Oxford University Press's
Academic Insights for the Thinking World

September 2022

Walking Among Pharoahs

Howard Carter and Tutankhamun: a different view

On 4 November 1922, Englishman Howard Carter acted on a “hunch” and discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun, setting the world at large on fire, archaeologically speaking. “King Tut’s tomb” and the (much older) Pyramids of Giza;:have any other monuments come to symbolize ancient Egyptian civilization—and archaeology—better?

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Title cover of "Dangerous Crooked Scoundrels: Insulting the President from Washington to Trump" by Edwin L. Battistella, published by Oxford University Press

The language of labor

September means back to school for students, but for those of us in unions, it is also the celebration the American Labor Movement and a good opportunity for us to take a look at some of the language of the labor movement.

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Trusts and Equitable Obligations

A life map of Equity and Trusts [interactive map]

Through our lives, the law of Equity and Trusts is very often working in the background. If a parent wants to provide for their child, she will need to set up a trust. If we fall in love and move in with a partner, the law of Equity and Trusts might control who owns the family home. When we get older and start to plan for death, Equity and Trusts controls the ways in which we can provide for our loved ones.

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Metafilm Music in Jean-Luc Godard's Cinema

Jean-Luc Godard’s filmic legacy

Jean-Luc Godard died at the age of 91 on 13 September 2022 at his home in Rolle at the Lake of Geneva in Switzerland. The uncompromising French-Swiss cineaste was arguably one of the most influential filmmakers of the last 60 years. With his innovative approach to cinema, he broke with tried-and-tested conventions and taught us […]

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Word Origins

The word “condom”

For a long time, the word “condom” was unprintable. Neither the original OED nor The Century Dictionary featured the word. Several venues for discovering the origin of “condom” have been tried. It surfaced in texts at the beginning of the eighteenth century, but we cannot be sure that the word was coined in England.

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What is transparent peer review?

Transparent peer review is a relative newcomer and not widely used at present, but it has grown in popularity and is becoming an increasingly popular choice. The question is—why? This blog post takes a closer look at the transparent peer review process, its rise in popularity, and the challenges journals, reviewers and editors face with this model.

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Shipwrecks and the Bounty of the Sea

Shipwreck tales: bounty from the archives

News broke in 2022 that the royal frigate Gloucester that sank in 1682 had been located off the coast of Norfolk. The discovery excited marine archeologists and treasure hunters, and drew attention to the scandal of the warship’s loss.

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Performing Antiquity

Why we all need more Lesbian Dance Theory

Last month a Member of Congress joined Fox News to claim President Joe Biden is “robbing hard working Americans to pay for Karen’s daughter’s degree in lesbian dance theory” in response to the announcement that the President was providing $20,000 in debt relief for Pell Grant recipients and $10,000 for many other borrowers.

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Word Origins

On mattocks and maggots, their behavior and origin

The mattock, a simple tool, has a name troublesome to etymologists even though it has been known since the Old English period. In this blog post, the Oxford Etymologist explores a new hypothesis for the origins of “mattock”.

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