iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

My dad was super strict on TV when I was growing up and we could only watch 1.5 hours a week but Star Trek didn’t count because “it’s educational.”

010

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Ah yup, probably guilty of this, and an excellent reminder. This is also a major reason why anthropology can struggle to be heard outside of anthropology--the people we hope to influence can't read it! conradkottak.substack.com/p/when-anthr...

conradkottak.substack.com

When Anthropology Makes Itself Hard to Read

What happens when anthropological ideas become harder to understand than they need to be? I compared 15 published abstracts from American Anthropologist with one rejected manuscript, judging clarity, ...

030

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

This comparison seems spurious? I'd liken AI more to electricity or the Internet. Dangerous and useful; leeching and transformative; cultivating creativity and toxicity, injustice and flourishing. Which way it goes reflects the users rather than the tool.

010

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Imagine how academia would change if our workload audits counted how many books we’d read that year instead of how many we’d written #academia

010

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

I’m still thinking about this. So I couldn’t create a Gmail address because in the Google assemblage product designers have insufficient agency to make a product that works—because the tech monster and its minions and infrastructure have become so entangled and unwieldy?

200

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Whoa Reno you went deep! I love it

010

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Actually though, why is tech so bad. I'd love to know how different fields answer this question.

110

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Gmail wouldn't send a code to my phone because I'd used the phone number too many times because of all the steps and errors. It had sent my phone three codes. Plus one to my personal gmail. There was no other option. The help section said to borrow a family member or friend's phone. Omg. I gave up.

100

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I literally couldn't create a Gmail email address today. But convoluted layers of complexity, errors, until I hit a wall and the help section's solution was to USE A FRIEND'S PHONE. They have all our money, so why is all the tech so bad? #tech

110

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Omg creating a new gmail account has become literally impossible. I just need a burner email account I can use to register for something else. Where does one get one of these in this day and age?

010

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Survivor producers: “There is no winner's edit" Also Survivor producers: “We want you to understand why the first person got voted out, and why the person who wins, wins.” That’s literally how you produce a winner’s edit, my dudes. #Survivor50 www.goldderby.com/tv/2026/surv...

goldderby.com

‘Survivor’ team shuts down ‘winner’s edit’ theory as Jeff Probst hints Tiffany Ervin will play again one day

Season 50 of the reality TV show is nominated for five Emmy Awards.

000

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

I really appreciate how the ancient Egyptians didn’t take cats for granted.

010

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

To balance my perspective: what is something that has improved under late capitalism?

240

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

To clarify: he’s talking about the field of medicine (which includes psychiatry), which is a different epistemic culture and relatively siloed from psychology. So yes there is a lot of literature on non-pharmaceutical treatments for mental health but this tends to be marginal in biomedical research.

010

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

But I understand a lot of the mechanisms described in the book have been either refuted or substantially reconceptualised or refined. I think there’s a useful baby in the bath water though. Am looking forward to hearing what you make of it!

020

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Re: the book, my sense is that it’s a useful conceptual framework for understanding our bodies as a site of cumulative trauma. Variations of this idea exist across other literatures, like biosocial anthropology, adverse childhood experiences, minority stress theory, historical trauma theory.

150

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Epistemic hierarchies are really steep and entrenched in US medicine and the NIH funding model drives conservatism in medical research, which tends to bias towards things that can be reliably validated and measured and individualistic paradigms. You should talk to some medical anthropologists.

130

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

I think he’s being inappropriately hyperbolic but reflecting real phenomena. The is a massive pharmaceuticalisation of mental health treatments (late capitalism right)and I imagine major medical journals are gatekeepery about methods, which would put up major barriers for nondrug treatment studies.

270

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

*Takes glasses off* "I must remember where I put these"

010

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Illustrating how far US research norms are diverging - all Research Ireland grant applications require a statement on how sex and gender issues are being addressed in the research.

Sex and Gender Dimension in Research Statement (max. 1000 words)
In accordance with the Research Ireland External Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy 2023-2028,10 all Applicants must complete a statement articulating the consideration of biological sex and/or social gender variables in their planned research. Please consult the Guidance for Applicants on Ethical and Scientific Issues9 and Section 5.4 of the Call Document for resources on how to address the sex and/or gender dimension of research in your grant.

052

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

I particularly overuse the word “particularly”. I ran a piece of my writing through a word frequency thingamajig once and it was an eye-opener. It’s a useful exercise to undertake once in a while. Word clouds would work too

010

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Oh I actually get where he's coming from with the autism part. He shares autistic traits of like a Greta Thunberg - both dedicated to fighting for what they perceive as the greater good, from a place of intensely felt integrity. I wonder what it is he doesn't know he doesn't know?

000

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

I tried organising my feedback comments bank into tabs in Google docs and feel quite pleased with this system innovation (yes I will spend hours designing ways to optimise marking to procrastinate actually marking)

120

Reposted by Julie Spray

Anthropology of Children and Youth Interest Group @acyig.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

ACYIG 2024-2025 BOOK PRIZE ANNOUNCEMENT The 2024-2025 ACYIG Book Prize Committee has chosen Dr. Shannon Ward’s book Amdo Lullaby: An Ethnography of Childhood and Language Shift on the Tibetan Plateau (University of Toronto Press) as our Book Prize Winner. 1/3

142

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Proud to share this article by our @uniofgalway.bsky.social Children's Studies student Leanne Keohane! "The gap between media panic and the lived reality of children on Roblox is striking." www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

irishexaminer.com

The real risk of online harm is not Roblox — it's our fear of children's agency

Children are humans capable of navigating the world, as long as we give them the right supports

000

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Cool assignment! I’m gonna steal this

140

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

If you can set aside the category violation, I reckon this actually sounds amazing

011

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Sharing some delicious student comics from my course "Comics, Childhood and the Alternative." This one is about the experience of ADHD, by the creative phenom Ellie Bradley.

A hand-drawn illustration of a person with messy hair in a bun, surrounded by scribbles, with the text "WELCOME TO A STORY ABOUT MY BRAIN" at the top.

A person wakes up surrounded by colorful creature-like drawings, talks to them, gets out of bed, and is later seen choosing clothes while the creatures interact around the room

Comic strip of a boy named Alex encountering colorful characters while trying to get dressed. Each character represents distractions. Alex's frustration grows as he falls behind schedule.

A frustrated person in a kitchen surrounded by chaos. A red devilish figure suggests making "fancy bread." The person, overwhelmed, covers their face, thinking, "I should’ve stayed in bed."

020

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

The gymnastics sports podcast I follow has some seriously impressive newsletters @gymcastic.com

What We’re Talking About
On April 28, 1967 (the year of the goat) Muhammad Ali refused to step forward when his name was called in the military draft to serve in Vietnam. He famously said, “Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?” In the prime of his career (25-28 years old) he was immediately stripped of his heavyweight title and was suspended from competition. In June of that year Ali was convicted of draft evasion and sentenced to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He remained free on appeal and in 1971 his case was heard in front of the Supreme Court (Clay v. United States) where his conviction was unanimously overturned. Seven years after he was stripped of his title Ali beat George Foreman in the famed Rumble in the Jungle.

Muhammad Ali isn’t the greatest of all time because he has the best boxing record. In fact, during his comeback from exile he lost two of his four matches. What transformed him from a champion to a legend—and global icon—required courage and sacrifice. Ali stood for something and it cost him. At the time, it’s estimated that only 11% of Americans supported his decision. It’s safe to say he was hated. He was willing to sacrifice his reputation, millions of dollars, the prime of his career and even his own freedom for a justice he believed was being denied. This, of course, sparked others to find courage, including the famous raised fists by Tommie Smith and John Carlos in the 1968 Olympics.

Once again we are living through tumultuous and terrifying times where basic human rights are being denied and our neighbors are being kidnapped and even murdered. I recognize that it’s unfair to ask or even wish for this, but the moment is once again ripe for a champion to become a legend. And it needs to be asked what good is a large platform if those who control …

261

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

"We are not unemployed because we are unemployable. We are unemployed because we are the first to buckle under exploitation."

kaiblackwood.substack.com

The Hidden Reason So Many Autistic Adults Can’t Stay Employed

The Cost of Asking One Person to Do the Work of Five

073

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

Pluribus is an intense ontological experience for Christmas break

000

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

Win for political enfranchisement of the young! I teach university students and they don’t know this stuff because our society’s ideologies of childhood and youth prevent us from making the political system universally accessible

010

Reposted by Julie Spray

Micah @rincewind.run · 25/12/2025

Discworld QOTD, from Hogfather

All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable."

REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"

YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.

"So we can believe the big ones?"

YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

"They're not the same at all!"

YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.

"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—"

MY POINT EXACTLY.

2929961190

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

It’s hard for many people to learn that things aren’t real. It’s a big worldview shift that can be really triggering and destabilising, overturn identities, undermine cultural sources of moral authority and advice. You can see the barriers preventing that one small epistemic step for man.

003

Reposted by Julie Spray

Terre-Strial @terre-strial.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

“The longer I live, the more convinced I am that this planet is used by other planets as a lunatic asylum.” - George Bernard Shaw

482537465

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Is it just me realising like humanity is way way worse than I was led to believe

131

Reposted by Julie Spray

Sean Jones KC @seanjones.org · 11/12/2025

White men, imagine you go for a job. The interview panel is three black women. The board of directors is all black women and has been, without exception, forever. You notice that all supervisors are black women and the only white man you see is cleaning. The company insists they appoint on merit /1

115944

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

“Anyone who’s ever found a blunt “no” scrawled in the margin of an essay knows that universities force humility upon us.… you realise how much of yourself is inherited or assumed and how freeing it is to rebuild that self from first principles.” thespinoff.co.nz/society/10-1...

thespinoff.co.nz

We’ve forgotten what universities are for

With New Zealand universities facing not only a funding crisis but a philosophical challenge to their role, the soul of tertiary education is at stake.

030

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Also would love recommendations of journals in critical higher education whose editors understand feminist epistemologies

000

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Frustrating example of #epistemicmirecognition: rejection (after 2 rounds of review and reviewers recommending acceptance) from journal editor because this autoethnographic paper sounds like a story retrospectively told from my experiences (and so cannot be "academically rigorous inquiry"). Sigh.

130

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

“In the Kalahari, one little boy who would almost certainly be diagnosed with autism in an American doctor’s office is highly valued for his abilities… the boy, his father told me, “is great herding goats. He always knows where they are in the day or night.”” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | Autism Has Always Existed. We Haven’t Always Called It Autism.

0164

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

This is a super helpful and interesting window into the editorial process - I learned a lot! I found the explanation of the relationship between editor and reviewer reports in final decision-making especially helpful to understand.

010

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

I was a grad student when Trump got elected in 2016, and the next day a very senior professor commented: "just goes to show the dangers of an uneducated populace." I have always remembered that remark over the last few years of social and political regression. Lest we forget what education is for.

000

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

And you know so much more than them! You know so much more than you did the last time you taught, you’ve forgotten how much you know

000

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

Trump helped me learn to recognise narcissistic people in my own life. Once you see the pattern and understand the drivers, confusing people become a lot more predictable. Thanks Donald, I guess?

010

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

It was, I think, the most exciting episode I’ve ever seen of any franchise. So well edited too. What a dream cast, what a joy to watch them

020

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

And the students are so much younger right?!

110

Julie Spray @juliespray.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

Please tell Lisa congratulations ngā mihi nui on an amazing first episode and I’m so proud of her! Also why is she not on Bluesky

030