Laura R. Prieto

Laura R. Prieto

Contributor

Laura R. Prieto is Professor of History and of Women’s and Gender Studies at Simmons College in Boston. For 2017-2018, she is also Visiting Professor and Research Associate in the Women’s Studies in Religion Program at the Harvard Divinity School, where she is working on a book manuscript entitled, “Bibles and Butterfly Sleeves: Women and Protestant Missions in the Philippines, 1898-1945.” She has a special interest in using visual and material culture, from photographs to dress, as sources for women’s lived experience.

Culture

Women’s Liberation, Beauty Contests, and the 1920s: Swimsuit Edition

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For several years, I’ve had a wall decoration in my office: a panoramic photo of a 1920s beauty contest. I was surprised to come across it at a discount home furnishings retailer and bought it on impulse. After all, how often does a cherished primary source present itself as a consumer good? From its inception,… Read more →

Protest: Past & Present

Before the Pink Hat: Abolitionist (and Other) Objects of Protest

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The point of public protest is to draw attention to something — to make the invisible wrong visible, and thus demand that we recognize and engage with it. To this end, protest and resistance movements have long made use of material culture, from murals to t-shirts. While by current prevailing wisdom we should phone our… Read more →