Suzanne Conklin Akbari
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sakbari.bsky.social
Suzanne Conklin Akbari
@sakbari.bsky.social

Living on Lunaapahkiing, faculty at IAS, servant of two cats and sometimes one dog.

Suzanne Conklin Akbari is a medievalist, recognised for her global and comparative approach to medieval literary history. She was a Professor in English and Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto from 1995 until 2019, when she joined the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. .. more

History 44%
Political science 18%
Apologies for the (unpaid!) advertisement, but if you've been tempted to subscribe to the Criterion Channel, I just learned that you can use the code BLACKFRIDAY25 to get 25% off an annual subscription—$75 rather than $100. It's one of the few streaming channels I never regret paying for.
The Criterion Channel
A movie lover’s dream, the Criterion Channel offers classics and discoveries from around the world, thematically programmed with special features, on a streaming service brought to you by the Criterio...
www.criterionchannel.com
Pardon me??

Ben Mulroney, host of Global News’ flagship political Sunday show, and prominent journalist Steve Paikin are both in Israel getting a briefing from the Israeli government???

What the absolute fuck, dude.
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
Honored to serve on Mayor-elect @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social Transition Committee on Technology. For too long, too many New Yorkers have been left behind. NYC deserves governance that centers affordability, equity, and the public good-looking forward to the work ahead. www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news...
NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announces transition committees
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani​ announced Monday the creation of 17 transition advisory committees made up of more than 400 people.
www.cbsnews.com
"The past two years of continuous violence made Gaza impossible to ignore, requiring more active modes of forgetting—and now a concerted effort to solidify a whitewashed national narrative that exonerates Israel of wrongdoing."

jewishcurrents.org/israels-coll...
Israel’s Collective Amnesia
Even as Israel continues killing Gazans, its liberals are ready to forget the genocide.
jewishcurrents.org
A Brutal Ending to One of the Worst Trump II Cases talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...
A Brutal Ending to One of the Worst Trump II Cases
A Thoroughly Unsatisfying Result U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher just unsealed this...
talkingpointsmemo.com
Today (24 November) marks the passing of Freddie Mercury, lead vocalist and pianist of the rock band Queen. He remains regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of rock music.

📷 Getty
I will add the following: our students lack the research skills required to audit an LLM essay for errors. They don’t arrive on campus with these skills; we teach it to them over four long years. So throwing freshmen in the deep end and saying “swim your way to a shore of rectitude” is folly.
This is not the way, and @cnygren.bsky.social and I lay out in detail why it isn’t in this essay here. static1.squarespace.com/static/55577...

so happy for you both ❤️❤️
The solution is, at least partially, what we should have been doing all along: student-centered teaching instead of lectures, uncomfortable as it is for those like me who are control freaks. And the other is an emphasis on the performance: in-class writing and speaking. Very much worth reading.
AI Killed the Take-Home Essay. COVID Killed Attendance. Now What?
Reclaiming Learning in an Age of Distraction and Artificial Intelligence
open.substack.com

Such good news for ASU!
Welcome to ASU @platanoclassics.bsky.social!
“Dan-el Padilla Peralta is in the vanguard of scholars working to ensure that the complexities of the past are not flattened in service to the monochrome myths of our day,” said Jeffrey Cohen, dean of humanities at ASU.
news.asu.edu/b/20251112-d...
Greenlandic families fight to get children back after parenting tests banned
Greenlandic families fight to get children back after parenting tests banned
The Danish government has banned the use of parental competency tests, known as FKUs, on Greenlandic families after decades of criticism.
www.bbc.com
I appreciate that these folks were explicitly like "250th anniversary of the US? time to do a yearlong series on Native Americans" yes correct that is the proper response
About the series: Why we’re focusing on the Native American experience in New England
For generations, stories of Native America have been kept separate and apart from the American story. Connecticut Public’s journalists wanted to take a fresh look at the history of our region, featuri...
www.ctpublic.org
TRUMP: and this Daniel, he went into the den?

MAMDANI: The lion's den, yes

TRUMP: surely they ate him

MAMDANI: Here's the part where it gets a little Broadway: they didn't

TRUMP: Unbelievable
Welcome to ASU @platanoclassics.bsky.social!
“Dan-el Padilla Peralta is in the vanguard of scholars working to ensure that the complexities of the past are not flattened in service to the monochrome myths of our day,” said Jeffrey Cohen, dean of humanities at ASU.
news.asu.edu/b/20251112-d...
For some tribes, the birthrate fell by more than 75%. IHS targeted women with higher blood quantum.
Last week, the New Mexico Legislature's Committee on Indian Affairs Committee heard testimony from survivors of forced sterilizations & reviewed a call for a...
🧵In the 1970s, at least a quarter of Native women of childbearing age were sterilized without their consent–many without their knowledge.
Most of the procedures happened thru Indian Health Service–the federal program that is supposed to deliver health care to tribal citizens.
happy birthday to this thing of beauty
Omar El Akkad's One Day, Everyone will have Always Been Against This has won the National Book Award. This is a deserving, necessary win. His words need to be on all of our minds and in all of our hearts.

"When it mattered, who sided with justice and who sided with power?"
We're at the Middle Earth map.
We're at the subway map.
We're at the combination Middle Earth and Subway map!

And you could be too! These maps and more are for sale on my Etsy page! They make great presents for yourself and others!
#LOTR #maps #subway

www.etsy.com/shop/Surpris...
Ethiopia receives 12 historic artefacts held in Germany for 100 years
Ethiopia receives 12 historic artefacts held in Germany for 100 years
Ethiopia has welcomed the return as part of a broader push to repatriate items of national significance.
www.bbc.com
Senators vote to end the second-generation cutoff for ‘status Indians’ www.aptnnews.ca?p=279994
‘We cannot govern who First Nations fall in love with’ says Senator
A Senate committee voted ten to one to amend to the government’s Bill S-2, and implement a one-parent rule for 'status Indians'
www.aptnnews.ca
We don’t need to reform ICE.
We don’t need alternatives to ICE.
We don’t need to engage in dishonest debates wondering what the U.S. would do without ICE.

ICE isn’t even 23 years old. Most adults know a world without ICE. And the billions used to fund ICE can be used to meet people’s basic needs.

I’m so sorry for your loss 💔❤️
"Agencies within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including ICE, ERO, and CBP intend to implement a comprehensive plan to target Spanish-speaking churches across the country during the upcoming holiday season between Thanksgiving, Nov. 27, and Christmas, Dec. 25."
Exclusive: Trump DHS Plans Immigration Raids on Churches Over Holidays
The Trump Dept. of Homeland Security is briefing federal agencies on plans for immigration enforcement operations inside churches over holidays.
thisweekinworcester.com
The LMU announces the cancellation of a seminar on the topic "the targeting of Palestinian academia". The cancellation announcement is titled "LMU as a place of pluralistic discourse". Couldn't make this up.
www.lmu.de/en/about-lmu...
LMU as a place of pluralistic discourse
Statement on the Planned Event “The Targeting of the Palestinian Academia” at LMU Munich
www.lmu.de
My Warrior Life Podcast has been nominated by @canpodawards.bsky.social for Outstanding Indigenous Series! All Canadian podcasters & those who work on podcasts can vote before Nov.22 midnight ET! www.canpodcawards.ca

One of the especially good things about these annual gatherings (since 2021!) is that the research presented is by Munsee community members, sometimes in collaboration with non-Indigenous colleagues and students. Hope you can come and maybe develop relationships with Munsee folks!