Category: Academic Reportage

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Hossein Bonakdari, Associate Professor, Civil Engineering, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa Between July 3 and 6, Texas Hill Country experienced catastrophic flash flooding along the Guadalupe River system. The floods claimed at least 130 lives, with over 96 fatalities in Kerr County alone. More than 160 people…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Melise Panetta, Lecturer of Marketing in the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics, Wilfrid Laurier University For years, the expression “the robot took my job” has brought to mind visions of machines replacing workers on factory floors. But Gen Z is facing a new challenge: the…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Saira Bano, Assistant Professor in Political Science, Thompson Rivers University In the wake of recent strikes by Israel and the United States on Iranian cities, military sites and nuclear facilities, a troubling paradox has emerged: actions intended to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons may actually…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Arnim Langer, Professor, KU Leuven Almost 70 years after independence was gained across the continent, many African countries continue to face the complex task of managing ethnic diversity and building national cohesion. National cohesion is a broad and often abstract concept. It refers to the extent…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Philipp Kastner, Senior Lecturer in International Law, The University of Western Australia The governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda concluded a peace treaty in June 2025, aimed at ending a decades-long war in eastern DRC. The United Nations welcomed the…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Julie Shantone Rubbi Nunan, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Early Childhood Education and Development, University of South Africa South African primary schools are facing a crisis. Every day, learners fight, bully, destroy property, and intimidate other learners and teachers, turning what should be safe spaces…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Jeffers Engelhardt, Professor of Music, Amherst College Members of the Alevi Muslim community perform a ritual semah dance during celebrations for Norooz, or the Persian New Year, in Berlin. Adam Berry/Getty Images As someone who teaches and researches music and religion, I’ve always been curious…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Aarushi Bhandari, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Davidson College Hate and mental illness fester online because love and healing seem to be incompatible with profits. Ihor Lukianenko/iStock via Getty Images In 2001, social theorist bell hooks warned about the dangers of a loveless zeitgeist. In “All…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Ted Palys, Professor of Criminology, Associate Member of Dept. of Indigenous Studies, Simon Fraser University The contemporary internet has been with us since roughly 1995. Its current underlying economic model — surveillance capitalism — began in the early 2000s, when Google and then Facebook realized how…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Brian P. McCullough, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Michigan Lionel Messi celebrates with fans after Argentina won the FIFA World Cup championship in 2022 in Qatar. Michael Regan-FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images When the FIFA World Cup hits North America in June 2026, 48…