Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences 

In her groundbreaking book Birth Control Battles, sociologist Dr Melissa Wilde challenges conventional wisdom about the origins of religious divisions over sex and gender in America. Her research reveals that early 20th-century religious support for contraception was driven not by feminism as often assumed but by eugenic concerns and social reform movements. Her work offers a fresh perspective on the complex intersections of religion, race, and class in shaping American social attitudes.

Do traditional libraries and printed books still have a place in our increasingly digital world? In the last decades, we saw the development of many libraries from centres of intellectual life and the humanities to service providers for the sciences, which generally demand e-medias, not printed material. But libraries continue to serve vital functions in society and should adapt to complement – rather than be replaced by – digital technologies. Urs Bisig conducted an in-depth analysis of current trends in libraries and information science. His study makes a compelling case for the ongoing relevance of physical books and library spaces, even as digital resources expand.

In his groundbreaking 1997 work, The Racial Contract, philosopher Charles Mills argued that we must critically reexamine social contract theory to account for the pervasive role of race in structuring society. Over 25 years later, Professor Frank Kirkland, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, offers a thought-provoking analysis of Mills’ work, exploring its implications for agency, reason, and political philosophy.

In our complex world, ensuring open and equitable access to scholarly research and educational resources has become more critical than ever. For the past 15 years, COAR, a leading international association representing open access repositories, has been at the forefront of efforts to create interconnected networks of digital repositories that preserve and provide access to a wide range of valuable research outputs. Its work is helping to transform how knowledge is shared and disseminated globally and has played a pivotal role in advancing the development of repository networks and enhancing their functionality. By fostering greater interoperability and cooperation between repositories worldwide, COAR is creating a truly global infrastructure for open science that transcends institutional and national boundaries.

Racist encounters, both subtle and overt, continue to plague society and take a severe toll on the mental and physical health of people of colour. However, innovative research is showing how we can equip both youth and adults with the skills to navigate these stressful situations and emerge stronger. Dr Howard Stevenson and his team at the University of Pennsylvania are pioneering new approaches to help people cope with racial trauma and find their voice.

During the late 19th century, Japan underwent a period of rapid modernisation following the 1868 Meiji Restoration. This transformative process included public health, where the concept of ‘hygiene’ took on new meanings and significance. Dr Kerry Shannon from California State University, Dominguez Hills, has delved into the pivotal role played by the Sanitary Society of Japan in shaping the discourse around hygiene during this tumultuous era.

Inmate ministers and offender-led religious movements offer a unique avenue to redemption and rehabilitation within prisons. Professor Byron R Johnson of Baylor University and Pepperdine University has examined the influence of faith-driven programmes within prison facilities. His work highlights the inspiring power of peer support, spiritual growth, and restorative justice in reshaping the lives of those behind bars. As demands for reforms in the criminal justice sector intensify, the impact of faith-based activities in fostering change cannot be understated.

Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) is a crucial process in policymaking, allowing decision-makers to assess the potential impacts of proposed regulations prior to implementation. Dr Kati Rantala of the University of Helsinki and her colleagues argue that by employing evidential reasoning and considering contextual factors, RIA helps policymakers make more informed decisions that better serve the needs of society. Understanding the logic behind RIA is essential for policymakers to design policies that have positive impacts on our communities and the world at large and for all affected by regulations to advocate for thorough and well-constructed impact assessment.

Approximately one billion small arms and light weapons (SALW) – rifles, pistols, and light machine guns – are circulating across the globe. Many of these are in the ‘wrong hands’, meaning that they are in the possession of criminals, terrorists, or extremists. Dr Cassandra DiRienzo and Dr Jayoti Das argue that greater female political representation has both a direct and an indirect effect on arms risk, or the risk that SALW fall into the ‘wrong hands’. This vital work reveals how women in politics can, directly and indirectly, reduce the dangers posed by SALW, offering hope in the fight against the devastating consequences of these weapons.

Driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) poses significant risks on our roads, but accurately detecting and prosecuting such cases remains challenging. After the tragic loss of his son Brian at the hands of two drugged drivers, Edward Wood has championed the voices of victims across the USA by founding the organisation DUID Victim Voices to help prevent further deaths. In 2023, he conducted a comprehensive analysis of Colorado’s drugged driving data, shedding light on the prevalence of drug-impaired driving and the effectiveness of current laws. This vital research provides crucial insights to inform policy and improve road safety in an era of changing drug legislation, which is frequently based on political expediency and public opinion rather than solid data.

Grandmother Project – Change through Culture (GMP) is an organisation dedicated to documenting the role of grandmothers and demonstrating the effectiveness of grandmother-inclusive strategies in improving the health and well-being of women, children, and adolescents. GMP’s groundbreaking work challenges conventional wisdom to transform community-based interventions in Africa and beyond, harnessing a powerful but often overlooked resource: the wisdom and influence of grandmothers.

The African Archaeology Review (AAR) journal recently celebrated its 40th anniversary. To mark this occasion, a special issue was compiled with an innovative theme: Archaeology for Education. To achieve this, the AAR editorial team assembled a group of academic researchers in archaeology with the proposition of writing articles collaboratively with educators that would make their research centred on Africa’s rich pasts accessible for use in school learning. The goal is to change the stories we tell about Africa both within and outside the continent.

The political and economic system of capitalism is dominant in the Western world. But how did we get here? Dr Shami Ghosh, an associate professor in the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto, is challenging influential perspectives on the development of capitalism in Europe.

The Annual Review of Applied Linguistics recently published an issue dedicated to research by emerging scholars working at the cutting edge of social justice in applied linguistics. Together, the members of the journal’s editorial board developed an exciting new model that would enable the journal to act upon calls in the field to question existing review systems in academic publishing. To this end, the board devised a novel collaborative, iterative review process and actively recruited early-career and emergent minoritised scholars to publish in the issue.

Dr Jean Muteba Rahier is a distinguished scholar, professor, and human rights advocate. Currently based in the Department of Global & Sociocultural Studies at Florida International University, Dr Rahier’s initiatives, scholarly contributions, and ongoing research projects explore the processes of adoption and application of ‘ethnoracial law’ in the practice of Latin American judicial systems for the defence of Afrodescendants’ human rights. He explains here how this exploration broadens academic horizons and seeks to contribute to the knowledge production necessary to oppose and remedy both the small, almost imperceptible, and the scandalously visible acts of ordinary anti-Black racism in the region.

Exploring the complexities of residing in disaster-prone areas is challenging for individuals, businesses, and governments. Professor John Freebairn of the University of Melbourne is shedding light on this process, and notes that the benefits of living in disaster-prone areas often outweigh the potential risks. As governments intervene with financial incentives, infrastructure development, and regulatory measures, finding an appropriate balance between short-term relief and long-term resilience is crucial. Professor Freebairn considers the roles of government, information, insurance strategies, and subsidy consequences.

While individual national identities are typically conveyed using a single flag, some nationalists choose to express their identity with two flags. For instance, Christian nationalists in the USA and South Korea have started flying the Israeli flag beside their country’s national flag at right-wing Christian rallies or outside their homes. Dr Amílcar Antonio Barreto and HyungJin Kim, two researchers at Northeastern University, have recently carried out a study exploring the symbolic meaning of this double flag use among Christian nationalists.

In recent years, many European countries have introduced bans that limit or prohibit the use of religious face veils, which include the burqa and niqab. Dr Brenda O’Neill worked with colleagues to examine the role of feminist arguments amongst non-Muslim women in Quebec on the acceptability of wearing the niqab in public spaces. This work explored some additional attitudes underpinning these arguments, identifying how these also shape the diverse beliefs of Canadian women.

Dr Patriann Smith, at the University of South Florida, is challenging the norms of literacy research, practice, and policy. Her mission seeks to shift literacy standards from monolingual, monoracial, and monocultural perspectives to embrace multilingual, multiracial, and multicultural diversity. She uses a transdisciplinary approach steeped in quantum physics and racialised entanglements referred to as ‘transraciolinguistics’ to redesign literacy and language practices to be more inclusive and accessible and redefine what it means to be literate. She is the author of the book, ‘Black Immigrant Literacies: Intersections of Race, Language, and Culture in the Classroom’ (2023) and Co-Founder of the RISE Caribbean Educational Research Center.

Many Mexican women experience social isolation and depression after immigrating to the USA, and they are particularly vulnerable to this if they lack social connections and a support network in their new environment. An innovative research group at the University of New Mexico developed a highly promising intervention called ‘Tertulias’, which is helping to improve the mental health and well-being of female immigrants.

Dr Andrew Lohrey and Dr Bruce Boreham suggest that all scientific research, as well as everyday inquiry, is framed by one of two underpinning, organising principles: ‘content determines content’ or ‘context determines content.’ ‘Content determines content’ is the most commonly used principle in science and means that the discursive content of results and conclusions will be elaborations of what has already previously been communicated. The second, more open-ended principle is ‘context determines content’, meaning that results or conclusions will take account of the context in which the research and inquiry have taken place. But ‘what is a context’?

Who gets to be a theorist? What kinds of theoretical work get marginalised in academic research? And how does this oppression play out in the peer-review process? Dr Kimberly Kay Hoang is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago. She has explored how difficult it is to get your sociology research published if you are not using research deemed to be legitimate by reviewers. She brings awareness to these issues and argues for change amongst scholars so that new forms of knowledge are not missed, especially regarding feminist, minority and racial theories.