Adia Benton
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ethnography911.bsky.social
Adia Benton
@ethnography911.bsky.social
Quick! Somebody call an anthropologist! Assoc prof @ Northwestern. MedAnthro. African studies. Pop culture. Politics. She/her. book: https://www.upress.umn.edu/9780816692439/hiv-exceptionalism/
Saw this movie on the plane and it annoyed me and made me dislike a hitherto likeable kumail nanjiani
And welcome to Historians at the Movies! Tonight we are live posting THE BIG SICK available on Prime. It’s all about finding love, connection, & yes comedy when cultures collide. (& we promise no death bed or cancer scenes)
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This Sunday Historians At The Movies talks about modern day romance—with a little medical history thrown in. Join us on Prime Video Feb 15 at 8pm eastern for THE BIG SICK with guest host @phdrachel.bsky.social

If you love what we’re building with #HATM, share it!

youtu.be/PJmpSMRQhhs?...
February 16, 2026 at 1:55 AM
Reposted by Adia Benton
One week from today! VOD will be available after.
I'm going to be doing some short classes for the Ad Astra Institute! First up, How to Not Do Eugenics with Speculative Biology! It's a brief primer on the history of race science and eugenics with suggestions on how to avoid fantasy or science fiction racism. adastra-sf.com/courses.htm#...
February 14, 2026 at 6:57 PM
Reposted by Adia Benton
DHS just hired a 21-year-old whose biggest résumé highlight is flooding government social media with white-nationalist slop. This is what federal “communications” looks like now.

www.dailykos.com/stories/2026...
Meet the baby-faced bigot behind Homeland Security's icky social media
It’s been impossible to ignore the Nazification of official government social media accounts run by the Trump administration. It’s a sea of AI slop openly promoting white nationalism and anti-...
www.dailykos.com
February 16, 2026 at 1:30 AM
Reposted by Adia Benton
“Companies operating food delivery robots will not be allowed to expand across parts of Wicker Park and Logan Square following overwhelmingly negative feedback from neighbors, the local alderman said Monday.”
Logan Square, Wicker Park Neighbors Say No To More Delivery Robots
Ald. Daniel La Spata said Coco and Serve Robotics won't expand service in the 1st ward after more than 80 percent of residents who responded to a survey said they didn't want them.
blockclubchicago.org
February 15, 2026 at 5:51 PM
Reposted by Adia Benton
Bullshit.
Homan: "When they say 'stop racial profiling' -- that's just not occurring. ICE will briefly detain and question somebody based on reasonable suspicion. It has nothing to do with racial profiling."
February 15, 2026 at 5:07 PM
Right?
February 15, 2026 at 5:20 PM
February 15, 2026 at 5:19 PM
Reposted by Adia Benton
The IOC is the worst. @darcyjamesargue.com
February 15, 2026 at 5:17 PM
I’m so skeptical of the atlantic (and bruenig) that if I had read it, I probably would’ve been seeking details—a disclaimer, a note, something—but this seems like a big problem for them
I was so impressed with this story about measles in the Atlantic -- the depth of reporting it would take to weave in all these details so fluidly.

Turns out, it was a work of fiction. She researched the effects of measles, but lots of fiction writers do research. www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/the-...
The Atlantic’s Elizabeth Bruenig on her “hypothetical,” heavily reported measles essay
"We were attracted to the idea of providing a play-by-play of the progression of measles in granular detail."
www.niemanlab.org
February 14, 2026 at 9:03 PM
Reposted by Adia Benton
well that's unethical. Wtaf.
I was so impressed with this story about measles in the Atlantic -- the depth of reporting it would take to weave in all these details so fluidly.

Turns out, it was a work of fiction. She researched the effects of measles, but lots of fiction writers do research. www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/the-...
The Atlantic’s Elizabeth Bruenig on her “hypothetical,” heavily reported measles essay
"We were attracted to the idea of providing a play-by-play of the progression of measles in granular detail."
www.niemanlab.org
February 14, 2026 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Adia Benton
I may say more later but part of what some of us need to understand is that the right has built an entirely distinct civic society, with its own hierarchy and (mostly networked) cultural institutions. That includes celebrity.
February 14, 2026 at 5:50 PM
Reposted by Adia Benton
The film looks interesting too!

“A Woman's Work” directed by A.R. Ephraim

As location scouts described it in 2024:

“'A Woman’s Work' is a drama about a young woman in rural Kentucky who works as a coal miner to provide for her two younger sisters after losing her parents to the opioid epidemic."
February 12, 2026 at 11:25 PM
Reposted by Adia Benton
Best advertisement I’ve seen so far at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival
February 12, 2026 at 10:19 PM
Cmon now
Florida law says colleges have to allow an opt-out on mandatory vaccinations.

And so the measles that came back on the buses from DC in January are currently ripping through Ave Maria University in Florida.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/w...
Measles Outbreak Hits Florida College
www.nytimes.com
February 14, 2026 at 6:01 PM
Reposted by Adia Benton
9. A Way (2005). Precise crystallization of Farocki's obsessions into 14m. Asks how production and destruction relate. War creates a rationale for automation while automation waits to be used on the battlefield. Reminds me of Palantir's Karp saying tech must align with nationalism to have a purpose.
February 10, 2026 at 5:07 AM
Reposted by Adia Benton
Google "Eddie Bauer private equity"

I do this every time I see one of these and I've yet to be disappointed.
February 14, 2026 at 2:23 AM
Reposted by Adia Benton
Ghost story time
Bear with me, the edibles are kicking in.

I currently live in an American four square built in 1918 as part of a wider building project for returning soldiers after WWI.

We've lived here since 2010. And we've had mild shenanigans from "Mr. J" over the years, but this event was different.
February 14, 2026 at 2:23 AM
Reposted by Adia Benton
The @washingtonpost.com layoffs disproportionately affected union members of color, per data from the @postguild.bsky.social.

50% of Hispanic/Latino guild members,​ 45% of Black members, and​ 43% of Asian members were laid off, compared to 37% of white members.

www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/wash...
Washington Post layoffs disproportionately affected union members of color, preliminary Guild data shows
"We cannot ignore what this means for equity, representation, and the future of this organization."
www.niemanlab.org
February 13, 2026 at 10:48 PM
Reposted by Adia Benton
Not preparing for the next pandemic doesn't prevent pandemic from happening.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Exclusive: Key US infectious-diseases centre to drop pandemic preparation
Staff members have been instructed to scrub this topic and ‘biodefense’ from the agency’s website.
www.nature.com
February 14, 2026 at 2:27 AM
Reposted by Adia Benton
DOGE allegedly used ChatGPT to identify 1,400 NEH grants it said were DEI. Grants were terminated April 2025, according to a court filing. E.g.

Film: 1873 Colfax massacre
Film: first female pilots flying for U.S. military in WWII
Film: “Untold Story of Jewish Women Slave Labor in the Holocaust"
ChatGPT cuts in action
www.politico.com
February 13, 2026 at 11:49 PM
Reposted by Adia Benton
Cool list of people braver than every member of the IOC committee, every Board Member of LA28, & Mayor Karen Bass.
February 14, 2026 at 1:13 AM
Reposted by Adia Benton
This is really succinct.

Fuck Gavin Newsom. He's a loser. I can tell you right now for certain that I'm not going to vote for him in the 2028 general election BECAUSE HE'S NOT GOING TO BE THE FUCKING NOMINEE.
Not really sure how you can see Evelyn Normielib (D, Texas) setting fire to a facility that might have the possibility of becoming an ICE concentration camp and despair about how Dem primary voters are gonna pick Gavin "We are Charlie Kirk" Newsom as the nominee
February 14, 2026 at 12:15 AM
LIED. He lied. And a lot of people said he was lying. Then there was another hearing. Where he lied.
February 13, 2026 at 6:48 PM
Reposted by Adia Benton
In terms of what cures are being lost:

- Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis
- herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis
- shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease
February 13, 2026 at 5:44 AM