Suzanne Conklin Akbari
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sakbari.bsky.social
Suzanne Conklin Akbari
@sakbari.bsky.social
1.5K followers 310 following 200 posts

Living on Lunaapahkiing, faculty at IAS, servant of two cats and sometimes one dog.

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Suzanne Conklin Akbari is a medievalist, recognised for her global and comparative approach to medieval literary history. She was a Professor in English and Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto from 1995 until 2019, when she joined the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. .. more

History 44%
Political science 18%
Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Suzanne Conklin Akbari

jamellebouie.net
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 3h
(worth saying here that this formulation of “western civilization” curiously isolates Europe from the Middle East and Africa, as if you can understand European “civilization” outside the context of its interactions with and integration into those worlds)

Reposted by Suzanne Conklin Akbari

jamellebouie.net
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 3h
“western civilization” in this construction should be juxtaposed *against* the american tradition.

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Scott L. Greer, Suzanne Conklin Akbari

jamellebouie.net
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 3h
it has more in common, in fact, with with the antebellum slaveholder preoccupation with (its vision of) medieval europe, a romantic notion of Anglo supremacy that you can see articulated, in similar form, during the early days of american imperialism at the turn of the 20th century.

Reposted by Robert Black, Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Nathan P. Kalmoe

jamellebouie.net
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 3h
interesting to think that revolutionary era americans understood themselves as making a break with the “old world” and establishing a new civilization. and crucially, this new civilization rested on republican self-government, not “sovereignty.”
evanbernick.bsky.social Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof @evanbernick.bsky.social · 4h
The Rubio speech really is appalling, and if you haven’t read it yet, you should.

www.state.gov/releases/off...
this continent long before. The man who settled and built the nation of my birth arrived on our shores carrying the memories and the traditions and the Christian faith of their ancestors as a sacred inheritance, an unbreakable link between the old world and the new. We are part of one civilization - Western civilization. We are bound to one another by the deepest bonds that nations could share, forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry, and the sacrifices our forefathers made together for the common civilization to which we have fallen heir.

Reposted by Suzanne Conklin Akbari

ihavethatonvinyl.com
bring on the dancing horses @ihavethatonvinyl.com · 10h
roses are red
so is a fox
sorry i ate
the plums in your icebox

Reposted by Suzanne Conklin Akbari

paulseesequasis.bsky.social
paulseesequasis @paulseesequasis.bsky.social · 10h
Happy Valentines Day...kinda
music.youtube.com/watch?v=674K...
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart, 1995 Remastered Version (Official Video)
YouTube video by Joy Division
music.youtube.com

Reposted by Suzanne Conklin Akbari

thespouterinn.bsky.social
The Spouter-Inn @thespouterinn.bsky.social · 11h
Suzanne's cats are willing to read about Mandeville's travels, but I think they would rather go on the journey around the room.
Two cats curled up sleepily next to two copies of The Travels of Sir John Mandeville.

Reposted by Suzanne Conklin Akbari

thespouterinn.bsky.social
The Spouter-Inn @thespouterinn.bsky.social · 11h
In our new episode, we read some travel literature! @sakbari.bsky.social revisits The Travels of John Mandeville, and @wordgarbler.bsky.social joins Xavier de Maistre on his Voyage Around My Room.

Listen on your podcast app — and let us know your favourite odd bit of travel writing!
89. The Travels of Sir John Mandeville / Voyage Around My Room. | The Spouter-Inn
We look at some old travel literature, with The Travels of Sir John Mandeville and Xavier de Maistre’s Voyage Around My Room.
megaphonic.fm

Reposted by Joshua S. Weitz, Michael D. McDonald, Suzanne Conklin Akbari

wired.com
WIRED @wired.com · 11h
ICE plans to lease offices throughout the US as part of a secret, monthslong expansion campaign. WIRED is publishing dozens of these locations.
ICE Is Expanding Across the US at Breakneck Speed. Here’s Where It’s Going Next
ICE plans to lease offices throughout the US as part of a secret, monthslong expansion campaign. WIRED is publishing dozens of these locations.
wrd.cm

Reposted by Suzanne Conklin Akbari

annapwilson.bsky.social
Anna Wilson @annapwilson.bsky.social · 12h
Honestly, the only people I know who like Wuthering Heights non-professionally are people who read it when they were 14 and remember a different version of it than the book that exits, so I wholly support this film version and plan to see it and enjoy it and never read the book.

Reposted by Suzanne Conklin Akbari, David Darmofal

moiradonegan.bsky.social
Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 12h
A young violinist was nervous about meeting with Jeffrey Epstein due to his 2008 child sex abuse conviction. Epstein reassured her by noting his friendship with @bardcollege.bsky.social’s Leon Botstein, and set up a dinner between Botstein and the musician. She soon became one of Epstein’s victims.
Epstein Used Botstein’s Prestige and Connections to Recruit and Support One of His Victims, a Violinist from Europe - The Daily Catch
Jeffrey Epstein utilized his burgeoning relationship with Bard College President and American Symphony Orchestra Conductor Leon Botstein in 2013 to procure perks for a young violinist who ultimately b...
www.thedailycatch.org

Reposted by Suzanne Conklin Akbari

chanda.blacksky.app
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 14h
I wonder if people are paying attention to how much their doom scrolling is cutting into time they used to use to read books

Reposted by Will Jennings, Aaron Sojourner, Suzanne Conklin Akbari , and 1 more

gregsargent.bsky.social
Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 15h
Remarkable: Majority of working class voters oppose deportations of undocumented immigrants with jobs/no criminal records, per new Marquette data.

Remember how pundits said 2024 meant Dems must become restrictionist to win back working class? I challenge that here:

newrepublic.com/article/2059...

Reposted by Suzanne Conklin Akbari

mobydickatsea.bsky.social
Moby Dick @mobydickatsea.bsky.social · 17h
chief mates, and second mates, and third mates, and sea carpenters, and sea coopers, and sea blacksmiths, and harpooneers, and ship keepers; a brown and brawny company, with bosky beards; an unshorn, shaggy set, all wearing monkey jackets for morning gowns

Reposted by David C. Kimball, Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

whstancil.bsky.social
Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 21h
Glad this is getting covered, but also… Completely surreal to read the NYT report on this as recently disclosed info, and just an allegation. This happened to every observer I know! It happened to me twice! I have it on video both times! www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/u...

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Marc Lynch, Ben H. Ansell , and 22 more

fishkin.bsky.social
Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 23h
This is a genuinely huge, sweeping victory today for the University of California—or rather, for us, its faculty, acting through our faculty associations, while the UC itself maintained a strict policy of deer-in-headlights silence.

The Trump admin has given up its appeal of a powerful injunction:
Trump administration drops appeal of court order blocking $1.2-billion UCLA settlement
The Trump administration dropped its appeal of a major higher education case in which a federal judge blocked its $1.2-billion settlement proposal to UCLA over alleged civil rights violations. It will...
www.latimes.com

Reposted by Adrian Daub, Suzanne Conklin Akbari

dansinker.com
dan sinker @dansinker.com · 1d
Hey remember the shooting in Minneapolis that happened between Renee Good and Alexi Pretti, the guy they claimed was shot by an agent after he had attacked that agent with a shovel? I know it's hard to believe but the agents' story fell apart and charges were dropped. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/u...
Agents Suspended After Their Story of Shooting an Immigrant Falls Apart A judge dropped charges against the immigrant and another man after the top federal prosecutor in Minnesota said new evidence was not consistent with the agents’ testimony.

Reposted by Suzanne Conklin Akbari

workshops4gaza.bsky.social
Workshops4Gaza @workshops4gaza.bsky.social · 1d
Can 20 people join us today in donating to the Sameer Project for Ramadan? $8 provides a meal for a family, and $32 can pay for groceries. You can also donate more to fund a water truck or a water desalination plant.

Pass this on, please.

See their IG for details: www.instagram.com/p/DUq5PoSjkK0
Screenshot of sameerproject on IG Ramadan and Community: A Guide for Giving Back (P.S. you don’t have to be Muslim to participate) Zakat eligible Sameer Project x translating Falasteen

Reposted by Cas Mudde, Anna O. Law, Lisa W. Fazio , and 41 more

crindivisible.bsky.social
Cooper River Indivisible @crindivisible.bsky.social · 1d
Yesterday morning kids were sent running from their bus stop in panic because ICE showed up. This guy at today’s ICE Out of Lindenwold protest is a must watch 😭. @maddow.bsky.social

Reposted by John McLaren, Suzanne Conklin Akbari

mikehixenbaugh.com
Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · 1d
This post is really taking off. I know the Thanksgiving detail is grabbing, but I would encourage everyone to also read the full article about this family’s struggle at Dilley.

They’ve been locked up for 130+ days.

I spent hours with them on Zoom this week, and their story deserves to be heard.
'Even in Russia, they don't treat children like this': A family's nightmare in ICE detention
A Russian couple and their children sought asylum in the U.S. In a Texas detention center, they say they endured worms in the food and hourslong waits for medicine.
www.nbcnews.com

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Elizabeth Saunders, Rebecca Solnit , and 27 more

mikehixenbaugh.com
Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · 1d
On Thanksgiving, the immigrant children held at the Dilley detention center gathered in the gym for what they thought was a holiday feast.

The kids salivated over a spread of turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, a family told me.

But the food wasn’t for detainees — it was for the staff.
On Nov. 16, a mental health counselor recorded in Kamilla’s medical records that her mother reported the girl had lost her appetite after being “served food that contained worms.” A week later, the couple said, children were told to gather in the gym for what they believed would be a Thanksgiving celebration. Excitement spread as families saw tables set with turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, they said. The children waited expectantly. But when a parent asked when the celebration would begin, Oksana said, staff told them the holiday meal was for employees, not detainees. The children, she said, watched despondently as the feast was packed away.

sakbari.bsky.social
Suzanne Conklin Akbari @sakbari.bsky.social · 1d
Bloch: “Since we were not prophets we had not guessed about Nazism. […] We knew all of this. And yet, lazily, cowardly, we let it be.”

sakbari.bsky.social
Suzanne Conklin Akbari @sakbari.bsky.social · 1d
“In The Strange Defeat, Bloch warned us about the tragic moral failings awaiting the historians who, in the face of dystopian forces, choose to abandon the critical and moral duties that come with their craft for the sake of their own comfort and convenience.”

sakbari.bsky.social
Suzanne Conklin Akbari @sakbari.bsky.social · 1d
“What does it mean – and how does it feel – then, to be a historian in increasingly dystopian times?” Important reading, esp the powerful final section, “Defeat.”

Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce, Suzanne Conklin Akbari

asheeshksi.bsky.social
Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshksi.bsky.social · 1d
(4) This leaves humanists in a bind because there is no political support for the idea of publicly funded curiosity driven humanities research. So how do we create that? How should a future Democratic administration rebuild the NEH?

Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce, Charles West, Samuel Workman , and 2 more

asheeshksi.bsky.social
Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshksi.bsky.social · 1d
I'd like at add a few things to this. (1) humanists have not been able to convince any political party that curiosity-driven humanities research is a public good that should be funded using tax dollars. Republicans don't believe this, but neither do Democrats.

Reposted by Suzanne Conklin Akbari

commondreams.org
Common Dreams @commondreams.org · 1d
The co-founder of Palestine Action called the decision "a monumental victory both for our fundamental freedoms here in Britain and in the struggle for freedom for the Palestinian people."
'Now Drop All the Charges!' High Court Rules Palestine Action Was Illegally Banned by UK Government
The co-founder of Palestine Action called the decision "a monumental victory both for our fundamental freedoms here in Britain and in the struggle for freedom for the Palestinian people."
www.commondreams.org

Reposted by Suzanne Conklin Akbari

isisnaucratis.bsky.social
Isis Naucratis @isisnaucratis.bsky.social · 1d
I wrote an essay about how it feels to be a historian at this particular point in history
everydayorientalism.wordpress.com/2026/02/13/o...
On Being a Historian in Dystopian Times
by Katherine Blouin It is tempting to identify with Resistance and to say, “That is what I would have done.” Alas, we are far more likely to act, in parallel situations, like the Vichy majority. In…
everydayorientalism.wordpress.com

Reposted by John R. Hutchinson, Ann Bartow, Suzanne Conklin Akbari , and 2 more

kashhill.bsky.social
Kashmir Hill @kashhill.bsky.social · 1d
In an internal memo in May, Meta laid out its plans to release facial recognition in its smart glasses, to the blind first, & then to the general public.

“Civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
Meta Plans to Add Facial Recognition Technology to Its Smart Glasses
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Suzanne Conklin Akbari

musicologyduck.bsky.social
Musicology Duck @musicologyduck.bsky.social · 2d
at an event with Mahmoud Khalil and he just said America is a democracy “when it’s convenient” and …whew