University of Massachusetts Boston
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The Massachusetts Proactive Coastal Relocation Workshop: Summary Report & Proceedings
No full textOn June 3rd, the project team held the “Massachusetts Coastal Relocation Workshop” which provided the first opportunity for the Coastal Relocation Network members to come together in-person. More than 70 people attended and, among other things, (1) made new connections through activities designed to encourage engagement; (2) learned about new and forthcoming plans, tools, and resources; and (3) were encouraged to think deeply about planning for retreat, engaging communities, and using data to inform decision
The Use of Science in Climate Governance: Bridging Diplomacy, Public Engagement, and Negotiation Interfaces
No full textClimate science appears to have come of age, marked by methodological rigor, interdisciplinary integration, and broad consensus. Negotiators in climate multilateralism navigate a complex terrain shaped by politics, economics, and social dynamics, where science may be treated as an insouciant factor in negotiation strategies. As climate change intensifies beyond the 1.5°C threshold, there is a growing risk that science will become even more marginalized in global governance. This could drown out the scientific authority of mandated institutions and create a disconnect between negotiation processes and the evolving role of science, undermining science’s potential to offer renewed relevance and solutions. Urgent reframing of the science-policy-society interface is essential to foster trust, legitimacy, and credibility in climate science. This article urges reflection on assumptions and positionalities within dominant knowledge systems, and advocates for integration of social inclusivity to enrich climate science discourse and strengthen climate governance
From Margins to Mandates: The Ocean’s Emerging Role in Climate Law and Policy
No full textFor much of modern history, the ocean was treated as a boundless resource rather than as a living system central to planetary climate stability. Scientific advances over the past two decades have revealed the ocean’s indispensable role in regulating climate by absorbing more than 90 percent of excess heat and nearly a third of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. Yet this buffering capacity is eroding as unchecked greenhouse gas emissions drive warming, acidification, and sea level rise. Protecting ocean health has therefore become inseparable from stabilizing the climate, making ocean stewardship and climate action an indivisible imperative.
This article traces the evolution of legal and policy frameworks from the law of the sea to contemporary climate regimes, showing how the ocean has remained peripheral in early treaties but is now moving to the center of climate law. It examines emerging institutions and jurisprudence—including the 2023 Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement), recent advisory opinions of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the London Convention and Protocol—as they address the urgent need for carbon removal, including ocean-based approaches. Particular attention is given to equity and the leadership of small island and low-lying states. The article concludes by assessing whether overlapping regimes advance or hinder climate stabilization and considers how UN80 reforms could enable more coherent and effective ocean-climate governance
Mapping The Importance of Sports Facilities for Football Clubs: A BibIiometric Insight
No full textThis study presents a comprehensive overview of existing research on the relationship between sports facilities and the professionalization of sports clubs. The role of sports facilities has been increasingly acknowledged as critical to the organizational growth and competitive advantage of sports clubs. However, uncertainty remains regarding the effectiveness of investments in facilities and their impact on club development. Using the R-tool namely Bibliometrix, which offers a structured workflow for conducting bibliometric analysis, we analyzed a dataset of 535 articles published between 1988 and 2024 and indexed in the Web of Science database. The findings reveal a stabilization in research output over the past three years, suggesting a shift in scholarly focus. Nevertheless, only a limited number of studies explore frameworks that connect sports facility investment with club performance outcomes, indicating a need for further investigation into how facility management can support strategic professionalization goals. Based on our analysis, research in this area is often application-oriented, emphasizing practical aspects over theoretical constructs. Future studies should explore not only the facilities themselves but also variables such as effective management practices and competencies that may enhance club success and organizational resilience. Particular attention should also be given to addressing the current underrepresentation of the Global South in this field, as its absence limits the inclusivity and global relevance of the existing research landscape
Hypertension Prevalence among Black Communities in Greater Boston
No full textAbstract
Hypertension presents a significant public health challenge within Black communities in Greater Boston, with notable disparities in prevalence and outcomes compared to other groups. Data indicates that Black adults in Boston report a hypertension diagnosis at nearly double the rate of white residents, leading to higher rates of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, including heart disease hospitalizations. These inequities are primarily driven by adverse social determinants of health (SDoH), such as limited access to healthcare, nutritious food, and safe physical activity environments, rather than genetic factors alone.
Addressing this requires multi-level interventions. Clinic-based strategies, including team-based care and evidence-based treatment algorithms, must be integrated with community-based approaches like faith-based interventions including black churches, barbershop screening programs, the GOFRESH healthy food initiative, and community health worker engagement. Policy recommendations include targeted funding for community health centers and urban planning changes to address food deserts and enhance safe environments for physical activity. Despite these efforts, research gaps remain, particularly regarding the long-term sustainability and cost-effectiveness of community programs and the impact of acculturation on hypertension risk in diverse Black populations. A comprehensive, integrated approach addressing these systemic inequalities is crucial for achieving health equity in hypertension management.
Keywords: Hypertension, Black Communities, Greater Boston, Health Disparities, Social Determinants of Health, Community-Based Interventions, Health Policy, Health Equit
Theorising the Everyday Sporting Lives of Africans
No full textSport in Africa is often studied through the lenses of elite competitions, colonial legacies, or development agendas, yet the everyday sporting practices of ordinary Africans remain under-theorised. This paper focuses on African agency in producing sporting cultures. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted across Zimbabwe, I argue that informal football matches, schoolyard games, and community fitness rituals are not merely recreational but rather sites of meaning-making, resistance, and social negotiation. Theoretical frameworks from African sociology (e.g., Nyamnjoh’s incompleteness and Mbembe\u27s banality of power) illuminate how sport operates as a terrain of ordinary ingenuity, where tactics such as repurposed equipment, self-organised leagues, and gendered play spaces subvert material constraints. These practices challenge Northern-centric sports theories that privilege formalisation, commodification, and state-centric models. For example, street football in Nigeria, ‘money games’ in Zimbabwe, or dustball cricket in South Africa tournaments exemplify how Africans reconfigure colonial sports into vernacular forms of joy and belonging. The paper also critiques the Global North\u27s tendency to frame African sport through deficit narratives rather than adaptive creativity. By centring everyday lifeworlds, I propose an African sport theory from below that prioritises embodied knowledge, collective memory, and the politics of play, where a grandmother\u27s netball game in Lagos or a migrant worker\u27s lunchtime sprint in Johannesburg becomes theory-in-motion. The paper calls for a paradigm shift from studying African sport as a problem to be solved to recognising it as a dynamic archive of social theory
Improving Maternal Outcomes Through Prenatal Telehealth Services in Rural America
No full textThe maternal health crisis in the United States has become an alarming issue, with rural women experiencing twice the rate of pregnancy-related deaths compared to urban populations. This crisis highlights the need to address the growing concern of deep-rooted inequalities in healthcare access, quality, and outcomes for marginalized populations. In response to key contributors such as workforce shortages, systemic inequities, and widespread “maternity care deserts”, this project aimed to explore evidence-based telehealth strategies to improve perinatal outcomes in rural America. A literature review was conducted to examine access barriers, maternal health inequalities, and effective telehealth models, with findings revealing that over half of rural counties lack obstetric services, driving mortality from preventable maternal causes. With integration of virtual visits and community-based supports, telehealth-supported prenatal care demonstrated effectiveness in improving monitoring for preventable conditions, increasing prenatal engagement, and enhancing satisfaction. Policy analysis identified barriers to broadband inequities, inconsistent reimbursement policies, and licensure restrictions. Recommended actions include investing in broadband infrastructure, establishing permanent reimbursement policies, reviewing regulatory licensure constraints, and supporting community programs to strengthen cultural competence and sustain prenatal telehealth as an equitable model to reduce maternal mortality across rural U.S
Social Networks and Cognitive Function in Late Adulthood
No full textCognitive health serves as critical capacity for performing daily activities in late adulthood. Maintaining meaningful social connections with network members has been found to be significantly associated with cognitive function. However, group differences and underlying mechanisms remain understudied. In addition, it is unclear whether childhood social relationships shape distinct trajectories of cognitive function in later life and whether individuals’ cognitive function, both their own (actor) and their partners’ (partner), influence the characteristics of their social networks. This dissertation seeks to investigate the complex interplay between social networks and cognitive function in both the U.S. and China.
Study 1 examined whether the association between sources of social support and social strain and cognitive function is moderated by gender and racial-ethnic group, and mediated by depression, among older Americans aged 51 years and above. Data were drawn from the 2006– 2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study. Linear growth modeling, combined with multiple group analysis and structural equation modeling, was employed to test these relationships. The results supported the differential effects of these network characteristics on cognitive health across gender and racial/ethnic groups, as well as the potential pathway through which social relationship quality with spouse, children, and friends may influence cognitive outcomes via depression.
Study 2 examined the actor and partner effects of cognitive function on friendship network characteristics among older couples aged 51 years and above using 2014 and 2016 Health and Retirement Study. An actor and partner interdependence model was adopted to test the proposed dyadic relationships. The findings suggested that one’s own and partner’s cognitive function influenced contact frequency with friends, but not the number of close friends or perceived social strain from friends. Notably, wives with higher cognitive function reported less social strain from friends. No significant gender differences were found.
Study 3 examined the long-term ramifications of childhood social relationships and contemporaneous of adulthood social relationships on later-life cognitive trajectories, as well as hukou-related differences in these associations, using 2011-2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Group-based trajectory modeling and multinomial logistic regression were employed to test the proposed hypotheses. The results highlighted the crucial role of childhood relationships with mothers and the important influence of social interactions with friends across the life course in shaping later-life cognitive trajectories. No moderating effect of hukou was found on these associations.
These studies have deepened our understanding of how and why different characteristics of social networks are linked to cognitive function, suggesting that tailored interventions should be provided to older adults based on their demographic characteristics. The findings also emphasized the necessity of incorporating early-life social environments when screening older adults at risk of cognitive decline, as well as the dyadic association between social relationships and cognitive function among individuals living in shared environments, such as couples
US Citizenship: The Gap Between Policy and Lived Reality
No full textMy research examines the U.S. naturalization test, particularly the process that immigrants especially from a background of low formal education with low literacy and language levels go through as they prepare for naturalization. This examination is done within the historical context of the naturalization test. Building on my experience as a citizenship teacher, I explore how citizenship students and teachers interact with the multiple conflicting messages from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) about the test. This project offers a grounded ethnographic study of the perceptions of and discourse around naturalization. I look at how de facto and de jure policy compares with the lived realities of my students and colleagues. In thinking with marginalized immigrant adult learners, I intend to contribute to broader conversations on adult education and citizenship