How the seven-day week made us who we are

Subscribe to  Berkeley Voices,  podcast about the people and research that makes UC Berkeley the world-changing place that it is. Review us on Apple Podcasts. See all  Berkeley Voices  episodes. As a kid growing up in New York City, Roqua Montez was interested in everything - dinosaurs, science, music and dance, martial arts, comics - and his calendar filled up fast. Now, as the executive director of communications and media relations in UC Berkeley's Office of Communications and Public Affairs, he still has a lot to keep track of. To manage his activities and responsibilities, Roqua has relied on something that we all rely on: the seven-day week. The week has been used as a timekeeping unit and calendar device to organize society for about 2,000 years, says David Henkin, a professor of history at Berkeley and author of the 2021 book, The Week: A History of the Unnatural Rhythms that Made Us Who We Are .