Author: TheConversation

By Kirby Farah, Lecturer of Anthropology, University of Southern California – Dornsife College Day of the Dead might sound like a solemn affair, but Mexico’s famous holiday is actually a lively commemoration of the departed. The nationwide festivities, which include a massive parade in Mexico City, typically begin the night of Oct. 31 with families sitting vigil at grave sites. Mexican tradition holds that on Nov. 1 and 2, the dead awaken to reconnect and celebrate with their living family and friends. Given the timing, it may be tempting to equate Day of the Dead with Halloween, a ghost-themed...

By Elizabeth Outka, Associate Professor of English Literature, University of Richmond Zombies have lurched to the center of Halloween culture, with costumes proliferating as fast as the monsters themselves. This year, anyone can dress as a zombie prom queen, a zombie doctor – even a zombie rabbit. But the rise of the living dead has a surprising link to another recurring October visitor: the influenza virus. One hundred years ago, 1919 saw the end of one of the worst plagues in human history: the deadly 1918-1919 influenza pandemic. The pandemic was a true horror show, with 50-100 million people...

By Bridget Marshall, Associate Professor of English, University of Massachusetts Lowell “When powerful white men used words like lynching and witch hunt to describe their perceived persecutions, it’s because there are no historical analogues to white male persecution. There’s no term for it because historically, there’s no such thing.” – Tom Lorenzo “Witch hunt” – it’s a refrain used to deride everything from impeachment inquiries and sexual assault investigations to allegations of corruption. When powerful men cry witch, they’re generally not talking about green-faced women wearing pointy hats. They are, presumably, referring to the Salem witch trials, when 19...

By W. Scott Poole, Professor of History, College of Charleston The unquiet spirits, vampires and the omnipresent zombies that take over American streets every October 31 may think Halloween is all about spooky fun. But what Halloween masqueraders may not realize is that in the early 1970s and well into the next decade, real fear took over. The media, police departments and politicians began to tell a new kind of Halloween horror story – about poisoned candy. No actual events explained this fear: It was driven by social and cultural anxieties. And there is a lesson in that about...

By Morgan Marietta, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Lowell A movement for religious rights is transforming the place of religion in American public life. From the 1960s until very recently, liberals successfully argued at the Supreme Court that the tyranny of the majority cannot define the lives and experiences of secular citizens. For decades, the court regularly ruled that laws imposed by local majorities enforcing school prayer or religious displays on government property violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which has been interpreted to mean the government is prohibited from endorsing religion or favoring...

By Richard Briffault, Joseph P. Chamberlain Professor of Legislation, Columbia University With the 2020 campaign season upon us, “dark money” is again in the news. Yet most voters remain uninformed about what exactly it is and why the shadow funding is considered such a problem. As a law professor who studies campaign finance, I’d like to answer those questions and explain how improved disclosure laws could shed some light on dark money. 1. What is ‘dark money’? Election campaigns run on money. Money pays for salaries, travel – and especially advertising. Candidates who are not personally wealthy depend on...