South Asia

Global Views of COVID 19

Recorded Presentations about COVID in Different Parts of the World

ORIAS created the Global Views of COVID 19 webinar series to help teachers deepen their understanding of the unfolding pandemic. We know that even as educators are grappling with the personal and professional effects of the current situation, they are also fielding questions from students about COVID 19. What can we expect in the coming weeks as the COVID 19 pandemic unfolds? And how does regional context affect the spread of the virus, political responses to the pandemic, and economic...

Mithila Painting: Folk Art of India

Why Study Mithila Painting? This three-week unit invites students to understand and make connections with cultures in rural North India via traditions of ritual painting that have been practiced since ancient times - the exact point of origin is unknown. They will learn that India's great Hindu epic, The Ramayana, is celebrated in paintings in the village where the story originated alongside more modern subjects. Students will gain an appreciation for the impressive skills of formally unschooled, but internationally recognized village artists and see how these artists are responding to modern...

People Power

Summer Institute for Community College Instructors

May/June, 2020

4 online sessions: 5/29, 5/30, 6/5, 6/6

How do we interpret narratives about mass movements in the past? And how does that understanding across the distance of time compare to the actual, complex experience of participating in such a movement?

The 2020 ORIAS Summer Institute for Community College Instructors takes a look at mass movements, past and present. In addition to considering the context, ideology,...

UNFREE: Coerced labor across time and place

Summer Institute for Community College Instructors

June 2 - 4, 2021

9:00 AM to 12:30 PM (PDT) each day via Zoom

In the US, the ongoing conversation about Black Lives draws connections between our history of chattel slavery and modern racism. This summer, the ORIAS Summer Institute for Community College Instructors seeks to contextualize that national history within a broader, global context by exploring coerced labor in different guises across time and place....

The Little Ice Age

Summer Institute for k-12 Teachers

June 21 - 25, 2021

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM (PDT) each day via Zoom

What role can humanities and social science classes play in addressing modern climate change?

Understanding and addressing climate change is a truly interdisciplinary undertaking. The sciences can teach students to investigate the mechanisms that cause climate change and set them on the road to devising technological solutions. But if we want to understand how climate change is...

Ramayana Resources

Scene from the epic Ramayana: Kumbhakarna battles the monkeys, 1100-1200 CE, former kingdom of Angkor

Read summaries of the narrative, including one illustrated with art from different regions. See a beautiful digitized version of the tale. Watch a controversial modern film based on the epic.

Architecture: Space, Power, and Community

Summer Institute for k-12 Teachers

June 25 - 27, 2018

The 2018 Summer Institute for k-12 teachers will explore the interplay between built spaces, individuals, communities, and institutions. Our program will begin with recent research into how the human brain interacts with physical spaces. From there, participants will learn about a global sampling of built environments, considering spaces from perspectives such as visual arts, religious traditions, anthropology, and building technologies.

Teachers who wish to receive professional...

Body & Identity

Summer Institute for k-12 Teachers

June 26 - 28, 2019

California's 2011 FAIR Education Act changed the state's education code to include the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful portrayal of the contributions and experiences of people with disabilities and people in the LGBT community in California and United States history and social studies courses. The 2019 ORIAS Summer Institute for k-12 teachers seeks to provide a global context within which to consider these topics.

Body & Identity will explore disability and...

Environmental History

Summer Institute for Community College Educators

June 2 - 3, 2017

“The story of world history, if it is to be balanced and accurate, will inevitably consider the natural environment and the myriad ways in which it has both affected and been affected by human activities…Economics, trade, and world politics are regulated, whether humans wish it or not, and whether they are conscious of it, by the availability, location, and finite nature of what, in the language of development, are called “natural resources.””...

Migration & Diaspora

Summer Institute for Community College Teachers

May 31 - June 2, 2018

The 2018 Summer Institute for Community College instructors will consider migration and diaspora from the standpoints of wide-ranging disciplines, including history, anthropology, sociology, journalism, and international law. Join your teaching colleagues in this exploration of human migrations of the distant past, causes of migration, the subjective experiences of both new migrants and those living in long-established diasporas, and current issues in global migration....