz."
A history of othering, experimentation, and mystery.
Musical preferences are correlated with personality traits — and these connections are largely consistent across cultures and continents.
Art isn't a side note in human history; it's the main text.
Six hundred years in the history of trousers.
Music is part of the human experience, which is why some philosophers have written about it. Some had wacky ideas.
In Kannauj, perfumers have been making monsoon-infused mitti attar for centuries.
These landscapes — of geographical differences in head shapes — have vanished from acceptable science (and cartography).
What better explains the prevalence of heavy metal in Scandinavian countries: culture or economy?
Those white, marble statues you see in museums all over the world were originally painted with bright colors.
The richness and variety of America’s food landscape, in a buffet of maps.
Research suggests there's truth to regional stereotypes in the U.S. — with some caveats.
For linguists, the uniqueness of the Basque language represents an unsolved mystery. For its native speakers, long oppressed, it is a source of pride.
Piano Sonata No. 23 offers a window into the way culture became an instrument of Soviet state policy.
One from New Guinea rose to the top in a recent study.