Arts & Humanities
The Church and Academia model: A powerhouse for harnessing pain-related prayer research
There are limited alternatives to standard prescription therapy for those suffering from chronic pain. While the biopsychosocial model of pain is well established, it often neglects the influence of religious and spiritual factors on pain. Dr Marta Illueca, a leader in the Episcopal Church in Delaware, has collaborated with Dr Samantha Meints at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School in […]
Transgressing gender and genre: Isabella Whitney’s appropriation of London
The poet Isabella Whitney is considered the first professional female writer in England to have had secular poetry published under her own name. Dr Stefani Brusberg-Kiermeier, professor of English literature at Hildesheim University, Germany, explores how Whitney presents herself as a respectable female poet in a male-dominated era by ‘appropriating’ the city of London, irrevocably weaving herself into its history […]
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Defining the rule of law in terms of liberty and equality
The relationship between liberty, the individual freedom from social oppression and restrictions, and equality, which entails providing equal rights and opportunities to all segments of the population, is intricate and often disputed. Isabel Trujillo, professor in legal philosophy at the University of Palermo, Italy, explores this relationship in the context of the rule of law – the notion that all […]
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#MeToo: A political issue in India’s digital presence
#MeToo and #MeTooIndia, which exploded on social media in 2017 and 2018 respectively, drove an increase in online activism related to sexual violence, harassment, assault, and rape. Despite this and the significant numbers of women voters and political candidates, violence against women still fails to feature as a political campaign issue in India. Dr. Pallavi Guha, a researcher and author […]
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Boat trip: A significant panorama of Tang Dynasty river basins
Dr Wende Chen of Huaqiao University, China, has analysed Chinese poetry to reveal historical geographies of Tang Dynasty river basins. Taking the Chinese character for ‘boat’ as the dependent variable, characters with significant statistical correlation were identified. These characters were classified into nine themes: structure and use of boats, geographical locations, natural water systems, flora and fauna, official travel, economic […]
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Challenging established theory: History of Japanese basketball
Basketball was introduced to Japan as early as 1902 as a sport in mission schools, according to new research by Dr Tetsuji Kakiyama, Professor of Sports and Health Sciences of Fukuoka University, Japan. His research overthrows established theories about the transfer of the game to Japan and shows how basketball was first played by girls in Japan who were taught […]
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Empowering communities in the face of grand challenges: The critical role of local food systems and democratized science
Feeding a rapidly growing global population is nearly impossible. Food production is increasingly controlled by powerful organizations, climate change is negatively impacting food production, inequality is growing globally, and menacing geopolitical shifts are likely to make matters worse. Dr William Lacy, a leading sociologist and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Human Ecology at the University of California Davis, USA, […]
Back to the future: The Secret of Kells brings the past to life
It’s tempting to think that our global, multimedia age is the most multicultural and visually literate in history. However, a new study by Lisabeth Buchelt, of the University of Nebraska—Omaha probes the relationship between a contemporary Irish animated film and the 1,200-year-old masterpiece of Celtic art that inspired it. She finds that the modern age is not the first to […]
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Binarism grammatical lacuna: The impacts of grammar on non-binary people
Social injustices associated with gender are becoming more disruptive and attracting particular attention. In her new paper, Carla Carmona from the University of Seville in Spain looks at the relationship between language and binary ideology and how a language’s grammar can further marginalise non-binary people. She explores what she has termed ‘binarism grammatical lacuna’ (BGL), which occurs when the grammar […]
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The evolution of IP, competition, and healthcare law in line with lightning-speed innovation
In a series of recently published articles, Takanori Abe, attorney and guest professor at Osaka University in Japan, considers some of the complex intellectual property challenges arising in line with fast-paced technological innovation. These include rights relating to the manufacture and sale of medical products as well as questions of ownership of technological features that have become integrated into products […]