Free movement in West Africa: the culture of mobility still matters despite challenges: ECOWAS struggles with ensuring mobility within its region. Photo by Nipah Dennis/AFP via Getty Images For the last 40 years countries in West Africa have tried to meet their commitment to letting people move more freely between them. This has been driven …
‘Muslim culture’ is routinely blamed for lower levels of employment – but my research shows this is not what is behind the problem: Shutterstock/adriaticfoto People who identify as minority ethnic are at a disadvantage in the labour market compared to the British white majority. They are more likely to earn less, be outside of the …
Biyi Bandele, a serial storyteller who elevated Nigerian culture: Filmmaker Biyi Bandele (left) directing the TV series Shuga in 2015. He was also a theatre maker and novelist. Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images The writer, film-maker and theatre creator Biyi Bandele has passed away at the age of 54, news that has stunned the …
Scottish cricket has long had a race problem – time to build a better culture in the sport: Scottish cricket has been found to be institutionally racist following the Changing the Boundaries report published by Plan4Sport on July 25. The governing board of Cricket Scotland resigned ahead of the report’s publication and issued an apology …
The impact of Christian purity culture is still being felt – including in Britain: fizkes/Shutterstock In the 1990s and 2000s, a Christian movement now known as “purity culture” reached its height. Purity culture was most significant in America, and since the noughties, it has gradually faded from cultural prominence. Its impact, though, is global and …
Widows in Nigeria are sometimes treated badly: culture is no excuse to violate rights: Widows in the northern Nigerian city of Kano. Photo by Aminu Abubakar/AFP/Getty Images Nigeria is home to about 15 million of the world’s 258 million widows. Widowhood in an ethnically and religiously diverse country like Nigeria, with three major ethnic groups …
Hello Commander: new pop song aims to steer Iranian youth away from the temptations of American culture: Give me the child: Iranian children on their first day at kindergarten. Sonia Sevilla via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA The Tehran Times recently hailed what it referred to as: “A new epic song themed with generational support for …
What the 100-year-old Makerere University in Uganda reveals about culture: A student protest outside Makerere University’s Lumumba Hall in October, 2019, keeping true to a long-running tradition. Photo by Luke Dray/Getty Images Makerere University, which marks its centenary this year, is well-known as the oldest university in East Africa and as a cradle of political …
Britain’s descent into culture wars has been rapid, but it needn’t be terminal: shutterstock There has been an extraordinary transformation in how the media talk about culture change in the UK in just the last few years – and it’s starting to infect public opinion. In 2015, there were only 21 articles in UK newspapers …
Check out this South African City image: African AMerican story teller at Boone Hall plantation. Introducing Gullah culture. Image by denisbin Boone Hall Plantation. What is special about Boone Hall? It has a wonderful Virginian Live Oak alley which was planted from 1743 to 1843. The plantation has been continuously producing crops since 1681. It …
How culture informs people’s emotional reaction to music – podcast: People in the Kalash valley in Pakistan during the Joshi festival. thsulemani/Shutterstock The Conversation Weekly podcast is taking a short break this week. In the meantime, we’re bringing you an extended version of one our favourite recent interviews. In this episode, we speak to a …
Turning Red’s portrayal of ancestor worship highights an important part of Chinese culture: Pixar/Disney+ Disney’s new Pixar film, Turning Red, follows Meilin “Mei” Lee, a 13-year-old living in Toronto, Canada. She’s an average teenager contending with all the things girls her age do (boys, friends, school). However, she has the added pressure of making her …
How Chagos Islanders are fighting to keep their culture alive in exile: In 2019, Chagossian sega was listed as world heritage by Unesco. University of Edinburgh, Author provided When Olivier Bancoult, Liseby Elysé, Suzelle Baptiste, Rosemonde Bertin and Marcel Humbert set off on the Bleu de Nîmes for the Chagos archipelago in February 2022, it …
How 17th century’s Britain’s ‘cancel culture’ can help us understand the importance of free speech: Usually carried out in a public context, book burning is a method of censoring cultural, religious or political opposition. Shutterstock/Collin Hawley Free speech is the right to express one’s opinions without censorship or restraint. It is a cornerstone of modern …
Time for the UK to say goodbye to drive-throughs: for the sake of our environment, our health – and our culture: The UK has around 2,000 drive-throughs. Andreas160578/Pixabay Drive-throughs – services that let people order and collect food and drink without needing to leave their cars – are designed with convenience in mind. Whether it’s …
Confidence culture tells women to be more self-assured – but ignores the real problems: Mary Long/Shutterstock With Valentine’s Day around the corner, advice about confidence is proliferating. British Vogue enjoins women to boost their sexual confidence with slogans like “feel good in your body” and say goodbye to negative talk. Meanwhile Selfridges promises shoppers a …
Misogyny in police forces: understanding and fixing ‘cop culture’: The Metropolitan Police are under fire after an official investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) revealed details of officers exchanging discriminatory and misogynistic messages. These included discussions about hitting and raping women, with reference to specific female colleagues, which officers involved dismissed as …
South African scientists on discovering omicron, plus how culture informs people’s emotional reaction to music – The Conversation Weekly podcast transcript: This is a transcript of The Conversation Weekly podcast episode: South African scientists on the inside story of discovering omicron – and what their experience can offer the world about future variants, published on …