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Joseph Cermatori

@cermatori.bsky.social
1.8K followers 1.2K following 161 posts

criticism & theory - literature, art, performance, politics and culture 🌿 assoc. prof. @ Skidmore College author: “Baroque Modernity” (JHUP 2021) www.josephcermatori.com

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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
More info here: www.skidmore.edu/hi/index.php
skidmore.edu
The Center for Humanistic Inquiry
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
especially through our annual Humanistic Inquiry Symposium, which brings the terrific humanists at Skidmore into conversation with one another and with the wider community. Photo above is from one of my first presentations at the Symposium, a few years back. #humanities #scholars #academia 📚👨🏻‍🏫🎓
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Some more nice professional news! This semester I’m stepping into a new role as Co-Director of Skidmore’s Center for Humanistic Inquiry, alongside my department colleague Barbara Black. I’m looking forward to working with colleagues whose research I might not otherwise encounter,
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
“Like the Benjamin text it studies, this monograph is an expansive, layered exploration that will require multiple readings to fully assess and exhaust. … It is both a meditation on and an exhortation for what theatricality means and what it can do—for artists of the past and future."
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
My book *Baroque Modernity* turns five this fall. What a treat to know that reviews of the book are still gradually coming out. Here's one that was just published recently in the journal “Theatre History Studies.” muse.jhu.edu/pub/181/arti... 📚🎭✍🏼 #booksky #baroque #literary #criticism #academia
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
🌿🌿🌿
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
youtu.be
What happened to the intellectual?
YouTube video by London Review of Books (LRB)
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
“We live in an age where knowledge is no longer sitting outside of society or the economy, offering a picture of how society works.“ — @will-davies.bsky.social on the “deconstruction of the figure of the intellectual,” in conversation on the @lrb.co.uk #podcast. #writers #critics #critique 📚🎧
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Great development from Columbia’s Core Curriculum! Total ban on all electronic devices from the CC classroom. And “Faculty committees governing the Core [will] discuss the full range of the AI working group’s recommendations this fall.” 🔥🦁🩵🖤 @columbiauniversity.bsky.social h/t: @rezekjoe.bsky.social
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
😡😡😡
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
😡😡😡
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
This looks like a great slideshow!
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
And in other news this #Pride week: gomag.com/article/san-... 😡😡😡
gomag.com
San Francisco Gay Bars Are Scanning Patrons’ Faces and Collecting Their Data - GO Magazine
Several bars in the Castro are now using facial recognition technology that records a person's name, address, and even their gender.
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Graduates boo AI — “Kareen Gill, a recent graduate of American University, thinks a lot of her generation is feeling pessimistic about AI. … ‘I think at the beginning we were excited about it and it was this cool thing, ‘Oh, I can write an essay for you,’ but now like, we don't want that anymore…’”
npr.org
Advice for 2026 commencement speakers: Don't bring up AI
Commencement speakers who bring up the sweeping changes that artificial intelligence is driving are facing boos from the Class of 2026.
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Henry!!
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Born on this Day: the great Greek-Alexandrian poet Constantine Cavafy, trailblazer in modern gay poetry. I wrote about him for Accelerate Magazine, seen through the lens of gay photographer Duane Michals. #gaypoetry #gayartists #lgbtq #nationalpoetrymonth #taurean tang.skidmore.edu/collection/e...
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Final week of spring semester — teaching ORLANDO: A BIOGRAPHY 💖 #currentmood #virginiawoolf #booksky
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Reposted by Joseph Cermatori
Ida B Wells' Winchester Rifle @dytsras.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Bluesky might be the only place on the internet where I dont have to see any ads
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
nytimes.com
Orban, Beacon to the Right, Concedes Defeat in Hungary’s Election
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
😡😡😡
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
😡😡😡
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
I saw this book on display at the MSA exhibit hall last fall and thought it look fabulous.) And not just its gorgeous cover.) It’s nice to meet you on BlueSky, and I’ll look forward to reading your review of it.
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
thecrimson.com
Summers To Resign From Teaching Appointments, Relinquish University Professorship Over Epstein Ties | News | The Harvard Crimson
Former Harvard President Larry Summers will resign from his academic and faculty appointments at Harvard at the end of the academic year, relinquishing his University Professorship — Harvard’s highest...
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
h/t: @alexanderchee.bsky.social — “The plan's $38 billion budget is more than the total annual spending for 22 states, according to state budget data.”
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
About small liberal-arts colleges, Ian Bogost writes in @theatlantic.com: “The form of higher ed that they provide seems poised to be the most resilient in the years to come.” 🎓 #educationmatters #academia #liberalarts #academicsky #SLAC
theatlantic.com
The Accidental Winners of the War on Higher Ed
Go to a small liberal-arts college if you can.
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
@reppaultonko.bsky.social @raskin.house.gov @kirstengillibrand.bsky.social @schumer.senate.gov @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Olympics next!
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
After the past week, this headline from @mashagessen.bsky.social in the @nytimes.com says it all.
nytimes.com
Opinion | State Terror Has Arrived
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
New semester, new office — starting to feel like I’m settled in. For everyone who’s with me returning to the classroom this month: stay warm, stay strong, keep up the good fight. Education matters. #academia #highered #humanitiessky #officehours
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
“Starting around 2020, the United States experienced a sustained disruption consisting of the Covid pandemic, economic strain and intensifying political conflict — each of which has been linked to heightened intergroup hostility and scapegoating.”
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
“Also surprising is that although anti-gay bias has risen faster among conservatives, it has also risen among liberals.”
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
“Perhaps most surprising is that these trends were distinctly robust among the youngest American adults — those under 25. This group increased its animus against marginalized groups in general and gay people in particular at a faster rate than older Americans did.” #stophate #gaypride
nytimes.com
Opinion | Americans Are Turning Against Gay People
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
“One question runs throughout: how is it that human beings be? … Light-takers, light-makers, love-vessels…” ♥️🎨
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
“Georges de La Tour’s scan of the visual field is a stark, bold testing out of basic facets of experience. What is it to face another human, when that person cannot see you?“ 🕯️🔥 @lrb.co.uk #baroque #arthistory
lrb.co.uk
Julian Bell · At the Musée Jacquemart-André: On Georges de La Tour
Georges de La Tour’s scan of the visual field is a stark, bold testing out of basic facets of experience. What is it...
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
😡😡😡
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
@ehayot.bsky.social and @mattseybold.bsky.social writing for the @chronicle.com - an urgent assessment of our current situation and the fights still ahead…
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
“The crisis of the humanities has been revealed by the events of the last year to be a crisis of civil society writ large. … Many [non-humanities] educators now see that defunding the humanities is the tip of a spear aimed at them as well.” The answer is “to organize.”
chronicle.com
The ‘Crisis of the Humanities’ Is Over. That’s Not a Good Thing.
All of higher ed now suffers the attacks of politics and technology.
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
See also: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/u... “The reordering comes as the Trump administration has been slashing research funding to American schools that depend heavily on the federal government to pay for scientific endeavors.”
nytimes.com
Chinese Universities Surge in Global Rankings as U.S. Schools Slip
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
(Reminder: the arts are the crucial cultural infrastructure of a functioning and democratic civil society. Making sure that more people have access to them matters. #democracynow)
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Reasons for hope, from @adambonica.bsky.social “There is another America inside this one, visible in the statistics of nations that made different choices. Call it Latent America: the nation that would exist if our democracy functioned to serve the public rather than protect the already powerful.”
data4democracy.substack.com
The Wall Looks Permanent Until It Falls
On the optimism of preparation in a time of democratic decay.
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
“‘The shared laughter in a crowded theater, the eager debrief after a musical, the heavy silence that hangs over all of us in a drama — these are moments that every New Yorker deserves,’ Mamdani said later.”
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
“And on his ninth day in office, he stood on Hillel Place in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, handing out cards with QR codes for those tickets to anyone who wanted them.“
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Joseph Cermatori @cermatori.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
“Mamdani — the son of the filmmaker Mira Nair, a onetime rapper and a sometime patron of comedy, music and theater — this week prevailed upon the annual Under the Radar festival, which is running through Jan. 25, to make 1,500 free tickets available.“
nytimes.com
Handing Out Free Tickets, Mamdani Says Theater Should Not Be ‘a Luxury’
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