The Conversation

What we can learn about isolation from prison artists

Written by Janie Paul, Professor Emerita of Art and Design, University of Michigan

Oliger Merko, 'Season of Love' detail, oil on canvas, 2014.Prison Creative Arts Project, Author provided

Over the past few months, most of us have found ourselves in unfamiliar territory trying to shape the formlessness of our days while contending with physical separation.

Many incarcerated people, however, have spent years figuring out what to do...

Using the military to quash protests can erode democracy – as Latin America well knows

Written by Kristina Mani, Associate Professor of Politics and Chair of Latin American Studies, Oberlin College and Conservatory

A Chilean soldier stands guard at a ransacked supermarket in Santiago, October 2019.Marcelo Hernandez/Getty Images

President Donald Trump on June 7 withdrew National Guard troops from Washington, D.C., but his threat to “deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem” of civil unrest following the police killing of...

Unicorn Riot’s protest coverage recalls long history of grassroots video production

Written by Errol Salamon, Postdoctoral Teaching Associate in Journalism, University of Minnesota

A Unicorn Riot videographer films an interview on the streets of Minneapolis on May 29, 2020.Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

On-the-ground views of the protests sweeping the country are vital for understanding who is protesting and why. Mainstream news media coverage and individuals’ social media posts only go so far – and can focus on...

19 facts about the 19th Amendment on its 100th anniversary

Written by Dianne Bystrom, Former Director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, Iowa State University

Women portraying suffragettes walk with the Pasadena Celebrates 2020 float at the 131st Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2020. AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker

One hundred years ago, the 19th Amendment enfranchised millions of women across the United States following a seven-decade campaign. The struggle to expand voting rights to...

Fear of needles could be a hurdle to COVID-19 vaccination, but here are ways to overcome it

Written by Amy Baxter, Clinical Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Augusta University

The widespread fear of needles is a public health problem, particularly in the time of COVID-19.Getty Images / Sean Gallup

As progress continues toward finding a vaccine that prevents COVID-19, millions of Americans are frightened at even the notion of getting a shot: Studies suggest 63% of young adults – those born in 2000 or later –...

Star player who expressed interest in going to an HBCU may shake up how athletes select a college

Written by Jasmine Harris, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Ursinus College

Mikey Williams dribbles through a crowd during the Pangos All-American Camp on June 2, 2019 at Cerritos College in Norwalk, CA. Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Mikey Williams, one of the nation’s best 15-year-old basketball players, sent shockwaves through the sports world when he tweeted that he might go to a historically...

Vibrators had a long history as medical quackery before feminists rebranded them as sex toys

Written by Kim Adams, Postdoctoral Lecturer in English, New York University

A 1930s vibrator was just another household appliance.Fiona Hanson/PA Images via Getty Images)

In the contemporary moment of sex-positive feminism, praises for the orgasmic capacity of the vibrator abound. “They’re all-encompassing, a blanket of electricity, that’ll course through your veins, producing orgasms you didn’t...

2020 uprisings, unprecedented in scope, join a long river of struggle in America

Written by Matthew Countryman, Chair, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, Associate Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies, History and American Culture, University of Michigan

Protesters filled the newly named Black Lives Plaza, near the White House, on June 6, 2020 in Washington, DC. Win McNamee/Getty Images

The river was the metaphor that best captured “the long, continuous movement” of the black freedom struggle for theologian, historian and civil rights activist Vincent Harding. Harding, who had served...

The good-guy image police present to students often clashes with students' reality

Written by F. Chris Curran, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, University of Florida

For police officers, building trust is a key part of their job. UpperCut via Getty Images

Eight days after George Floyd was killed during an encounter with Minneapolis police in an incident that sparked protests around the world, Minneapolis Public Schools terminated its contract for the Minneapolis police to provide officers in schools.

“I...

Video: A place for people to pray and birds to sing

Written by Anurag Papolu, Multimedia Editor

A bird house on an exterior wall of the Yeni Valide mosque in Istanbul.Christiane Gruber / Anurag Papolu, CC BY-ND

“At the very core, the mosque is the sacred place of Islam. It is where men and women and children go to pray,” says University of Michigan art history professor Christiane Gruber. But, according to her research on bird...