iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Duke University Press @dukepress.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The Weekly Read is "Transpacific Nonencounters" by Andrea Mendoza, which traces the histories of race and nation in modern Mexico and Japan. The book is available to read for free thanks to support from the University of California libraries: buff.ly/98TESDX

Cover of Transpacific Nonencounters: Racial Disconnects Across Twentieth-Century Japan and Mexico by Andrea Mendoza. The cover artwork depicts human and insect figures in blue on a background of yellow irregular squares edged in red. The author's name, title, and subtitle each appear in white text overlaid on a square red background, stacked vertically in the center of the cover.

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Taj Ali @tajali1.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

My new book charts over 400 years of the South Asian presence in Britain and campaigns against racism, colonialism & exploitation. Far from being passive victims, we have a powerful tradition of resisting injustice. It’s a tradition we should cherish, learn from & carry forward.

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Labour's stupidity around universities is driving me insane

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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 10/09/2026

‘Pakistani politicians are so corrupt that, in the top echelon, their reported wealth is measured in billions. For decades they have shown little interest in addressing difficult issues, ceding such tasks to the military.’ Owen Bennett-Jones on Pakistan: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

lrb.co.uk

Owen Bennett-Jones · Munir’s Victory

The military exercises its power in all areas of Pakistani society. The question that faces Pakistan today is no...

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Prof Katherine Schofield 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇪🇺 @katherineschof8.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Also (and you should have access via your university) this somewhat over-generous long read in the FT from just yeasterday bsky.app/profile/tony...

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David Veevers @davidveevers.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Returned from holiday to find this beauty in the post, which I have the honour of speaking about at Simon’s book launch next month. There’s only one other colleague whose book I’ve aged decades waiting for other than this one, and they know who they are! *cough* @eicathomefinn.bsky.social *cough*

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Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

🔴 The Peter Thiel-Linked Race Science Network that Penetrated Cambridge University and Targeted Jason Arday The academic's coordinated targeting by an explicitly anti-black race science network did not come out of nowhere, reports @nafeez.bsky.social

bylinetimes.com

The Peter Thiel-Linked Race Science Network that Penetrated Cambridge University and Targeted Jason Arday

The media's coverage of the academic's life was fuelled by the campaign of an established far-right network

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The Wire Magazine @thewiremagazine.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Read an extract from Lauren Martin's new oral history of dubstep, Aftershock: The Seismic Impact Of Dubstep, in which Laurie Osborne aka Appleblim and Sam Shackleton recall the development of their influential Skull Disco label. www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/b...

thewire.co.uk

Read an extract from Aftershock: The Seismic Impact Of Dubstep - The Wire

In this extract, taken from the chapter “Mystical Warriors”, Laurie Osborne aka Appleblim and Sam Shackleton recall the development of their influential Skull Disco label

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Duke University Press @dukepress.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Save 30% on #NewBook "We See with the Skin" by Roshanak Kheshti, which examines how Zora Neale Hurston’s understanding of Black skin as both seen and seeing offers radical insight into racialized perception and Black consciousness. buff.ly/cRSJS3j

Cover of We See With the Skin by Roshanak Kheshti. The cover has a minimalist black-and-white abstract drawing of a human face composed of geometric shapes, curved lines, and patterned textures. The artwork is centered on a white background. The title appears in purple text at the top, with the subtitle beneath it, slightly to the right. The author’s name is in purple at the bottom right.

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Andy Fleming @slackbastard.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

via al jazeera

'In the UK you can harass a black professor to death, but you can't protest a genocide.'

A vigil was held in London for former Cambridge professor Jason Arday, who was found dead amid plagiarism allegations he denied. His death has sparked a wider debate over racism and the intense scrutiny he faced. Arday's family criticised a “campaign of harassment” against him.⁣

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Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

NEW: It was a digital lynching. And the media is never going to hold itself to account for the role it played in Jason Arday’s death. But there are things we can do. This is a practical guide based on my own experience. broligarchy.substack.com/p/a-digital-...

broligarchy.substack.com

A Digital Lynching

A practical guide for individuals and organisations when the mobs gather

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Institute for Palestine Studies @palestinestudies.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Reflecting on his time in Zionist prisons, Basem Khandaqji provides crucial insight into seeing the prison as an alternative site, coercively imposed, for understanding the world. Read the essay in the Jerusalem Quarterly Winter 2025 Issue: www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1658...

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Politics Theory Other @poltheoryother.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

📢 🇵🇸NEW EPISODE 📢 🇵🇸 - Hamza Hamouchene on situating Palestinian resistance within the broader history of decolonisation, and the relationship between the Algerian, Vietnamese, and Palestinian liberation movements:

patreon.com

Passing on the torch - Vietnam, Algeria, Palestine w/ Hamza Hamouchene | Politics Theory Other

Although it's increasingly common to describe the Palestinian struggle for liberation in terms of a conflict with settler colonialism, it's

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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

OK. @jamellebouie.net has a great takedown of our pundit class. Exhibit 1 is David Brooks. Guess what? Yale just hired him to teach undergrads. 1/ youtu.be/46tpqFxfomI?...

youtu.be

The pundits have completely lost the plot

YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie

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Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.com · 14/08/2026

Before they all quickly forget their role in this predictable tragedy, the issue is about the rightwing media only, it's about the media as a whole in a system in service of white patriarchal cis able supremacy

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M a r c u s 🏳️‍🌈🇧🇧🇬🇧 @marcusjdl.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Jason Arday is dead. The UK media won’t learn a thing from this. Because they’re racist bastards. He has two children.

PROF GONE Jason Arday 'found dead after being found unresponsive at home' following Cambridge plagiarism scandal
Bruno Brown, Reporter

Published: 20:04, 14 Aug 2026 | Updated: 20:14, 14 Aug 2026

picture: Jason Arday a black man with long hair

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Nabeel Zuberi @nabeelzuberi.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Many Lolina favourites since the Hype Williams days with Dean Blunt. Essential EP that reminds me of Cristina's sensibility on Ze.

youtu.be

gg (NEW YORK Remix)

YouTube video by Lolina - Topic

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Michael Brown @jingajik.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

"Decades before recommendation algorithms, video stores served as social hubs where conversation and camaraderie became a form of taste-making." thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-lost-civ...

thereader.mitpress.mit.edu

The Lost Civic Life of Movie Rental Stores

Decades before recommendation algorithms, video stores served as social hubs where conversation and camaraderie became a form of taste-making.

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Mary Dudziak @marydudziak.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

This article by @rbarretttaylor.bsky.social looks so good. 1st paragraph of abstract:

Abstract
Modern warfare is a reductive pursuit shaped by digital technologies that promise an idealised, precise conflict. Martial cultures aspire to hyper-surveillance systems driven by advanced technologies and outsourced expertise they covet and themselves lack. Martial cultures assume digital tools can deliver perfect representations of enemies for precision-guided destruction, believing datafied, optimised war ensures swift, decisive outcomes by targeting the opponents’ material foundations.

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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

"The Treatment of Iran’s World Cup Team Exposed the West's and FIFA's Double Standards" Iran’s football captain was asked about LGBT rights. So, why then wasn’t the U.S. team captain asked about the U.S. bombing of the girls' school in Minab, asks Fatima Bhutto for Zeteo?

zeteo.com

The Treatment of Iran’s World Cup Team Exposed the West's and FIFA's Double Standards

Iran’s football captain was asked about LGBT rights. So, why then wasn’t the U.S. team captain asked about the U.S. bombing of the girls' school in Minab?

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Postcard From The Past @pastpostcard.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Rackham's is immense. Many foreigners here for the World Cup Soccer Match tonight.

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Joel Wertheimer @wertwhile.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Germany leaving the World Cup like

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Minovsky @minovskyarticle.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

RIP Miwa. You drove Mishima deeper into madness with a withering insult, portrayed one of detective fiction's most iconic villains beautifully, and produced rare footage of Miyazaki actually smiling. Your power was immeasurable.

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Communication, Culture & Critique @ccc-journal.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Our latest issue is live! Featuring a new forum of essays reflecting on the US-Israel war on Iran and how transnational media environments help construct and circulate the myth that foreign military intervention can bring liberation. Check it out! academic.oup.com/ccc/issue

Journal Article
Strongman imperialism: media infrastructures and the war on Iran
Mehdi Semati
Communication, Culture and Critique, Volume 19, Issue 2, June 2026, Pages 95–98, https://doi.org/10.1093/ccc/tcag023
Published:
24 June 2026

Abstract

This article frames the forum as an urgent reflection on the present conjuncture, marked by the U.S.–Israeli war on Iran, the expansion of the conflict in the region, and the collapse of the international rules-based order. It briefly sketches the political economy of the Persian Gulf and America’s “energy security” logic, which explains the conditions of permanent instability in the region. After offering a brief history of how media have portrayed Iran, this article argues that media, communication technologies, information, and narratives must be understood as integral components of the infrastructure of empire, situating this claim within a historical and geopolitical framework informed by media representations of Iran. This framework provides a space in which the circulation of transnational media myth that foreign military intervention can liberate Iranians without harming civilians, as well as the problematic separation of the people from the state infrastructures that sustain them, can be interrogated.

Journal Article
Decapitation dreams: selling the fantasy of bloodless wars through networked propaganda Get access Arrow
Niki Akhavan
Communication, Culture and Critique, Volume 19, Issue 2, June 2026, Pages 99–102, https://doi.org/10.1093/ccc/tcag022
Published:
24 June 2026

Abstract

While not the majority, polls and demonstrations indicate that a notable portion of Iranians supported the 2026 war on Iran. Strikingly, support for a war of “liberation” was echoed even within Iran. How can we make sense of this? The Islamic Republic’s decades of repression explain the desire for change, but not the belief that liberation could come through war. This belief is especially notable given the recent histories of neighboring states promised similar outcomes. This article looks at the information environment that allowed for and sustained a myth of liberation through bombs—an environment shaped by dark money, digital campaigns, and diaspora media that flourished due to Iranian state’s tight control over domestic broadcasting.

Journal Article
The topos of “state as style”: War on form and the exigence of state theory Get access Arrow
Maryam Ahmadi
Communication, Culture and Critique, Volume 19, Issue 2, June 2026, Pages 103–106, https://doi.org/10.1093/ccc/tcag021
Published:
24 June 2026
Abstract

This article examines the discourse of imperialist aggression against the Global South state as an instantiation of the topos of “state as style,” defined as the reduction of the state to a rhetorical form that is distinct, and thereby detachable, from its true content, namely the oppressed people. This topos, I argue, articulates media, military, economic, and academic discourses, resulting in a discursive alliance that uncouples people from the state institutions and infrastructures that sustain them. Once the dis/articulation is achieved, wars may be waged on forms rather than peoples. Exploring the implications of this topos for critical scholarship, I argue that our valorization of the category of the oppressed at the expense of state theory is implicated in this ideological war machine.

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David Wearing @davidwearing.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

For those of us who see Palestinians as human beings, this was Starmer's defining moment. It is not sustainable to behave in this way while leading the nominally progressive party in a two party system. Starmer's unpopularity is not one of life's great mysteries. www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8_s...

youtube.com

Keir Starmer denies saying Israel 'has the right' to withhold water and power from citizens in Gaza

YouTube video by LBC

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Lizzie Dearden @lizziedearden.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

A thread on trends in violence against Muslims in the UK🧵 📆Since 2017, around 1/4 declared terror attacks in Britain have targeted Muslims or Muslim migrants ⌛Such attacks have become more frequent since 2022 ⚖️There have also been several plots targeting Muslims, including foiled attacks on mosques

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Mic Wright @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

NEW | Raging about stupid policy from a desperate PM… MAKING MEDIA STUDIES COMPULSORY WOULD BE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN A SOCIAL MEDIA BAN Teach kids how to truly understand what they're bombarded; don’t pretend we can prevent them from encountering it. brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/making-med...

brokenbottleboy.substack.com

Making Media Studies compulsory would be far more effective than any social media ban

Teaching young people how to truly understand what they're bombarded with is far better than pretending we can prevent them ever encountering it.

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