Here are more thoughts on academic life! Episode 12 is at your service: What the university has that cannot be delivered Two episodes ago I argued that the university’s peculiar gift is slow time — the licence to sit with a question for fifteen years. In the last one I argued that its other gift … Read more
In a major shift in British foreign policy, the United Kingdom has announced a comprehensive ban on the import of goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Unveiled on September 8, 2026, by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband under Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s administration, the move marks one of London’s strongest policy … Read more
One of the most exciting developments in my life is becoming a coordinator of a newly emerging center: Hekimbaşı Advanced Studies Center. We have a fantastic list of on-site seminars starting with Salvatore Maria Aglioti! Body, Brain, and Society: A Psychological and Neuroscientific Journey Salvatore Maria Aglioti Sapienza Università di Roma DATES 18–20 September 2026 … Read more
The global academic landscape is fiercely competitive, and the latest figures from the European Research Council (ERC) emphasize just how intense the pursuit of research funding has become. In September 2026, the ERC announced the awarding of 421 Starting Grants, totaling a massive €705 million investment under the Horizon Europe programme. While these numbers celebrate … Read more
View all our Gaza Verified people and please help them and their families if you can. بدك توثّق حسابك؟ انضم إلنا! The posts of Gaza Verified accounts are achived on the Gaza Verified Archive for posterity as first-hand witness testimony of the Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people. Our mission We exist to protect the … Read more
Ethnography, more important than ever The generative systems that have arrived in the last few years are extraordinarily good at a particular kind of intellectual work. Ask one of them what a body of literature says, and it will -mostly properly- summarize, cross-reference, and organize the written record with a facility no human scholar can … Read more
It was nice to catch up in Poznan, Poland, with my fellow anthropologists. I was here for this presentation: Saka, E. (2026, July 23). Sovereign AI and the Reproduction of Algorithmic Power: Governance Frameworks in the Global South. EASA2026: Anthropology: Possibilities in a Polarised World, Panel P018: Anthropology of Artificial Intelligence and Oppression [org. Sahana … Read more
We have a fresh new handbook, and the first substantive publication in my new research field is out! 11: Localizing the AI: an ethnography of balancing acts between the stakeholders in the periphery You can buy or access the whole handbook here. It is open access. Edited by Sahana Udupa and Peter Hervik This timely … Read more
In nine episodes (you can find them here), I have focused on some characteristics of the current academic life that is killing the university system -not any more- slowly: Nine episodes of administrative bloat, ranking obsessions, funding regimes that reward the wrong things, accreditation rituals nobody quite believes in, a journal hierarchy that has turned … Read more
Europe is in big trouble as Thermal cameras reveal intense heat for outdoor workers in Europe, the human toll increases, but Air conditioning creates political divide after France records hottest day and Europe is not ready for the climate crisis: Amid the heatwave, Europe needs a new urbanism Here is an in-depth report for the … Read more
https://commbox.org, the online database on international communication in the Global South with over 30,000 entries, has recently been launched. The site has a small section on Media Anthropology (65 titles), but you will find materials on Digital Cultures (80 publications), Culture & Media (392 titles) and on Nonwestern Communication Approaches (195 publications) as well. Explore … Read more
With another decree, we are back to business: –– Decision on the Repeal of Presidential Decree No. 11384 of May 21, 2026, Regarding the Revocation of the Operating License of Istanbul Bilgi University, to Which a Trustee Was Appointed for Its Founding Foundation (Decision No. 11387) 72-hour university shutdown exposes systemic vulnerability
All of us received the news through an official gazette announcement. Istanbul Bilgi University’s operating license was revoked by a midnight presidential decree published in the Official Gazette. Just like that, more than 900 academics, 600 personnel, and around 20,000 students are left upset. After 22 years at Bilgi, I do not know what the … Read more
A new phase in the Israel–Hezbollah confrontation appears to be emerging in southern Lebanon: the growing use of fiber-optic first-person-view drones, or FPV drones, by Hezbollah. These small, low-cost systems are not decisive weapons on their own, but they have exposed a significant vulnerability in Israel’s battlefield defenses, especially against short-range, low-flying threats that are … Read more
“There Is No Neutral Machine: The Necessary Contribution of Social Sciences and Humanities to AI” Keynote Speech — Erkan Saka Critical AI Studies Conference, Istanbul Bilgi University, 9 May 2026 [Formatted by using Claude.ai] To understand AI, we must stop treating it as a purely technical or mathematical achievement. And to explain why this matters, … Read more