A&S scholars sharing their expertise in the media this week

From public figures traveling abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic, to perspectives of Indigenous authors on Family Literacy Day, scholars from a range of disciplines across the Faculty of Arts & Science are sharing their expertise on a variety of issues in the media.

Here’s some of what they had to say this week.

January 22, 2021

• Department of Political Science professor Nelson Wiseman comments in the London Free Press on calls for the chancellor of Western University to resign after traveling abroad during the pandemic.
• Robert Bothwell, a professor emeritus in the Department of History and the International Relations program at Trinity College, comments in a New York Times story examining the arrival of U.S. president Joe Biden and the departure of Canadian Governor General Julie Payette.

January 23, 2021

• Marcel Danesi, a professor in the Department of Anthropology, explains the enduring and increasing popularity of puzzles during the COVID-19 pandemic in CTV News.

January 24, 2021

• Lynette Ong, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and the Asian Institute at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, comments in a Toronto Star story about Hong Kong activists living in exile in Canada.

January 25, 2021

• A recent report by Department of Political Science and Munk School professor Peter Loewen examining skepticism around the COVID-19 vaccine, is cited in the National Post.
• Department of Economics professor Michael Smart comments in a Globe and Mail (paywall) story about benefits distributed to Canadian cannabis companies through the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy program.
• Shira Lurie, a fellow in early American history at University College, writes an op-ed in the Toronto Star discussing U.S. president Joe Biden’s call for unity in America.
• Jonathan Braden, a postdoctoral researcher at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, speaks in Quanta magazine about theories that the universe is a swelling bubble at risk of colliding with other bubbles in a multiverse.
• Anver Emon, director of the Institute of Islamic Studies (IIS) and a professor in the Department of History and Faculty of Law, and IIS digital humanities research fellow Moska Rokay, speak in the Toronto Star about efforts to create an archive documenting the lives of Muslims in Canada.

January 26, 2021

• A book exploring the history of mood disorders in psychiatry authored by Department of History and Faculty of Medicine professor Edward Shorter is cited in Maclean’s.
• Robert Austin, an associate professor at the Centre for European, Russian & Eurasian Studies at the Munk School, speaks on CTV News about the arrest of Russian politician Alexei Navalny and the public demonstrations calling for his release.
• A Toronto Star story describes an online tool to identify anti-Asian posts on social media being developed with the assistance of Department of Computer Science assistant professor Ishtiaque Ahmed.

January 27, 2021

• Department of Sociology PhD student Kayla Preston comments in a Toronto Star story on the possible ramifications of the Canadian government naming the Proud Boys a terrorist group.
• Lynette Ong comments in a Yahoo News story on dual citizens of Canada and China being asked to declare a single nationality while in Hong Kong.
• Department of Political Science professor Ron Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School, suggests on TVO’s The Agenda that democracy can be saved by fixing social media.
• Author and Centre for Indigenous Studies lecturer Lee Maracle reflects in the Toronto Star on the value of reading, as Canadians celebrate Family Literacy Day.