A traditional Malay healer, ca. 1890

The Supernatural Side of Malayan Rice Farming

In agrarian Malaya, spirit mediums negotiated with deities and demons to safeguard crops and shape the rhythms of rural life.
The cover of The Urgency of Indigenous Values by Philip P. Arnold

The Urgency of Indigenous Values

As global crises mount, religion scholar Philip P. Arnold argues the Haudenosaunee’s Great Law of Peace offers a way out of the West’s self-destructive path.
Child Reading a Book

Another Way to Boost Fourth Grade Reading Scores? Preschool

Early education doesn’t erase inequality, but research shows preschool can significantly narrow reading achievement gaps.
At the Mass, 1872,, by Francesco Gioli

A Christian Case for Gossip

When silence allows harm to continue, warning others may become a difficult but necessary moral choice.
A woman receiving equine-assisted therapy at Spirit Horse Ranch near Kula, Hawaii.

Equine-Assisted Therapy: But What Do the Horses Think?

An emerging critique examines the moral and cultural assumptions behind horse-based interventions.
A worker carefully decorates doughnuts with white icing outside

The “Mock Calendar” and the Disposable Worker

How unstable scheduling practices keep low-wage workers economically insecure.
A sad child sitting on the floor

The Emotional Cost of Parental Deportation

A study of US citizen children shows how immigration enforcement and family separation affect mental health and stability.
Dana Elle Murphy

Dana Elle Murphy on Black Feminist Criticism

An interview with Dana Elle Murphy, whose work explores how drafts, fragments, and literary lineages expand our understanding of Black women’s writing.
The Sacrifice of Isaac by Francesco Guardi, 1750s

A History of Existential Anxiety

From medieval theology to modern philosophy, dread has long been a guide for living ethically.
Source: Getty/Downtown Arlington

The Power of Placemaking

Why the social, political, and emotional dimensions of public spaces matter, and how people themselves play a central role in creating them.