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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

An MA and PhD course this Fall 2026, with Prof. Targol Mesbah!

Climate crisis protest with dozens of canoes blocking an oil tanker, including a Palestinian flag in the foreground. Lettering reads “Political Ecology: critical approaches to anthropology of the environment, and Socio ecological change”

Text: “ in the last century we have entered a period of unprecedented environmental transformations leading to what many scholars believe is the biosphere on the brink”

Book covers: Uncommon Ground by William Cronin, Ecology of Everyday Life by Chaia Heller, Understories by Jake Kosek, Staying with the Trouble by Donna Haraway

Text; this course explores political psychology as an interdisciplinary approach to understanding Socio ecological processes of change

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

James Kelman! See his new book and all our Kairos editorial imprint titles on @pmpress.bsky.social @pmpressuk.bsky.social here: pmpress.org/index.php?l=... 📹James Kelman on Self Determination on YouTube

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Registration open now! www.healthautonomyconvergence.com

Flyer with a Black and white photo of a mid 20th century protest, with an ethnically diverse range of participants, mostly femme, with shirts bearing slogans such as silence = death, and signs saying “no mandatory testing of physicians,” “heal the system” etc.

Text above reads: “Health autonomy convergence June 12-14, San Francisco a national convergence for healthcare workers to come together, share experiences, and continue to the work of building a network of radical care. Healthautonomyconvergence.com. Registration opens April.

Text below reads: “ organized by havoc hosted by the department of anthropology and social change at CIIS”

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

The 5th annual David Graeber Memorial Lecture! Pre-register for the event, here: ciis.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Event flyer. Background photo with the late David Graeber seated cross-legged in his office, a serene expression, books on either side, a potted plant in the window and a lamp behind him. In the foreground, the four logos of the organizing departments and orgs: Elizabeth Bruyere School, Rojava University, ICSyH BUAP, and CIIS. John’s photo in lower-right, a wild silver-haired Caucasian man with a wry smile. Text in lower left reads, “co-production of: Elizabeth Bruyere School of Social Innovation; Rojava University; Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities BUAP; and Anthropology and Social Change at CIIS.”

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Set reminders to tune in live: m.youtube.com/@anthciis/st... 1/4 The Building Blocks of a New World “Öcalan expresses a series of concepts that in the 21st century are increasingly becoming the building blocks for the political construction of a new world.” —⁠Antonio Negri

Event flyer. Mostly-obscured Kurdish mural in the background of a femme figure holding an autumn, leafless tree in her upturned left hand. In the foreground, circle shaped professional photo of the speaker, a light skinned bespectacled figure in black, arms folded. Text reads: “ anthropology, and social change visiting scholar series presents the building blocks of a New World talks on Rova Revolution February 9-11 530 to 7:30 PM free Namaste Hall 1453 Mission St., San Francisco three talks! Questions: smaccracken@ciis.edu Reimar Heider Feb 9 a series of concepts: surprising twists Feb 10 building blocks: democratic, confederalism, Jineolojî and the queen of sciences Feb 11 construction of a new world: organize, organized, autonomy, education, and self-defense

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

Curious about our MA+PhD in activist anthropology? Sign up for the Tuesday 5pm Info Session, here: www.ciis.edu/events/anthr... . 📹Prof. Targol Mesbah for the inauguration of Academy of Social Science

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

Curious about mostly online our activist Anthropology MAs+PhDs? Sign up for the Sept 5, 4pm Pacific Time Info Session with our founding department chair, Andrej Grubačić: www.ciis.edu/events/anthr... Train in Anthropology informed by methodologies from Anarchism to Marxism.

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

Brands Me and my marketing to gay friends: gays:

Image of a fit Caucasian masc person decked out in matching rainbow pants, blazer, umbrella, sunglasses, and necktie over a bare chest, making an exuberant “let’s party” gesture.

News photo of the anti-ICE rioters in L.A. ducking LAPD teargas behind a makeshift barricade made of repurposed pink metal park furniture.

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

If “end-stage capitalism” were a single picture.

Dog-killing, prison photo op taking “ICE Barbie,” Kristi Noem in her “police ice” labeled drab uniform, with her infamous Rolex on her left wrist. In the forefront, a large mockup of the watch labeled with its retail price, $45,000.

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

In our Societies Against the State course this Spring, we are studying the Kurdish Freedom Movement all semester! . Curious about our low-residency MA+PhD in activist anthropology? Sign up today to join the April 15, 5:30pm Pacific Info Session: www.ciis.edu/events/anthr...

An “alternate timeline” meme of the (imprisoned in real life) beaming Kurdish Freedom movement leader Abdullah Öcalan in a green button up shirt appearing implausibly on the cable tv program “The Daily Show.” Host John Stewart gestures for the camera toward our PM Press book, Building Free Life: Dialogues with Öcalan, a yellow book with Öcalan’s face on the cover.

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

📹Subcomandante Marcos removes his mask! . Interested in our low-residency MA+PhD in activist anthropology, including research in solidarity with populations in struggle? Sign up for the April 15, 5:30pm Pacific Info Session: www.ciis.edu/events/anthr...

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Interested in our low-residency MA+PhD in activist anthropology? Sign up here for the April 15, 5:30pm Pacific Time online Info Session: www.ciis.edu/events/anthr... 📹Department friend @davidgraeber (RIP🖤) from davidgraeber.org on the Paradox of Sovereignty

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

…(and Anthropology specifically) we build upon work by Noam Chomsky, David Graeber, James C. Scott, and Pierre Clastres. Our emphasis is on real uptopias, human projects and movements with an anti-statist focus. 4/8

Wallerstein wearing spectacles with images of the earth globe in each lens. Text at the top reads “capitalism’s late stage intensifies”

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Anthropology and Social Change is a distinctive MA and PhD Program with an activist emphasis. Research universities often have an activist faculty member. Our activist focus is department-wide. In following an anarchist lineage in the humanities generally… 3/8

“Why not both” meme format with cute femme kid and yellow subtitles saying “why don’t we have both?” Above in bold white capitals: “Anthropology? Social change?”

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Apply for the BA completion program, plus give them an additional statement in why you’d like to work with us. If you qualify, you could complete your BA, plus earn an MA from us in half the usual time. Have both. www.ciis.edu/academics/de... 2/8

“Why not both” meme format with cute femme kid and yellow subtitles saying “why don’t we have both?” Above in bold white capitals: “bachelors completion? Accelerated MA?”

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

New Degree option just dropped! Looking to finish a BA? Maybe get an accelerated MA with us in Activist Anthropology? See link below for info on CIIS accelerated degree programs! . www.ciis.edu/academics/ac... 1/8

“Why not both” meme format with cute femme kid and yellow subtitles saying “why don’t we have both?” Above in bold white capitals: “anarchism? Communism?”

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Wednesday! ciis.zoom.us/j/98062486957 Celebrate David Graeber’s birthday with us! 4th Annual David Graeber Memorial Lecture with Eyal Weizman. Bookmark the above Zoom link. . “Conditions of Life Calculated...” on the Gaza Genocide 1/10

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Anarchist methodologies in Anthropology. It’s definitely a thing: Scott, Clastres, Graeber. And in fictions of Anthropology, LeGuin. . What’s rare (maybe unprecedented?) is an entire graduate department like this. . Join us at the CIIS Spring Open House to learn more: www.ciis.edu/events/sprin...

James Scott, Pierre Clastres, Ursula LeGuin, and David Graeber in the stars. A news headline below reads “Project 2025 mainly led by ex-Trump officials, leaked videos reveal” Large macro meme-text reads “my idols are dead” above, and “my enemies are in power” below

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

The fall of the Syrian regime has created new crises and new opportunities in the Middle East. As Kurds in Syria celebrate the end of a regime that has rendered countless Kurds stateless and denied the existence of a Kurdish identity, language and culture… 1/5

“ online panel, Rojava under pressure: women’s revolution, as a beacon of Hope and uncertain times. Women, freedom, Rosa between Utopia and geopolitical reality panelists: Shiraz Hemo - coordinating member of Kongra Star Foza Yusif - executive board member of the democratic unity party Rohilat Afrin - command of the women’s defense units. Moderation - Meghan Bodette Director of research, Kurdish peace Institute. December 12, 2024 at 19 00 CET online broadcast on the YouTube channel @kongrastar22 “

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Throwback to our department chair’s appearance on @thefinalstrawradio.bsky.social thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/categor...

Photo of Andrej Grubačić, a bearded and bald masc Yugoslavian-born department chair, in a white shirt and floral scarf, standing in a room in the University of Rojava.

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Catch David Graeber+Andrej Grubačić’s introduction to this volume, reprinted in @anarchistlibrary.bsky.social, here: theanarchistlibrary.org/library/andr...

N.O. Bonzo book cover art. Stylized woodcut-like foliage in red and black forms an outer border, intercut with black lettering on a white banner that reads, “Mutual Aid: An Illuminated Factor of Evolution.” A corresponding banner at the bottom reads “Illustrated by N.O. Bonzo Introduction by David Graeber and Andrej Grubačić Foreword by Ruth Kinna Afterward by Allan Antliff Postscript by GATS. Center woodcut style image in black and white shows two laborers, one femme and one masc, hands clasped in solidarity. She holds a sickle and he carries a pitchfork. They are each flanked by stylized fruit trees and in the center behind their clasped hand is an abundance of wheat. A banner at the bottom of this center image reads “Peter Kropotkin.”

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Throwback to our event with @defendrojava.bsky.social + @dsa-lsc.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy L to R: Debbie Bookchin, Arthur Pye, Andrej Grubačić

Against a backdrop of Rojava flags: Debbie Bookchin, a femme in black with shoulder length black hair; Arthur Pye, a masc in blue button-up, Kurdish scarf, drab cadet cap, and glasses, and Andrej Grubačić a masc in a red cap and red shirt, seated in a panel at a table with the banner: “Defend Rojava: Direct democracy/Women’s Liberation/Social Ecology - Emergency Committee for Rojava - Defendeojava.org

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 26/03/2024

April 4! Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion together with @anthciis presents a talk by Dr. Manisha Anantharaman in the CIIS lobby. Pre-register here: forms.office.com/pages/respon...

Event flyer. Background image is of the CIIS lobby itself, facing the windows onto Mission St. Overlaid on that image are text, a photo of Dr. Manisha Anantharaman, a femme Desi person with long straight black hair, and the cover image of her book, showing a stylized image of the eastern hemisphere in green on white background, with the words “Recycling Class - The Contradictions of Inclusion in Urban Sustainability.” Flyer text reads: “ecology, spirituality, and religion + anthropology and social change present: Dr. Manisha Anantharaman - Recycling Class: the contradictions of inclusion in urban sustainability. April 4, 2024 4pm-6pm pacific time - Free talk! CIIS Lobby 1453 Mission St., SF.” The center of the flyer has a QR code that routes to the same pre-registration URL given in this post.

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 25/03/2024

Earn your MA or PhD in activist anthropology in our low-residency format! Two weeks per year at our San Francisco campus and the rest live online! . Train in ethnography in solidarity with populations in struggle. . Sign up here for the Info Session, Weds at noon PT: www.ciis.edu/events/anthr...

Meme format derived from a well-known TikTok where a barista shows themselves fixing an espresso drink while observing in their caption, “this drink literally costs me working for half an hour.” A still frame from the TikTok has been substituted for a paperback book cover image, and below the image is the text: “Penguin Classics - Karl Marx - Capital Volume 1” Overlaid on the entire meme is our course code and title: ANTH 6198 Contemporary Capitalism

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 04/03/2024

Earn your MA+PhD in our low-residency Activist Anthropology program. . Register for the March 27, noon Pacific Time info session: www.ciis.edu/events/anthr... . This is *not* a quote from department friend and influence, David Graeber! It’s an improvement on a Heath Ledger Joker meme!

Parody of a Heath Ledger Joker meme, but with David Graeber, nicely dressed in grey sport jacket over a jewel-red vest and dress shirt with earth-tone trousers, seated in a grey armchair with a city street visible behind. His arms are raised palm up to either side in an animated gesture, head slightly upturned and apparently in mid-speech. Top caption reads, “Support academics doing internet piracy and nobody panics, it’s just part of the plan.” Bottom caption reads, “Dissolce boundaries between academia and activism, and everyone loses their minds”

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 27/02/2024

Earn your MA or PhD in our low-residency activist Anthropology program! Sign up for tonight’s online 5:30pm pacific info session, here: www.ciis.edu/events/anthr... . Train in ethnography with populations in stateless spaces and political struggle as co-researchers! #activist #gradschool

Meme format with a woman Rojava soldier in fatigues and beret on the left, David Graber in dark glasses, white shirt and beige pants smoking a cigarette on the right. Each is labeled “co-researcher.”

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 02/02/2024

Monday and Tuesday! Two online talks with political exile Nazan Üstündağ! Use this one pre-registration for both talks: ciis.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 29/01/2024

An image combining art from our Kairos imprint @PMPressOrg books by Sean Michael Wilson and Janet Biehl with Rojava’s Social Contract from @defendrojava See more on our books here pmpress.org/index.php?l=... #socialist #graphicnovel

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 27/01/2024

Thanks all who attended the CIIS Open House. Next Dept. Info Session w/Andrej Grubačić, this Weds. Jan 31 at noon Pacific Time. Sign up here: www.ciis.edu/events/anthr... #rojava #gradschool

Meme format with confederate battle flag vs. Rojava YPJ and YPG flags. Text for the confederacy: “miserably defeated after 4 years, desperate to repeat. Text for Rojava: “10+ years running, still here”

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 24/01/2024

Earn your MA or PhD in our low-residency Activist Anthropology program! . Train in ethnography with populations in struggle, graduate with the tools to help make a better world in teaching, NGOs, research and more! Sign up for the Jan27 Open House here: www.ciis.edu/events/sprin...

Early Charlie Brown comic, with Charlie pulling from his stash of LP records. His word bubble is modified to say “Time for Activist Anthropology” in block letters, and the LP in his hand has an image based on Staughton Lynd and Andrej Grubačić’s volume Wobblies and Zapatistas, with illustrations of an IWW worker beside a masked Zapatista, with the words “activist anthropology low residency MA+PhD”

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 22/01/2024

A core class of ours, Societies Against the State! Curious about our low-residency MA and PhD in Activist Anthropology? Sign up for the CIIS Spring Open House this Saturday the 27th at 10am Pacific Time: www.ciis.edu/events/sprin... #gradschool #dankmemes

Meme format with wojak line drawing of a bespectacled head, red-eyed and crying squaring off against an image of radical democratic indigenous historical figure Kondiaronk as he appears on a Canadian postage stamp, but brandishing a copy of book, “The Dawn of Everything A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow,” and with an oversized “hello my name is Kondiaronk” name badge. The crying figure objects, “Nooooooo Society without a state? People would act based on reasoned persuasion rather than coercion!!!1!!” Kondiaronk replies simply, in large letters, “Yes.”

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 22/01/2024

Need protest signs for the strike week? Download and print images here (scroll all the way down): uscpr.org/oct-2023-pro...

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 22/01/2024

Earn your low residency MA or PhD in Activist Anthropology! Sign up in our link below to join the CIIS Open House, Jan 27, 10am Pacific Time! . www.ciis.edu/events/sprin... #antifascist #gradschool

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 19/01/2024

Watch this space for details on our upcoming Visiting Scholar Series talks! . #feminism #Rojava

Meme with top and bottom images. Top left, a photo of a beaming YPJ solider in a lineup of women fighters. Top right, elder women in a Rojava community defense force flashing the “v for victory.” A news caption says “How to abolish the police lessons from the Rojava Revolution. Bottom, three carbon copy images of famous “trans exclusionary radical feminist” (TERF) author JK Rowling, awkwardly sporting knit pink pussy hats, together forming a militant line of white TERFs. Captions read, at the top: “I’m a feminist,” then by the top Rojava images, “What I hope they mean ☀️,” and by the bottom image, “What they mean 😭.”

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 18/01/2024

Anarchist education theorist and martyr Francisco Ferrer, a department influence, plus a number of tools you can use right now to help liberate information! Interested in our online MA and PhD? Join the CIIS Spring Open House, Jan 27 at 10am pacific. Sign up here: www.ciis.edu/events/sprin...

Meme with a black and white photo of 19th/20th century Spanish Anarchist and martyr Francisco Ferrer surrounded by 21st century icons of liberated knowledge and information-secure organizing: Library Genesis, Signal, Pirate Bay, Public Libraries, Telegram, and Sci-Hub. Text on the top reads “Anarchists are ruining traditional education.” Text on the bottom reads “Do your part.”

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 18/01/2024

Bay Area Palestine events from Hero Tent on Instagram, starting today!

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 17/01/2024

Spring courses now underway! Earn your MA or PhD in our low-residency Activist Anthropology program! Sign up for the CIIS Spring Open House here: www.ciis.edu/events/sprin... ANTH 6172: Other Ways of Knowing in meme form

Meme contrasting “colonial/capitalist knowledge” with an “ecology of knowledges.” The former is represented by a wojak line drawing of a figure whose brain absurdly and grotesquely grows into a cage that imprisons him. Tears stream from his bloodshot eyes. The ecology of knowledges is represented by a host of wojak line drawings of figures surrounding the first figure but with their backs turned to him: a blonde trans chad, a doomer tradwife, a curly haired masked antifascist, a trans figure in pigtails, a group of masked anarchists of various schools, a purple haired alt girl, a doomer girl with a copy of Sociology of Freedom, a masked Zapatista, a lesbian activist, an alt girl with red and black hair, a determined YPJ fighter, and natives in traditional garb in the center.

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 17/01/2024

Based lineup just dropped. Earn your MA or PhD in our virtual Activist Anthropology program! Register here for the Spring Open House, Jan 27 at 10am Pacific: www.ciis.edu/events/sprin... . Legal notice: this is parody and we are not impersonating Coachella . #activist #anthropology

Parody of the Coachella 2024 lineup poster, with the headline, “Anthropology and Social Change Low Residency MA+PhD” Headline acts are replaced with the phrases, “Activist Ethnography, Militant Research, Social Change, with tons of subject areas in the place of the bands including, Rojava Revolution, Zapatismo, Workers Inquiry, World-Systems Research, Indigenous Resistance, Self-Determination” etc. Poster concludes, “and… Have No Doubt We are Anticapitalist” and finally, “courses taught by: Andrej Grubačić - Targol Mesbah - Michelle Glowa.”

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 16/01/2024

ANTH 6152 Global Social Movements in meme form… . top 📷 Show of strength … protests in Paris, 1968. Photograph: Sipa Press/REX/Shutterstock . bottom 📷 The protester Ieshia Evans being detained in Baton Rouge, La., on July 9, 2016 Credit...Jonathan Bachman/Reuters

Meme format made from top and bottom images. In top, black and white student 1968 protest with police on the left attacking apparently unarmed students on the right. In bottom, a color image of the famous arrest of civil rights protestor Iesha Evans on the right: dignified, impassive, and unarmed in a summer dress, being approached by two cautious and tentative cops in full riot armor, from the left. The left hand side with the police is captioned “colonial capitalist world system,” and the people on the right are captioned simply, “the people.”

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 16/01/2024

Earn your MA or PhD in low residency activist Anthropology! Join our Jan 27, 10am Pacific Open House with @ciis_sf Sign up here: www.ciis.edu/events/sprin... . Train in ethnography with a focus on solidarity with communities in struggle. 🍉

Detail image of a black and white keffiyeh with bold white text against a black border, saying “activist [watermelon emoji] ethnography”

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Anthropology and Social Change @anthciis.bsky.social · 12/01/2024

Ramsey Kanaan of (BlueSky newcomer) @pmpress.bsky.social teaches this popular 1 credit course with us! Open to all California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) students and originally designed as part of a “hands-on” activist curriculum with our MA Program in mind. #activist #anthropology

“Coolyori” meme format of an anime femme figure in sunglasses, making a finger-gun gesture, but with the addition of an “anarchocommunist” red and black hair bow rather than the usual solid red. Their image repeats in the left column three identical times, gesturing to the right hand column where the words read “writing,” “editing,” “getting published.

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