The Conversation
Paramilitary soldiers walk past Rapid Action Force (RAF) soldiers standing guard during security lockdown in Jammu, India, Aug. 9, 2019. The restrictions on public movement throughout Kashmir have forced people to stay indoors. All communications and the internet have been cut off. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

Modi ushers in a new intolerant India

Reeta Tremblay, University of Victoria

An Indian paramilitary soldier checks the bag of a Kashmiri man during curfew in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir. The lives of millions in India’s only Muslim-majority region have been upended recently. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Call the crime in Kashmir by its name: Genocide

Binish Ahmed, Ryerson University

In this March 1938 photo, Adolf Hitler salutes German troops parading in Vienna, Austria, the country of his birth. (AP Photo)

How Hitler became German

Klaus Meyer, Western University

A sign of how historical #MeToo felt in 2017 is this appearance by #MeToo founder Tarana Burke with TV personality Allison Hagendorf on stage at the New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square on Dec. 31, 2017, in New York. (Brent N. Clarke/Invision/AP)

Must sexual assault be denounced in public?

Kharoll-Ann Souffrant, University of Ottawa

The relationship between guns and masculinity was once sanctioned by governments and businesses, making it entrenched and difficult to challenge. Kyle Johnson/Unsplash

Canada once sold the idea that guns turned boys into men

R. Blake Brown, Saint Mary’s University

The relationship between guns and masculinity was once sanctioned by governments and businesses, making it entrenched and difficult to challenge.
Members of the National Council of Canadian Muslims Mustafa Farooq, left, and Bochra Manaï, right, speak during a news conference in Montréal, June 17, 2019, where plans were outlined to lawfully challenge Québec’s Bill 21. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

Will Québec’s Bill 21 spur bullying in schools?

W. Y. Alice Chan, McGill University

Québec schools must consider Bill 21's potential impact on students. Bullying researchers have found links between publicly permitted behaviour and personal expression.
It’s important to help children understand that death is part of life. Here, the father, Mufasa, voiced by James Earl Jones, and his son, Simba, voiced by JD McCrary, in a scene from ‘The Lion King.’ (Disney via AP)

What ‘The Lion King’ teaches us about children’s grief

Dr. Elena Merenda, University of Guelph-Humber

'The Lion King' illustrates how a child moves through five stages of grief with the support of loving friends, family and community.
B.C. green-lighted an exploration permit to a mining company, despite the fact that plans for a mine were rejected both federally and by the Tsilhqot’in National Government. (Garth Lenz/ Tsilhqot’in National Government)

Tsilhqot’in blockade points to failures of justice impeding reconciliation in Canada

Justine Townsend, University of Guelph; Faisal Moola, University of Guelph, and Megan Youdelis, University of Guelph

Dasiqox Tribal Park offers a powerful example of what true reconciliation can mean for Canada when Indigenous peoples and their rights are respected and upheld.
Canada’s Christian right is largely isolated, and has little of the clout of evangelicals south of the border. (Shutterstock)

Canada’s marginal ‘Christian right’

Jonathan Malloy, Carleton University

While they're not going away, evangelicals and social conservatives in Canada are distinctly different from the American Christian right.
Aug. 12, 2017: white nationalist demonstrators use shields as they guard the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

The 100-year-old rallying cry of ‘white genocide’

Cynthia Levine-Rasky, Queen's University, Ontario

White supremacists push an agenda that have their followers believing they are in danger of extinction. But their 'race suicide' ideas are based on 100-year-old unscientific and racist research.
People protest gun violence outside the White House on Feb. 19 following the latest mass school shooting, this one in Florida. Like the teens and children who showed up at the White House and elsewhere to protest, Americans must rediscover themselves as a revolutionary people who are not afraid to start over. (Shutterstock)

From the archives

U.S. gun violence is a symptom of a long historical problem

J.M. Opal, McGill University

Proposals for gun control run into vehement opposition from many Americans who, for deep historical reasons of race and revolution, continue to claim the right to use deadly force.
Reading and books are more important than ever for contemporary society. Here an image of The Rose Main Reading Room at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (also known as New York Public Library Main Branch) – an elegant study hall in the heart of Manhattan. Patrick Robert Doyle /Unsplash

Libraries can have 3-D printers but they are still about books

Paulette Rothbauer, Western University

Today's libraries build communities and provide space for learning new technologies but it is critical that they continue to be about books and reading too.
Mourners in Dayton, Ohio on Aug. 4, 2019 after a mass shooting there killed at least nine people. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Could a national buyback program reduce gun violence in America?

Lacey Wallace, Pennsylvania State University

More than 40 percent of U.S. adults have a gun in their household, making it hard to get guns off the streets – even if new gun restrictions are passed.
A new city ordinance in Berkeley, Calif., that officially changes the name from ‘manhole cover’ to ‘maintenance cover’ has stirred up a media commotion. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

The uproar over taking ‘man’ out of ‘manhole’

Shannon Dea, University of Waterloo

A progressive city's new ordinance on gender-neutral language provokes a worldwide media storm.
The U.S. women’s soccer team celebrates with the trophy after winning the World Cup final. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Big brands could solve gender pay gap in sport

Katie Lebel, Ryerson University

Women’s sports have been stuck in a boom-and-bust cycle for the past 20 years. It’s time to start a new narrative.
The famous sex researcher Alfred Kinsey once said the only unnatural sex act is one that can’t be performed. Sharon McCutcheon/Unsplash

Pride 2019

There are many ways to have sex – and none are unnatural

Gonzalo R. Quintana Zunino, Concordia University and Conall Eoghan Mac Cionnaith, Concordia University

As North Americans celebrate Pride this summer, we should take it as a reminder of our colourful sexual diversity, and also the infinite ways to have sex, with nothing unnatural with any of them.
Aug. 12, 2017: white nationalist demonstrators use shields as they guard the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

From the archives

The 100-year-old rallying cry of ‘white genocide’

Cynthia Levine-Rasky, Queen's University, Ontario

White supremacists push an agenda that have their followers believing they are in danger of extinction. But their 'race suicide' ideas are based on 100-year-old unscientific and racist research.

More Analysis and Comment

In case you missed it:

Sex worker rights – fought for at this red umbrella protest in Vancouver – are under threat by ‘hospitality’ programs which ask civilians working in hotels to ‘report’ on their guests. Caroline Doerksen

Sex worker under surveillance at hotels

Genevieve Fuji Johnson, Simon Fraser University

Citizens-watch programs designed by police to aid anti-trafficking efforts threaten the rights and safety of sex workers.
The Bumble dating app puts women in the driver’s seat when it comes to dating. But are men ready for that? Wiktor Karkocha/Unsplash

Men on Bumble aren’t ready for the Queen bee

Treena Orchard, Western University

Bumble, the wildly popular dating app where women ask the men out relies on a girl-power model of feminism. The problem is that the men on Bumble aren't ready for this model.
One Reconciliation Pole and two Welcome Figures were unveiled during a ceremony in honour of truth and reconciliation on National Indigenous Peoples Day in Vancouver on June 21, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

This Canada Day, we need a new citizenship oath

Lucy El-Sherif, University of Toronto

This Canada Day might be a good time for Canadians to think about the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action that ask Canadians to reject European sovereignty over Indigenous lands and peoples.
Commissioner Michèle Audette speaks during ceremonies marking the release of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls report in Gatineau, Que., on June 3, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

MMIWG: An epidemic on both sides of the Medicine Line

Margaret Moss, University of British Columbia

The United States could learn from Canada's national attention being put on the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
During Game 3 of the NBA Finals, Mark Stevens, a co-owner of the Golden State Warriors, shoved Toronto Raptors player Kyle Lowry. Stevens’s actions can be read as a public act of racism and a declaration of ‘ownership’ of Black bodies. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

Living and breathing while Black: Racial profiling and other acts of violence

Roberta K. Timothy, York University, Canada

Last week a young Black scholar at a Canadian conference was detained. Defending oneself against racial profiling has a detrimental impact on the health of racialized people.
A scene from the movie ‘Masala’ (1991) about a young man who grapples with the loss of his family on Air India Flight 182. Masala/Divani Films

Air India: Who remembers the children?

Chandrima Chakraborty, McMaster University

In the absence of broad Canadian validation of the bombing of Air India flight 182 as being worthy of public mourning, creative artists have tried to illuminate the ongoing grief of families.
Innovative queer pop-ups challenge arguments about the death and demise of queer spaces in the city. Here an image from 2069 Sci-fi Kiki Vogue Ball of the Future presented in collaboration with Ricecake, Vancouver. John Bello/Facebook

Pride

Queer pop-ups take us beyond the gaybourhood

Ryan Stillwagon, University of British Columbia; Adriana Brodyn, University of British Columbia; Amin Ghaziani, University of British Columbia, and D. Kyle Sutherland, University of British Columbia

Rapacious gentrification in Vancouver is part of the story and struggle for queer residents but queer pop-ups offer some respite.
Dany and Jon are seen right before he knifes her in the heart – and the back, for that matter. Courtesy HBO

The sexist treatment of the Mother of Dragons

Stefan Dolgert, Brock University

It's tempting to go along with the notion of Daenerys as Mad Queen in Game of Thrones, but what if, instead Dany was the real heroine of the series, and Jon Snow the real heel?
What is toxic masculinity? It generally means men behaving badly. Matheus Ferrero/Unsplash

Stop scolding men for being ‘toxic’

Galen Watts, Queen's University, Ontario

Many hate the fight against toxic masculinity because they don't want to let go of male identity altogether. They don't have to. They just have to let go of the bad parts.
An infusion of resources into local news outlets in Thunder Bay may help communities contend with recent reports of systemic racism against Indigenous communities. Shutterstock

Thunder Bay: Local news is important for reconciliation

April Lindgren, Ryerson University

Thunder Bay has received national press for its historically inequitable relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations. Local journalism could help the city face those challenges.

How we are different

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Most Read past week

  1. The roots of America’s white nationalism reach back to this island’s brutal history
  2. Understanding how Hitler became German helps us deal with modern-day extremists
  3. Baby naming time? Here’s how people judge what’s in a name
  4. What ‘The Lion King’ teaches us about children’s grief
  5. Canada’s marginal ‘Christian right’

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