Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jeffrey Ahlman @jeffahlman.bsky.social · 2d

Congratulations @hofrench.bsky.social ! So well deserved!

Howard French @hofrench.bsky.social · 3d

Yesterday's induction ceremony of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. A huge surprise and a big honor. By far, the biggest pleasure this weekend has been in meeting fellows and hearing about their very varied work and worlds.

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Reposted by Jeffrey Ahlman

Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 7d

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Reposted by Jeffrey Ahlman

Crystal Fleming クリスタル @alwaystheself.bsky.social · Aug 7

🚨JOB ALERT🚨

We! Are! Hiring!

The Department of Africana Studies at Smith College invites applications for a tenure-track position in Black
Women’s Studies/Gender Studies at the rank of Assistant Professor, to begin 7/1/26

More info here: apply.interfolio.com/171572

#blackademia #academia #PhDSky

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

apply.interfolio.com

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Jeffrey Ahlman @jeffahlman.bsky.social · Sep 3

www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

Why Area Studies Matters (opinion)

If we are to save area studies programs, it will fall to universities to recognize their value, Amanda Lanzillo writes.

www.insidehighered.com

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Jeffrey Ahlman @jeffahlman.bsky.social · May 28

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Trump’s unfounded attack on Cyril Ramaphosa was an insult to all Africans | John Dramani Mahama

If we want to solve injustices in Africa today, we cannot forget the injustices that shaped our shared history, says Ghana’s president, John Dramani Mahama

www.theguardian.com

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Howard French @hofrench.bsky.social · Apr 28

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/27/w...

Valentin-Yves Mudimbe, 83, Dies; African Scholar Challenged the West

He deconstructed what he called “the colonial library”: the accounts of Africa by Europeans whose aim, he said, was to further colonialism.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Jeffrey Ahlman

AHA Career Center @historyjobs.bsky.social · Mar 18

New History Job Posted Today: Associate Professor (tenured) Public History/Associate Director of Slavery North Initiative | University of Massachusetts Amherst

Associate Professor (tenured) Public History/Associate Director of Slavery North Initiative | University of Massachusetts Amherst

Amherst, Massachusetts, Job no: 526190 Work type: Faculty Full Time Location: UMass Amherst Department: History Union: MSP Categories: College of Humanities & Fine Arts, Tenure Track About UMass Amherst UMass Amherst, the Commonwealth's flagship…

dlvr.it

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Reposted by Jeffrey Ahlman

Shifting Sovereignties @shiftingsovs.bsky.social · Mar 14

🎓 New article by Jeffrey Ahlman (@jeffahlman.bsky.social) on "W.E.B. Du Bois and the Liberian Question: Sovereignty, Empire, and the Tensions of a Black Republic"
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...

W.E.B. Du Bois and the Liberian Question: Sovereignty, Empire, and the Tensions of a Black Republic | The Journal of African American History: Vol 110, No 1

Abstract During the 1920s and early 1930s, W.E.B. Du Bois regularly turned his attention to the question of Liberia and specifically to the fragility of Liberian sovereignty in the imperial world. The...

www.journals.uchicago.edu

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Reposted by Jeffrey Ahlman

erin pineda @erinrpineda.bsky.social · Mar 12

My department at Smith College is hiring a one year VAP in Political Theory. Full time (2:3) and benefited position.

Specialization is open but particularly interested in candidates in either American Political Thought and/or Comparative Political Theory.

Apply here apply.interfolio.com/164854

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

apply.interfolio.com

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Reposted by Jeffrey Ahlman

Tim Longman 🏳️‍🌈 @timlongman.bsky.social · Mar 13

This may not be as tragic as the devastation of PEPFAR, which has deprived AIDS patients of medications, but the elimination of the Title VI and Fulbright-Hays programs is a real loss for our country and the world.

Brian Taylor @bdtaylor-su.bsky.social · Mar 12

Getting informal reports that as part of the mass layoffs at the Department of Education, the International and Foreign Language Education (IFLE) Office has been "abolished."

IFLE administers Title VI and Fulbright-Hays grant and fellowship programs.

A disaster.

www.ed.gov/about/ed-off...

International and Foreign Language Education (IFLE)

The International and Foreign Language Education (IFLE) office administers Title VI (domestic) and Fulbright-Hays (overseas) grant and fellowship programs.

www.ed.gov

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Jeffrey Ahlman @jeffahlman.bsky.social · Mar 10

www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10....
New article: "W. E. B. Du Bois and the Liberian Question: Sovereignty, Empire, and the Tensions of a Black Republic"

University of Chicago Press Journals: Cookie absent

www.journals.uchicago.edu

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Reposted by Jeffrey Ahlman

Gabrielle Hecht has no more spoons @gabriellehecht.bsky.social · Feb 14

James Ferguson, a guiding light in the anthropology of southern Africa, has died.

His prose and analysis offered a model of clarity and insight. He was only 65. Very very sad.

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Reposted by Jeffrey Ahlman

Christopher Tounsel @ctounsel1.bsky.social · Feb 12

**Today,** from noon-1pm (PST), UW African Studies hosts Bright Gyamfi @gyamfiphd.bsky.social for his virtual lecture “Embers of Pan-Africanism: Nkrumahist Intellectuals and Decolonization, 1960-1980.”

Registration link is below, hope you can make it!

Link: jsis.washington.edu/africa/event...

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Jeffrey Ahlman @jeffahlman.bsky.social · Feb 12

I like to think of it more as timeless.

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Jeffrey Ahlman @jeffahlman.bsky.social · Feb 12

It appeared in my queue this morning.

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Reposted by Jeffrey Ahlman

Frank Gerits @frankgerits.bsky.social · Feb 12

Thank you so much, @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social for giving me the opportunity to discuss THE IDEOLOGICAL SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA! @cornellupress.bsky.social You can listen to it here: newbooksnetwork.com/the-ideologi...

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Reposted by Jeffrey Ahlman

Howard French @hofrench.bsky.social · Feb 6

Very excited to share this news. My next book, The Second Emancipation, comes out in August, but if you want to buy it now through Barnes and Noble you can get 25% off today only by using PREORDER 25 at checkout. www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-second...

The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide|Hardcover

One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2025 by Foreign Policy “Howard French’s The Second Emancipation stands the second half of the last century on its geopolitical head.” —Davi...

www.barnesandnoble.com

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Jeffrey Ahlman @jeffahlman.bsky.social · Feb 7

Congrats Howard! I look forward to it!

Reposted by Jeffrey Ahlman

Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshksi.bsky.social · Feb 1

We’re hiring a tenured historian at UMass-Amherst in the Public Histories of North American Enslavement. Please circulate to anyone you think would be interested careers.umass.edu/amherst/en-u... 🗃️

Details - Associate Professor (tenured) Public History/Associate Director of Slavery North Initiative | Human Resources | UMass Amherst

careers.umass.edu

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Jeffrey Ahlman @jeffahlman.bsky.social · Jan 29

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Sarah Brayne @sarahbrayne.bsky.social · Jan 8

As we kick off the first week of quarter, I am reminded that I my mental model is *absolutely* directory structure and I have no idea how students now live their entire lives in the chaotic laundry basket that is Google Drive. This article explains it so well: www.theverge.com/22684730/stu...