In The News

A Report from the Ground Zero of China’s AIDS Crisis

Pierre Haski June 30, 2005
The international community has praised the Chinese government for its recent change of heart toward the AIDS crisis. Whereas central authorities considered the epidemic a foreign issue just five years ago, Chinese leaders today acknowledge the severity of the problem and are participating in international programs aimed at the prevention and treatment of the disease. Journalist Pierre Haski...

Giving Voice to British Arab Culture – And Its Discontents

Omar Waraich June 29, 2005
When Reem Maghribi, a 26-year-old British Arab designer, realized that Arabs lacked a voice in the United Kingdom, she founded Sharq, a magazine devoted to the promotion of “British Arab Culture.” With an increasing number of British Arabs questioning their identity amidst a climate of “Arabaphobia,” the self-supported publication is offering them the opportunity to delve into their unique...

Social Network's Healing Power Is Borne Out in Poorer Nations

Shankar Vedantam June 28, 2005
A three-decade-long study by the World Health Organization has shown that patients diagnosed with the mental illness schizophrenia consistently tend to recover better in poorer nations than in developed nations. Researchers attribute these surprising results to the cultural differences in treatment. Seen by most Western psychiatrists as an organic, incurable brain disease, schizophrenia is...

Roll Over, Godzilla: Korea Rules

Norimitsu Onishi June 28, 2005
Celebrities, television shows, movies, music and other cultural products from South Korea are exploding in popularity across East Asia. As a result, the country has witnessed an upsurge in tourism and trade, as well as a cachet of being “cool.” This newfound soft power stems from past South Korean government decisions to nurture and protect its own cultural industries against infiltration from...

Europe in Disarray – Part II

Jonathan Fenby June 23, 2005
"Europe faces a challenge for which, in its present state, it may not be prepared," writes Jonathan Fenby in the second installment of YaleGlobal's two-part series on turbulence in the European Union. Fenby suggests that domestic leadership failures in European nations created the vacuum at the heart of the EU. Citing the French and Dutch rejections of the EU constitution, Fenby...

American Character Gets Mixed Reviews

June 23, 2005
According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, America's worldwide reputation continues to suffer. The Pew Global Attitudes Project, co-chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Senator John C. Danforth, surveyed nearly 17,000 countries to assess their opinions about their own nations and the rest of the world. The 2005 survey revealed that, although US...

Art from China Displays Dreams and Doubts

Caroline MacKinnon June 23, 2005
Chinese identity has undergone major changes in the past several decades as the country has altered its social, cultural and economic landscape. Recently, seventeen Chinese artists exhibited work dedicated to exploring the theme of Chinese identity at the Rufino Tamayo Museum of Contemporary Art in Mexico City. Photographer Xing Danwen showed work that portrayed the similarities in urban...