Category: Sociology

Isaac Campos: Today’s Synthetic Drugs Provoking New Reefer Madness

Have the recently reported bizarre behaviors related to synthetic drugs been primarily caused by these chemical compounds or by the set and setting of their ingestion? The answer is still unclear, but history and science suggest that anxiety produced by unfamiliarity with these drugs and the accompanying horror stories in the press are probably contributing in some way. Continue Reading Isaac Campos: Today’s Synthetic Drugs Provoking New Reefer Madness

Author blog entry/Guest Bloggers/Health / Medicine/History/Latin American/Caribbean Hist./Public Policy/Sociology

Carrie Hamilton: New Cuban Women

At first glance, the stories of Cuban women in heterosexual relationships seem to confirm clichés about the island’s machismo. But interviews with other men and women tell a subtler story. They show that the Revolution has changed gender relations, even if some patterns are hard to break. Continue Reading Carrie Hamilton: New Cuban Women

Author blog entry/Cuba/Gay / Lesbian Studies/Gender Studies/Guest Bloggers/Sociology/Women's Studies

December 7, 2011

Jorge Duany: The Fear of the Other

The prevalence of xenophobia in diverse places and historical periods invites us to reflect on its common causes and consequences. Continue Reading Jorge Duany: The Fear of the Other

Global Studies/Guest Bloggers/Latin American/Caribbean Hist./Latino Studies/Public Policy/Sociology

November 8, 2011

North Carolina’s eugenics history: Testimonies from victims (video)

Rock Center with Brian Williams airs a story about North Carolina’s history of state-ordered sterilizations, featuring audio recordings of social workers involved in the program that were uncovered in Johanna Schoen’s research on the subject in the 1990s. Continue Reading North Carolina’s eugenics history: Testimonies from victims (video)

African American Studies/American History/Biology/Ethics/Health / Medicine/North Carolina/Public Policy/Science/Sociology/UNC Press Authors/Women's Studies

Karen L. Cox: Confederate Tchotkes and the American Dream

On the discovery of Confederate tchotkes in a not-so-Confederate region of the South Continue Reading Karen L. Cox: Confederate Tchotkes and the American Dream

American History/American Studies/Appalachian Studies/Author blog entry/Civil War/Columnists/Guest Bloggers/History/Karen L. Cox/North Carolina/Sociology/Southern Studies

Kristin Celello: Divorce and the Recession’s “Silver Lining?”

Marriage and divorce during times of economic downturn: should we celebrate if people stay together just because divorce is expensive? Continue Reading Kristin Celello: Divorce and the Recession’s “Silver Lining?”

American History/American Studies/Author blog entry/Gender Studies/Guest Bloggers/History/Sociology

September 16, 2010

Paulo Freire, Lula, and the Next Step for Brazil

We welcome a guest post today from Andrew J. Kirkendall, author of Paulo Freire and the Cold War Politics of Literacy. In his political biography of Freire (1921-97), a native of Brazil’s impoverished northeast who developed adult literacy training techniques that remain influential today, Kirkendall gives new perspectives on the history of the Cold War, the meanings of radicalism, and… Continue Reading Paulo Freire, Lula, and the Next Step for Brazil

Biography / Autobiography/Economics/Education/Guest Bloggers/History/Latin American/Caribbean Hist./Politics/Sociology