Yael Rice

@yaelrice.bsky.social

Art historian researching and teaching pre-modern Islamic South Asia and West Asia. Portable objects, books, dh, museums, and cats, not necessarily in that order.

From a letter of recommendation I've just sent off: "______ is that rarity of rarities: a born researcher, a subtle thinker, a curious mind, a scholar of the highest ethics, and—perhaps rarest of all—a pre-modernist." 😀 #premodern

Just inhaled The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, on the heels of reading There Are Rivers in the Sky. Both dark _and_ life-affirming, the ideal antidotes/escapes for the current moment :-/ More of this, so please share recs

"We envision a resistance that is...a repudiation of the efficiencies that automated algorithmic education falsely promises: a resistance comprising the collective force of small acts of friction." "How to Resist AI in Education" by me & @cnygren.bsky.social www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...

Four Frictions: or, How to Resist AI in Education - Public Books

We are calling for resistance to the AI industry’s ongoing capture of higher education.

publicbooks.org

Compare the statement about the antisemitic terror attack in Australia by the Israeli Prime Minister with the one by Zohran Mamdani, and ask yourself who more truly cares about condemning antisemitism, as opposed to using it to promote unrelated politics.

"I wrote: "Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on the antisemitic fire. It rewards Hamas terrorists. It emboldens those who menace Australian Jews and encourages the Jew hatred now stalking your streets."""The attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney today was a vile act of antisemitic terror. I mourn those who were murdered and will be keeping their families, the Jewish community, and the Chabad movement in my prayers. May the memories of all those killed be a blessing.

While we are still waiting for all the facts to emerge, what we already know is devastating. At least 11 dead, including Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who held deep ties to Crown Heights. At least 29 injured. Another Jewish community plunged into mourning and loss, a holiday of light so painfully reduced to a day of darkness. This attack is merely the latest, most horrifying iteration in a growing pattern of violence targeted at Jewish people across the world. Too many no longer feel safe to be themselves, to express their faith publicly, to worship in their synagogues without armed security stationed outside. What happened at Bondi is what many Jewish people fear will happen in their communities too.

On Bondi Beach today, as men with long guns targeted innocents, another man ran towards the gunfire and disarmed a shooter. Tonight, as Jewish New Yorkers light menorahs and usher in a first night of Hanukkah clouded by grief, let us look to his example and confront hatred with the urgency and action it demands. When I am Mayor, I will work every day to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe—on our streets, our subways, at shul, in every moment of every day. Let this be a purpose shared by every New Yorker, and let us banish this horrific violence to the past."

As a visibly Jewish person, I always know that going to a synagogue means assuming a certain degree of risk. But now I know that if something were to happen to me, it wouldn't just be sad for my family, but people would try to exploit my death to push policies I deplore.

When I’m accused of “technopessimism“ I counter that I’m not “pessimistic about technology“; I am opposed to the economic, political, and social project of upward wealth transfer that “AI” is being leveraged to bring about. If that phrasing is useful to others, then go ahead and use it.

Excited to share my friend/colleague Melissa Kerin’s hot off the press @hyperallergic.com piece on Tibetan Buddhist museum shrine rooms. It’s likely to ruffle some feathers of our curator colleagues, but it needed to be said hyperallergic.com/1038180/the-...

The Fetishistic Fiction of Museum “Tibetan” Shrines

Institutions peddle a Western aesthetic of “traditional” Tibetan shrines without scholarly backing, negating their limitless lived variety.

hyperallergic.com

Trump admin planning to change student visas from lasting for duration of academic program to fixed 4-yr term, and then much harder to renew Could destroy US ability to attract global talent, particularly those seeking advanced degrees in STEM. The median time to complete a PhD is 5.7 yrs per NSF.

Trump Deals A New Immigration Blow To International Students

Trump officials have proposed a new rule limiting international students to fixed periods of entry, making a U.S. education more precarious.

forbes.com

Please vote for @stephenniem.bsky.social’s Gaming Islamic History panel to be featured at the next SXSW! While gaming is well represented among the slate of panel options, Islamic gaming (indeed ANYTHING having to do with Islam) is not.

Dr. Stephennie Mulder@stephenniem.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Our panel Gaming Islamic History has made it to the first selection round for @sxsw.com! Want to see gaming embrace richer, more accurate representations of the Islamic world? Vote for us! @gamingislamshow.bsky.social sxsw: tinyurl.com/gamingislamS... sxsw edu: tinyurl.com/gamingislami...

An image from Assassin’s Creed: Mirage depicting a street scene with people in the foreground, a palm tree on the left, green domed buildings in the background, and the words Gaming Islamic History in white at center. Pink banners at top and bottom bear the text SXSW 2026 March 12-18, Austin, Texas: VOTE NOW PANEL PICKER PROPOSAL and Community Voting August 5-24

Peth Hegseth has announced that the Arlington Confederate Monument - or, as I call it, the Monument to the Myth of the Loyal Slave - will be reinstalled after its 2023 removal. Here's why that's a huge insult to Black Americans, past and present.

Peter Hegseth tweet announcing reinstallation of Arlington Confederate Monumentphotograph of the Arlington Confederate Monument before removal