South Africa is taking a tough stance against the practice of abducting and forcing young girls into marriage that’s still rife in some parts of the country.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
The reasons for the phenomenon of child marriage are complex and include the fact that in customary law, marriageable age was never reckoned as an actual number but depended on puberty.
Artworks by deceased South African artist Helen Martins. The cultural and creative industries are key for social and economic development.
EPA/Kim Ludbrook
Decluttering, spearheaded by Marie Kondo and Japanese minimalist consumerism, has taken on quasi-spiritual connotations. What are we actually trying to get rid of when we throw out all our stuff?
John James Audubon’s American Flamingo (1838).
Sotheby's
Not all technologies are created equal. Researchers devised a new model to explain why, after eons of nothing much new, we sometimes see an explosion of innovation in the archaeological record.
A linguist explains how words get co-opted from one language to another.
Love complicates the complex marriage deals arranged by parents on the island of Tanna, though rarely with such profound ramifications as those depicted in the film.
Contact Films
Technological advances in music production have all but obliterated the need for popular music to be transcribed into musical notation. So why is musical literacy still important?
On the Banks of the Tigris is a story of culture triumphing over an oppressive regime.
Fruitful Films
Award-winning documentary film On the Banks of the Tigris explores the influence of Iraqi Jewish musicians in the cultural life of Iraq and paints a portrait of a country that was once a thriving multicultural centre.
Whether it’s the Islamic State, the Ku Klux Klan – or, yes, even American political parties – groups use music in many of the same ways, for many of the same reasons.
Are women really each other’s worst enemies? Probably not.
Everett Collection/Shutterstock
Depictions of women bullying women are a mainstay of reality television shows, just as reports of Twitter fights between female celebrities are regular tabloid fare. It’s a phenomenon with a long history.
A visualisation of the planned Thirty Meter Telescope atop Mauna Kea.
TMT
Plans to build a new telescope on a Hawaiian mountain highlight the complexities and sensitivities that arise when science interacts with indigenous communities.
Not all elderly Chinese people live with their children.
China Stringer Network/Reuters
South Africa is emblematic of why violence against women responses in Africa are failing. While good measures are being rolled out, it lacks a united, comprehensive, multi-disciplinary response.