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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 23h

Reflecting on the power of Indigenous Studies today and everyday as the discipline is under fire and still persists in transforming how we see the world.

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 1d

And if they have not come for you yet, if you think what you study is “safe” well you are mistaken. It would be wise to learn from the long history of these fields’ resistance to repression and fights for existence. Those traditions can see us through this moment.

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 1d

Holding on to the power of Black Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Latin American and Latino Studies everyday. These disciplines are elemental to my understanding of history.

And when they come for us as they have it’s because they see our transformative power and brilliance.

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Reposted by Elise A. Mitchell

jenn m. jackson @jennmjacksonphd.bsky.social · 1d

Universities like UT Austin have shown that they will place ideology and political power ahead of the most vulnerable students, faculty, and staff they serve.

Fight against the closure of Black, Latino, and Gender Studies at UT Austin. Support our students.

#Blacksky #polisky

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 1d

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Reposted by Elise A. Mitchell

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 1d

yearly reminder to people insisting that we view Christopher Columbus as "a man of his time" that *the people responsible for the Spanish Inquisition* thought Columbus was out of pocket

Thomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · 1d

Christopher Columbus was dragged back to Spain in chains by a crusading knight, convicted of tyranny and immeasurable cruelty, pardoned by Isabella but banned from returning to Hispaniola.

Fuck Columbus.

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 1d

As a historian with affiliations in Black Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Latin American and Latino Studies I am appalled by the news out of UT Austin. Please support the students, faculty, and alumni’s actions to preserve these departments and programs of study.

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Reposted by Elise A. Mitchell

Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 4d

There is a GoFundMe for Mark Bray and his family. I've confirmed with a friend who knows them that this is legit. Please donate if you can.

"Help us leave safely" on FreeFunder

Click here to support "Help us leave safely" by Dara on FreeFunder!

www.freefunder.com

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 5d

This is heartbreaking and terrifying in any instance, especially when it hits members of your scholarly community.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/n...

Rutgers Expert on Antifa Tries to Flee to Spain After Death Threats

www.nytimes.com

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 9d

I know professors are burnt out and terrified right now, but we have to be asking this question if we value education and knowledge production and want to see any of it happen in the rest of the 21st century.

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 9d

At this point, from my little sphere as professor, I’m like, pedagogically, how do I respond to mass trauma? Not saying kids weren’t traumatized before now, but like we are going to see a generation of young adults who are sick from all this. As educators how do we even begin to respond?

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 9d

Maybe it’s the educator and former babysitter and camp counselor in me that just can’t with this… but like our (right and centrist, Democrat and Republican) politicians and societies in the US and wider West have normalized atrocious predation on children in the name of war and politicking.

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 9d

Just as the global right has exploited political, social, and economic inequities to harm other marginalized groups, they have done so with surgical precision to harm children. Any adult who stands idly by and allows this to occur is permitting and protecting gruesome predation. It’s astounding.

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 9d

I don’t intend to be ageist, at the same time from the privilege of adulthood, I recognize that children are a particularly vulnerable group for obvious reasons (size, access to knowledge, socialization etc) and because they are not politically enfranchised.

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 9d

All of this plus our contempt for the climate and the rise of AI leads me to believe the West in the 21st century hates children and has declared war on them.

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 9d

The treatment of children in the 21st century… I am at a loss for words from Gaza and Greta to Chicago to Khartoum, to everywhere under attack, where aid has been relinquished and denied, where children can not access healthcare, gender affirming or otherwise. I am at a loss.

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 12d

The event went well.

swarthmorephoenix.com/2025/10/02/a...

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 12d

Student editors ask some of my colleagues and I to reflect on the role of professors at our college today. Our responses:

swarthmorephoenix.com/2025/10/02/o...

Office Hours: Faculty on the Role of Professors in the Liberal Arts - The Phoenix

In the inaugural article of our new Opinions series “Office Hours,” various Swarthmore faculty members share their thoughts on the role of professors in services of the liberal arts.

swarthmorephoenix.com

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 13d

At a time when Black history and histories of migration are under attack, when Black people and migrants are under attack, making and playing this game is giving me some reprieve and joy 😉

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 13d

The fact that the game has been called “fun” in small and large classes makes me really excited to do this!

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 13d

I hope to design and print a few decks (since others requested them) with my sister, who is a graphic designer, next year.

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 13d

The cards, like the survey course, are hemispheric in scope, with attention to Black histories that unfolded simultaneously across parts of Western Africa and Western Europe. The emphasis however is on the Americas.

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 13d

Even with a smaller class Black History Taboo was still a blast! After I teach the second half of the survey next semester, I will be working with a designer for a full deck!

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 14d

www.insurrecthistory.com/archives/xd6...

Colonial “Illegals”: Marronage Communities and the Ongoing War on Migrants — INSURRECT!

“Experience is our best teacher, and we must check time: remember what we have lost, who we have been, and commit to supporting, in whatever ways we can, the communities and networks of undocumented w...

www.insurrecthistory.com

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 14d

As I prepare to do my first public event here, a conversation with an award-winning Palestinian-American author and dear friend focused on her family history and memoir, I am thinking a lot about histories the that will sit in the room with us and the material and political imperatives of redress.

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