Category: Academic Reportage
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How the spiritual sound of the shofar shapes the Jewish New Year – a Jewish studies scholar explains
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Sarah Pessin, Professor of Philosophy, University of Denver Mark Lipof blows a shofar during the lead-up to Yom Kippur at Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline, Mass., in 2010. Michael Fein/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images It’s the Jewish High Holiday season, and Jews the world…
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The Canadian government must take action following future of sport commission
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Kyle Rich, Associate Professor of Sport Management, Brock University We are at a pivotal time for sport in Canada. In August, Sport Canada released a National Sport Policy to guide sport in the country for the next decade. Through language such as “barrier-free sport” and recognition…
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From tattoos to plastic bottles, here’s how society assigns moral values to everyday things
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Aya Aboelenien, Associate Professor of Marketing, HEC Montréal When we think about morality, we usually focus on actions: is this act morally right or wrong? But increasingly, these kinds of debates involve the morality of everyday objects, like plastic bottles, smartphones or even the the food…
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Uganda has signed a deal with the US to take asylum seekers – what’s behind it and what’s at stake
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Franzisca Zanker, Senior researcher, Arnold Bergstraesser Institute A new deal to deport asylum seekers from the US to Uganda was announced in August 2025. The full agreement, already signed by the ambassadors of the two countries at the end of July, set out the terms…
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Imagine a world without genocide
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By David Welch, Professor, Political Science; Research Chair, University of Waterloo An independent international commission of inquiry appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council has released a report saying that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Daniel Meron, Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, immediately…
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Children’s best interests should anchor Canada’s approach to their online privacy
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By David Philpott, Professor, Special Education, Memorial University of Newfoundland In 2025, the rapid rise of artificial intelligence access for the public at large also means growing concern about the mental health impact of screen time on children and their AI engagement. Concerns encompass the harvesting of…
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Zimbabwean artist Portia Zvavahera turns her prayers into paintings
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Tinashe Mushakavanhu, Assistant Professor, Harvard University At the Boston waterfront sits the Institute of Contemporary Art, an architectural marvel that gleams against the harbour in a wealthy neighbourhood. My Uber driver, an African immigrant, remarks as I get out: “Be careful, this is an expensive area.”…
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Nigeria’s plastic waste could enrich the fashion industry: here’s how
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Solaja Mayowa Oludele, Lecturing, Olabisi Onabanjo University On any street in Lagos, Abuja or Port Harcourt, you’ll find abandoned plastic bottles lying around. Each year, about 2.5 million tonnes of plastic waste are produced in Nigeria and much of it winds up in landfills or in…
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Travel as activism: 6 stories of Black women who refused to ‘stay put’ in apartheid South Africa
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Janet Remmington, Research Associate, Humanities Research Centre (and African Literature Department, University of the Witwatersrand), University of York For black people living in South Africa during apartheid, simply moving around the country was a fraught activity, let alone crossing its borders. This was especially the case…
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A walk across Alaska’s Arctic sea ice brings to life the losses that appear in climate data
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Alexandra Jahn, Associate Professor of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Arctic Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder The author’s view walking across Arctic sea ice off Utqiagvik, Alaska, in April 2025. Alexandra Jahn As I walked out onto the frozen Arctic water off Utqiagvik, Alaska, for the first…