Category: Academic Reportage

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Leila Demarest, Associate Professor, Institute of Political Science, Leiden University Democratic consolidation is a continuing struggle, in Africa as elsewhere. The turn to democracy gained momentum in Africa in the late 1980s and early 1990s but has petered out since. Can new generations turn the…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Jun Wang, Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Iowa Smoke from Canadian wildfires prompted air quality alerts in Chicago as it blanketed the city on June 5, 2025. Scott Olson/Getty Images Canada is facing another dangerous wildfire season, with burning forests sending smoke…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA – By Melanie Beasley, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Purdue University Black soldier fly maggots can feed on decomposing animals. Melanie M. Beasley Scientists long thought that Neanderthals were avid meat eaters. Based on chemical analysis of Neanderthal remains, it seemed like they’d been feasting on as much meat…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Leslie Root, Assistant Professor of Research, Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado Boulder Unfortunately for demographers, birth rates are hard to predict far into the future. gremlin/E+ via Getty Images Pronatalism – the belief that low birth rates are a problem that must be…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Brian N. Chin, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Trinity College Loss of a pet falls into what researchers call disenfranchised grief in which the pain is often minimized or discounted. Claudia Luna/iStock via Getty Images Plus I saw it firsthand after my cat Murphy died earlier…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Wilfredo José Burgos Matos, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies, Lehman College, CUNY Once viewed by elites with disdain, bachata has become popular worldwide. Erika Santelices/AFP via Getty Images What began as songs about heartbreak in the brothels and barrios of the…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Scott Morgenstern, Professor of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh Mexican farmworkers with H-2A visas weed a North Carolina tobacco field in 2016. Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images The U.S. has an important choice to make regarding agriculture. It can import more people to pick crops…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA – By Kevin Johnson, Dean and Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o Studies, University of California, Davis Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents escort a detained immigrant into an elevator on June 17, 2025, in New York. AP Photo/Olga Fedorova All modern U.S. presidents, both Republican and Democratic,…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Lisa Boucher, Assistant Professor, Gender & Social Justice, Trent University Five former Canada world junior hockey players have been acquitted of sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel room in 2018 after Ontario Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia said the Crown failed to prove its case…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Laura Misener, Professor & Director, School of Kinesiology, Western University The verdict is in on the sexual assault trial of five former members of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team — all five have been acquitted. Each player was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in…