Durba Mitra
@durba.bsky.social
Author of Indian Sex Life (Princeton University Press, 2020) & The Future That Was: A History of Third World Feminism Against Authoritarianism (Princeton University Press, 2026). writing gender history in the time of gender ideology.
To honor Johanna Fernandez @jeannetheoharis.bsky.social & colleagues at Brooklyn College are founding a student activism award in her name. Johanna was an exemplary scholar activist, as her work on the Young Lords shows. Please direct inquiries to Jeanne. Link to donate below tinyurl.com/5b3j7s89
‘The federal government is used and wielded against the black vote, against Southern voters, against democracy in the South and elsewhere. That is an innovation that is a creature of this time, and it is devastating.’ @maragay.bsky.social on the podcast. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
The long history of Black voter suppression in the US
Podcast Episode · The LRB Podcast · 31 July · 1hr 2min
podcasts.apple.com
really important conversation @maragay.bsky.social is on it
London Review of Books@lrb.co.uk · 2d ago‘The federal government is used and wielded against the black vote, against Southern voters, against democracy in the South and elsewhere. That is an innovation that is a creature of this time, and it is devastating.’ @maragay.bsky.social on the podcast. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
Looking for more on the Vandy-Wash U report? Over at Critical Noise we are kicking off a forum on it with essays over the next few weeks from Roderick Ferguson, Zachary Levenson, Noelle McAfee, John Modern, Christopher Newfield, and Julia Schleck. First up is @grundrza.bsky.social Links below
to all media folks saying Everything is Gender and “gender studies” re: the grotesque sexual and domestic violence of powerful men: Yes. now let’s actually talk about how to support research and writing in the field and feminist work in media. saying “gender” is not enough.
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 3d agoto all media folks saying Everything is Gender and “gender studies” re: the grotesque sexual and domestic violence of powerful men: Yes. now let’s actually talk about how to support research and writing in the field and feminist work in media. saying “gender” is not enough.
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 3d ago
I heard a story about a detained health researcher the other day and assumed this was it - but no, there‘s a second local scientist, from UMD, who is being held by ICE. On his way home from receiving a “teacher of the year” award. www.wbaltv.com/article/umb-...
University of Maryland pharmacy instructor detained in Dallas
Federal officials detained an instructor from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy last week.
wbaltv.com
Eileen Clancy 🧿@clancyny.bsky.social · 6d agoAmeaka Fatima Nkempu, a Johns Hopkins University researcher in public health, was detained by ICE while boarding a domestic flight. She says she is Cameroonian in a Medium article that she authored. As of Thursday morning, the ICE Online Detainee Locator did not list where she was being held.
I am stunned to hear of the passing of the fierce, brilliant and principled scholar activist Johanna Fernandez. Johanna's scholarship will endure. She was a gem and the world is worse for her no longer being here. Rest in power, comrade.
Ameaka Fatima Nkempu, a Johns Hopkins University researcher in public health, was detained by ICE while boarding a domestic flight. She says she is Cameroonian in a Medium article that she authored. As of Thursday morning, the ICE Online Detainee Locator did not list where she was being held.
Baltimore Banner@thebaltimorebanner.com · 6d agoICE detains Hopkins public health researcher as agency expands airport arrests
There is something apocalyptic about the utter shamelessness and corruption with which people like Kushner, Trump, Infantino and all that lot are just pillaging the institutions to which they have access.
who needs a writing center when u can use AI and just DOGE staff. lest we forget also closing the basements ie womens center, LGBTQ office, multicultural office etc. but i guess they stood up to trump for…federal money
Ordinary Notes@hystericalblkns.bsky.social · last wk.www.thecrimson.com/article/2026... Disgusting. Disgraceful.
major federal cuts to DEI grant programs are gutting major cultural and arts organizations and there is no clear alternative
Keywords for Gender and Sexuality Studies is starting the editorial process to go into second edition! Thanks to NYU Press for its support and the collective for their commitment. And to our contributors and the folks who show up to our talkbacks to tell us what is and is not working in the book.
Keywords for Gender and Sexuality Studies
Introduces key terms, debates, and histories for feminist studies in gender and sexualityKeywords for Gender and Sexuality Studies introduces readers to a se...
nyupress.org
Starting with the Institutional Feelings essay I found this issue to be really clarifying. muse.jhu.edu/issue/57134
Project MUSE - Feminist Studies-Volume 51, Number 3, 2026
muse.jhu.edu
"Seventy-one percent of faculty respondents and 66 percent of staff respondents said they had seriously considered leaving their positions at Columbia. Among both groups, the most commonly cited reason was lack of confidence in Columbia’s direction..."
Columbia delays release of employee climate survey pointing to ‘crisis of confidence’ in University
When Susan Witte was invited to cochair the working group for Columbia’s first Universitywide employee climate survey in August 2025, she saw an opportunity to give faculty and staff a chance to surfa...
columbiaspectator.com
thanks to Anubha Anushree for this wonderful conversation. Thinking now especially about the vital place of protest and dissent in movements for democratic rights, in solidarity with communities rising up in India now
Review of Democracy@revdem2020.bsky.social · 3w ago🎙️ In our latest podcast, @durba.bsky.social discusses the emergence of women's internationalism as both a political project and a mode of knowledge production that grew out of the crisis of developmental nationalism in the 1970s. 🎧 Listen to it now: 👉 tinyurl.com/3my66d3k
⭐️⭐️Open Letter Concerning the Tenure Denial of Dr. Iván Chaar López⭐️⭐️ “The future of academic freedom depends upon institutions demonstrating that difficult scholarship will be evaluated on its merits and that faculty governance remains a meaningful safeguard against arbitrary decision making.”
Open Letter Concerning the Tenure Denial of Dr. Iván Chaar López
The denial of tenure to Dr. Chaar López has become a national concern because it raises questions that extend far beyond one faculty member or one institution. Scholars across disciplines depend upon ...
actionnetwork.org
a distinguished senior scholar responded to many AI generated emails about consulting on a fake documentary. another older faculty did not realize that the goodreads reading group AI emails are scams. feels like we gonna have to crowdsource educate folks cuz these universities not protecting anyone.
thewire.in/rights/cockr... “They will do everything they can to break us. We must do everything we can to stop them.”
Cockroach Democracy: Unarmed and Dangerous
Can all the people be fooled all the time? Can a country with a population of a billion-and-a-half be dragged around like a corpse forever? It cannot. The Cockroaches are out and about.
thewire.in
a distinguished senior scholar responded to many AI generated emails about consulting on a fake documentary. another older faculty did not realize that the goodreads reading group AI emails are scams. feels like we gonna have to crowdsource educate folks cuz these universities not protecting anyone.
This is more than just extra paperwork. It creates new bureaucratic checkpoints to be anticipated and navigated throughout students' educational lives. Every extension. Every recertification. Every application becomes another moment where permission must be sought and secured. 9/
This is not just more bureaucracy (tho it is that) but rather a fundamental shift and ramping up of the federal government's effort to govern noncitizen students, colleges and universities, and, by extension, its role in shaping US demographics. 6/
Right now, people are understandably focused on the Trump admin's abduction, detention, and visa revocations targeting noncitizen students. Yet, this less spectacular effort is also potentially devastating: moving from "Duration of Status" to a 4-year limit dramatically remakes the terrain. 4/
From the 1950s through at least 2000, policymakers viewed internationally connected, racially diverse students and universities as strategic assets in a decolonizing and globalizing world. Though the commitment was instrumental and incomplete, its effects often exceeded intention. 2/
On 7/17, the Federal Register published a new rule to tighten the conditions on student visas. Now it goes to Congress for review and likely applications starting 9/15. My students are getting official emails and starting to ask questions, so wrote up some observations based on my research: 1/
DHS formalizes major student visa changes: what to know
The Trump administration said the changes will apply to student, exchange, and foreign media visa holders.
newsweek.com
Abbie Boggs with a super helpful thread on why the 4.5 year limit on student visas will be disastrous for PhD students, and the history of international students within federal immigration policy. (Abbie’s book Degrees of Empire is out this year! Preorder it now! fordhampress.com/degrees-of-e...)
Degrees of Empire - Abigail Boggs
A sweeping history of how noncitizen students shaped U.S. universitiesFrom colonial missionary schools to the globalized university of the twentieth century, U.S. higher education has long depended on...
fordhampress.com
Abbie Boggs@abbieboggs.bsky.social · 2w agoOn 7/17, the Federal Register published a new rule to tighten the conditions on student visas. Now it goes to Congress for review and likely applications starting 9/15. My students are getting official emails and starting to ask questions, so wrote up some observations based on my research: 1/