Jeff Ostler
@jostler.bsky.social
Semi-retired history professor, University of Oregon. Thinking about genocide.
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
Today is publication day for my book, Mixed-Blood Histories: Race, Law, and Dakota Indians in the Nineteenth-Century Midwest, through the University of Minnesota Press!
www.upress.umn.edu/978151792034...
www.upress.umn.edu/978151792034...
Mixed-Blood Histories
An unprecedented study that puts mixed-ancestry Native Americans back into the heart of Indigenous history Historical accounts tend to neglect mixed-ancestry...
www.upress.umn.edu
November 18, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Today is publication day for my book, Mixed-Blood Histories: Race, Law, and Dakota Indians in the Nineteenth-Century Midwest, through the University of Minnesota Press!
www.upress.umn.edu/978151792034...
www.upress.umn.edu/978151792034...
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
When Texas seceded from the US in 1861, it issued a proclamation declaring that Blacks "were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race." Could one even mention this fact in a history class at Texas A&M under these new guidelines?
“Texas A&M University System regents voted Thursday to limit how instructors may discuss matters like gender identity and race ideology in classrooms, tightening the rules in a conservative state where debates over academic freedom have flared for months.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...
Texas A&M Tightens Rules on Talking About Race and Gender in Classes
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:33 PM
When Texas seceded from the US in 1861, it issued a proclamation declaring that Blacks "were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race." Could one even mention this fact in a history class at Texas A&M under these new guidelines?
Another to reason to hate AI. Gemini screwed these guys over by hallucinating false info about their company.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/b...
Who Pays When A.I. Is Wrong?
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Another to reason to hate AI. Gemini screwed these guys over by hallucinating false info about their company.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/b...
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
Eugene caught a stray at last night's NYC mayoral debate, so now I'm forced to imagine Curtis Silwa wandering the Saturday Market
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/n...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/n...
October 17, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Eugene caught a stray at last night's NYC mayoral debate, so now I'm forced to imagine Curtis Silwa wandering the Saturday Market
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/n...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/n...
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
What The Hell Is Going On, a thread:
I’ve seen some thinkpieces and posts about Portland protests that fail to understand the long-term hyperspecificity of Portland culture/humor, and frame it as a sort of shitposting meme-pilled ironic thing. Which is wrong.
So I’m gonna give you my breakdown.
I’ve seen some thinkpieces and posts about Portland protests that fail to understand the long-term hyperspecificity of Portland culture/humor, and frame it as a sort of shitposting meme-pilled ironic thing. Which is wrong.
So I’m gonna give you my breakdown.
October 13, 2025 at 2:00 PM
What The Hell Is Going On, a thread:
I’ve seen some thinkpieces and posts about Portland protests that fail to understand the long-term hyperspecificity of Portland culture/humor, and frame it as a sort of shitposting meme-pilled ironic thing. Which is wrong.
So I’m gonna give you my breakdown.
I’ve seen some thinkpieces and posts about Portland protests that fail to understand the long-term hyperspecificity of Portland culture/humor, and frame it as a sort of shitposting meme-pilled ironic thing. Which is wrong.
So I’m gonna give you my breakdown.
I was one of the 12,000. Had to avoid antifa terrorists at aid stations, but made it.
October 8, 2025 at 6:54 PM
I was one of the 12,000. Had to avoid antifa terrorists at aid stations, but made it.
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
“The mood of Abundance is that of a chirpy regional sales manager giving a PowerPoint; Overshoot’s is a wild-eyed buccaneer swinging onto a burning frigate with a cutlass in his teeth.” —Trevor Jackson
How to Blow Up a Planet | Trevor Jackson
What happened to the future? When did we lose it, and what has taken its place? Political scientists have found a continual decline in visions of a shared
buff.ly
September 8, 2025 at 2:17 PM
“The mood of Abundance is that of a chirpy regional sales manager giving a PowerPoint; Overshoot’s is a wild-eyed buccaneer swinging onto a burning frigate with a cutlass in his teeth.” —Trevor Jackson
Plan seems to be purge the military of people unwilling to go along with fascism. Same with FBI.
Hegseth: "If the words I'm speaking today are making your heart sink, they you should do the honorable thing and resign."
September 30, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Plan seems to be purge the military of people unwilling to go along with fascism. Same with FBI.
I'm running a half marathon in war-ravaged Portland Oregon next Sunday. I have been so afraid that I would be attacked by Antifa that I almost cancelled. So grateful that our wonderful President, a model of Christ-like behavior, is sending the troops.
September 28, 2025 at 1:49 AM
I'm running a half marathon in war-ravaged Portland Oregon next Sunday. I have been so afraid that I would be attacked by Antifa that I almost cancelled. So grateful that our wonderful President, a model of Christ-like behavior, is sending the troops.
RIP Quintard Taylor. Honored to have been his colleague when he was in the History Department at the University of Oregon 1990-1999. @uoregon.bsky.social
blackpast.org/blackpast-or...
blackpast.org/blackpast-or...
BlackPast.org Announces with Profound Sadness the Passing of Founder Dr. Quintard Taylor
It is with deep sorrow that BlackPast.org announces the passing of its founder, Dr. Quintard Taylor, who died peacefully on September 21, 2025 at the age of 76 in Houston, Texas.
blackpast.org
September 26, 2025 at 6:02 PM
RIP Quintard Taylor. Honored to have been his colleague when he was in the History Department at the University of Oregon 1990-1999. @uoregon.bsky.social
blackpast.org/blackpast-or...
blackpast.org/blackpast-or...
The great Dakota artist Oscar Howe's 1959 painting of Wounded Knee. No matter what Whiskey Pete says, it was a massacre not a battle.
September 26, 2025 at 2:00 PM
The great Dakota artist Oscar Howe's 1959 painting of Wounded Knee. No matter what Whiskey Pete says, it was a massacre not a battle.
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
Only an administration intent on committing war crimes in the present and future would stoop to calling Wounded Knee a "battle" rather than what it truly was: a massacre of over 250 Lakotas, mainly women, children, and the elderly. 1/
September 26, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Only an administration intent on committing war crimes in the present and future would stoop to calling Wounded Knee a "battle" rather than what it truly was: a massacre of over 250 Lakotas, mainly women, children, and the elderly. 1/
This man is ignorant. Wounded Knee was a massacre, not a battle.
September 26, 2025 at 3:45 AM
This man is ignorant. Wounded Knee was a massacre, not a battle.
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
As accusations of genocide in Gaza mount against Israel, NPR looks at how the term is defined legally and why previously reticent scholars have changed their minds.
A question of intent: Is what's happening in Gaza genocide?
As accusations of genocide in Gaza mount against Israel, NPR looks at how the term is defined legally and why previously reticent scholars have changed their minds.
n.pr
September 25, 2025 at 4:01 PM
As accusations of genocide in Gaza mount against Israel, NPR looks at how the term is defined legally and why previously reticent scholars have changed their minds.
Love how the New York Times fact checker always says Trump's blatant lies lack evidence as if some evidence might eventually be found.
September 24, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Love how the New York Times fact checker always says Trump's blatant lies lack evidence as if some evidence might eventually be found.
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
I have a new piece about the memorialization of Charlie Kirk, American identity, and the coming storm.
The Autumn of Charlie Kirk
What does it mean to turn a far-right activist into a national martyr?
newlinesmag.com
September 22, 2025 at 2:06 PM
I have a new piece about the memorialization of Charlie Kirk, American identity, and the coming storm.
‘No one should act surprised,’ says UN expert who warned of starvation in Gaza last year www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
‘No one should act surprised,’ says UN expert who warned of starvation in Gaza last year
Michael Fakhri, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, who sounded the alarm in early 2024, says: ‘Israel is starving Gaza. It’s genocide’
www.theguardian.com
August 7, 2025 at 1:59 AM
‘No one should act surprised,’ says UN expert who warned of starvation in Gaza last year www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
In “History on the Lost Coast,” Kathleen C. Whiteley shows how historians can use a resilience framework to highlight Indigenous agency, spotlighting the Wiyot Nation’s reclamation in 2019 of over 200 acres on Northern California’s Tuluwat Island, the site of an 1860 catastrophic massacre. 🗃️
History on the Lost Coast: Locating Wiyot Stories of Resilience in Nancy and Matilda Spear
Abstract. This essay is a response to an AHR call for works on resilience: “how to revive,” as it’s framed, “after things fall apart.” It would be hard to
academic.oup.com
December 16, 2024 at 2:16 PM
In “History on the Lost Coast,” Kathleen C. Whiteley shows how historians can use a resilience framework to highlight Indigenous agency, spotlighting the Wiyot Nation’s reclamation in 2019 of over 200 acres on Northern California’s Tuluwat Island, the site of an 1860 catastrophic massacre. 🗃️
A very informative book. Well-deserved recognition.
Honored that my book is on the longlist for this year’s Cundill History Prize.
www.cundillprize.com/news/the-202...
www.cundillprize.com/news/the-202...
The 2025 Cundill History Prize Longlist | Cundill Prize
The jurors have chosen 15 exceptional titles to be longlisted for the 2025 Cundill History Prize.
www.cundillprize.com
July 28, 2025 at 4:22 PM
A very informative book. Well-deserved recognition.
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
Think of all those pro-Israel pundits you saw on your television screens this past year trying to sociopathically justify the mass starvation of Gaza by robotically claiming Hamas steals the aid. They were all lying. Shamelessly. Even the Israeli military confirms it now.
No Proof Hamas Routinely Stole U.N. Aid, Israeli Military Officials Say
www.nytimes.com
July 26, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Think of all those pro-Israel pundits you saw on your television screens this past year trying to sociopathically justify the mass starvation of Gaza by robotically claiming Hamas steals the aid. They were all lying. Shamelessly. Even the Israeli military confirms it now.