The Oxford Comment

On today’s episode of The Oxford Comment, the last for 2023, we spotlight two aspects of Native American culture that transcend tribe and nation and have been the recent focus of OUP scholars: language and religious beliefs. For our first interview, we were joined by Rosemarie Ostler, author of T he United States of English: The American Language from Colonial Times to the Twenty-First Century , t...

On today’s episode of The Oxford Comment, we discuss the state of human infrastructure in the Anthropocene with a particular focus on how research can best be used to inform public policy. First, we welcomed Patrick Harris, co-editor-in-chief of the new transdisciplinary journal, Oxford Open Infrastructure and Health , to speak about the aims and scopes of OOIH, how OOIH is poised to meet the chal...

On today’s episode, we’re joined by three OUP colleagues to discuss current changes in academic publishing and what they will mean for the future of peer review.  First, we talk with Laura Jose, a Publisher in the Owned and Product Tower at OUP, about bias reduction in peer review. Next, we speak with Dr. Amanda Boehm, scientific managing editor for JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute a...

On today’s episode, we’re joined by two preeminent scholars on the history and theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as this September marks the 200th anniversary of Joseph Smith’s first vision of the angel Moroni. We welcomed Richard Lyman Bushman, the author of Joseph Smith’s Gold Plates: A Cultural History , to discuss with us the legacy of Joseph Smith’s Gold Plates...

On today’s episode, we explore two recognizable components in contemporary conversations on gender and gendered violence. First, we welcomed Robert Lawson, the author of Language and Mediated Masculinities: Cultures, Contexts, Constraints , to share how language intersects with masculinity in media spaces and how it may be our best weapon in combatting rising misogyny. We then interviewed Iqra Sha...

On today’s episode of The Oxford Comment, we explore the history of gun ownership in the United States and practical solutions for resolving contemporary gun violence. First, we welcomed Robert J Spitzer, the author of  The Gun Dilemma: How History is Against Expanded Gun Rights ,  to share new historical research on America’s gun law history as it informs modern gun policy disputes. We then...

On today’s episode of The Oxford Comment, we discuss LGBTQ+ privacy through both historical and contemporary lenses. First, Simon Joyce, the author of LGBT Victorians: Sexuality and Gender in the Nineteenth-Century Archives , shared his argument for revisiting Victorian-era thinking about gender and sexual identity. We then interviewed Stefanie Duguay, the author of Personal but Not Private:...

On today’s episode, we welcomed Dr Kerry McInerney and Dr Eleanor Drage, two of the editors of Feminist AI: Critical Perspectives on Data, Algorithms and Intelligent Machines , and then Dr Kanta Dihal, co-editor of Imagining AI: How the World Sees Intelligent Machines , to discuss how AI can be influenced by culture, feminism, and Western narratives defined by popular TV shows and films. Should AI...

The consequences of climate change are catastrophic. This real and present threat to our planet may seem insurmountable, but there are—and have been—lessons shared on how to mitigate the damage already wrought, and how to prevent future detriment. On today’s episode, we explore two unique examples of societal adaptation to climate change: one from our past, and one from our present. First, we welc...

The world of sports has long been a contested playing field for social change. On today’s episode, we discuss the lives, careers, and lasting legacies on and off the tennis courts of two great women athletes—Althea Gibson and Billie Jean King. First, we welcomed Ashley Brown, the author of Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson , to speak about the barrier breaking tennis player and...

On today’s episode, the first for 2023, we spoke with Chris Howard, author of Who Cares: The Social Safety Net in America , and Tom Malleson, author of Against Inequality: The Practical and Ethical Case for Abolishing the Superrich , on the social safety net, the ethical implications of extreme wealth, and what steps can be taken to achieve economic equality. How can we address such financial dist...

On the last episode of The Oxford Comment for 2022, we’re looking at what the James Webb Space Telescope means to our understanding of the universe. The questions are big, the area is even bigger, and we are delighted to be joined by two eminent fellows from the Royal Astronomical Society , Claudia Maraston and Jonathan Tennyson, to review this expansive subject. Claudia Maraston is Professor of A...

On November 1, 1922 Egyptologist Howard Carter and his team of excavators began digging in a previously undisturbed plot of land in the Valley of the Kings. For decades, archaeologists had searched for the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun with no success, and that November was to be Carter’s final attempt to locate the lost treasures. What Carter ultimately discovered—the iconic sarcophagus, the mu...

Research shows that American distrust in government, scientists, and media has reached new heights, and this distrust in institutions is reflected in much of the world. In his play, Orestes, Euripides opines, “When one with honeyed words but evil mind persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.” Might we still overcome this onslaught of misinformation and preserve our trust in the...

High gas prices. Nuclear reactors closed forever. The growth of the electric car industry. Record-breaking temperatures, and Europe’s Dependence on Russian Natural Gas. There has been no shortage in energy-related news stories this summer, and we know that they are not going to go away any time soon. On today’s episode of The Oxford Comment, we spoke with Martin J. Pasqualetti, Professor of...

There are many factors that affect our ability to be healthy and we unfortunately do not all have the same access to care. Barriers can be related to cost, discrimination, location, sexual orientation, and gender identity – to name just a few. On today’s episode of The Oxford Comment, we complement Oxford Academic’s extensive “ Health Equity ” collection of journal articles, book excerpts, and onl...

The first of July 2022 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China. It also marks the halfway point of a fifty-year agreement between China and Hong Kong that established the “one country, two systems,” rule – a system designed to allow Hong Kong to “enjoy a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defence affairs” while still remaining a Speci...

With over 1 billion speakers, English is an incredibly diverse language. Dozens of countries around the world have their own varieties , many of which have not historically seen adequate representation in English dictionaries. This past April, the Oxford English Dictionary hosted the Oxford World English Symposium 2022 , a two-day event featuring a series of parallel sessions and panels on topics...

On today’s episode, we’re commemorating National DNA Day in the United States by considering the role that DNA plays in our society. First, we welcome Amber Hartman Scholz, co-author of the article “ Myth-busting the provider-user relationship for digital sequence information ”, looking at how genetic resources are actually used and shared across the globe. We discuss the surprising findings of th...

On today’s episode of The Oxford Comment, we discussed the global and historical implications of women, work, and economic empowerment. First, we welcomed Laura M. Argys and Susan L. Averett, the authors of Women in the Workforce: What Everyone Needs to Know® , to share their research on women’s growing role in the workforce and the problems with definitively measuring the gender wage gap. We then...

Black History Month celebrates the achievements of a globally marginalized community still fighting for equal representation and opportunity in all areas of life. This includes education. In 1954, the United States’ Supreme Court ruled “separate but equal” unconstitutional for American public schools in “Brown v. Board of Education.” While this ruling has been celebrated as a pivotal v...

As we approach the end of 2021, we can look back at the previous two years of restrictions, lockdowns, COVID tests and vaccination lines, not to mention all the political strife… or we can look to the unknown, ahead to the new year. But let us pause for a moment and enjoy the now: a holiday season that should be livelier than last year’s. After all that’s gone on, we could use some old-fashioned h...

The effects of COVID-19 reach far beyond mortality, triggering widespread economic and sociopolitical consequences. It is unsurprising to learn, after everything that has transpired in the past two years, that COVID-19 has also had a detrimental effect on our mental health. Recent studies in the US and UK have shown a huge increase in the number of adults who have experienced symptoms of an anxiet...

Open research means faster, more equitable access to cutting edge findings, driving disciplines forward, and introducing transparency into the research process. As the world’s largest university press publisher of open access content, Oxford University Press believes a more open world should work for everyone. Over the past few years, the movement has grown to encompass other aspects of the resear...

What do you think of when you hear the term “public debt?” If you’re familiar with the phrase, you might think about elected officials debating budgets and how to pay for goods and services. Or maybe it’s a vague concept you don’t fully understand. For today’s episode of The Oxford Comment, we spoke with In Defense of Public Debt co-author Barry Eichengreen, Professor of Economics and Political Sc...