Category: Academic Reportage

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA – By Graham G. Dodds, Professor of Political Science, Concordia University Vice President Dick Cheney appears at a Washington D.C., event in 2007. AP Photo/Charles Dharapak This is an updated version of a story that first published on Oct. 7, 2025. Former Vice President Dick Cheney will be…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jessalynn Keller, Associate Professor in Critical Media Studies, University of Calgary On Oct. 3, pop superstar and cultural icon Taylor Swift released her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, to much public anticipation. But when the reviews came in, they were mixed. While Rolling…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Mohammed Estaiteyeh, Assistant Professor of Digital Pedagogies and Technology Literacies, Faculty of Education, Brock University Distance learning far precedes the digital age. Before online courses, people relied on print materials (and later radio and other technologies) to support formal education when the teacher and learner were…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Amy Fitzgerald, Professor, Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology, University of Windsor The federal government has announced it’s introducing legislation to make bail more difficult to secure, along with lengthening sentences for certain offences. These actions are intended to make Canadians feel safer, which makes sense…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Misheck Mutize, Post Doctoral Researcher, Graduate School of Business (GSB), University of Cape Town A quiet but consequential contest is playing out in the global financial architecture. One that could determine Africa’s ability to finance its own development. In recent months, powerful voices from the International…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Thulani Andrew Chauke, Lecturer, University of South Africa About 3.5 million South Africans aged 15-24 are disengaged from the formal economy and education system. In the first quarter of 2025, 37.1% of young people were not in employment, education, or training. These alarming figures highlight an…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Jacques Matthee, Senior Lecturer, University of the Free State A South African court case made headlines for all the wrong reasons in January 2025. The legal team in Mavundla v MEC: Department of Co-Operative Government and Traditional Affairs KwaZulu-Natal and Others had relied on case…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA – By Gabriela Radulescu, Guggenheim Postdoctoral Fellow, Smithsonian Institution The planetary radar, built in 1960 in Crimea, from which the Morse signal ‘MIR, Lenin, USSR’ was sent in November 1962. National Radio Astronomy Observatory Archive As humans began to explore outer space in the latter half of the…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Jeff Kruth, Assistant Professor of Architecture, Miami University Developers of Wendy’s Village, an affordable housing complex planned for teachers in Colorado Springs, Colo., completed their first homes in July 2025. WeFortify For much of the 20th century, teaching was a stable, middle-class job in the…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Emery Petchauer, Visiting Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University Oklahoma’s short-lived PragerU teacher assessment was one of the final projects under former Superintendent Ryan Walters, who resigned in September 2025. eyegelb/iStock/Getty Images Plus Oklahoma has become a testing ground for reshaping public school curriculum to reflect…