Category Archives: The Oxford Comment

A Spotlight on Native American Language and Religion – Episode 89 – 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 The United States of English: The American Language from Colonial Times to the Twenty-First Century, to speak about the Native American English dialect, how English became more widely spoken amongst Native Americans, and current programs to preserve Native American languages. We then spoke with Gregory Shushan, author of Near-Death Experience in Indigenous Religions, about near-death experiences, Native American myths, shamanism, and religious revitalization movements across indigenous cultures in North America.

Continue reading A Spotlight on Native American Language and Religion – Episode 89 – The Oxford Comment


Infrastructure, Public Policy, and the Anthropocene – Episode 88 – The Oxford Comment



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 challenges of the Anthropocene, and the kind of research the editors are seeking. We then interviewed Jonathan Pickering, co-author of The Politics of the Anthropocene, the winner of the 2019 Clay Morgan Award Committee for Best Book in Environmental Political Theory. We spoke with him about how the shift from the Holocene to the Anthropocene has affected our core infrastructure systems and how good governance can help us mitigate the many challenges we’ll face in the future

Continue reading Infrastructure, Public Policy, and the Anthropocene – Episode 88 – The Oxford Comment


Supporting the Future of Peer Review – Episode 87 – The Oxford Comment



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 and JNCI Cancer Spectrum, about how diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility initiatives affect peer review. Lastly, we ask James Phillpotts, the Director of Content Transformation & Standards who serves as an OUP representative for the National Information Standards Organization, about the impact of NISO’s recently released document on the standard terminology for peer review.

Continue reading Supporting the Future of Peer Review – Episode 87 – The Oxford Comment


The Revelation of the Book of Mormon at 200 – Episode 86 – The Oxford Comment



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 and the origins of The Book of Mormon two centuries ago. We then interviewed Grant Hardy, whose new The Annotated Book of Mormon is the first ever fully annotated, academic edition of the book.

Continue reading The Revelation of the Book of Mormon at 200 – Episode 86 – The Oxford Comment


Revisiting Toxic Masculinity and #MeToo – Episode 85 – The Oxford Comment



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 Shagufta Cheema, the editor of The Other #MeToos, who spoke with us about the origins of the #MeToo movement, how it has been received around the world, and how it has changed—and will continue to change—to meet the needs of the victims for which it advocates.

Continue reading Revisiting Toxic Masculinity and #MeToo – Episode 85 – The Oxford Comment