Month: May 2018

Latin America (OpenDemocracy) – It was 1983. Rigoberta Menchú was only 24 when she began recounting her life experiences to anthropologist Elizabeth Burgos, a woman who would later launch her into a world of speeches and spotlights, far from the misty forests of her home in Laj Chimel, Guatemala. Already a famous activist in Central America, her testimonial autobiography made her embroidered Mayan coronet internationally recognisable. She arguably became the first globally visible indigenous female political figure to come from Latin America. It is now 2018 and the indigenous female influence…

United States (TexasTribune) – U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Monday that the Justice Department will begin prosecuting every person who illegally crosses into the United States along the Southwest border, a hard-line policy shift expected to focus in particular on migrants traveling with children. In a speech to law enforcement officials in Scottsdale, Arizona, Sessions said the Department of Homeland Security will begin referring such cases to the Justice Department for prosecution and that federal prosecutors will “take on as many of those cases as humanly possible until we get…

(Conversation) – Young women across Western Europe and Canada are more left wing than their male counterparts, according to new research I carried out that also shows among older voters women more likely to be right wing than men. We already know that younger people are often more likely to vote for left-wing parties than their older peers, but it seems this trend is particularly pronounced among women. Younger women are the most left wing in their voting habits and older women the most right wing when we compared voters…

United Kingdom (Conversation) – Reach for a packet of sugar in the café, browse the shelves at supermarkets, or take a look at the packaging of your favourite sweet treat, and you are likely to see the Fairtrade label. What’s more, the UK’s Modern Slavery Act requires large companies to publicly report on the steps they take to ensure that forced labour is not a part of their products. The EU’s non-financial reporting requirements broaden out from modern slavery to include many issues related to social responsibility and human rights….

Brazil (Conversation) – In the U.S., if you want a face lift or a tummy tuck, it’s generally assumed that you’ll be paying out of pocket. Insurance will tend to cover plastic surgery only when the surgery is deemed “medically necessary” and not merely aesthetic. In Brazil, however, patients are thought of as having the “right to beauty.” In public hospitals, plastic surgeries are free or low-cost, and the government subsidizes nearly half a million surgeries every year. As a medical anthropologist, I’ve spent years studying Brazilian plastic surgery. While…