Author: TheConversation

By Matthew Dennis, Professor of History and Environmental Studies, University of Oregon Thanksgiving has remained America’s most treasured celebration: it combines tradition and invention, an appeal to the past and to the future, ancestor worship as well as acceptance of diversity. Thanksgiving does not exclude non-Christians or even non-believers. Thanksgiving is the time when Americans in the largest numbers reach out to the least fortunate in their communities through voluntary action and charitable contributions. However, as Americans gather this year there is continued rancor and discord due to political views, and deep divisions have widened within families. The strain...

By Sarah B. Shear, Assistant Professor, Social Studies Education, Pennsylvania State University Thanksgiving is an important time, when schools teach the story of who we are and where we come from as a nation. My own students have told me about the Thanksgiving story they learned in school, which focused solely on the survival of the Pilgrims and the friendly meal shared with “Indians.” In my research and experience as a teacher educator, I have found social studies curricular materials (textbooks and state standards) routinely place indigenous peoples in a troubling narrative that promotes “Manifest Destiny” – the belief...

By Dimitris Xygalatas, Assistant Professor in Anthropology, University of Connecticut The mere thought of holiday traditions brings smiles to most people’s faces and elicits feelings of sweet anticipation and nostalgia. We can almost smell those candles, taste those special meals, hear those familiar songs in our minds. Ritual marks some of the most important moments in our lives, from personal milestones like birthdays and weddings to seasonal celebrations like Thanksgiving and religious holidays like Christmas or Hanukkah. And the more important the moment, the fancier the ritual. Holiday rituals are bursting with sensory pageantry. These (often quite literal) bells...

By Jessica Taft, Associate Professor of Latin American & Latino Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz Fifteen kids from a dozen countries, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, recently brought a formal complaint to the United Nations. They argued that climate change violates children’s rights as guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a global agreement. By petitioning the U.N. on behalf of the world’s children, their action made history. But it’s not the first time that kids have turned to this international accord in pursuit of social change. As I explain in my book, “The Kids...

By Timothy D. Lytton, Distinguished University Professor & Professor of Law, Georgia State University Mass shootings have become a routine occurrence in America, and gun-makers have long refused to take responsibility for their role in this epidemic. That may be about to change. The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 12 refused to block a lawsuit filed by the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary mass shooting victims, clearing the way for the litigation to proceed. Remington Arms, which manufactured and sold the semiautomatic rifle used in the attack, had hoped the broad immunity the industry has enjoyed for years...

By Sean Corcoran, Associate Professor of Educational Economics, New York University; Amy Ellen Schwartz, Professor of Public Policy, Education, and Economics and Director of the NYU Institute for Education and Social Policy, New York University; and Michele Leardo, Assistant Director of Education and Social Policy, New York University Child hunger is a serious problem: 48 million Americans, including more than 15 million children, live in households that lack the means to get enough nutritious food on a regular basis. In large cities, about 25 percent of households with children do not have sufficient food. The federally funded National School...