• Josh Greenberg (Professor of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University) wrote an article for The Conversation on the resurgence of the vinyl LP, describing “how seeking, acquiring, collecting and displaying one’s music collection…are sociocultural activities that enable the creation and expression of identity.” Greenberg also discusses how vinyl marketing appeals to our ‘hyperaesthetic culture’ and how listening to vinyl is a social practice for many collectors.
  • Chizuko Ueno (Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo) was named one of the 100 most influential people of 2024 by Time Magazine. As a prominent scholar of semiotics, capitalism, and feminism, Ueno has advocated for gender equality in Japan throughout her career. Now Ueno’s work has also “propelled feminist ideas into mainstream Chinese society, a rare bright spot amid worsening political repression.”
  • SRN News ran an article on how O.J. Simpson’s trial still reflects the realities of racial divisions in America. Darnell Hunt (Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost and Professor of African American Studies & Sociology at UCLA) commented that, at the time of the trial, Black Americans were four times as likely to think that Simpson was innocent and Black media outlets tended to raise broader questions about racial disparities in the justice system in their news coverage. “The case was about two different views of reality or two different takes on the reality of race in America at that point in history,” Hunt said. Camille Charles (Professor of Sociology, Africana Studies & Education at the University of Pennsylvania) commented that, despite the fact that systemic racism in criminal justice is still an issue, Black Americans are seemingly less likely to support famous defendants “as a show of race solidarity,” citing R. Kelly and Bill Cosby as examples.
  • Artūras Tereškinas (Professor of Social Sciences at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas) was quoted in an LRT article about the Eurovision Song Contest and how Lithuanians react to their representatives. Tereškinas discussed how the contest embraces the camp aesthetic and highlights LGBTQ+ performers, triggering conservative Lithuanians’ “prejudices against LGBTQ+ people, sexuality in general and the open expression of sexuality in Eurovision.”