Jonathan Parkes Allen
@jparkesallen.bsky.social
historian of the Islamicate with @openiti.bsky.social; community food forest/garden organizer with @foodforestchatt.bsky.social. ☦ Christian, father, deep time delver. 🏴 anarcho-agrarian 🌻 upholder of Gustav Landauer thought. Signal @ jparkesallen.11
Just came across for the first time the work of Dutch artist Julie de Graag ( 1877-1924), what a beautiful and sensitive body of work! These selections are from the extensive holdings of the Rijksmuseum:
November 25, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Just came across for the first time the work of Dutch artist Julie de Graag ( 1877-1924), what a beautiful and sensitive body of work! These selections are from the extensive holdings of the Rijksmuseum:
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
📚 New on the blog!
@arezouazad.bsky.social rediscovers Bamiyan’s medieval archives, revealing a diverse, literate and interconnected Islamicate society in Afghanistan.
Have a read:
@arezouazad.bsky.social rediscovers Bamiyan’s medieval archives, revealing a diverse, literate and interconnected Islamicate society in Afghanistan.
Have a read:
The Warehouse of Bamiyan: Q&A with Arezou Azad - Edinburgh University Press Blog
Arezou Azad rediscovers Bamiyan’s medieval archives, revealing a diverse, literate and interconnected Islamicate society in Afghanistan.
edin.ac
November 25, 2025 at 1:31 PM
📚 New on the blog!
@arezouazad.bsky.social rediscovers Bamiyan’s medieval archives, revealing a diverse, literate and interconnected Islamicate society in Afghanistan.
Have a read:
@arezouazad.bsky.social rediscovers Bamiyan’s medieval archives, revealing a diverse, literate and interconnected Islamicate society in Afghanistan.
Have a read:
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
A personal exploration by @jparkesallen.bsky.social of barriers of different sorts that prevent us from benefiting from the natural abundance so often within reach:
Cracking the Black Walnut
A Personal Confession
foodforestschattanooga.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:36 PM
A personal exploration by @jparkesallen.bsky.social of barriers of different sorts that prevent us from benefiting from the natural abundance so often within reach:
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
Fifty years after his death, Francisco Franco is being rehabilitated in Spain.
Writing from Extremadura in our spring issue, Troy Nahumko surveys the social and political battles still being waged over the dictatorship, with jarring parallels to Trump’s own war on historical memory:
Writing from Extremadura in our spring issue, Troy Nahumko surveys the social and political battles still being waged over the dictatorship, with jarring parallels to Trump’s own war on historical memory:
Kill It with Fire - Boston Review
In Spain, ultra-nationalist efforts to rehabilitate Franco extend the global right’s war on memory.
www.bostonreview.net
November 22, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Fifty years after his death, Francisco Franco is being rehabilitated in Spain.
Writing from Extremadura in our spring issue, Troy Nahumko surveys the social and political battles still being waged over the dictatorship, with jarring parallels to Trump’s own war on historical memory:
Writing from Extremadura in our spring issue, Troy Nahumko surveys the social and political battles still being waged over the dictatorship, with jarring parallels to Trump’s own war on historical memory:
Overheard this evening my eight year old son talking with his little sister about how reading about colonialism makes him sad, which sounds like something the child of a user of this app would say quite honestly
November 25, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Overheard this evening my eight year old son talking with his little sister about how reading about colonialism makes him sad, which sounds like something the child of a user of this app would say quite honestly
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
actually a bigger estimate for the amount of potential food production than I'd have guessed. add the fact that you can use some of these to make solar panels even more effective and you've got a winner imo
November 24, 2025 at 6:40 PM
actually a bigger estimate for the amount of potential food production than I'd have guessed. add the fact that you can use some of these to make solar panels even more effective and you've got a winner imo
I think smallholding farms, part-time home growers, and similar things should be part of a larger mosaic of de-commodified agroecology that is made up of many overlapping and mutually supportive pieces and actors- a mosaic that is doable, we're doing something along such lines here in Chattanooga
New post where I push a little bit further on my previous writing on agroecology being a project of class suicide and why this means small privately-owned farms are not the vehicle of change for agroecology as too often supposed
thestruggleforland.substack.com/p/towards-an...
thestruggleforland.substack.com/p/towards-an...
Towards an agroecological theory of change
Small, privately-owned farms and localised markets can never achieve agroecology, therefore the movement needs a new strategy.
thestruggleforland.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:46 PM
I think smallholding farms, part-time home growers, and similar things should be part of a larger mosaic of de-commodified agroecology that is made up of many overlapping and mutually supportive pieces and actors- a mosaic that is doable, we're doing something along such lines here in Chattanooga
A fiery excerpt from St. Basil the Great's homily on today's Gospel reading, Luke 16:12-21 (the rich man who tears down his barns so as to build new ones):
November 23, 2025 at 11:35 PM
A fiery excerpt from St. Basil the Great's homily on today's Gospel reading, Luke 16:12-21 (the rich man who tears down his barns so as to build new ones):
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
Kavanaugh stop. Smashed the kid’s car windows and arrested him. He told them he was a U.S. citizen. The officer replied “I don’t care.”
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
High school senior, a U.S. citizen, detained by ICE in Oregon
The 17-year-old was held more than five hours Friday in an ICE facility, his brother said.
www.oregonlive.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Kavanaugh stop. Smashed the kid’s car windows and arrested him. He told them he was a U.S. citizen. The officer replied “I don’t care.”
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
Maybe I'll end up being wrong about this but it really does feel like the last couple of years or so almost everyone across the world and the political spectrum has largely decided to ignore climate change, taking a kind of "if we don't look it can't hurt us" kind of attitude
Oil Producers, but Maybe Not the Planet, Get a Win as Climate Talks End
www.nytimes.com
November 22, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Maybe I'll end up being wrong about this but it really does feel like the last couple of years or so almost everyone across the world and the political spectrum has largely decided to ignore climate change, taking a kind of "if we don't look it can't hurt us" kind of attitude
“round [Earth] committed”
November 22, 2025 at 6:19 PM
“round [Earth] committed”
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
Folks, Zohran Mamdani—smart guy, reminds me of a young me—you know what he said, I told him, “Zohran, I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna say the shahada,” and he said to me “Mr. President, you should say a third line confirming your belief in the wilayat of Ali,” should we do it folks? Should we say it?
November 22, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Folks, Zohran Mamdani—smart guy, reminds me of a young me—you know what he said, I told him, “Zohran, I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna say the shahada,” and he said to me “Mr. President, you should say a third line confirming your belief in the wilayat of Ali,” should we do it folks? Should we say it?
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
Here's what we've been up to this month and what we've got coming up in December- put this out a bit early to get ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Several opportunities in December for volunteering and education, plus read to the end for a couple of short book reviews:
November Happenings and December Opportunities in Community Agriculture
Updates, Work Days, Education, and More
foodforestschattanooga.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Here's what we've been up to this month and what we've got coming up in December- put this out a bit early to get ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Several opportunities in December for volunteering and education, plus read to the end for a couple of short book reviews:
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
"Precisely because God is the incomparable & unconditioned, utterly boundless & unconstrained, God is radically near to creation in its particularity, contingency & texture: without measure, without opposition, & with no need for a chain of intermediaries to be present or efficacious in the world."
November 21, 2025 at 12:29 AM
"Precisely because God is the incomparable & unconditioned, utterly boundless & unconstrained, God is radically near to creation in its particularity, contingency & texture: without measure, without opposition, & with no need for a chain of intermediaries to be present or efficacious in the world."
Every day I suspect a little more that Trump only picked Vance to be VP in order to slowly crank up the dial of ritual humiliation in retaliation for the mean things JD said about him back in the day
It is real:
November 21, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Every day I suspect a little more that Trump only picked Vance to be VP in order to slowly crank up the dial of ritual humiliation in retaliation for the mean things JD said about him back in the day
This poor red mulberry tree thinks spring has sprung prematurely, a not unreasonable estimation given that parts of town definitely hit 80 yesterday
November 20, 2025 at 6:29 PM
This poor red mulberry tree thinks spring has sprung prematurely, a not unreasonable estimation given that parts of town definitely hit 80 yesterday
I'm not sure that these are exactly movie material lol but two classic works I read this year that I found to be examples of especially compelling scholarly prose were Ronald Numbers' The Creationists and Timothy Brooks' The Confusion of Pleasure
November 20, 2025 at 2:33 AM
I'm not sure that these are exactly movie material lol but two classic works I read this year that I found to be examples of especially compelling scholarly prose were Ronald Numbers' The Creationists and Timothy Brooks' The Confusion of Pleasure
I don't know that this manusript- BnF Arabe 1997, a 1620 copy of an Arabic long form poem (by a member of the Ottoman military hierarchy) on early Islamic history- is the all time winner of the "how much text can you fit on a single page" contest but it's pretty dang close lol
November 19, 2025 at 7:04 PM
I don't know that this manusript- BnF Arabe 1997, a 1620 copy of an Arabic long form poem (by a member of the Ottoman military hierarchy) on early Islamic history- is the all time winner of the "how much text can you fit on a single page" contest but it's pretty dang close lol
You just know that if this guy- Hetman Stefan Czarniecki- was alive today he'd have an insanely popular podcast and YouTube channel and it would be completely unhinged
November 19, 2025 at 3:58 PM
You just know that if this guy- Hetman Stefan Czarniecki- was alive today he'd have an insanely popular podcast and YouTube channel and it would be completely unhinged
It is absolutely true that antisemitism is surging in many quarters across America, especially on the right but also cropping up on the left; and it is absolutely true that years, decades, of equaling criticism of the Israeli state with antisemitism is helping to drive that upsurge.
November 19, 2025 at 3:23 PM
It is absolutely true that antisemitism is surging in many quarters across America, especially on the right but also cropping up on the left; and it is absolutely true that years, decades, of equaling criticism of the Israeli state with antisemitism is helping to drive that upsurge.
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
See also this 1938 German postage stamp that was pretty clear and to the point — “the housing shortage is the Jews’ fault”
November 19, 2025 at 12:45 PM
See also this 1938 German postage stamp that was pretty clear and to the point — “the housing shortage is the Jews’ fault”
Curious how you're supposed to teach the Holocaust in a way that you can both condemn the Holocaust but also carve out some exceptions for committing war crimes and genocide when your preferred state power decides to do those things, like what's that look like practically speaking
I'm struck by this clip of former Obama speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz saying Holocaust education has backfired in part because people Palestinians as victims: "They think the lesson of the Holocaust is…you fight the big powerful people hurting the weak people."
www.reddit.com/r/JewsOfCons...
www.reddit.com/r/JewsOfCons...
From the JewsOfConscience community on Reddit: Former Obama speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz speaking to the Jewish Federation and lamenting that young people are learning the wrong lessons from Holocaust e...
Explore this post and more from the JewsOfConscience community
www.reddit.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Curious how you're supposed to teach the Holocaust in a way that you can both condemn the Holocaust but also carve out some exceptions for committing war crimes and genocide when your preferred state power decides to do those things, like what's that look like practically speaking
The whole "Orthodoxy has something to do with masculinity" thing has always struck me as weird, given that there's nothing gender-specific about the stuff that's supposed to be "masculine" (other than having a beard I guess). What maybe is happening is young men in particular are finding purpose-
Essential reading on the state of Orthodox Christianity in America, featuring the unmatched expertise of @riccardiswartz.bsky.social
Gift link below:
Gift link below:
Orthodox Church Pews Are Overflowing With Converts
www.nytimes.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:29 PM
The whole "Orthodoxy has something to do with masculinity" thing has always struck me as weird, given that there's nothing gender-specific about the stuff that's supposed to be "masculine" (other than having a beard I guess). What maybe is happening is young men in particular are finding purpose-
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
Coming up next month: our Introduction to Agroecology series continues with "Soil, Solidarity, and Food Sovereignty," we'll be covering a host of interrelated topics from political action to soil ecology, this is really going to be a cool session! There's a Zoom option too! Sign up link below
November 19, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Coming up next month: our Introduction to Agroecology series continues with "Soil, Solidarity, and Food Sovereignty," we'll be covering a host of interrelated topics from political action to soil ecology, this is really going to be a cool session! There's a Zoom option too! Sign up link below
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
A note in a #manuscript transports us to the study sessions of teacher and pupil, meeting face to face, in the cosmopolitan environment of Medina centuries before talk of globalization. Learn more in this story from Dr. Ali Diakite and Dr. Paul Naylor: hmml.org/stories/postscript-a-teaching-license
Postscript -- A Teaching License
“A unique aspect of HMML Reading Room is that it allows us to see how texts travel among disparate people, places, and cultures...”
hmml.org
November 18, 2025 at 4:34 PM
A note in a #manuscript transports us to the study sessions of teacher and pupil, meeting face to face, in the cosmopolitan environment of Medina centuries before talk of globalization. Learn more in this story from Dr. Ali Diakite and Dr. Paul Naylor: hmml.org/stories/postscript-a-teaching-license