Stephen Shapiro
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stephenshapiro.bsky.social
Stephen Shapiro
@stephenshapiro.bsky.social
Edinburgh based:
read my scholarly books below!
I work on contemporary cultural studies, horror, world-systems perspectives, and a Gramscian Marx.
Pinned
the greatest praise for a human today is to be called an enemy of Italy by Meloni.

anti-fascism is a definition of what it means to be human
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...
‘Enemies of Italy’? Meloni’s rebuke of Olympics protesters shows ‘repressive’ drift, say critics
Opposition parties condemn security laws as ‘violation of the constitutional right to demonstrate’
www.theguardian.com
February 12, 2026 at 11:39 AM
One of the scummieat banks worked with scummy clients , like Trump.
February 11, 2026 at 5:59 PM
Reposted by Stephen Shapiro
they pissed off the WeRateDogs guy enough from him to break character to directly tell them off, that's genuinely impressive levels of being an asshole
we need to talk about that Ring Super Bowl ad
February 10, 2026 at 8:22 PM
The American dream isn't anymore
apnews.com/article/poll...
February 10, 2026 at 9:44 PM
February 10, 2026 at 9:16 PM
February 10, 2026 at 9:16 PM
February 10, 2026 at 7:10 PM
Reposted by Stephen Shapiro
a colleague's slide - aye!
#capitalism #gothic #zombie
February 10, 2026 at 10:10 AM
Reposted by Stephen Shapiro
liked #heatedrivalry? More great Canadian content: Twin Peaks comes to the Nova Scotia.
February 10, 2026 at 1:15 PM
Reposted by Stephen Shapiro
One thing that sticks out in this dreadful story is that the metric admins use to judge "success" is tenure line employment of program grads, but CMU's own English Dept. appears to be at least 60% non-tenure line faculty (teaching professors, adjuncts, "special faculty"). Crisis of reproduction.
Computational Cultural Studies replaces Literature and Cultural Studies sounds like a David Lodge novel without the humor.
This is bleak as hell. Who cares about literature when you’ve got computers?

Way to go Carnegie Mellon. Our tech oligarchs will not reward your loyalty

the-tartan.org/2026/02/09/l...
February 10, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Stephen Shapiro
Rep. Delia Ramirez to DHS officials: "I have as much respect for you as I do for the last white men who put on masks to terrorize communities of color. I have no respect for the inheritors of the Klanhood and the slave patrol. Those activities were criminal and so are yours."
February 10, 2026 at 5:11 PM
www.faz.net/aktuell/poli...
probably true, alas
February 10, 2026 at 4:45 PM
the death-loop for US literary studies
the-tartan.org/2026/02/09/l...
February 10, 2026 at 4:38 PM
Reposted by Stephen Shapiro
I really wanted to celebrate this book, especially since one of the key errors that North American colleagues who come over (as I did) is a failure to learn the local history of the field.

But even after 30 years, I learned some nuggets, like the 1st year Pass, 2+ as Honors is an Oxford residue.
February 10, 2026 at 10:31 AM
Reposted by Stephen Shapiro
having read Collini's book, which ends in the 60s and declines to seriously discuss Richards, Empson, Leavis, or Williams, the main impression that one gets of British literary studies is as an intellectual wasteland full of dullards.
February 10, 2026 at 10:29 AM
Reposted by Stephen Shapiro
perhaps the only acceptable use of a bagpipe outside Scotland
#edinburgh
bsky.app/profile/lata...
Jack Duffy attaches a respirator to his bagpipes to play through tear gas. “I always play it whenever the police retreat because it's like, ‘You fucking ran while we stayed,’” he says.

The full story: lataco.com/protest-bagp...

By Julianne Le
February 10, 2026 at 10:59 AM
the ingredients of a nazi
www.spiegel.de/politik/deut...
February 10, 2026 at 4:18 PM
bsky.app/profile/danh...
Age verification? I still have one of these.
February 10, 2026 at 3:49 PM
really enjoyed Alison Bechdel's latest, Spent
February 10, 2026 at 3:15 PM