Arts & Humanities
The evolution and spiritual journey of two former Black Panther Party members: George Jackson and Eldridge Cleaver
Dr Trevin Jones is an English Professor at St. Louis Community College. In his dissertation on African American prison writers, he explores how different African American male prison writers explore issues of activism, masculinity, identity, and spirituality. In particular, he focuses on two former members of the Black Panther Party: George Jackson and Eldridge Cleaver. Although coming from similar perspectives, […]
Open range cattle herding in Texas: A very European affair
Cowboys on horseback are an icon of Texas. The commonly accepted scenario is that cattle herding, first introduced into Mexico, expanded northward via the arid central highlands. However, Professor William E. Doolittle (University of Texas at Austin), has revealed a much more important route via the tropical lowlands of Mexico’s east coast. Cattle were first introduced to this region by […]
Doing good: Social change initiatives and ethical thinking
Social change is complex. Program designers and implementers need to deal with complexity in ethical ways. Ms Susan Igras and Dr Anjalee Kohli at Georgetown University and their co-authors examine the power dynamics of norms-shifting interventions in fostering health improvement. Their aim is to develop an approach to designing and carrying out interventions which more systematically take into account values, […]
Twittering away our deliberative capacity: Social media and the threat to democracy
Communication technologies lie at the heart of every society, and their structural biases contribute to many of our social biases. The use of social media, and especially Twitter, by former US president Trump offers a case study in how the rise of social media is driving populism, divisive rhetoric, and harm to our socio-political landscape. Dr Brian Ott at Missouri […]
A place of knowledge and connection: Developing a health and wellbeing framework for public libraries
Debra Rosenfeldt, Head of Library Sector Engagement at State Library Victoria and Jane Cowell, CEO, Yarra Plenty Regional Library Corporation are part of a team of library professionals who are developing a Health and Wellbeing Framework for public libraries in Victoria, Australia. The research undertaken demonstrates how libraries, through collaboration with their health and community partners, can deliver in the […]
The rocky road to justice for atrocities committed during the Kosovo war
The Kosovo war marked a period of unimaginable violence. The Serbian campaign of ethnic cleansing of Kosovar Albanians, overseen by then-president of Serbia, Slobodan Milošević, met with retaliatory atrocities by opposing forces, led by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). In the years since, various tribunals and organisations have been created to deliver justice, but they have been hampered by continued […]
Democratic statecraft in the ‘unsettled’ global south
The global economy has stalled in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic and the future is uncertain, particularly for developing countries. The move from a state of unsettled globalisation to global crisis is the latest in a series of critical junctures for the international political economy. In a concept paper for the International Political Science Association (IPSA), Lourdes Sola from […]
Rural gap, socio-economic processes and regional disparities in Spain
Prof Luis Camarero and Prof Jesús Oliva have conducted several research projects on the demographic and socioeconomic transformations of southern European rural areas. Here, we take a closer look at the idea of the ‘rural gap’, seen as a cumulative effect of different socio-economic processes and regional disparities. The researchers examine demographic aspects of a widening rural gap, also linking […]
1001 Inventions: 1001 Distortions of Islamic history of sciences
Associate Professor (a.D.) Sonja Brentjes, from the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, examines historical narratives on scholarly activities in non-Western societies of the past and their distortions. She published 1001 Distortions. How (not) to Narrate History of Science, Medicine and Technology in Non-Western Cultures in response to the many misrepresentations of history and science in the 2012 […]
21st century philosophy: An introduction to information ethics
Artificial intelligence and information technology are part of our everyday lives; from the way we carry out our work, to the ways in which we spend our leisure time or communicate with others. It is becoming increasingly important then that we understand not just the way that this technology works and how it is developed, but also how our individual […]