Writing a global history of civil disobedience | And an autobiography of my mother | Soon: Klarman Fellow,
@CornellGov
/ Assistant Professor,
@UCIrvine
In my dissertation, I argue that student activism played a key role in the intellectual history of civil disobedience at least twice: at the beginning of the 1960s (Freedom Rides, sit-in movement) and at the end of the 1960s (antiwar movements) —
I have been conducting research about the 1968 Columbia protests for such a long time, but I honestly do not know what to say right now. Except, perhaps, that student movements have been one of the most progressive, courageous political avantgardes of the past century
Notes on the war from a Brazilian perspective
#1
: not only has the Israeli government still not allowed Brazilian Palestinians to leave Gaza, but Israel’s ambassador to Brazil met with far-right former President Bolsonaro and his party this week, and not the current president
Some personal news: I will be joining the University of California, Irvine’s
@Social_Ecology
in Summer 2025 as an Assistant Professor. I will be teaching and conducting research on what I deeply love: intellectual history and the history of political thought. I feel... relieved.
A few colleagues and I are considering convening an open, online course on resistance, student activism, and similar topics. We will use each meeting to help circulate calls for funds for Gaza and Palestine. If you want to lead a class, please DM me. No degrees required!
The Department of Philosophy at the Federal University of Bahia is looking for a visiting assistant professor (1-5 years, with salaries starting from $3,000). Philosophy in Brazil also encompasses political theory. DM me with any questions!
First day of my dissertation writing retreat. For two months, I will be living (more or less) isolated to finish this damn thing. If I am unable to write enough by the end of the month, I must give up my postdoc fellowship. Wish me luck 💙
I’m officially in the job market. I’m a philosopher and historian of political thought with research interests in the history of anticolonial ideas and the politics of social movements. My current project offers a global history of civil disobedience.
Aceitei um cargo de professor assistente na Universidade da Califórnia, Irvine. Nos próximos cinco anos, planejo visitar regularmente universidades brasileiras. Eu arcaria com todos os custos associados com minha visita. Se alguém te tiver interessado, é só me avisar 🙏🏾
My first book for a general audience, But What Is Civil Disobedience?, will appear in 2025 with
@ubu_editora
, a Brazilian publishing house that has recently published the work of Audre Lorde,
@hystericalblkns
, Malcolm X, and Frantz Fanon
#writingcommunity
@Social_Ecology
Day 55: I need to finish my dissertation as soon as possible, I’m unemployed, I’m the main provider and caregiver for my family and I’m having anxiety crises
Returning to the job market in one week!
I am a philosopher, political theorist, and historian of political thought with research interests in the history of ideas and the politics of social movements.
Maybe it is because I come from other academic systems, but I see with great sadness the way my colleagues in the US and the UK make their careers revolve around publishing articles in the so-called top journals, even after tenure. How to navigate this?
🇨🇭 Professional news: Starting in February, I’ll be an assistant to the Professor of Political Theory and the History of Political Thought at the Centre for Public Law of
@UniL
, Sandrine Baume. I’ll be replacing
@Augusto_Sperb
for six months and working alongside
@FriderikeSpang
Sharing this because it may resonate with other young scholars’ experiences. In 2020, I had to start psychiatric treatment for generalized anxiety. And by a combination of factors, my crises become more intense in the face of a seemingly anodyne task: grading.
Thank you so much, everyone, I got it! Itʼs only a fixed-term position, but one that will allow me to focus on my dissertation and R&Rs. More information soon, I promise!
I’ll spend the end of May at the State University of Santa Cruz in Ilhéus, Bahia, as a visiting fellow. I’ll deliver a series of lectures based on my book for
@Ubu_Editora
on civil disobedience in Brazil and give a talk on my other project, titled “A Phenomenology of My Mother”
My article, “Resisting in Times of Law and Order: Civil Disobedience, American Conservatism, and the War on Crime,” has been accepted for publication in a special issue of the Annual Review of Law and Ethics 🕯️
I have landed a great postdoc and had to choose between two great assistant professorships, but I keep receiving rejections for positions that were clearly a better fit for my research profile. All this is so random...
A meeting with James Baldwin doesn’t quite go according to plan for a group of presumptuous white filmmakers in this rarely seen, Paris-set short film.
As inscrições para o curso que vou oferecer no Serviço de Cultura e Extensão da FFLCH-USP, “Desobediência civil: crítica, resistência e (não-)violência,” abrem essa sexta. O curso é gratuito, on-line e aberto a todos. Haverá certificados:
Would anyone be potentially interested in organizing a (perhaps small, perhaps online) history workshop on contemporary activism next year? We urgently need something like the History Workshop Movement again
@HistoryWO
#twitterstorians
My essay on anthropology and philosophical sensibility has been accepted for publication in
@AmEthno
. Thank you,
@kelizaw
, for the encouragement and exquisite editorial work!
In what will probably be my last message around here for a long time: although the stakes are high, and thanks to the encouragement and kind support of many of you, this little book project is now slowly and finally becoming a reality. That’s the book I’ve always wanted to write.
As an alumnus of, and former lecturer at, the Charles University, I feel extremely sad about yesterday's attack. Prague has always been an academic refuge for me. My thoughts will be with my colleagues, friends, and former students during this holiday season
Are y'all constantly asked about the relationship between your research project and your identity? Some people regularly want to know what is Black, what is Brazilian, what is Latin American about my research project... because I am Black, Brazilian, Latin American...
O grande desafio da vida acadêmica não tem a ver com aprender línguas estrangeiras, apresentar e publicar a sua pesquisa, etc. O desafio é engolir sapo, lidar com hierarquias (reproduzidas por intelectuais de esquerda) e tolerar microagressões todo santo dia, fudidxs e mal pagxs
“When people like me, they like me ‘in spite of my color.’ When they dislike me; they point out that it isn’t because of my color. Either way, I am locked into the infernal circle.”
#writers
#writersoftwitter
#amwriting
@lounge_writers
The newest issue of GLQ (30:1) features a new editorial section called "Q2," read the articles in this section for free!
GLQ's aim is to offer queer perspectives on all issues touching on sex and sexuality. Learn more:
After much discussion, my mother agreed that not only my name but also hers should be on the cover of her autobiography. Next step, perhaps: to convince her that only her name should appear on the cover
The problem is having to read and write for hours on end about resistance, disobedience, and non-conformism (AND the occupation of the Sorbonne in 1968) and at the same time having to write a well-behaved thesis on these subjects.
Perhaps that is too late for the fall term, but if you are looking for a short text to assign on the concept of violence, my essay for
@philosopher1923
may be what you are looking for. It covers both traditional and recent debates about the concept:
Uma coisa que me incomoda na recepção brasileira do pensamento preto estadunidense é a forma como compramos com facilidade uma narrativa histórica que faz, por exemplo, do Malcolm X e da Angela Davis os atores políticos mais radicais dos últimos cem anos
Just a few days since
@erinrpineda
and I submitted our special issue proposal to South Atlantic Review on the criminalization and policing of political dissent, and the topic seems more timely than ever
Intellectual historians: any recommendations of methodological texts on how to study the shifting meanings and circulation of (political) concepts and ideas? I want to get an idea of what I may inadvertently be leaving out of my dissertation 🙏🏾
#twitterstorians
Anxiety is paralyzing. And it reminds me at every moment that I don't have the bodily and spiritual disposition necessary for academic life. There is never mercy when we are sick, when we fail, when we are too slow.
I’ll be offering a masterclass based on my mother’s (auto)biography at
@uealdc
on March 3rd. If you happen to be in Norwich or London that week, please let me know!
This experimental piece about my mother has just been accepted for publication in The Decolonial Passage, a new magazine that centers “African, African American, and Black Diaspora writing from the African continent, the Americas, Europe, and beyond”!
Não tenho SoundCloud, mas aproveito para divulgar o trabalho fantástico do
@GepaUFSM
. O livro que eles publicaram recentemente sobre organizações pretas pode ser baixado de graça aqui:
E para não perder a deixa, os juízes de primeira instância amanhã:
📖 On another kind of rejection: I was unable to find sponsors for the President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship programs at Princeton and at the University of California. I always feel like I’ve made a misstep when I don’t hear back from potential mentors
My time as an assistant editor at
@RevDem2020
will soon begin. I’ll be hosting podcasts and writing book reviews for the section “Ideas.” If you have any suggestions, please send them my way (DMs open)! We’re also looking for political fiction and creative nonfiction.
I need some help for an ongoing project: What recent books (published after 2010) about resistance should I read? Open to all genres and any understanding of what resistance entails. And to self-promotion!
#writingcommunity
#writersoftwitter
I’m still desperately unemployed and accepting gigs until the end of September. I write, I edit, I teach, I cook, I babysit your dog, I help you to conduct research for your project:
If I could rewrite my review of
@erinrpineda
’s “Seeing Like an Activist,” I'd emphasize what has been for my scholarship the most important contribution of her work: to avoid the ways in which we tend very easily to assume that political concepts can replace political judgment
I’ll be offering an online course at
@philosopher1923
on the history and philosophy of civil disobedience. Please join us!
It will run weekly on Weds from May 10th to June 14th. Sessions will last one hour from 10am PST/1pm Eastern/6pm GMT/7pm CET.
One of the little pleasures of writing in French, in France, is to be allowed to rely on allusions, suggestions, and non-dits, which most of my Anglo-American colleagues can barely tolerate without saying: it is unclear, it is vague, please elaborate
It is fascinating to realize that most of my left-wing colleagues are to the right of Rawls when it comes to justifying civil disobedience and conceiving of the role of professors in supporting student resistance movements
I can see the time coming when theorists of (un)civil disobedience currently silent will use these protests as examples in their work. It's typically too late that philosophers and theorists try to contribute to the debates about resistance or the struggles reshaping the world
Many of you seem to want to actively ignore the extent to which intellectual history and political theory are animated by antiblackness, even if you write about Black authors and even if you invite tenured Black professors to your events