Author: TheConversation

Global Ambitions: What peace for Ukraine means to authoritarian leaders in Moscow and Beijing

By Ronald Suny, Professor of History and Political Science, University of Michigan Just a few days after being branded a war criminal in an international arrest warrant, Russian President Vladimir Putin was talking peace with his most important ally, Chinese president Xi Jinping. The setting for the get-together was the late-15th-century Faceted Chamber, the ornate throne room of Muscovite grand princes and czars. The main topics of discussion were fittingly grandiose: How should hostilities in Ukraine end? And after the war is over, how should the international security system be reshaped? The reaction of many in the West to...

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Lack of empathy: Growing anxiety and depression follows wave of activism for Black social workers

By Carmen Reese Foster, Interim Online MSSW Program Director, Assistant Professor of Practice, Director of Alumni Affairs, University of Tennessee When George Floyd was brutally murdered in the summer of 2020, a wave of activism spread throughout the country. People protested. Anti-racism books became bestsellers. Diversity, equity and inclusion jobs increased by 55%, and the top 50 U.S. public companies pledged $49.5 billion to tackle racial justice issues. At the same time of this racial reckoning, COVID-19 was disproportionately affecting communities of color in the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths. In addition, anxiety and depression rates were rising...

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Latino youth comprise nearly 30% of students in public schools but struggle with sense of belonging

By Sophia Rodriguez, Assistant Professor of Urban Education and Policy, University of Maryland Latino youth in middle and high school have a lower sense of belonging at school and in the community overall when compared with white peers. That is a key finding from my analysis, which is currently under review and based on surveys with students in midsize districts – one urban and one suburban – on the East Coast. I also found that being a language learner is associated with lower school belonging. To measure belonging, I analyzed a 40-question survey that included questions about belonging at...

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How Jane Rosenberg’s courtroom sketch of Donald Trump created a viral sensation from a dying art

By Anita Lam, Associate Professor, York University, Canada For the first time in its history, “The New Yorker” featured a courtroom sketch on its cover. The image, which appears on its April 17, 2023, issue, gives viewers a glimpse of a historic court proceeding that could not be captured by cameras: the arraignment hearing of Donald Trump two weeks earlier. Because Trump is the first former U.S. president to be criminally indicted, there is immense public interest in this case. However, when Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, his reactions and expressions could...

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Medical gaslighting continues for people with long COVID more than 3 years into the pandemic

By Simran Purewal, Research Associate, Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University; Kaylee Byers, Regional Deputy Director, BC Node of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative; Senior Scientist, Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics and Society, Simon Fraser University; Kayli Jamieson, Master’s Student in Communication, Research Assistant for Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics and Society, Simon Fraser University; and Neda Zolfaghari, Project Coordinator, Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics and Society, and the Pandemics & Borders Project, Simon Fraser University It is increasingly clear that the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself is not going away any time soon. And for some patients, their symptoms have not gone away...

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A hidden people: How generations still experience the trauma of being uprooted from their homes

By Dina Matar, Professor, Political Communication and Arab Media, SOAS, University of London When Palestinians commemorate the Nakba on May 15, they are not only remembering a violent historical event that took place 75 years ago which led to the uprooting of over 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland. Nor just the destruction of more than 400 villages and towns and the killing of thousands others. They are also marking the fact that the “catastrophe” did not end in 1948, but continues in different forms to this day. What Palestinians call “ongoing Nakba” still generates suffering, destruction of homes and...

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