Perspectives

Anca Parvulescu, professor of English and the Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities, both in Arts & Sciences, co-writes about the history of Romani enslavement and its impact on representations of the Roma people. “Romani populations in East Europe remain a paradigmatic and often neglected example of a double practice of erasure and appropriation.”    

The School of Law’s Daniel Epps, a Supreme Court expert, was featured in a Q&A in Politico, discussing his ideas for how to reform the Supreme Court and consider the influence it wields.

Adrienne Davis has been honored by the St. Louis Business Journal with one of this year’s Diverse Business Leaders awards. In this Q&A, she discusses her contributions to Washington University’s diversity and inclusion goals, including serving as founding director of the new Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity. 

The School of Law’s Lee Epstein, a Supreme Court expert, co-writes an opinion piece in The New York Times about the growing influence of conservative Christian values at the Supreme Court and the impact of the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had led the court’s liberal wing.

Public dialogue on police brutality presents and normalizes a false choice: where people can either accept policing as we know it or surrender to becoming the likely victims of crime. Justice or safety: Choose one. This narrative misrepresents the data itself, writes John Robinson

Matifadza Hlatshwayo Davis, MD, instructor at the School of Medicine, writes an opinion piece in Newsweek about the effectiveness of hurrying a COVID-19 vaccine amid the health disparities and racism in the American health care system.

One way to protect against assuming the worst of our fellow citizens is to work toward charitable descriptions of one another’s religious practices, writes John Inazu.

Abram Van Engen, of Arts & Sciences, writes on the Center for the Humanities blog, “Human Ties,” about the new podcast he is co-hosting, “Poetry for All.” He said it’s aimed at “not just those who love poetry, but those who feel hesitant about it, even those who dislike it altogether.”

The religious right has made no secret of its expectation that President Trump will choose a socially conservative successor to the seat held by Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And the president will likely deliver, further confirming the power of the religious right, writes Lee Epstein.

Rebecca Wanzo reviews Michaela Coel’s HBO/BBC One series “I May Destroy You.” While much of the work is emotionally shattering, one of the staggering accomplishments of Coel’s creation is that it manages to provoke real laughter, even as it focuses on various kinds of sexual assault, Wanzo writes.