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Unordinary Silence: The 1400-Year Story of Women’s Resistance in Iran
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

The Pendulum
Dec 2, 20258 min read


The Sahel’s Great Game: Combatting Russian Influence in Africa
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

The Pendulum
Dec 2, 20256 min read


The Doctor Will See You In…2 Years? Refugee Health and Humanitarian Aid Amongst Sudanese Refugees in Chad
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

Tulsi Patel
Sep 23, 20254 min read


Afghanistan in Context: Analyzing Contemporary Afghan Politics with Clemson ECAR
Matthew Ployhart During a presidential address on April 14, 2021, American President Joe Biden announced his intention to withdraw...

The Pendulum
Dec 15, 202411 min read


A Series of Strings: French Neocolonialism
Jackson Hufman In 1892, Cecil Rhodes stretched his arms over Africa. From his hands hung phone lines connecting the continent’s two most...

The Pendulum
Dec 4, 20248 min read


“Imperialism in its final and perhaps its most dangerous stage:” The effects of neo-colonialism on the Central African Republic
Briggs Murray Beneath the arid, subtropical, scattered townships of the Sahel, above the overbearingly humid jungles of the Congo River...

The Pendulum
Oct 15, 20248 min read


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

The Pendulum
Jun 5, 20248 min read


Loyalties to Liberators? The African Countries Weary of the West
Matthew M. Ployhart It was a chaotic scene in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, on February 14th, 1961. A reader of the American New York Times that...

The Pendulum
Mar 4, 202418 min read


Hunger and Poverty in Somalia: The Starvation of the Country’s Most Vulnerable
Jenna Maunsell Poverty is a persistent problem in Africa. An estimated 490 million people in Africa live below the poverty line. Poverty...

The Pendulum
May 8, 20235 min read


The Qatar Quandary: Human Rights Abuses and the World Cup
Gavin Hunt On November 20 of this year, the FIFA World Cup opened to fireworks and fanfare in Qatar’s Al Bayt Stadium, beginning a 29 day...

The Pendulum
Dec 7, 20223 min read
Chinese Involvement in Africa: the Controversy of “Private” Security
Matthew M. Ployhart There are many instances in history in which a more advanced power has influenced the development of another nation...

The Pendulum
Sep 23, 20226 min read


Africa’s Antidote: The World’s First Malaria Vaccine
Mary Grace Nimmer Following recent years of stagnation in the decades-long fight against malaria, the World Health Organization (WHO) has...

The Pendulum
Nov 15, 20214 min read


Legal victories for Nigerians against the Shell Corporation
Ian Stewart Patricia Ogbonnaya shows the height oil rose to during an oil spill. Photograph: Maggie Andresen/The Guardian Shell, one of...

The Pendulum
Nov 2, 20213 min read


Gender-Fluid Practices Amongst Strict Gender Binary Societies
Jade Killion As the world watches the horrific events in Afghanistan, the hearts of the international community break for those who are...

The Pendulum
Sep 6, 20214 min read


Hotel Corona
Hannah Roebuck In March of 2020, COVID-19 was tearing through Jerusalem. Case numbers were growing exponentially, hospitals were...

The Pendulum
Apr 26, 20214 min read


Mozambique: The Moving Goalposts of the War on Terror
Ian Stewart Last week, hundreds of militant members of Al Shabaab, an Islamic group based in northern Mozambique (unrelated to the Somali...

The Pendulum
Apr 18, 20213 min read


The Complicated Case of the White Ant
Nate Matzko On February 4th, 2021, the International Criminal Court (ICC) convened in The Hague, Netherlands, to deliver a verdict on the...

The Pendulum
Mar 3, 20213 min read


Chocolate Chip Cookies: Eldorado Park Remembers Lockies
Nate Matzko “They shot Lockies!” On August 26th, 16-year-old Nathaniel Julies left his home to make his evening rounds around his...

The Pendulum
Nov 20, 20204 min read


Trinkets, Souvenirs, or Art?: African Art in the Face of Western Imperialism
Devante Kee-Young For centuries, Africa has been—and continues to be—exploited by more industrialized technological powers such as the...

The Pendulum
Oct 19, 20204 min read


COVID Amongst Conflict and Crisis: How Syria Continues to Crumble Under the Pandemic
Jade Killion Battered and bruised from almost a decade of violent conflict, humanitarian crises, and economic hardships, Syria has...

The Pendulum
Oct 12, 20203 min read
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