Law, Politics and Society

In a new scholarly article, Nathan Wood, associate professor of history at the University of Kansas, describes how after soldiers and poachers killed the last free European bison, Polish naturalists worked with international organizations following World War I to revive the species from the few animals scattered on estates and zoos across the continent.

Andrew Torrance, a professor of law at the University of Kansas, has published research on how kissing, one of the most basic human acts and a sign of love, has been viewed alternately as property that can be stolen, a contract, a criminal act or as agency over one’s own body. His article was published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.

Christopher Etheridge and researchers in KU’s School of Journalism & Mass Communications conducted two studies with citizens of India gauging their media literacy and online behavior. The studies found the higher a person’s media literacy was, the higher their trust in democratic institutions. How and what types of social media they used also predicted how civically engaged they were as citizens.

Raj Bhala, University Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Kansas, has published a new scholarly analysis examining how the rule of law is defined in Shakespeare's “Measure for Measure.” Developed during a sabbatical at three universities in England, the paper is part of a series exhibiting how Shakespeare can illuminate several legal matters, according to Bhala.

Meggie Mapes, a communication studies researcher at the University of Kansas, has found in a new study that rhetoric around the #MeToo movement often focused on punishment and "carceral feminism" instead of causes of gender-based violence. The work shows how punishment is a common part of communication in society, the author argues.

In a new article, Jack Zhang, associate professor of political science at the University of Kansas, finds that the People’s Daily newspaper has reduced foreign news coverage during President Xi Jinping’s administration, suggesting such coverage is influenced more by domestic politics than by China’s growing international interests.

In a new scholarly article, Kevin Mullinix, associate professor of political science, finds Christian nationalism shapes beliefs about who is most deserving of punishment in society in ways that are contingent on the identity of the offender and victim — and the extent to which the crime violates particular norms.

KU researchers launched a project to document instances of “landback,” in which land is returned to Indigenous communities, tribes and owners. Analysis of the data shows the returns are happening and increasing in frequency across the country. That could be the impetus for public planning as a discipline to rethink how it approaches working with such lands and move beyond simple land acknowledgements, the authors said.

A study led by the University of Kansas explored news skepticism, news trust and misinformation. Results showed people with more news knowledge had more news skepticism, but those with more news cynicism were more likely to believe misinformation. The results can help improve media literacy and fight misinformation, the authors said.

A University of Kansas religious studies scholar has written a new chapter on Jewish economic theology for the St. Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology. Samuel Brody starts with the biblical injunction against lending money at interest and sketches historical Jewish highlights stretching from the rabbis of the Talmud to the medieval sage Maimonides to Karl Marx.