Experts recommend adopted children be told about their origins, no matter how difficult the circumstances, but doing so is tricky for adoptive parents.
Ben Walker, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington; Rebecca Bednarek, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington; Todd Bridgman, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington e Urs Daellenbach, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
Imagine you could only travel if you can prove COVID-19 immunity. The pandemic is already creating new social divides, and it is important we stay alert to their possible ramifications.
Set in the army during apartheid, the South African film Moffie is a masterpiece. Oliver Hermanus, a black filmmaker, explores how toxic white masculinity breeds racism and homophobia.
Depending on where you’re from, you say words like ‘basil’ a specific way.
Leonie Broekstra/Shutterstock.com
Accents differ depending on where we’re from, even in the same country.
Young people stand on the steps of the Alberta legislature during the climate strike in Edmonton in 2019. Youth are often seen as problems rather than as people who are creating solutions.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Amber Bracken
Data protection policies focus on human rights. But the exercise of our free will is increasingly being hindered.
Bloc Québecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet greets his supporters during a celebration on election night in Montréal.
Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
The Bloc Québécois was written off as politically dead before it aligned itself with the CAQ government’s law on secularism. Now it’s moved into third place in Parliament in a stunning comeback.
Fat activists argue fat is the most appropriate word to describe their bodies.
Yulia Grigoryeva/Shutterstock
The British Psychological Society is calling for a language change, from ‘obese people’ to ‘people living with obesity’. But using the word obesity can reinforce rather than prevent stigma.
Many genealogy forums recently claimed their distant ancestor, the French-born Catherine Pillard was Indigenous. Pillard arrived with other women in Quebec in the 17th century as depicted in this painting.
Charles William Jefferys / Library and Archives Canada
Recently in Canada and the United States, a small, but vocal minority of white French-descendants have used an ancestor born between 300 and 400 years ago to claim an “Indigenous” identity.
Convictions are where beliefs meet identity. But that can lead to trouble. Our supercharged politics make giving up a conviction feel like an act of self-betrayal and a betrayal of our tribe.
My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante, is now a successful television series.
HBO
Pierre Raffard, Institut libre d'étude des relations internationales (ILERI)
While thought of as an unpretentious fast-food dish, the doner kebab is a symbol of the social, political and identity issues facing European society today.
An Indian child wears a mask of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a campaign rally on April 7, 2019. India is entering its latest round of polling on May 6.
Diptendu Dutta/AFP
India’s elections are not about policy issues. Instead, they have zeroed in on the leadership of Narendra Modi and, through him, the legitimacy of Hinduness as India’s new dominant ideology.
People could be asked to prove their identity to continuing posting political content or adverts on Facebook.
Soldiers stand guard near coffins containing the bodies of victims of an explosion that took place inside a catholic cathedral, in southern island of Mindanao on January 28, 2019.
NICKEE BUTLANGAN / AFP
The Mueller report reveals that some U.S. citizens helped Russian government agents organize real-life events, aiding Russia’s propaganda campaign. Don’t be like them.
What does it look like when a country’s identity falls apart?
Interior Design/shutterstock.com
When a country becomes more diverse,
new demographic tensions may emerge between people who feel that they own their country’s identity – and people who feel they’ve been left out.
Tastes change over generations.
Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock
Estimating our ancestry is hard – because our backgrounds are much more mixed up than we thought. So don’t take your DNA ancestry test results literally: they’re just a prediction.