Robert Johnson Microsoft, Google, and Amazon’s data centers are receiving priority access to freshwater in drought-stressed areas globally, amplifying local communities' water scarcity. Yet, these tech giants plan to continue expanding their infrastructure within these regions. Moreover, residents are often forced to take action through grassroots activism, as their local governments often welcome these companies as neighbors without regard to those living in these areas. S

Blake Arias A sudden chill shot down my back as I quickly hung up the phone. It was not until that moment that I fully understood the silence —an unordinary silence. The interviewee’s abrupt refusal to continue the conversation when I said “women in Iran” was what struck me the most, revealing a culture of fear so deep that even speaking safely felt impossible. That instant mirrored what many Iranians feel daily: that even a single word can come at a cost. What was meant t

Camila Polanco The Parsley Massacre in 1937 was a racially-charged massacre where Dominican soldiers killed over twenty thousand Haitians alongside the Dajabon River, yet to this day, this mass killing remains largely unknown. Since the massacre, little has changed, and racial tensions have continuously risen between both countries. Yet, the collective memory of the Massacre by both Haitians and Dominicans differs significantly: While the Dominicans don’t concern themselves

Alejandra Rodriguez “More than one in three people in rural areas do not have access to running water”   (Conagua). The lack of availability stands in stark contrast to the abundant rainfalls that the Mexican state of Chiapas experiences, illustrating that supply does not guarantee access. Chiapas has had serious problems  regarding its communal health due to the relationship between water scarcity and increased soft drink consumption. “My head has no strength. I almost can’

Mark Adams In Mali, protestors burn Western flags while brandishing signs proclaiming a love for Russia, as traditional chiefs perform rituals that synthesize tradition with political claims, demanding an end to neo-colonial interference in their country. This is not a scene from the Cold War; although the actors may seem reminiscent, the context is quite different. Across Africa, since 2020, throughout the southern band of the Saharan desert known as the Sahel region, a s

Molly Schweickhardt Lying in an isolated Croatian countryside, a fallen concrete triple obelisk rests forgotten, coated in graffiti and overgrown with brush. Until it was destroyed in 1992, the structure proudly stood as a 56-foot-high monument of sharp intersecting planes, projecting dramatically upward from the hillside. Its brutalism and abstractness stand in direct contrast to the solemn beauty of the natural landscape around it. Despite its apparent unworldliness, archi

Jack Kayal Once viewed as little more than a far-off frozen frontier and political backwater, the Arctic region is rapidly evolving into a flashpoint for global conflict and competition. Recent reductions in sea levels have thrust previously uninhabitable, strategically unimportant land to the forefront of international affairs. The National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that Arctic summer ice levels have declined by 13% each decade since 1979, while predicting that the

Image credits: Wikimedia Commons Gabriel Del Bosque Velasco The election of populist left-wing politician Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador (AMLO) in 2018 marked the beginning of what he termed Mexico’s “4th Transformation.” This term attempted to position himself and his party Morena as the legitimate successors of political change in Mexican society, paying homage to the Mexican War of Independence in 1810 (1st transformation), the War of Reform in 1858 (2nd), and the 1917 Mexic

Image credits: Wikimedia Commons Tulsi Patel In the sweltering heat under a waxy white tent in the Ambelia refugee camp, hundreds of injured individuals wait. They wait while the arid dust around them billows and their children cry with naiveté. They wait with a variety of ailments- paralysis, malnutrition, gun wounds - for which some have been waiting on treatment for over a year.  Beginning in April 2023, millions of Sudanese people sought refuge in neighboring North and S

Briggs Murray On January 23, 2025, at a time when the biting cold would entice most Americans to huddle around their crackling fireplaces, on the other side of the world something remarkable was underway.  In the sweltering tropical air of Bangkok, Thailand, over 100 couples withstood the discomforting heat of midday as they proudly filed into a shopping mall.  This mall, the Siam Paragon, appeared quite ordinary on any normal day – its glass facade and golden trimming camou

Katelynn Landry The lecture Why Afro-Feminism Matters: Western Privilege, Intersectionality, and the Global South was hosted on Wednesday, February 19th, 2025, by Dr. Eric Touya de Marenne, who received his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, and while teaching in New York was inspired by his African students to begin research into Afro-feminism. The panelists were Gugu Selela, who is in the final year of her doctoral studies and teaches courses on gender, sexuality, and Afr

Image source: Wikimedia Commons Matthew Ployhart Throughout late October 2000, thousands of shoppers could be seen surrounding stores...

Ryan Mehlem The Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, “The only constant in life is change.” Of course, most of humanity had decided...

Matthew Ployhart During a presidential address on April 14, 2021, American President Joe Biden announced his intention to withdraw...

Jackson Hufman In 1892, Cecil Rhodes stretched his arms over Africa. From his hands hung phone lines connecting the continent’s two most...

Briggs Murray Beneath the arid, subtropical, scattered townships of the Sahel, above the overbearingly humid jungles of the Congo River...

Image source: Wikimedia Commons Owen Eastman As an academic institution, Oxford University holds a weighty place in pop culture that few...

Matthew M. Ployhart I lurched forward in my seat as the boat slammed down into the icy waters of the Arctic after racing over another...

Matthew Ployhart Image credits: Wikimedia Commons, under Creative Commons 4.0 usage Russia’s presence in Africa has long-term historical...