Author: TheConversation

By Dimitris Xygalatas, Assistant Professor in Anthropology, University of Connecticut The mere thought of holiday traditions brings smiles to most people’s faces and elicits feelings of sweet anticipation and nostalgia. We can almost smell those candles, taste those special meals, hear those familiar songs in our minds. Ritual marks some of the most important moments in our lives, from personal milestones like birthdays and weddings to seasonal celebrations like Thanksgiving and religious holidays like Christmas or Hanukkah. And the more important the moment, the fancier the ritual. Holiday rituals are bursting with sensory pageantry. These (often quite literal) bells...

By Jessica Taft, Associate Professor of Latin American & Latino Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz Fifteen kids from a dozen countries, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, recently brought a formal complaint to the United Nations. They argued that climate change violates children’s rights as guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a global agreement. By petitioning the U.N. on behalf of the world’s children, their action made history. But it’s not the first time that kids have turned to this international accord in pursuit of social change. As I explain in my book, “The Kids...

By Timothy D. Lytton, Distinguished University Professor & Professor of Law, Georgia State University Mass shootings have become a routine occurrence in America, and gun-makers have long refused to take responsibility for their role in this epidemic. That may be about to change. The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 12 refused to block a lawsuit filed by the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary mass shooting victims, clearing the way for the litigation to proceed. Remington Arms, which manufactured and sold the semiautomatic rifle used in the attack, had hoped the broad immunity the industry has enjoyed for years...

By Sean Corcoran, Associate Professor of Educational Economics, New York University; Amy Ellen Schwartz, Professor of Public Policy, Education, and Economics and Director of the NYU Institute for Education and Social Policy, New York University; and Michele Leardo, Assistant Director of Education and Social Policy, New York University Child hunger is a serious problem: 48 million Americans, including more than 15 million children, live in households that lack the means to get enough nutritious food on a regular basis. In large cities, about 25 percent of households with children do not have sufficient food. The federally funded National School...

By Ronit Y. Stahl, Assistant Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley In 1919, Lee Levinger buried four soldiers in France. The responsibility to preside over a funeral was not unusual for military chaplains. But during World War I, most Americans would have been surprised to learn that a rabbi led a service for four Christian soldiers. In 1917, when the United States entered the war, chaplaincy was a majority white and fully Christian organization. No law specifically stated the acceptable religious backgrounds of military chaplains, but only mainline Protestant ministers and Catholic priests wore the insignia of the...

By Michael Messner, Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences If President Donald Trump had gotten his way, the nation would have celebrated the centennial of the World War I armistice last year on November 11 with a massive military parade in Washington DC. But that didn’t happen. When the Pentagon announced the president’s decision to cancel the parade, they blamed local politicians for driving up the cost of the proposed event. There may have been other reasons. Veterans were especially outspoken in their opposition. Retired generals and...