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This dissertation examines artistic responses to the prevailing racial discourse of the early21st century United States, i.e. post-racialism. Each chapter explores the work of artists invarious media—film, portraiture, television, and music—with an emphasis on the waysthat their practices of ironic substitution and recontextualization—e.g. parody, pastiche,satire—work to simultaneously revise previous aesthetic works and modes and to engagewith a hegemonic US post-racial narrative that has at its core the maintenance of whitesupremacy and the suppression of race as an avenue through which to formulategrievance against oppressive state and institutional structures. This project is in dialoguenot only with contemporary critical race theory but also negative valuations of irony'spolitical efficacy inherited from the late-20th century academic discourse ofpostmodernism. Reading the work of artists across various media and engaging withdiscourses of race, masculinity, fashion, and ontological dualism, I argue for theprogressive potential of irony and humor, and look critically at the de facto privileging ofsincerity in contemporary socio-political discourse.

The extractive industries (EI) are at a critical juncture. A period of significant commodity price volatility is intersecting with the global energy transition and, more recently, the major social, political, and economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic – a combination of forces creating both uncertainty and potentially major shifts in how EI are developed and governed. As EI governance practitioners grapple with these shifts, and the challenges and opportunities they bring, transparency will be an essential tool. However, practitioners need to think—and work—more politically as they develop and deploy this tool moving forward to make the most of its potential. This discussion piece is one aggregation of perspectives, ideas, and questions coming out of several years of expert consultations, meetings, and interviews undertaken as part of the Executive Session on the Politics of Extractive Industries convened by the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment. The piece focuses on the ways in which political realities can shape the efficacy and impact of efforts to advance various goals through transparency of extractive industries (EI transparency). The authors suggest that more systematic integration of political considerations into the design and implementation of these efforts may minimize risks of "zombie transparency," and reinforce ultimate positive impacts. It should help those seeking to use EI data for specific purposes, such as to reduce corruption and enhance benefit sharing; unpack monolithic terms; account for incentives along the transparency lifecycle; and realize yet more of the potential of information disclosures. This is an introductory piece intended to catalyze and provoke critical thinking, debate, further investigation, and, ultimately, practical experimentation. It will be accompanied by a series of blog posts authored by different members of the Executive Session and other EI experts to explore some of the themes touched on below in greater detail, e.g. through country- or sector-specific lenses.

OBJECTIVES: Decisions regarding the types and amounts of micronutrients to include in large-scale food fortification (LSFF) programs should consider costs. The Micronutrient Intervention Modeling (MINIMOD) cost tool estimates the costs of alternative LSFF programs, with focus on stakeholders' cost burdens. METHODS: An activity-based cost model was developed and adapted to the context of Burkina Faso. Key national characteristics (e.g., population size), and information on existing and hypothetical LSFF programs (e.g., adherence to standards) establish the model's platform. Private- and public-sector costs (as relevant) of designing, implementing, and managing LSFF are included. The model contains a micronutrient premix cost calculator. LSFF-vehicle-specific consumption patterns (e.g., g/day of fortifiable wheat flour consumed, based on household survey data) link costs to program reach. A ten-year planning time horizon is adopted. RESULTS: The premix required to fortify wheat flour with iron and folic acid (60 mg/kg of ferrous fumarate, 2.5 mg/kg of folic acid – the current standard) is estimated to cost ∼$2.11 (2020 USD) per MT of fortified flour, with overall 10-year program costs of ∼$2.4m; ∼25% faced by industry (e.g., internal quality control), ∼23% by government (e.g., external monitoring), and 52% by stakeholders who would cover premix costs (generally assumed to be industry, with some pass-through to consumers). Cost per person and cost per person reached are ∼$0.010 and ∼$0.023, respectively. Including zinc in this premix (95 mg/kg of zinc oxide) would increase the cost per MT of fortified flour to ∼$3.02, total 10-year program costs to ∼$3.3m, and cost per person and per person reached to ∼$0.014 and ∼$0.032, respectively. The premix's share of costs increased to ∼54%. CONCLUSIONS: The levels and compositions of the costs should be considered when designing and managing LSFF, in part because different stakeholder groups, including consumers, will be called upon to pay them. Premix costs are one main ...

Ebola virus (Zaire ebolavirus; EBOV) is a highly lethal hemorrhagic disease virus that most recently was responsible for two independent 2014 outbreaks in multiple countries in Western Africa, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, respectively. Herein, we show that a cytomegalovirus (CMV)-based vaccine provides durable protective immunity from Ebola virus following a single vaccine dose. This study has implications for human vaccination against ebolaviruses, as well as for development of a 'disseminating' vaccine to target these viruses in wild African great apes.