Category: Academic Reportage

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Garhe Osiebe, Research Fellow, Rhodes University In Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial and creative capital, food is doing something unusual. It’s keeping alive the spirit of a musician. Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, one of Africa’s most influential artists, was the architect of Afrobeat (not to be confused with today’s Afrobeats,…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Tinashe Mushakavanhu, Assistant Professor, Harvard University Nobel Prize-winning author Abdulrazak Gurnah in Denmark in 2025. Hreinn Gudlaugsson/Wikimedia Commons Zanzibar has long been an island of arrivals for traders, sailors, slaves and, more recently, waves of tourists. I arrived as a wedding guest and a reader of…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Andrew A. Schwartz, DeMuth Chair of Business Law, University of Colorado Boulder Imagine you invest US$500 to help a startup get off the ground through investment crowdfunding. The pitch is slick, the platform feels trustworthy and the company quickly raises its target amount from hundreds…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Ilana Horwitz, Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies and Sociology, Tulane University Religious pluralism means more than living around people of different faiths. Thai Noipho/iStock via Getty Images Plus Students at elite universities tend to talk a good game when it comes to religious pluralism. Many…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Brendan Cantwell, Professor of Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education, Michigan State University Brown University is one of the Ivy League universities that has recently made a deal with the White House to end the government’s inquiry into its treatment of Jewish students, among other practices,…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA – By Kayla Gabehart, Assistant Professor of Environmental Policy, Michigan Technological University Many rural Americans feel largely left out of American culture. Helen H. Richardson/Getty Images Many rural Coloradans, especially in agricultural communities, feel looked down on by their urban counterparts. One cattle rancher I spoke to put…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA – By James M. Thomas, Professor of Sociology, University of Mississippi Scholars interviewed white Southerners to get past the stereotypes people hold of them. CGInspiration, iStock/Getty Images Plus Historian Nell Painter remarked in 2011, “Being white these days isn’t what it used to be.” For the past decade,…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA – By Christine Picard, Professor of Biology, Indiana University A biologist maintains a large population of black soldier flies for protein farming. picture alliance/Contributer via Getty Images Insects are becoming increasingly popular to grow on farms as feed for other animals, pet food and potentially as food for…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA – By Robin Brewer, Associate Professor of Information, University of Michigan Most older adults who use AI use smart speaker assistants. Six_Characters/E+ via Getty Images Artificial intelligence is a lively topic of conversation in schools and workplaces, which could lead you to believe that only younger people use…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Alton C. Byers, Faculty Research Scientist, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado Boulder U.S. Geological Survey staff check monitoring equipment in Suicide Basin in June 2025. By August, the basin had filled with meltwater. Jeff Conaway/U.S. Geological Survey Each summer in the…