The Conversation

For Native Americans, a river is more than a 'person,' it is also a sacred place

Written by Rosalyn R. LaPier, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, The University of Montana

Colorado River.AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File

The environmental group Deep Green Resistance recently filed a first-of-its-kind legal suit against the state of Colorado asking for personhood rights for the Colorado River.

If successful, it would mean lawsuits can brought on behalf of the river for any harm done to it, as if it were a person.

In the...

Indigenous people invented the so-called 'American Dream'

Written by Lewis Borck, Archaeologist, Leiden University

When President Barack Obama created Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the 2012 program that offered undocumented young people brought to the U.S. as children a path into society, for a moment the ideals of the American Dream seemed, at least for this group, real.

We call these kids (many of whom are now adults) “Dreamers,”...

What makes American society so violent? 4 essential reads

Written by Emily Costello, Senior Editor, Politics + Society, The Conversation

shutterstock

Editor’s Note: On Friday, Oct. 6, “Third Rail with OZY” will discuss violence in the United States.

These stories from The Conversation archive explore how violence permeates different aspects of American society.

#1. Kids today

Do American parents teach their kids violent behavior through the use of corporal punishment?...

The 'inevitable sadness' of Kazuo Ishiguro's fiction

Written by Cynthia F. Wong, Professor of English, University of Colorado Denver

British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro listens to a question during a press conference at his home in London on Oct. 5, 2017.Alastair Grant/AP Photo

On a damp October day in 2006, I followed Kazuo Ishiguro and my 10-year-old daughter Grace to a back table at a bustling cafe in London for an interview. As Ishiguro answered my questions, he explained how he...

How Columbus, of all people, became a national symbol

Written by William Francis Keegan, Curator of Caribbean Archaeology, University of Florida

Agricultural Building at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Illinois, circa 1893. University of Maryland Digital Collections

Christopher Columbus was a narcissist.

He believed he was personally chosen by God for a mission that no one else could achieve. After 1493, he signed his name “xpo ferens” – “the...

Why the Nobel Peace Prize brings little peace

Written by Ronald R. Krebs, Beverly and Richard Fink Professor in the Liberal Arts and Professor of Political Science, University of Minnesota

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2017 was awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, an advocacy group that has worked to draw attention to their “catastrophic humanitarian consequences.”

Every year, the winners of the Nobel Prizes are announced to great fanfare. And none receives more scrutiny than the Nobel Peace Prize...

Bundy trial embodies everything dividing America today

Written by Ann Eisenberg, Assistant Professor of Law, University of South Carolina

A supporter of Cliven Bundy protests in Nevada. AP Photo/John Locher

It’s that time of year again: The Bundys are going to trial.

This fall, brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy and their father, Cliven, will face charges over a standoff with federal officials in a dispute over federal lands in Nevada.

Many are wondering if they’ll be let off...

Are self-driving cars the future of mobility for disabled people?

Written by Srikanth Saripalli, Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University

A self-driving shuttle at Texas A&M.Swaroopa Saripalli, CC BY-ND

Self-driving cars could revolutionize how disabled people get around their communities and even travel far from home. People who can’t see well or with physical or mental difficulties that prevent them from driving safely often rely on others – or local government or...

Urban noise pollution is worst in poor and minority neighborhoods and segregated cities

Written by Joan A. Casey, Postdoctoral scholar, University of California, Berkeley

Under the El tracks, downtown Chicago.Franck Michel, CC BY

Most Americans think of cities as noisy places – but some parts of U.S. cities are much louder than others. Nationwide, neighborhoods with higher poverty rates and proportions of black, Hispanic and Asian residents have higher noise levels than other neighborhoods. In addition, in...

Blade Runner's chillingly prescient vision of the future

Written by Marsha Gordon, Professor of Film Studies, North Carolina State University

Can corporations become so powerful that they dictate the way we feel? Can machines get mad – like, really mad – at their makers? Can people learn to love machines?

These are a few of the questions raised by Ridley Scott’s influential sci-fi neo-noir film “Blade Runner” (1982), which imagines a corporation whose...