Amanda Lanzillo
@amandazillo.bsky.social
Historian of labor, technology & Islam in South Asia | Asst. Prof UChicago SALC | she/her | 📕Pious Labor now out from UC Press: https://www.ucpress.edu/books/pious-labor/epub-pdf
Pinned
Amanda Lanzillo
@amandazillo.bsky.social
· Nov 10
Pious Labor by Amanda Lanzillo - Paper
Scholarship is a powerful tool for changing how people think, plan, and govern. By giving voice to bright minds and bold ideas, we seek to foster understanding and drive progressive change.
www.ucpress.edu
I’ve just realized it’s possible to pin posts on Bluesky, so here’s my book! It’s open access, in case you like free things 😊
www.ucpress.edu/books/pious-...
www.ucpress.edu/books/pious-...
All through Chicago, I’ve seen kids and young people marching through the streets, getting attacked with chemical weapons, and putting their bodies on the line to fight ICE and protect our neighbors.
But apparently not enough of them go to No Kings Protest, so they don’t exist 🙄.
But apparently not enough of them go to No Kings Protest, so they don’t exist 🙄.
November 25, 2025 at 1:52 PM
All through Chicago, I’ve seen kids and young people marching through the streets, getting attacked with chemical weapons, and putting their bodies on the line to fight ICE and protect our neighbors.
But apparently not enough of them go to No Kings Protest, so they don’t exist 🙄.
But apparently not enough of them go to No Kings Protest, so they don’t exist 🙄.
Using this week to get back to some work on Pashto lithographic print culture! Here's an 1887 manual (with mixed Persian and Pashto contents) on "Mīzak-i jangī" (Military Music) printed by the state press in Kabul 👀.
(Full text here available from the LOC: www.loc.gov/item/00313390/)
(Full text here available from the LOC: www.loc.gov/item/00313390/)
November 24, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Using this week to get back to some work on Pashto lithographic print culture! Here's an 1887 manual (with mixed Persian and Pashto contents) on "Mīzak-i jangī" (Military Music) printed by the state press in Kabul 👀.
(Full text here available from the LOC: www.loc.gov/item/00313390/)
(Full text here available from the LOC: www.loc.gov/item/00313390/)
Reposted by Amanda Lanzillo
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.
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.
November 18, 2025 at 11:40 PM
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.
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.
What I've been noticing lately in convos with students is that they *despise* the AI-slopification of everything as much or even more than I do. And yet our universities & their admin seem to believe that students for some reason want it integrated into everything. THEY DON'T.
“To be sat there with this material in front of you that is just really not worth anyone’s time, when you could be spending that time actually engaging with something worthwhile, is really frustrating,” he said.
‘We could have asked ChatGPT’: students fight back over course taught by AI
Staffordshire students say signs material was AI-generated included suspicious file names and rogue voiceover accent
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:38 PM
What I've been noticing lately in convos with students is that they *despise* the AI-slopification of everything as much or even more than I do. And yet our universities & their admin seem to believe that students for some reason want it integrated into everything. THEY DON'T.
Reposted by Amanda Lanzillo
Several Chicago newsrooms have been quietly collaborating to bring big ICE stories to the forefront.
In this story today, we found that feds used chemical weapons on Chicagoans at least 49 times during immigration raids — even after a judge said to stop.
In this story today, we found that feds used chemical weapons on Chicagoans at least 49 times during immigration raids — even after a judge said to stop.
Feds Used Chemical Weapons On Chicagoans At Least 49 Times — Even After Judge Said To Stop
Contrary to federal claims about attacks on agents, most of these incidents appear to involve nonviolent protesters or bystanders.
blockclubchicago.org
November 19, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Several Chicago newsrooms have been quietly collaborating to bring big ICE stories to the forefront.
In this story today, we found that feds used chemical weapons on Chicagoans at least 49 times during immigration raids — even after a judge said to stop.
In this story today, we found that feds used chemical weapons on Chicagoans at least 49 times during immigration raids — even after a judge said to stop.
Excited to see my latest article out, exploring cultures of production in highly localized trades in north India. Part of a forthcoming special section of “South Asia” on artisan lives and forms of production that I co-edited with Arun Kumar and Adhitya Dhanapal.
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/VYR6S...
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/VYR6S...
November 17, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Excited to see my latest article out, exploring cultures of production in highly localized trades in north India. Part of a forthcoming special section of “South Asia” on artisan lives and forms of production that I co-edited with Arun Kumar and Adhitya Dhanapal.
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/VYR6S...
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/VYR6S...
Reposted by Amanda Lanzillo
The opposition to so-called “Operation Midway Blitz” is not the first time Chicagoans have stood up against our neighbors being snatched off the street by outsiders. Jeff Nichols takes a look back at how Chicago residents resisted abductions of Black Chicagoans after the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act.
November 13, 2025 at 3:46 PM
The opposition to so-called “Operation Midway Blitz” is not the first time Chicagoans have stood up against our neighbors being snatched off the street by outsiders. Jeff Nichols takes a look back at how Chicago residents resisted abductions of Black Chicagoans after the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act.
Reposted by Amanda Lanzillo
i, for one, embrace the moral clarity of not raping children, embracing fascism, and using state violence to terrorize both citizens and non-citizens
November 13, 2025 at 9:15 PM
i, for one, embrace the moral clarity of not raping children, embracing fascism, and using state violence to terrorize both citizens and non-citizens
Reposted by Amanda Lanzillo
“As of November 5th, it estimated that U.S.A.I.D.’s dismantling has already caused the deaths of six hundred thousand people, two-thirds of them children.” www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
www.newyorker.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:00 PM
“As of November 5th, it estimated that U.S.A.I.D.’s dismantling has already caused the deaths of six hundred thousand people, two-thirds of them children.” www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
Threats to the humanities as institutions like my own tend to get a lot of attention, but the decimation of our disciplines is happening rapidly at regional public schools across the US, which serve far more students.
Students at every university & college deserves access to humanities education.
Students at every university & college deserves access to humanities education.
Montclair State is getting rid of its humanities departments. 🤬🤬🤬
Sign the Petition
Montclair State is Eliminating All Humanities Departments
c.org
November 11, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Threats to the humanities as institutions like my own tend to get a lot of attention, but the decimation of our disciplines is happening rapidly at regional public schools across the US, which serve far more students.
Students at every university & college deserves access to humanities education.
Students at every university & college deserves access to humanities education.
The dog in the first snow of the year.
November 11, 2025 at 3:15 AM
The dog in the first snow of the year.
CBP & ICE terrorized Little Village this weekend, used chemical weapons against families and children and kidnapped ordinary people from its streets. Absolutely vile to shout its name during a photo op.
Astonishing: Bovino and his agents showed up at the Bean this morning to pose for pictures. While Border Patrol snapped photos, one agent shouted, “Everyone say, ‘Little Village!’” The neighborhood where they are least welcome and most acutely felt. blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/10/b...
Border Patrol Agents Pose At 'The Bean' For Apparent Photo Op
The photo op came after agents tear-gassed a Little Village street and were spotted in the area numerous times. At the Bean, one agent shouted, "Everyone say, Little Village!"
blockclubchicago.org
November 10, 2025 at 6:00 PM
CBP & ICE terrorized Little Village this weekend, used chemical weapons against families and children and kidnapped ordinary people from its streets. Absolutely vile to shout its name during a photo op.
Did actual f*cking Jeff Bezos write this absolute trash?!
(The irony is that this article is just the WaPo dropping the mask of not being the mouthpiece of billionaires and fascists).
(The irony is that this article is just the WaPo dropping the mask of not being the mouthpiece of billionaires and fascists).
Get a grip, back away from the keyboard, touch some grass
"A new era of class warfare has begun in New York, and no one is more excited than Generalissimo Zohran Mamdani."
"A new era of class warfare has begun in New York, and no one is more excited than Generalissimo Zohran Mamdani."
November 8, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Did actual f*cking Jeff Bezos write this absolute trash?!
(The irony is that this article is just the WaPo dropping the mask of not being the mouthpiece of billionaires and fascists).
(The irony is that this article is just the WaPo dropping the mask of not being the mouthpiece of billionaires and fascists).
Reposted by Amanda Lanzillo
The views of the average pro-Palestinian student broadly match what the academic literature says, what international courts say, what the relavant UN officials & orgs say and what the relevant NGOs say. It is views of Clinton and her peers in Western capitals which are largely divorced from reality.
What Hillary is saying here is a conspiracy theory and not even a tame, silly one, but a whopper. A more balefully consequential and widespread one than e.g. Trump complaining that the media lied about his crowds being big.
November 4, 2025 at 8:16 PM
The views of the average pro-Palestinian student broadly match what the academic literature says, what international courts say, what the relavant UN officials & orgs say and what the relevant NGOs say. It is views of Clinton and her peers in Western capitals which are largely divorced from reality.
Reposted by Amanda Lanzillo
put a stake in it www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Zohran Mamdani drags the Democratic party into the future
This was a local race with national implications, whether the party's leaders liked it or not.
www.motherjones.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:38 AM
put a stake in it www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Today in absolutely and always Fuck ICE.
Detainees describe filthy and inhumane conditions at Broadview's ICE facility during the first hearing in a class-action lawsuit against the feds blockclubchi.co/4qJ9nVq
November 4, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Today in absolutely and always Fuck ICE.
“And for what? A cankerous glut of racist memes and cardboard essays. Not only is the ratio of AI’s resource rapacity to its productive utility indefensibly and irremediably skewed, AI-made material is itself a waste product: flimsy, shoddy, disposable, a single-use plastic of the mind.”
Large Language Muddle | The Editors
The AI upheaval is unique in its ability to metabolize any number of dread-inducing transformations. The university is becoming more corporate, more politically oppressive, and all but hostile to the ...
www.nplusonemag.com
November 1, 2025 at 12:34 PM
“And for what? A cankerous glut of racist memes and cardboard essays. Not only is the ratio of AI’s resource rapacity to its productive utility indefensibly and irremediably skewed, AI-made material is itself a waste product: flimsy, shoddy, disposable, a single-use plastic of the mind.”
Looking forward to traveling *all the way up to Evanston❗* next Wednesday to speak on my book, Pious Labor, at the new Languages of Islam workshop through the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities. Details here!
The Languages of Muslim 'Pious Labor' - Amanda Lanzillo 11/5/2025
Speaker: Amanda Lanzillo, Assistant Professor, Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, The University of Chicago Artisans in colonial India were not passive subjects of…
planitpurple.northwestern.edu
October 31, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Looking forward to traveling *all the way up to Evanston❗* next Wednesday to speak on my book, Pious Labor, at the new Languages of Islam workshop through the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities. Details here!
Reposted by Amanda Lanzillo
Apparently the gap btw “centrist liberal” and “full blown klan” is closed by the radical demand that Palestinians be seen as people and buses should be free
October 29, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Apparently the gap btw “centrist liberal” and “full blown klan” is closed by the radical demand that Palestinians be seen as people and buses should be free
Yup. And riding a bicycle teaches you to vibe with the city, but also that the car people are 100% very actively trying to kill you.
i think if you ride public transit enough you learn that most weird behavior is not dangerous, and conversely i think driving a car teaches you that everyone is trying to kill you at all times
October 29, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Yup. And riding a bicycle teaches you to vibe with the city, but also that the car people are 100% very actively trying to kill you.
Reposted by Amanda Lanzillo
"What I need you to know is we are organized.
What I need you to know is that you need to get organized.
What I need you to know is they are coming.
What I need you to know is you can stop them...
This is how it works: We protect each other, period. These are our neighbors, our friends, our family"
What I need you to know is that you need to get organized.
What I need you to know is they are coming.
What I need you to know is you can stop them...
This is how it works: We protect each other, period. These are our neighbors, our friends, our family"
What I Need You To Understand, Notes from Chicago in Late October | dansinker.com
dansinker.com
October 25, 2025 at 11:08 PM
"What I need you to know is we are organized.
What I need you to know is that you need to get organized.
What I need you to know is they are coming.
What I need you to know is you can stop them...
This is how it works: We protect each other, period. These are our neighbors, our friends, our family"
What I need you to know is that you need to get organized.
What I need you to know is they are coming.
What I need you to know is you can stop them...
This is how it works: We protect each other, period. These are our neighbors, our friends, our family"
Highly recommend bringing your dog to your academic conference.
October 25, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Highly recommend bringing your dog to your academic conference.
Reposted by Amanda Lanzillo
“No public criminal charges have been filed against anyone in connection with the raid … The Tribune has been able to confirm the identity of only one immigrant taken into custody by federal agents that night: a 41-year-old pizza delivery man… who has no apparent criminal history.”
They were already living in one of Chicago’s worst apartment buildings. Then came the ICE raid.
In what appears to have been a warrantless operation, the federal government will not say how many people were detained, who remains in custody and what happened to the children.
www.chicagotribune.com
October 19, 2025 at 3:48 PM
“No public criminal charges have been filed against anyone in connection with the raid … The Tribune has been able to confirm the identity of only one immigrant taken into custody by federal agents that night: a 41-year-old pizza delivery man… who has no apparent criminal history.”
Reposted by Amanda Lanzillo
Wtf is a TEST of a ceasefire?!?!??!?
BREAKING: Israel strikes southern Gaza in test of ceasefire.
Israel strikes Gaza in first major test of ceasefire
Israel said it struck Hamas militants in Gaza on Sunday after they shot at Israeli soldiers who were inside the area that is still under Israeli control, according to the conditions of the Oct. 10 ceasefire.
bit.ly
October 19, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Wtf is a TEST of a ceasefire?!?!??!?
Reposted by Amanda Lanzillo
ICE continues their terror campaign today as people protest in mass. Border Patrol was seen in Blue Island, and at the O'Hare rideshare lot again. Sightings in southeast side. A truck with a smashed window in Villa Park. Right now, they're hunting people on the southwest side.
October 18, 2025 at 6:31 PM
ICE continues their terror campaign today as people protest in mass. Border Patrol was seen in Blue Island, and at the O'Hare rideshare lot again. Sightings in southeast side. A truck with a smashed window in Villa Park. Right now, they're hunting people on the southwest side.