Author: TheConversation

By Jessica Stanford, Demographic Analyst, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill More than 4 million Americans may not be represented in the upcoming 2020 census. This is a problem, as the once-every-10-year census affects everything from federal funding to political representation to research projects that rely on accurate census data, like the ones my colleagues and I conduct at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The 2020 census is fraught with uncertainty for a variety of reasons, including a lack of money, a growing distrust in government and the months of debate over the now-dropped citizenship...

By Joshua F.J. Inwood, Associate Professor of Geography Senior Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute, Pennsylvania State University; and Derek H. Alderman, Professor of Geography, University of Tennessee Delays and long lines at polling places during recent presidential primary elections represent the latest version of decades-long policies that have sought to reduce the political power of African Americans in the United States. Following the Civil War and the extension of the vote to African Americans, state governments worked to block black people, as well as poor whites, from voting. One way they tried to accomplish this goal was...

By Rebecca Senf, Chief Curator, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona The bold style of black-and-white landscapes from the American wilderness are so iconic that most people know an Ansel Adams photograph when they see it. Yet they may be surprised to learn that Adams did not learn his craft by attending an elite art institution or by apprenticing with a master photographer. My new book, Making a Photographer: The Early Work of Ansel Adams, charts the early years of Adams, demonstrating how this self-taught expert learned from experience to identify his audience, hone his message and imbue...

By Emily Ryo, Professor of Law and Sociology, University of Southern California, and Ian Peacock, Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles Hundreds of county jails in the U.S. are paid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain immigrants facing removal proceedings. On a typical day in 2017, for instance, Theo Lacy Facility in Orange, California, operated by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, held about 500 individuals for ICE and received US$118 per person per day, bringing in a total of $59,000 a day. More so than federally operated facilities, county jails, along with facilities operated...