Humanities & Society

In the rapidly changing conflict in Ukraine, Russian national narratives offer insight into President Vladimir Putin’s next move, says James Wertsch, an expert on Russia and international affairs.

A deep dive by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine and the Brown School found gaping health disparities resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The study, which looked at St. Louis County residents, shows that Black women suffered disproportionately higher rates of employment loss and food insecurity.

Research from the laboratory of archaeologist Xinyi Liu in Arts & Sciences shows that a practice of purposeful water management, or irrigation, was adopted to help cultivate wheat in northern China about 4,000 years ago.

Ranen Miao, a senior studying political science and sociology in Arts & Sciences, was elected to serve as national director of communications for the College Democrats of America.

Using data from the newly released Uniform Appraisal Dataset, which includes 47.3 million home appraisals conducted over the last decade, WashU’s Elizabeth Korver-Glenn and Junia Howell of the University of Illinois Chicago demonstrate stark inequalities in appraisal values between homes in white neighborhoods and communities of color.

Steve Smith, a leading congressional politics scholar, discusses the factors making 2022 midterms difficult to predict, what’s ahead for the second half of President Joe Biden’s term and the impact the midterm election could have on the GOP’s future.

Leila Sadat, a law professor and founder of the Initiative on Gun Violence & Human Rights at Washington University in St. Louis, equates the U.S. government’s failure to prevent and reduce gun violence with violating children’s human rights. “America’s kids are not okay. As gun violence surges and politicians dither, school shootings are traumatizing a generation of youth,” Sadat wrote in a recent essay. “While only one manifestation of America’s gun violence crisis, school shootings are shocking in their ferocity, the senseless and random nature of the violence, and their impact upon millions of young, captive and vulnerable individuals.”

Voters in this year’s midterm elections, to be held nationwide Nov. 8, will be motivated by a number of hot-button issues, including abortion, climate change, voting rights, the economy and more. Washington University faculty experts weigh in on some of the issues that will be top of voters’ minds as they head to the polls.

Jane Goodall made St. Louis — and Graham Chapel — a stop on her national tour to share her ‘tenacious authenticity’ and empower us to work together on behalf of our planet.