Nahir I. Otaño Gracia
@nahir.bsky.social
Interested in Medieval Literature, especially all things Arthur related, also a Boricua. Author of The Other Faces of Arthur: Chivalric Whiteness in the Global North Atlantic (Penn Press 2025)
Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and now Florida bar undocumented students from enrolling in public universities. I see this as part of a wider project to resegretgste higher education. www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...
Florida Bars Undocumented Students From Public Universities
The Florida Board of Governors voted Thursday to bar undocumented students from attending selective institutions in the state’s public university system.
insidehighered.com
In news that will surprise absolutely no one in HE... ‘It notes that institutions “routinely” hire consultancies for these restructures as well as change management specialists, however, these processes often introduce additional management layers, “adding cost rather than removing it”…’
Restructuring ‘too often adding cost rather than removing it’
Universities are ‘underestimating’ the challenges caused by outsourcing services amid major professional services staff redundancies, report warns
timeshighereducation.com
On the bus. Can't make one of the stops. A bear lives there, and we don't want to disturb it. I love New Mexico!
We're thrilled to be supporting Across Two Seas, a symposium put together by Denva Gallant at Rice University. This lineup is incredible, and there is travel funding for folks in the @folger.edu Institute consortium! Don't sleep on this one: acrosstwoseas.com #RaceB4Race
Across Two Seas
A Symposium at Rice University
acrosstwoseas.com
Available for pre-order (The exhibition opens October 18th @folger.edu) Patricia Akhimie’s work here is phenomenal. Featuring work by @profkfh.bsky.social and yours truly.
I swear everything turns up on YT eventually. I used to love doing this Jane Fonda workout. youtu.be/Mso_hzfhe1E?...
Jane Fonda's 45-Minute Easy Going Workout: Full Body Barre, Abs, and Aerobics
YouTube video by Tonic
youtu.be
In a moment of self-realization, I have learned that I love to spite people more than I hate AI. And I fucking hate AI!
Should I do a 🧵 on my just-published article on how one of the most trusted - and most expensive - antiquities dealers was faking the paperwork to make freshly looted artifacts look like they had long, legal ownership histories? I should. But I'm so tired. Tomorrow! hyperallergic.com/why-do-so-ma...
Why Do So Many Museums Hold a Convicted Antiquity Dealer’s Treasures?
After The Met returned a Roman bust connected to Phoenix Ancient Art, the question of what will happen to other works sold by the gallery to dozens of US institutions remains open.
hyperallergic.com
Omg you all! My book was reviewed at Reception, issue 17 by Jonathan F. Correa Reyes! "Otaño Gracia invites us to revisit medieval Arthuriana from the perspective of sources often dismissed as derivative. But more than an invitation, she offers a navigational chart and a compas." Swooning!
My gosh. Yesterday, Egypt Coach Hossam Hassan asked FIFA to use its "soft power" to help Palestinians. Then today, just as the Egypt-Argentina match began, Israel killed Mohammed al-Wahidi of the Egyptian Relief Committee in Gaza — a group that also organized Gaza screenings of the FIFA matches.
Folks, no one has a RIGHT to higher office. OK? You aren't "canceling" anyone when you decide NOT TO SUPPORT THEIR QUEST FOR MORE POWER. Please let's be SERIOUS. This is not what is meant by "no one is disposable." I'm begging people to focus and use your brains. That man can still make a LIVING.
While all these deaths have hit me, Nolan Wells has truly made me weep. He goes out with all of his white friends, and they return without him. This is the America that has always existed, but people feel very emboldened under this trash-administration.
Austin McCoy@austinmccoy.bsky.social · 3mo agoSo let me get this straight: On July 4, the white nationalist and fascist patriot front marched in DC. in an attempt to intimidate folks. Notably, journalists captured images of a Black woman surrounded by a bunch of them while riding a subway.
Omg you all! My book was reviewed at Reception, issue 17 by Jonathan F. Correa Reyes! "Otaño Gracia invites us to revisit medieval Arthuriana from the perspective of sources often dismissed as derivative. But more than an invitation, she offers a navigational chart and a compas." Swooning!
If anyone without access to PMLA would like a copy to the cluster, feel free to DM me with an email. I am happy to send them your way!
Nahir I. Otaño Gracia@nahir.bsky.social · 3mo agoWhere @tnflorvil.bsky.social and I, among other things, point out that arguments against scholars of the past as anachronistic and/or too political are a white supremacist attack against the humanities (and in some ways against the scientific method).
This! I was told so often that I couldn't write as if good writing is an inherent thing you're born with and not a skill that takes time and practice. My writing needed work because I am a non English speaker who hadn't had to write consistently in English before grad school. I needed practice.
Daniel Burke - 🍺Innkeep@innkeep.bsky.social · 3mo agoLe Guin on the idea that there is a secret to getting good at writing.
Do these people understand what going public with an accusation like this does to a woman's life? Her courage astounds me.
Where @tnflorvil.bsky.social and I, among other things, point out that arguments against scholars of the past as anachronistic and/or too political are a white supremacist attack against the humanities (and in some ways against the scientific method).
Dr. T. Flo (Trying to get back on two feet in 2026)@tnflorvil.bsky.social · 8mo agoCheck out this special feature that I co-edited with brilliant @nahir.bsky.social: Introduction to “Race, Racialization, and Whiteness before and after The Invention of Race” | PMLA | Cambridge Core - bit.ly/4anHgVM .
In this edition of Prisons, Prose & Protest, I offer an overview of a good book about the influence of civil rights organizing in Harlem; recommend several articles, podcasts, films, and photo essays; and more… open.substack.com/pub/prisoncu...
Prisons, Prose & Protest - #40
Rants, Musings and More
open.substack.com
Asking how people can partake in joyful acts during a period of immense suffering leads me to believe this is your first time at the suffering rodeo.
(1) there is a good book by joy james called “Transcending the Talented Tenth.” I think about it a lot. she reminds us that scholarly stardom (oft masked as leadership) is flawed, that it reproduces inequities at the level of mentorship…
Strikers might win games, but goalies make sure you don't lose them. I always tell people that, for me, being a goalie is about protecting your team and not losing. If the goalies don't let a ball in, it's 0 - 0, a tie. You can't win without goals, but you can certainly lose without a good goalie.
Well that's a thorough summary. One of the best articulations of university governance for a public audience that I've seen in a while.
Brian Phillips@brianphillips.lol · 5mo agoThe president of Cornell hit two students with his car, lied about what happened, and got away with it. The story illustrates an under-reported crisis in higher education: administrators and the trustees they answer to are increasingly hostile to the idea of college itself. I wrote about it here:
update: bsky.app/profile/lizs...
Liz Shuler@lizshuler.bsky.social · 5mo agoA new @epi.org report found that US companies are spending more than $1.5 billion a year on union-busting consultants and lawyers. They’ll spend unlimited money crushing workers’ voices and then claim there’s no money for better conditions.
Whenever I cross to the otherworld, I get spit back out to the real world. Bah!
ICE could never have built such a large-scale deportation machine without the voluntary assistance of local law enforcement. In a new @inquest.bsky.social excerpt, Peter Mancina traces how jails became "force multipliers" and how the immigrant rights movement pushes back. Read on:
Force Multipliers - Peter Mancina - Inquest
ICE could never have created a large-scale deportation machine if it hadn’t enjoyed the voluntary assistance of local law enforcement.
buff.ly
