Humanities

Poulomi Saha stands in front of a huge fireplace surrounded with decorative wrought iron.

Humanities

Who decides the difference between a cult and a religion? The IRS

“In some ways, the story of cults is way less sexy than outlandish beliefs or messiahs or UFOs,” says Poulomi Saha, a UC Berkeley associate professor of English who teaches a class on cults in popular culture.

Two images side by side: on the left, two knights fight each other on horseback; on the right, the knight ask a woman for forgiveness after he killed her husband

Arts & culture

Why did medieval readers kiss, smudge and deface their books?

Emily Thompson, clad in a cap and gown, holds her 2-year-old, Caspian, also wearing a small gown, while her other kid, River, stands next to her. She's smiling widely.

Arts & culture

After wilderness therapy, this graduate found her own path at UC Berkeley

Awards

Two Berkeley professors receive prestigious Guggenheim fellowships

two images side by side: on the left, the cover of the book Open Socrates and on the right, Judith Butler and Agnes Callard in a conversation

Berkeley Talks: The case for a philosophical life, with Agnes Callard and Judith Butler

a multistory museum with a brown lattice exterior pictured at night, with a white obelisk rising in the background.

Executive actions aim to reshape America’s cultural institutions. UC Berkeley scholars react

A woman on a gray background with an inset image of an armored cable going into the ocean.

Watch a professor explain the internet’s series of subsea tubes in 101 seconds

Berkeley Talks: J Finley on how Black women use sass to claim their humanity

the Ratliff family of two parents and three adult children walk in the sun

Ahead of ‘The White Lotus’ finale, Berkeley professor unpacks show’s Freudian themes and fantasies

Ethnic Studies marks its PhD program’s 40th anniversary

an illustration of an eye with a pinwheel of four alternating colors surrounding it, suggesting that the eye is seeing those colors

Do vowels have colors? According to some with synesthesia, yes.

A wall in an art exhibition of replicas of many famous artworks, like van Gogh's Sunflowers and da Vinci's Mona Lisa

Berkeley Voices: Fakes, replicas and forgeries: What counts as art?

image of a white building with a porch under a large tree

How is slavery represented at American tourist sites today?

Various members of the Khmer community sit at rows of tables at a room. Many of them appear to be engaged in conversation. One wears a flower in her hair, while another is smiling serenely while wearing a fur hat.

The complex story of how the pandemic impacted the Asian American diaspora

smiling woman on a gray background. An inset image of a paintbrush and pallete.

Watch UC Berkeley’s Executive Dean of Letters and Science explain the liberal arts in 101 seconds

black-and-white photograph of women in traditional dress from East Asia walk across a bridge

How Trump’s immigration policies compare to those of America’s past

All Humanities