Just a couple of weeks ago, Democrats seemed hopeless. Then Biden was gone, and now Kamala Harris and Tim Walz seem to be on the winning side. Tim Walz appears to be a strong vice presidential candidate for the Democrats for several reasons: Political experience: Walz has significant political experience, serving as Minnesota’s governor since … Read more
The climate crisis is hitting harder and harder, and I see many people around me feeling unwell with the high temperatures. July 22 sets new record for hottest day globally: EU climate monitor Even my father, who did not like to turn on the car’s AC during summer days, is complaining now! I have never … Read more
Despite being a star academic, he was kind enough to return my emails when I was an MA student. His Weapons of the Weak was influential in political thinking, and his Seeing Like a State was a major source for me retreating from a particular radical politics. In my Rice years, my research focus changed, … Read more
The official site is slightly clunky, but you can get it all there. My session is tomorrow. I have asked the chatGPT to categorize the conference topics: Top Topics at the EASA 2024 Conference Doing and Undoing Mobility: Several panels address the dynamics of mobility, immobility, and migration, often from an anthropological lens. Anthropology of … Read more
ICJ Ruling on Israel’s Occupation of Palestinian Territories Summary of the Ruling On July 19, 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a landmark advisory opinion declaring Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip, as unlawful under international law. This decision, while non-binding, carries significant political weight … Read more
Whatever the motives, Trump has just won a new level of legitimacy. I cannot know whether Democrats are doing any good domestically, but their global policies are a mess. The democratic establishment looks like it is giving up. What do we know about the assassination attempt: On July 13, 2024, an assassination attempt was made … Read more
We are witnessing a human-caused catastrophe, whether it is called genocide or not. A letter published in the Lancet caused controversy recently. I asked perplexity about the reliability of the Lancet piece on the Gaza death toll, which estimates that the true number of deaths could exceed 186,000. This is its summary: Methodology: The Lancet … Read more
POINT organizers were just great. We felt at home, productive meetings, exchanging ideas, and some sightseeing… One of the last places I meant to see was Gazi Husrev-beg’s library When you enter the library, the smell of books hits you. I did some reading there with many in the reading room but did not … Read more
We use Turnitin, which also offers AI similarity reports. There is nearly universal acceptance of Turnitin similarity reports in higher education, but AI similarity reports are a different case. I know a few students whom I trust had high similarity rates. This week, we discussed this with my colleagues. Some colleagues are very aggressive and … Read more
The video is in Turkish but a long summary is provided below: Remembering the Circassian Genocide and Exile on its 160th Anniversary with Elbruz Aksoy – Video Summary Speaker: Elbruz Aksoy Guest: Elbruz Aksoy Subject: Circassian Genocide and Exile Historical Background of the Circassian Genocide and Exile 160 Years of Diaspora:** New terminology of the … Read more
The video is age-restricted and only available on YouTube. I could not embed it here. Here is the video to watch I have seen it trending on TikTok and a restricted form can be found at Youtube. [Intro] Woo Yeah [Verse 1] The people, they won’t leave What is threatenin’ about divesting and wantin’ peace? The … Read more
April 2024 Israel–Hamas war protests on university campuses in the United States Pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses escalated on April 17, 2024, spreading to other universities in the United States and other countries, as a part of wider Israel–Hamas war protests. The escalation began after mass arrests at the Columbia University campus occupation, led by anti-Zionist groups, in which protesters … Read more
This week has been overwhelmingly busy. A few days ago, we met in Istanbul for the Istanbul session for our GRADE COST project. My colleague Ivo Furman did a fantastic job of organizing the event in a lovely place in Istanbul (check out the place, Postane). I also participated in organizing a Wikipedia session … Read more
Recent issues on American campuses related to pro-Palestinian causes include (The list was created with the help of Perplexity): Suppression of pro-Palestinian voices: There has been a surge in reports of pro-Palestinian activists being fired or facing threats for expressing their views, which has been described as the “Palestine exception to free speech”[2]. Legal … Read more
Prof. Fraser‘s case was really disappointing… Cologne University has canceled philosopher Nancy Fraser’s planned professorship after learning she signed a pro-Palestine letter. In her first interview after the cancellation, Fraser says she won't let Germany stop her from standing up for Palestine. https://t.co/B6tzjZ2I08 — Jacobin (@jacobin) April 10, 2024 Germany has been under pressure to … Read more