Author: TheConversation

By Simranjit Khalsa, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Memphis Sikhs all over the world celebrated the festival of Baisakhi, a holiday with a special religious significance, observed each year on April 13 or 14. In 2022, Baisakhi fell on April 14. As a sociologist of religion studying Sikhs in the West and as someone who was raised Sikh, I know that Baisakhi is one of Sikhism’s most widely celebrated holidays. I remember attending celebratory Baisakhi processions in Amritsar in northern India where large crowds gathered, many wearing traditional Sikh clothing, and danced and practiced Sikh martial arts. Originally...

By Name Here, Academic title and school goes in this space in italic The Easter Bunny is a much celebrated character in American Easter celebrations. On Easter Sunday, children look for hidden special treats, often chocolate Easter eggs, that the Easter Bunny might have left behind. As a folklorist, I am aware of the origins of the long and interesting journey this mythical figure has taken from European prehistory to today. Religious role of the hare Easter is a celebration of spring and new life. Eggs and flowers are rather obvious symbols of female fertility, but in European traditions,...

By Alpha Abebe, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Humanities, McMaster University; and Rhonda C. George, Researcher, Faculty of Humanities, McMaster University It is time for us to accept that policy failure and lack of community engagement in policy decision-making go hand-in-hand. The fact that the communities with the worst health outcomes are also the communities least likely to be meaningfully engaged in health policy decision-making should not be a surprise. As it stands, a growing body of evidence suggests that while many decision-making bodies proclaim publicly that they want input from racialized and other marginalized communities, many institutions are not...