Sofya Aptekar
@sofaptekar.bsky.social
770 followers 640 following 89 posts

CUNY prof, proud member of PSC-CUNY, author of Green Card Soldier, Lend & Rule, and The Road to Citizenship, sociologist, urban kayaker @bbpboathouse, "gratuitously politicized"

Political science 39%
Sociology 31%
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

sofaptekar.bsky.social
Fresh example of trash research for my research methods class.
the-independent.com
Nearly a third of Americans have had a ‘romantic relationship’ with an AI bot, new survey says
1 in 3 Americans have had a ‘romantic relationship’ with an AI bot, new survey says
www.independent.co.uk

sofaptekar.bsky.social
This type of policy deepens the use of naturalization to discipline military labor. For ex., you might not report discrimination or abuse, or not get an injury or condition treated, because you are worried about the consequences that might lead to an uncharacterized or other disqualifying discharge.

sofaptekar.bsky.social
New USCIS policy regarding military naturalization further limits access to naturalization for immigrants in the military by limiting the types of separations eligible for citizenship. Raises questions about what happens to those naturalized before they are discharged.
www.uscis.gov/sites/defaul...
www.uscis.gov

Reposted by Sofya Aptekar

themckenziest.gay
Sobbing at these Italians being happy to be stuck in traffic during a strike for Palestine

Reposted by Sofya Aptekar

asanews.bsky.social
Take action! You have just a handful of days left to make your voice be heard on the proposed DHS rule that will eliminate Duration of Status & have a detrimental effect on international students. Use ASA’s Action Center to submit your public comment by 9/29. https://bit.ly/ASAaction
katelynburns.com
i have to say, as a trans journalist who has covered the "trans debate" for about a decade now, there is no daylight between how the trump administration and conservatives lie about tylenol and autism and how they've lied about youth trans care.

sofaptekar.bsky.social
Much prefer Indi Samarajiva: "Fuck your citizenship. It’s barbed wire around an indigenous graveyard. It’s a moat around a colonial crime scene." indi.ca/abolish-citi...

sofaptekar.bsky.social
On the difference between cops and the National Guard, @rtfanning.bsky.social reminds us that Guard members "have very little training, and lack much of the discipline that the police have." - they have been moved historically and can be moved now to resist their order.

Reposted by Sofya Aptekar

psc-cuny.org
We are proud co-sponsors of the "New Yorkers Against ICE" rally on Thursday, 9/25 at 6pm in Foley Square.

Reposted by Sofya Aptekar

novumsimulacrum.com
I wrote a piece on tech contracts in higher ed. for Jacobin. The endless outsourcing is troubling for a variety of reasons. Not helping is vendors jumping on the AI hype to offer ever-more-advanced and expensive programs to universities. #CheatGPT
Universities Are Selling Themselves Off Piece by Piece
American higher ed has become a mesh of corporate contracts and outsourced services. From dining halls to student records, private vendors now run many institutions’ most basic operations — atomizing workers and undermining the university’s public mission.
jacobin.com

Reposted by Sofya Aptekar

tamaranopper.bsky.social
Whatever it’s named and whoever renames it, the Department of Defense, which houses the U.S. military, is the largest employer in the world.

Its name is not the issue. And abolition involves dealing with labor and what work is government work.

Reposted by Sofya Aptekar

harshawalia.bsky.social
For a labour movement that understands the power of a strike..

For a labour movement that stands with, not against, Indigenous blockades

For a labour movement that stops the flow of weapons & the whole world for Palestine

For a labour movement with migrant workers, and against policing & borders

sofaptekar.bsky.social
I've been bookmarking story after story of veterans and family members of veterans being detained and deported. This piece is my attempt to make sense of the fight against military deportations within the larger migrant justice and antiwar struggles.

Reposted by Sofya Aptekar

Reposted by Sofya Aptekar

contexts.org
In "Green Card Soldiers," by @sofaptekar.bsky.social, we learn that #citizenship proves harder-than-advertised to achieve through enlistment, but it matters for immigrants’ #military service and the lives they lead afterward. journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10....
#sociology #immigration

Reposted by Sofya Aptekar

vetsaboutface.bsky.social
If you’re a member of the military who is morally conflicted by your service or know someone who is, you’re not alone. bit.ly/MilOptions

#dutytodisobey #military #veterans

Reposted by Sofya Aptekar

daniellaurison.bsky.social
Or "I understand some parents worry about trans girls playing with cis girls. If you don't know anyone trans, you might not get it. When I was growing up, people worried about letting their kids socialize with gay people. A lot of those people know better now, I hope we get there soon on trans ppl."

Reposted by Sofya Aptekar

rweingarten.bsky.social
The safety of the Jewish community is intimately connected with a strong public education system, a thriving labor movement, and an inclusive democracy that protects the rights and freedoms of all.
nkalamb.bsky.social
Harvard, aka Resistance U, is taking advantage of the Trumpist NLRB to crush its grad student union by stripping it of 800 members.

Sounds about right.

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Harvard will remove more than 800 students on research-based stipends from its graduate student union, capitalizing on recent National Labor Relations Board rulings to deal a crushing blow to student labor organizing.

The University announced the change in emails to faculty and leaders of the Harvard Graduate Student Union-United Automobile Workers on Wednesday. The union’s membership list will be updated on Thursday.

In the message to the HGSU-UAW, Harvard wrote that stipend recipients are not considered employees under the National Labor Relations Act “and do not have the right to unionize.”

“Harvard has never agreed that non-employees should be included in the unit,” the message read.

sofaptekar.bsky.social
Next, I am thinking of adding an interview component to this new project on debt and the US military. For now, this article brings together my current thinking on the mechanisms involved. read.dukeupress.edu/south-atlant...
Indebted Heroes: Debt Extraction and Military Labor in the United States | South Atlantic Quarterly | Duke University Press
read.dukeupress.edu

sofaptekar.bsky.social
Meanwhile, the US military works to enforce and expand a global system of profit extraction, violence, and domination in which debt also plays a key role. In the words of Liz Montegary, "enlisted personnel serve as the armed agents of financialization.”

sofaptekar.bsky.social
In the debt economy that we live in, fear of indebtedness and desire to access credit can both incentivize one to enlist in the military and transform the enlistee into a desirable target of debt extraction.

sofaptekar.bsky.social
While in the military, people get into medical debt and even debt to the military itself (thru military credit cards and overpayments of pay, allowances, and benefits). Debt follows one into the military and out of it, with veterans facing yet more of these types of debts.