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Amardeep Singh

@electrostani.bsky.social
2.9K followers 1.6K following 662 posts

Professor of English at Lehigh University. Anglophone Postcolonial; Modernism; African American Literature; Digital Humanities. www.electrostani.com

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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Got a student applying for M.A. or Ph.D. programs in English? After years of working with students aspiring to graduate study, this summer I posted a tip sheet that might be helpful. www.electrostani.com/2026/07/stat...
electrostani.com
Statement of Purpose Tips (English Graduate programs -- M.A. and Ph.D. applications)
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This is an eye-opening, deeply researched piece. Highly recommended.
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Trying to explain special relativity to my first-year students in a class on Science/Fiction, and I came across @scottbot.net's blog post from 2014 that has exactly the historical + human-centered account I wanted. (Scott, did you ever do part 2 in this series?) www.scottbot.net/HIAL/index.h...
scottbot.net
Understanding Special Relativity through History and Triangles (pt. 1) – the scottbot irregular
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Dear autocorrect, I wanted to say "impute," not "input." Now please let me actually type that. Thank you.
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
This fall marks my 25th year in my current job at Lehigh. A lot I could say, but basically: incredibly lucky to have had a gig that's given me freedom to explore & develop. I've been posting some of my lecture notes to my blog from time to time; collected here: www.electrostani.com/p/teaching-n...
electrostani.com
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
An interesting approach to building a humanities class around a final oral examination. Doesn’t have to be that time-consuming, and there are potentially pedagogical benefits. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
Oral Exams for a Generative AI World: Managing Concerns and Logistics for Undergraduate Humanities Instruction
The emergence of generative artificial intelligence has forced humanities educators to reconsider traditional assessment methods, particularly take-home writing assignments vulnerable to content pr...
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
In 2015, the U.S. sent more than $100 million to aid Nepal after a massive earthquake, much of it distributed through USAID. After the disaster this week, the U.S. is sending … $500,000.
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Back from sabbatical! Here's my fall teaching: "What is the Role of Science in Science Fiction?" (seminar for 1st year students, co-taught with a colleague from Chemistry) "Global Climate Fiction" (grad seminar: an intro to Postcolonial Studies as well as Ecocriticism/Environmental Humanities)
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Hugh Howey, the author who wrote the Silo novels, created his own word processor (Neo) for people writing books: github.com/hughhowey/neo
github.com
GitHub - hughhowey/neo: A novel-writing tool created by a novelist.
A novel-writing tool created by a novelist. Contribute to hughhowey/neo development by creating an account on GitHub.
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
I've been doing a new project w/a grad student collaborator & we got interested in Tagore's short stories. (Alongside everything else, he was a world-class short story writer!) We made a collection of them; it's the largest set currently online (I think): scalar.lehigh.edu/literature-o...
scalar.lehigh.edu
Literature of Colonial South Asia: Short Stories by Rabindranath Tagore: A Collection
A Collection of Short Stories by Rabindranath Tagore in English Translation
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
This. The intense discussions "event" films like this provoke ought to remind us that choices about art, storytelling, and performance matter. This is what we *do* in humanities fields. We shouldn't need to keep insisting our work matters since it *obviously* matters a lot to millions of people.
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Arundhati Roy on "Cockroach Democracy": "The spontaneous rage we are witnessing will dissipate unless some real political work begins... [The government] remains unmoved because it feels that all it needs to do is wait. States have the power to wait. People don’t." thewire.in/rights/cockr...
thewire.in
Cockroach Democracy: Unarmed and Dangerous
Can all the people be fooled all the time? Can a country with a population of a billion-and-a-half be dragged around like a corpse forever? It cannot. The Cockroaches are out and about.
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
The family tried so hard to not believe it was happening… but it was.
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
India's new "cockroach" youth protests in a nutshell: It started with the leak of standardized test (NEET) used as entry exam for medical school. Not a small problem, since leaked tests have to be re-administered, causing stress & months of delays. Said that ~20 students died by suicide after. 1/
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Woohoo! We have an advance book contract: "THE ARCHIVE WRITES BACK: Minoritized Literatures & the Digital Textual Paradigm" Happy to be working with series editor @roopikarisam.bsky.social and publishing in the same series w/ @aearhart.bsky.social @elikaortega.bsky.social @eve.gd & many others.
Text of the opening section of an advanced contract between Stanford University Press and Amardeep Singh for a book called "The Archive Writes Back..."
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Élika Ortega @elikaortega.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Delighted to share that Binding Media has won the 2026 N. Katherine Hayles Award for Criticism of Electronic Literature! So honored to received this particular award because Hayles' work taught me to think about the weird literary works I've always been interested in. @stanfordpress.bsky.social
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
New Texas K-12 required literature reading lists. See pp. 44-64 at link below. In grades 9-12 exactly one poem by a Black author, Dunbar's "We Wear the Mask." No Black or Latinx fiction, drama. Random nonfiction by Thomas Sowell. Ayn Rand, Margaret Thatcher...😩 sboe.texas.gov/state-board-...
sboe.texas.gov
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
This interactive map of national origin census data from the NYT is a pretty impressive data visualization. (Screencap is Philly) However, it's troubling that Black and Brown communities are identified w/bright colors (red and orange). Makes it look like a problem? www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Ethnicity map of Philadelphia area from the New York Times. Shows African American, Puerto Rican, Italian, and other neighborhood concentrations. Also includes suburban areas that are predominantly Mexican American, like Norristown.
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
As I start to work with some of my advisees on graduate application materials, I thought it might be helpful to post my "Statement of Purpose Tips" document for English graduate school applications. I wrote most of it when serving as DGS a few years ago. www.electrostani.com/2026/07/stat...
electrostani.com
Statement of Purpose Tips (English Graduate programs -- M.A. and Ph.D. applications)
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Just belatedly read this excellent @rpanchasi.bsky.social essay at @publicbooks.bsky.social on Zoe Wallbrook's "History Lessons" and other academic / campus fictions that may or may not be in the "dark academia" orbit. (Looking forward to diving into "History Lessons" w/what's left of summer...)
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Looking forward to reading this approach to absence in the archives focused on representations of Ireland. (As a start, interesting to see the differentiation between "silence" and "absence" the author makes in the introduction) Thank you for making it open access!
"This volume seeks to explore reasons why and how official records that were listed, indexed, or known to have existed as physical objects or digital assets have been absented post-production. Silence in the archive is a widely acknowledged epistemological challenge, but absence, its faithful companion is so well accepted and established that it has received far less scholarly attention. Past studies use
absence and silence interchangeably, but as a scholar of Ireland, who routinely deals with enormous gaps in the historical record, I believe that for conceptual, theoretical, and methodological reasons, it is more helpful to separate them"
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Philip Leventhal @philipleventhal.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Hot off the press! The much-anticipated WE THE PLATFORM: HOW THE INTERNET CHANGED 21ST-CENTURY LITERATURE, by Aarthi Vadde. Use the coupon code CUP20 and save 20%! bit.ly/44g6ZeG @aarthivadde.bsky.social #LiteratureNow @columbiaup.bsky.social
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
This is nuts to me. Remember a few years ago how Twitter was *breaking people's brains*? People living their lives around their tweets; doing everything for clout; complete attention span collapse, etc. For some folks Gen AI is doing the same thing. (And it doesn't have to be this way...)
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
The legendary jazz musician and composer from South Africa, Abdullah Ibrahim, has died... www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzPs...
youtube.com
African Market
YouTube video by Abdullah Ibrahim - Topic
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
I resisted commenting on the "Critical Confabulation: Can LLMs Hallucinate for Social Good?" essay until I read it. It's undoubtedly a strange use-case for generative AI and intentional "confabulation," but instead of piling on, below are a couple of questions. arxiv.org/abs/2511.07722
arxiv.org
Critical Confabulation: Can LLMs Hallucinate for Social Good?
LLMs hallucinate, yet some confabulations can have social affordances if carefully bounded. We propose critical confabulation (inspired by critical fabulation from literary and social theory), the use...
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
A congenial and witty introduction to a controversy many of us had hitherto been avoiding. (Hint: trans issues are a not-small part of what’s driving these people.)
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Very helpful breakdown! (In my own work, I tend to think Structure Neutral + Content Radical.)
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
"The result is not precisely Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day; maybe more EM Forster’s Night and Day or even Ronald Firbank’s Night and Day." (Sounds pretty good to me, actually...) www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ju...
theguardian.com
Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day review – dreamy adaptation reaches for the stars
Woolf’s novel about a headstrong young Edwardian woman takes flight under Tina Gharavi’s direction, with Timothy Spall and Jennifer Saunders among the ensemble cast
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
"I am happy to report that after 33 years of working in English departments, I have been completely cured of my Anglophilia." A lot of great stuff in this UC-Berkeley commencement address from @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social, published in @pghreviewofbooks.bsky.social pghrev.com/address-to-t...
pghrev.com
Address to the Class of 2026 - Pittsburgh Review of Books
This commencement address was delivered to the graduating English majors at the University of California, Berkely on May 20th, 2026. Thank you to Viet Thanh
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Several years ago, @tedunderwood.com @dbamman.bsky.social and Sabrina Lee published "The Transformation of Gender in English-Language Fiction" in @culturalanalytics.bsky.social I wanted to query their ideas w/a mixed genre corpus of early 20th century fiction (1900-1930) I've been making. 1/
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Christof S. 🇪🇺 @christof.fedihum.org.ap.brid.gy · 18/05/2026
Awesome! The first issue of "Digital Humanities Intersections" has been published! dhi.iiti.ac.in/index.php/dhjournal/… DHI is a new "open-access, peer-reviewed journal committed to advancing multilingual and interdisciplinary research in Digital Humanities." Check it out!
Screenshot of the start page of the journal. Showing the logo and title, and the Vol. 1 No. 1 (2026) Issue 1, all in tones of white and dark blue.
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Excited to see @whitfrazier.bsky.social's book is now out! Modernist studies, Black print / periodical culture, and the 1960s-70s Black Arts movement. Great array of topics!
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Right up my alley! Happy to see that this is also open access.
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
One challenge to learning quantitative methods in #DH is that there are endless prerequisies. You can't just read the latest thing in Journal of Cultural Analytics and expect to do it yourself (even with "vibe coding"!) This spring, I have been reading some old & new books to strengthen basics:
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Hannah Alpert-Abrams @halperta.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Hey academic friends, if you're planning some writing over the summer and could use some support, I offer coaching and editing services for non-fiction writers. halperta.com/categories/e...
halperta.com
Writing and Editing
Towards a better future for the humanities.
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
The Indian photographer Raghu Rai has died at 83. He's best known for his black and white photography from the 1970s-80s, much of it showing street life and transit in modernizing India. Motion and stillness. Some stunning images at the retrospective below: raghuraifoundation.org/retrospectiv...
raghuraifoundation.org
RETROSPECTIVE B/W
Visit the post for more.
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
The W. H. Auden interactive poetry piece in the NYT this morning is interesting. By A.O. Scott and Aliza Aufrichtig. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Poetry Challenge: Memorize “The More Loving One” by W.H. Auden (Gift Article)
It’s about love, the cosmos and everything in between. And all week we’ll have games and readings by poets laureate, beloved authors and an Oscar winner to help you memorize it.
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Nice to be quoted here! Though technically, they're quoting me quoting Toni Morrison, so I'm more like the transmitter... And thanks as always to @samcohen.bsky.social for fighting the good fight and pushing back against book bans & censorship.
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
For people writing about digital media stuff, how are you spelling these words in your formal copy: * E-book, ebook, eBook, or e-book? * Ereader, ereader, eReader, or e-reader? Chicago Style appears to prefer "E-book." But... a little dated? MS Word prefers "eBook" Which are you all using?
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
My project, African American Poetry: A Digital Anthology is nominated here. If you’ve found the project helpful, consider voting for it? Deadline April 17. (And while you’re there, check out the many great projects on the list!)
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
For those looking to be distracted from our current and ongoing news hellscape, I thought I should mention: there is a new Tana French novel out.
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
A few years ago I spent the better part of a summer working on a small #DH project called "Asian American Little Magazines, 1968-1974." The idea was to trace the emergence of the pan-ethnic idea of "Asian American" identity in a group of magazines. scalar.lehigh.edu/asian-americ... 1/2
scalar.lehigh.edu
Asian American Little Magazines 1968-1974: Asian American Little Magazines, 1968-1974
Starting Point
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Recommended: a new piece by @whitfrazier.bsky.social in _Public Humanities_ journal (open access). The piece compares the 2 versions of Countee Cullen's "Heritage." I believe it's the first to read it alongside the African sculptures in Locke's "Survey Graphic." www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Whose Heritage? The Curious Case of Countee Cullen’s Poetics in the Harlem Survey Graphic | Public Humanities | Cambridge Core
Whose Heritage? The Curious Case of Countee Cullen’s Poetics in the Harlem Survey Graphic - Volume 2
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Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴) @travisclau.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Looking forward to delivering a keynote for Lehigh University English's Literature and Social Justice grad conference, which is centered on health, illness, and disability this year.
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Irish postcolonial studies in effect…
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Looking forward to presenting on this panel on Colonial Archives + South Asian #DH this weekend.
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Sober and necessary analysis of a completely unnecessary, unfolding catastrophe.
"It is unsettling how often Trump affects astonishing indifference, as though the most powerful man in the world were merely a spectator to events he himself has set in motion — and who in any case has little investment in the outcome. But that curious passivity reveals a darker truth. Trump seems to believe that he, like his fantasy America, exists on a different plane, utterly untouchable by the swirl of global events. The devastating consequences of his actions are not just someone else’s fault. They are someone else’s problem, too."
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Amardeep Singh @electrostani.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
As Black History Month winds down, seeing a new high in monthly traffic for the digital collection I edit on Af-Am Poetry: 37,000 users in February. Writings by Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and Claude McKay are the most in demand. Some new additions to the site this month:
Chart showing usage statistics for African American Poetry a Digital Anthology. Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, Alain Locke's The New Negro, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay.
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