Since the release of the 1967 film classic, The Graduate, the name ‘Mrs. Robinson’ has become synonymous with older women seducing younger men. However, the historical context produces her character as much as her actions, and the way society portrays women like Mrs. Robinson changes over time. Because of cultural, political, scientific, and legal innovations, a woman today who behaves like Mrs. Robinson has different motivations and will be treated differently by society than she would have in the 1960s. Films and television shows simultaneously shape cultural norms while reflecting existing ones. Thus, depictions of real and fictional Mrs. Robinsons jointly figure her within a particular time period. This essay focuses on three disparate ways in which society has portrayed women who have sex with younger men: calculating predators, liberated role models, or troubled criminals.

This essay, originally written to celebrate Thomas Bender’s retirement from New York University in 2015, explores topics related to integrating transnational approaches in the US history curriculum and in the education of graduate students. The author finds that transnationalizing the general education course on the US since 1945 engages students from diverse backgrounds and, rather than “leaving out” significant historical content, simply offers a different framing of the American past. Graduate student research on transnational topics, on the other hand, poses financial, linguistic, and archival challenges to all students, but especially to those not enrolled in elite doctoral programs.

The monumental rock-cut tombs of Tell el-Amarna were constructed for members of the elite and for Pharaoh Akhenaten with his family. These monuments are reckoned to be a main source for studying the religion of the so-called “Amarna Period”, their walls bearing for example the widely known “hymns to the Aten”. All tombs are located on the east bank of the Nile, the private tombs in the limestone cliffs and foothills surrounding the city of Akhetaten to the east. Their outline encompasses one to three rooms furnished with columns, statues and reliefs. The burial was foreseen underneath those rooms, following a sloping passage or a shaft. The royal tombs were constructed in remote wadis behind the cliffs, their main axes being sloping passages themselves. The rooms for the burial of the royal family were decorated with relief, too, but special architectural features are limited to pillars. Due to the comparatively short period of occupation of the city, most of the tomb structures have not been completed and not been used for burial.