Kevin Donovan
@kevindonovan.bsky.social
anthro & history in e. africa | book: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009501385
New semester. Offered to print all the readings for students who wished to try to work in a less distracted way. Did not appreciate how long actually doing that printing would take...
September 18, 2025 at 4:41 PM
New semester. Offered to print all the readings for students who wished to try to work in a less distracted way. Did not appreciate how long actually doing that printing would take...
"There is something... self-defeating about an approach to political strategy that takes so much of our political life as fixed and preordained and thereby minimizes the significance of doing actual politics"
Reignited debates about the place of polling in progressive politics are one skirmish in a broader struggle over the future of the Democratic Party. The stakes could hardly be higher for forging a popular front against Trump’s authoritarianism.
Lily Hu on the data wars over electoral strategy:
Lily Hu on the data wars over electoral strategy:
How to Lie with (Political) Statistics - Boston Review
Inside the data wars over Democratic strategy.
www.bostonreview.net
September 18, 2025 at 4:40 PM
"There is something... self-defeating about an approach to political strategy that takes so much of our political life as fixed and preordained and thereby minimizes the significance of doing actual politics"
@spokes.org.uk I recall seeing something about e-bikes not being allowed overnight at Waverley. Is that the case?
August 23, 2025 at 8:03 AM
@spokes.org.uk I recall seeing something about e-bikes not being allowed overnight at Waverley. Is that the case?
the newest issue of Hau has a special collection on the late, great economic anthropologist Jane Guyer: www.haujournal.org/index.php/ha...
Vol 15, No 2 (2025)
HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory
www.haujournal.org
August 19, 2025 at 8:29 AM
the newest issue of Hau has a special collection on the late, great economic anthropologist Jane Guyer: www.haujournal.org/index.php/ha...
"Looking across all sectors, the key dynamic appears to be a well-worn story: women opt in much greater numbers for healthcare jobs, where employment continues trending steeply upwards...
Perhaps “learn to care” could replace “learn to code” as the go-to career advice for the next generation."
Perhaps “learn to care” could replace “learn to code” as the go-to career advice for the next generation."
NEW:
There’s been a lot of discussion lately about rising graduate unemployment.
I dug a little closer and a striking story emerged:
Unemployment is climbing among young graduate *men*, but college-educated young women are generally doing okay.
www.ft.com/content/a9ea...
There’s been a lot of discussion lately about rising graduate unemployment.
I dug a little closer and a striking story emerged:
Unemployment is climbing among young graduate *men*, but college-educated young women are generally doing okay.
www.ft.com/content/a9ea...
July 19, 2025 at 2:40 PM
"Looking across all sectors, the key dynamic appears to be a well-worn story: women opt in much greater numbers for healthcare jobs, where employment continues trending steeply upwards...
Perhaps “learn to care” could replace “learn to code” as the go-to career advice for the next generation."
Perhaps “learn to care” could replace “learn to code” as the go-to career advice for the next generation."
The Klamath saga has been subject of excellent journalism, including from @highcountrynews.org, @opb.org, @ahofschneider.bsky.social of @grist.org, @jacquesleslie.bsky.social, and @mongabay.com. I'll include some links below.
As the Trump regime works to eliminate such programs, the Klamath has important political lessons, some of which I tease out in the essay for @bostonreview.bsky.social www.bostonreview.net/articles/wha...
What Does It Take to Topple a Dam? - Boston Review
A new politics of rivers is emerging.
www.bostonreview.net
July 17, 2025 at 4:40 PM
The Klamath saga has been subject of excellent journalism, including from @highcountrynews.org, @opb.org, @ahofschneider.bsky.social of @grist.org, @jacquesleslie.bsky.social, and @mongabay.com. I'll include some links below.
I wrote about dams, using new books by @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social, James C. Scott, and Yuvan Aves to discuss a remarkable transformation on the Klamath River where four large dams have been removed to restore the watershed. 🧵
www.bostonreview.net/articles/wha...
www.bostonreview.net/articles/wha...
What Does It Take to Topple a Dam? - Boston Review
A new politics of rivers is emerging.
www.bostonreview.net
July 17, 2025 at 4:33 PM
I wrote about dams, using new books by @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social, James C. Scott, and Yuvan Aves to discuss a remarkable transformation on the Klamath River where four large dams have been removed to restore the watershed. 🧵
www.bostonreview.net/articles/wha...
www.bostonreview.net/articles/wha...
Reposted by Kevin Donovan
“When Jawaharlal Nehru called dams ‘temples of modern India’ in 1954, he was expressing a belief shared by all the dominant faiths: to dam a river was to develop a nation. Over the course of the twentieth century, humans built, on average, one large dam a day.”
New from @kevindonovan.bsky.social:
New from @kevindonovan.bsky.social:
What Does It Take to Topple a Dam? - Boston Review
A new politics of rivers is emerging.
www.bostonreview.net
July 16, 2025 at 6:08 PM
“When Jawaharlal Nehru called dams ‘temples of modern India’ in 1954, he was expressing a belief shared by all the dominant faiths: to dam a river was to develop a nation. Over the course of the twentieth century, humans built, on average, one large dam a day.”
New from @kevindonovan.bsky.social:
New from @kevindonovan.bsky.social:
the stuff on 'family capitalism' in Cooper's book is really important--hope it gets more attention
I had the pleasure of writing about the inimitable @melindacooper.bsky.social’s Counterrevolution for @lrb.co.uk www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Katrina Forrester · ‘I appreciate depreciation’: Dynastic Capitalism
Austerity is a choice. The protection of the family at the expense of other ways of living is a choice. The transfer of...
www.lrb.co.uk
July 14, 2025 at 6:24 PM
the stuff on 'family capitalism' in Cooper's book is really important--hope it gets more attention
this is excellent!
After years of research, I’m thrilled to share my article on biometric voting in Africa.
I focus on the companies who sell the tech. They have become key actors for both election management and citizen identification. Yet we know little about them.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
I focus on the companies who sell the tech. They have become key actors for both election management and citizen identification. Yet we know little about them.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
A Postcolonial Card Cartel: How European Companies Sold Biometric Voting in Africa
Biometrics companies see Africa as the ‘ultimate frontier’ — a relatively untapped market, yet to be fully captured. Although there is now a substantial critical literature on identification technolo...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
July 14, 2025 at 5:53 PM
this is excellent!
Reposted by Kevin Donovan
🚨 My next book, EXTRACTION: THE FRONTIERS OF GREEN CAPITALISM is out 9/23 with @wwnorton.com
Today and tomorrow, you can pre-order it at 25% off 😊 Use code PREORDER25 at www.barnesandnoble.com/w/extraction...
Today and tomorrow, you can pre-order it at 25% off 😊 Use code PREORDER25 at www.barnesandnoble.com/w/extraction...
July 10, 2025 at 6:57 PM
🚨 My next book, EXTRACTION: THE FRONTIERS OF GREEN CAPITALISM is out 9/23 with @wwnorton.com
Today and tomorrow, you can pre-order it at 25% off 😊 Use code PREORDER25 at www.barnesandnoble.com/w/extraction...
Today and tomorrow, you can pre-order it at 25% off 😊 Use code PREORDER25 at www.barnesandnoble.com/w/extraction...
Reposted by Kevin Donovan
He identified as Ugandan when he was like 12, as his father mentions in one of his books (published well before Zohran ran for office; this from the 2011 second edition with Pambazuka Press). Real RTFM moment.
July 5, 2025 at 4:13 PM
He identified as Ugandan when he was like 12, as his father mentions in one of his books (published well before Zohran ran for office; this from the 2011 second edition with Pambazuka Press). Real RTFM moment.
Not that Cornyn cares but… a “100 year flood” does not mean it happens once a century.
It means there is a roughly 1% chance annually of such a flood.
That means over the course of 30 years, there is a roughly 25% chance of such a flood.
It means there is a roughly 1% chance annually of such a flood.
That means over the course of 30 years, there is a roughly 25% chance of such a flood.
Cornyn highlights the people who didn't die in the Texas floods: "It's a very sad time, but it's also a time when 850+ campers were accounted for and recovered ... this was a 100 year flood event ... it's just a time of very many conflicting feelings."
July 6, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Not that Cornyn cares but… a “100 year flood” does not mean it happens once a century.
It means there is a roughly 1% chance annually of such a flood.
That means over the course of 30 years, there is a roughly 25% chance of such a flood.
It means there is a roughly 1% chance annually of such a flood.
That means over the course of 30 years, there is a roughly 25% chance of such a flood.
Reposted by Kevin Donovan
“The postwar order rested on three pillars: American hegemony, the fossil-fuel energy system, and an open, multilateral trading order. America has now attacked each pillar at the foundation of its hydrocarbon global order.” —
New: @katemac.bsky.social & I
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/bri...
New: @katemac.bsky.social & I
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/bri...
July 5, 2025 at 9:18 PM
“The postwar order rested on three pillars: American hegemony, the fossil-fuel energy system, and an open, multilateral trading order. America has now attacked each pillar at the foundation of its hydrocarbon global order.” —
New: @katemac.bsky.social & I
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/bri...
New: @katemac.bsky.social & I
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/bri...
Reposted by Kevin Donovan
Drawing on a comparative ethnography in South Africa and the United Kingdom, Clawing Back by Deborah James explores how notions of reallocation and payout are intimately connected with those of compensation for a loss. #ReadUP
www.sup.org/books/sociol...
www.sup.org/books/sociol...
July 1, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Drawing on a comparative ethnography in South Africa and the United Kingdom, Clawing Back by Deborah James explores how notions of reallocation and payout are intimately connected with those of compensation for a loss. #ReadUP
www.sup.org/books/sociol...
www.sup.org/books/sociol...
Reposted by Kevin Donovan
“Hayek’s call for means-testing social insurance invites the very moralism and arbitrary bureaucratic judgment he decries. Such intrusive, punitive, shaming regulations, based on suspicion of malingering and fraud, trap families in poverty.” —Elizabeth Anderson
Common Property - Boston Review
How social insurance became confused with socialism.
www.bostonreview.net
July 1, 2025 at 8:42 PM
“Hayek’s call for means-testing social insurance invites the very moralism and arbitrary bureaucratic judgment he decries. Such intrusive, punitive, shaming regulations, based on suspicion of malingering and fraud, trap families in poverty.” —Elizabeth Anderson
Reposted by Kevin Donovan
Black, magenta and an edge data center on the cover of my book about Nairobi, smartphones, platforms, standards, venture capital and digital China. Out in the boreal fall this year 🪩 with U California Press (and OA)
April 8, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Black, magenta and an edge data center on the cover of my book about Nairobi, smartphones, platforms, standards, venture capital and digital China. Out in the boreal fall this year 🪩 with U California Press (and OA)
Reposted by Kevin Donovan
Another £40 million is being given to the University of Dundee by the Scottish government to secure the future of the crisis-ridden institution, reports @julietterowsell.bsky.social
#AcademicSky
#AcademicSky
Dundee given £40 million bailout following ‘unprecedented’ crisis
Money for ailing institution from Scottish Funding Council comes on top of the £22 million previously made available
www.timeshighereducation.com
June 24, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Another £40 million is being given to the University of Dundee by the Scottish government to secure the future of the crisis-ridden institution, reports @julietterowsell.bsky.social
#AcademicSky
#AcademicSky
Reposted by Kevin Donovan
Fascinating article on accountancy - wait! It really is! - and how it’s alleged “objectivity” played out in nationalisations in Tanzania, Chile.
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
February 7, 2025 at 3:39 AM
Fascinating article on accountancy - wait! It really is! - and how it’s alleged “objectivity” played out in nationalisations in Tanzania, Chile.
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
it's here!
Money, Value, and the State: Sovereignty and Citizenship in East Africa
my book has arrived.
a brief 🧵
Money, Value, and the State: Sovereignty and Citizenship in East Africa
my book has arrived.
a brief 🧵
February 6, 2025 at 2:43 PM
it's here!
Money, Value, and the State: Sovereignty and Citizenship in East Africa
my book has arrived.
a brief 🧵
Money, Value, and the State: Sovereignty and Citizenship in East Africa
my book has arrived.
a brief 🧵