Social Studies
MN
There's Research on That! Refugees and Social Instability
A research roundup of social science on the motives and meanings of migration highlights work from U of M sociologist Cawo Abdi.
Does Africa Need a New Green Revolution to Fight Hunger?
“Green Revolution” is the label for concerted initiatives to increase agricultural production and prevent hunger and starvation in major regions of the world. Earlier efforts transformed agriculture in Mexico, India, and the Philippines – by facilitating the use of new technologies and commercial seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides to produce high-yield cereal grains. In 2006 two of the world’s largest foundations, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, joined forces to launch the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.
Living Our Own Story
An Interview with Moin Syed
A Scholar of the Senses
A volunteer experience in college helped determine the course of Peggy Nelson’s career: working with deaf children and children who were hard of hearing, she was moved and challenged. “Seeing that those kids had major gaps in their ability to connect with even their close family members,” she says. “It made me want to learn more about their experiences.”
How Climate Change Is Influencing Birth Weight in Africa
In the United States, we know everything about our domestic agriculture thanks to the USDA and agricultural monitoring. But not all countries have the luxury of these programs, which is a challenge for Assistant Professor Kathryn Grace, who studies how varying climates impact poor women and families in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, Africa. She…
Same-Sex, Different Attitudes
In a now-classic white paper, sociologist Kathy Hull asks how and why American public opinion about marriage equality evolved so quickly: “It’s not a case of older people with more conservative beliefs dying out and being replaced by younger, more liberal generations. Rather, this kind of rapid shift suggests some individuals are changing their minds on the issue.”
Thinking about Trayvon: Privileged Response and Media Discourse
A classic roundtable discussion from The Society Pages features U of M professors Zenzele Isoke and Enid Logan. Isoke issues a damning critique of media constructions of balance: “When the media panders to both sides or both ‘storylines’ … it makes a mockery of the political community. The media operates on the fiction that both sides are ‘equally valid,’ when clearly they are not.”
To Want the Tough Conversations
Richard Lee studies how parents and children in racially mixed families talk about race and racism.
About Social Studies MN
Social Studies MN is a partnership between the University of Minnesota’s College of Liberal Arts and The Society Pages. We highlight cutting edge research, teaching, and community engagement within CLA, and we hope to showcase such material to viewers like you.
