Refugee studies research has typically identified “hosts” as being distinct and opposite from refugees, but recent scholarship has brought this typology into question. In a recent study in the Journal of Humanitarian Affairs, CSDE Affiliate Rawan Arar (Law, Societies, and Justice) critically examines the ‘host’ label within refugee studies by considering multiple scales of analysis. The study shows how individuals confront the refugee/host binary in their daily lives, and introduces the concept of humanitarian fiction to explain the limits of previously used definitions.

CSDE Affiliate Khai Hoan Tram (Infectious Disease, UW Medicine) recently won the UW/Fred Hutch Center for AIDS Research’s 2024 CFAR New Investigator Award! The purpose of this award is to encourage early-stage investigators (at a senior stage of training or recently independent) to conduct independent research, acquire preliminary data to use for subsequent grant submissions, publish, receive mentorship, and write one or more grants to obtain funding to continue their HIV research careers.

Around 11% of US children are diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). A previous study from CSDE Affiliate Dan Eisenberg (Anthropology) showed that the ADHD-associated 7R allele of the gene encoding the D(4) dopamine receptor (DRD4) had a positive effect on the nutritional status of nomadic adult Ariaal men and a negative effect on settled adult men. This suggests that those with ADHD might have environmentally contingent benefits which are more apparent in nomadic contexts.

The clock-drawing test is a common tool for assessing cognitive function, that offers an entry point for considering how time itself is experienced in the context of dementia care. In a recent article published in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute entitled “The clock-drawing test: reading temporalities of dementia from clinical chart notes,” CSDE External Affiliate Janelle Taylor (University of Toronto) explores how clinical interactions reflect broader social and historical forces shaping time,

On May 1, 2025, CSDE Affiliate Erin McElroy and colleagues are hosting a conference with the Simpson Center for the Humanities on “Political Software: Mapping Digital Worlds From Below”. This conference will focus on software and countermaps primarily designed for political action with social, environmental, and land justice movements. The intent of this conference is to bring together organizers, researchers, educators, and technologists questioning the interdependencies between digital infrastructures, software code,

Analysis from CSDE Research Scientist June Yang will be featured at the Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences Seminar Series on Wednesday, January 15th at 12:30pm. The presentation, entitled “Gender Divergence in the Values Around Cohabitation in China: A Tale of ‘Two Generations,’” will feature Yang’s analysis of text data from two online discussion questions on a popular Q & A website, Zhihu (zhihu.com). Results show that cohabitation is not perceived as a value-neutral choice by the Zhihu users.

On October 17, 2024, CSDE Director Sara Curran was honored to give the Samuel E. Kelly Distinguished Faculty Lecture entitled “Past, Present, and Future Demographic Diversity in the U.S. and Washington.” The talk was hosted by the Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center. Curran was introduced by CSDE Trainees Courtney Allen and CSDE alumna Dr. Aasli Nur. In the talk, Curran discussed the idea of “to be counted is to be seen”,

Data suggesting that young Americans’ condom usage is declining has triggered concern among HIV experts. An AP News article on this subject cites research from lead author Steve Goodreau (UW Anthropology & CSDE Development Core Director) and co-authors including CSDE Senior Research Scientist/ Engineer Deven Hamilton in AIDS and Behavior which finds evidence of reduced condom usage in younger populations. For the news article,

A team of graduate and undergraduate students with Dr. Jessica Godwin recently published a report on commercial gentrification in King County using information from Data Axle and the Census Bureau’s County Business Patterns dataset. The 2024 Applied Research Fellowship team (Carmen Choong, Anoushka Manik, Sydney Pope, Priyanka Shrestha, and Jenny Speelmon) shared their full set of findings in a published report and presentation to King County stakeholders on Thursday,

In a recent contribution to Scientific Reports, CSDE External Affiliate David Swanson (UC Riverside) and co-authors argue that current coastal population growth trends portend significant consequences for the natural world. Using recently available data, the authors estimate annual continental and global coastal populations from the shoreline inward. The research emphasizes the need for effective strategies to address the challenges posed by this growth. Read the article here.