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Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst

@profirmf.bsky.social
2.5K followers 1.5K following 801 posts

tired Islam, South Asia, race, & religion professor. podcaster. parent. enthusiastic killjoy. drama & drag & bad movie fan. adoptee. she/her. (specifics @ profirmf.com)

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Reposted by Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst
Kevin Gannon (now a Moo Deng fan account) @thetattooedprof.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"we're going to lose some fine intellectual dexterity" is the new "other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"
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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
amazing how far things have to go before the party of saving democracy is willing to talk about maybe “trying” to “defund” an ethnic cleansing project the state has institutionalized
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oh-LIV-ee-uh @ogracemay.blacksky.app · 20/09/2026
A timely reminder as shit continues to hit the fan in the imperial core.
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Luca @lucagalletti.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Still holds up today #MontyPython1975 IG: @thecinevoidclub www.instagram.com/thecinevoidc...
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Sheera Frenkel @sheeraf.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
“Largest theft of labor in human history.” What a quote.
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Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst @profirmf.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
this whole thread is the rightest thing I’ve read today 🤣
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
$500, some highlighters, and ten days to wrap it up. Treat candidates like we treat teachers.
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Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"Incest, it seems, was a peculiar fascist fascination." Laura Heins, Nazi Film Melodrama, UIllinois Press, 2013.
Thus, the incestuous fantasies of Nazi cinema actually worked in concert with its hostility to the bourgeois nuclear family; since such scenarios allowed for the separation of motherhood from the male world of industrial and miltiary action. It is remarkable how often Nazi narratives include suggestions of incest or actual consummations of it. They appeared on stage a well as in the cinema: a 1942-43 touring Kraft durch Freud (the state-sponsored leisure Insitute Strength through Joy) operetta, for example, was titled Das Gluck im Kreuzgangwinkel (Happiness in the Cloister Corner) and featured a romance between a seventeen year old girl sna dher 55-year old father. Incest, it seems, was a peculiar fascist fascination. It was certainly one of Veit
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gwen howerton @kissphoria.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I asked AT&T Stadium about the Rolling Stone report about how they objected to Macklemore coming to Arlington next month. They didn't comment, but as I've noted they're still hosting Kanye West in November: www.chron.com/culture/arti...
chron.com
AT&T Stadium, which will host Ye this fall, objected to Macklemore
The Seattle rapper was dropped from Ed Sheeran's stadium tour bill.
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Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 14/09/2026
buddy, I'm glad you've sat through meetings (maybe even more than me in my 20+ years!) but it actually is quite simple that there are people who are involved in the process of education (faculty and students) & then a professionalized class of higher ed admins who are in "workforce development"
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Josh Shepperd @joshshepperd.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Feels like universities might also want to wait to liquidate hundreds of years of educational practice before transforming themselves into single-corporation stewarded data centers.
cbsnews.com
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei: "For too long the industry lied" about AI risks
The head of the artificial intelligence company calls the exponential rate of AI developments a "warning sign," with risks for humanity, and says, "We need to slow down." He talks with "Sunday Morning...
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Birmingham UCU @birminghamucu.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Please read and share this open letter from staff at risk of compulsory redundancy in Modern Languages at the Uni of Birmingham. It calls for the redundancies to be halted, for the equality impact assessment to be released, and for meaningful consideration of alternatives.
birminghamucu.org
“A national catastrophe” at home: open letter on redundancies
We write as Translation and Interpreting staff at risk of compulsory redundancy at the University of Birmingham, together with the Birmingham UCU Committee. In brief: a University whose Vice-Chance…
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Anil Dash @anildash.com · 12/09/2026
It’s a murderous hate rally, which mainstream media not only has no problem with, they won’t even report on it.
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Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst @profirmf.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
25 years later & I still must begin all semesters asking if anyone can identify Muhammad And the room is still iffy yet I am still explaining to admin why knowing something, anything about religion, Islam, or history is vital And the stats get worse And everyone acts shocked
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Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 11/09/2026
STEM is a religion
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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
On this anniversary of 9/11, a reminder that the terrible events of that day set a whole host of devastating long term consequences in motion, fueled in no small measure by subsequent American (mis-)responses. Its tentacles reach into nearly everything that ails us. For a sobering snapshot, see:
pbs.org
America After 9/11 | FRONTLINE
Watch FRONTLINE’s documentary tracing the U.S. response to the 9/11 attacks and the devastating consequences.
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Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst @profirmf.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
can the subalterns bake
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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
"Doctors, lawyers and engineers" is an international online Nazi trope. The "joke" is that non-White people are too stupid to be anything other than a criminal or someone who leeches social services. Read a Spanish newspaper about Ceuta, e.g., and you'll see "médicos y ingenieros" in the comments.
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Anna Holmes @annabookwriter.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Refusing to use AI isn’t a recalcitrant position. It’s the moral one. There is too much wrong with how this is happening to just “if you can’t beat em join em” this. It’s a lack of consent machine. An environmental destruction machine. An emotional and cognitive numbing machine.
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Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst @profirmf.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
listen those 35 people are gonna be hit with the ol razzle dazzle lineup
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#StupidSuez @diplomatofnight.com · 03/09/2026
Worth noting that this law specifically prohibits not just boycotts of Israel within the Green Line but also boycotts of Israeli Jewish settlements in illegally-occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Golan Heights. These 33 Dems, all of whom call themselves two-staters, voted for it anyway.
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Suzanne Conklin Akbari @sakbari.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Understanding these examples, among many others, is not at all dependent upon whether or not we ourselves are religiously-affiliated. The study of religion at a public university is not theology, nor evangelization. Religion is part of culture and vice-versa—hence, our department’s name. Taking from students the analytical tools to recognize the often invisible or unarticulated ways that religion influences their lives is tantamount to rendering them unable to recognize the forces that are working across societies around the world, and because they remain invisible, students cannot combat their abuses. As colleagues have said in a similar context to ours, as citizens of the modern world, you might be done with religion, but religion isn’t done with you.
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Suzanne Conklin Akbari @sakbari.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
👇 This is necessary reading - about the closing of one particular program, but giving insights into the bigger war on education:
Starting with the last claim first, about “financial return,” closing the department will supposedly save Virginia Tech $121,185 per annum—barely a rounding error in an institutional operating budget of $2.5 billion. The neoliberal university may function like a corporation, but budgets are always moral documents that demonstrate what an institution values. So, if we’re talking about such a small portion (0.004%) of the budget, and yet “financial return on investment” was supposedly a driving factor in the decision, then we have to ask about those institutional values. Or, to put it another way, it’s fair to ask what Virginia Tech received for its $121,185.
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Liberal Currents @liberalcurrents.com · 03/09/2026
"The closure of the Department of Religion and Culture at Virginia Tech is one within a nationwide pattern, with Humanities programs, especially in Religious Studies, being particularly susceptible to these administrative maneuvers." www.liberalcurrents.com/religion-hum...
Religion, Humanities, and the Public Good

The right wing's assault on Religion and Humanities programs is an assault on our ability to understand the world, from Hindutva abroad to Christian Nationalism at home.
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Razzball @razzball.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Gonna print this out and put it under wipers on Teslas in Los Angeles
Wilfred Reilly (
@wil_da_beast630• 20h
Are Jews white?
Male: Yes
Male: No
Female: Yes
Female: No
2,357 votes • 3 hours 13 minutes left
• 241
113
60
thl 20K
①
clon Musk
x @elonmusk • om
O...
People are what they appear to be. Beyond that, unless they can cite specific ACT sequences for their cell or mitochondrial DNA that somehow defy appearances, it's all in their mind.
I've met so many people who look extremely European in every way and tell me they're Jewish. Well, maybe there are a few OG "Jewish ACT" sequences in there somewhere, but clearly not many!
Where is the list of these ACT sequences?
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Nepal is seeking $5 billion in aid from the UN’s climate-disaster recovery fund after devastating floods. The fund, established in 2023, has received $820 million in pledges but faces a significant financing gap because wealthy nations, including the US, haven't been willing to contribute.
nytimes.com
Nepal Puts Cost of Disaster at $5 Billion, Blaming Climate Change (Gift Article)
The country is seeking urgent help from a special U.N. climate fund, but the program lacks money because the United States and others have been reluctant to contribute.
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Quinn Slobodian @quinnslobodian.com · 31/08/2026
Sort of finessing the fact the solution here was establishing the Raj www.nytimes.com/2026/08/28/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | What It Took to Dismantle the Most Powerful Company in the World
A playbook to curb the growing power of Big Tech.
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Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 30/08/2026
It’s Mostly A Scam
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Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst @profirmf.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
stop ignoring calendars Jewish holidays don’t follow Christian rules same goes for all other religions be less of a white Christian supremacist and pay attention also, before you ask: fucking it up doesn’t make you A antisemite or A racist but fucking it up IS antisemitic and racist, period ✌️
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Megan Goodwin @mpgphd.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
this is also the epilogue to the book, btw www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/757650...
penguinrandomhouse.com
Religion Is Not Done with You by Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst, Megan Goodwin: 9780807021491 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
A smart, irreverent, and accessible guide to thinking more deeply about how religion permeates and shapes the world around us –and why you need to understand the work it's doing Religion lurks...
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Megan Goodwin @mpgphd.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
full disclosure: I also fuck this up regularly, but I am trying if you wanna know why @profirmf.bsky.social is obsessed with calendars, here it is (not really sure why she's not credited on this? we wrote it together) religiondispatches.org/2024/12/17/t...
religiondispatches.org
Time Bandits: How Christianity Takes Your Time (And What It’s Doing With It)
Our new book, Religion Is Not Done With You, came out on Election Day—and what a day it was. We knew the title would be true no matter what happened, but YIKES. And sure enough, religion—specifically ...
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Megan Goodwin @mpgphd.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
this is so easy and universities and colleagues flub it *every year* here, let me help you: reformjudaism.org/jewish-holid...
reformjudaism.org
Jewish Holidays
Learn about the Jewish holidays, their meanings, history, and rituals.
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Megan Goodwin @mpgphd.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
not only silly: it's white Christian imperialism at work! the idea that your religious practice and/or belonging has to be singular and tidy? that serves the guys with the pens, as @profirmf.bsky.social and Said like to say banish that British nonsense from your noggin
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
I like this notetaking example. it is a good case of how gender works. Notetaking has never been about producing a transcript. It is a bureaucratic skill in the 20th c. organixarion because it is SENSEMAKING. Those women socialized to take notes? They have been doing men’s metacognition for them
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Megan Goodwin @mpgphd.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
books are good! please always talk to me about your books! not sure ours is art per se but @profirmf.bsky.social and I worked real hard on ours and we did manage to smuggle in some extremely silly jokes in our takedown of white xian nationalism www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/757650...
penguinrandomhouse.com
Religion Is Not Done with You by Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst, Megan Goodwin: 9780807021491 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
A smart, irreverent, and accessible guide to thinking more deeply about how religion permeates and shapes the world around us –and why you need to understand the work it's doing Religion lurks...
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thene @thene.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
out it goes: my long post about Rachel Hope Cleves's claim that Tillie Walden plagiarised her book. It's long because Cleves's claim is much, much more bizarre than it looked on first reading. I'm not going to bury the lede here. Cleves's claim does not hold up. buttondown.com/thene/archiv...
stick a pin in this metaphor

…because these covers are a microcosm of the entire conflict; Walden's book is mostly built on writing and other objects left by Sylvia Drake, Charity Bryant, and others. Her work includes many elements from these records that Cleves does not refer to in her book, and many of her interpretations of those records are different from Cleves's interpretations, often intentionally so. In addition to her historical basis, Walden's book includes fictional dialogue and story elements that are original to her work, some of which are inspired by Walden's own life.
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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Whatever else was wrong with the United States, we truly did have a higher education system that was the envy of the world. Now we’re lighting it on fire because some people are bored and racist.
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Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst @profirmf.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
men are pathetic, pathetic losers
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Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst @profirmf.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
stop acting like republicans aren’t already trash your party is a white nationalist Christian fascist party *outloud* & you identify with that so yes: expect absolute bullshit takes from someone claiming an identity marker that indicates BAD & nothing else
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Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst @profirmf.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
this is the mass murder of the disabled and ill like we’ve been saying may everyone involved meet the date they’ve earned
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King Algamemnon @adamrothman.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Emily Wilson is having the last laugh
Wilson herself has become a target for much of the outrage, too — so much so that she added a contact form to her website specifically marked for “misogynistic trolling” alongside the other button for “kind words and praise.”
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Megan Goodwin @mpgphd.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
PLEASE get our book from the library @profirmf.bsky.social and I are library kids for life!
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Megan Goodwin @mpgphd.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
@profirmf.bsky.social and I have also said this a lot try and stop us, tbh www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/757650...
penguinrandomhouse.com
Religion Is Not Done with You by Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst, Megan Goodwin: 9780807021491 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
A smart, irreverent, and accessible guide to thinking more deeply about how religion permeates and shapes the world around us –and why you need to understand the work it's doing Religion lurks...
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Thomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
To be a historian is to speak ill of the dead and the rest of you should take more history classes and join us.
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Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst @profirmf.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
business is not a real field MBAs are for entitled men who were told by a simpering JV coach once that they were smart suits and capitalists are inherently stupid, but also definitionally removed to the point of misunderstanding the work & the business itself this is about universities
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Katie Phang @katiephang.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
All 3 men inside of the van with Lorenzo Salgado Araujo “‘reiterated that there were never any ICE agents in front of the van…They came in and started shooting from the sides.’” www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
washingtonpost.com
Migrants who saw man killed by ICE in Houston say he did not ram officers
Three men who were in the vehicle alongside Lorenzo Salgado Araujo are contesting the Department of Homeland Security’s account of the fatal shooting.
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
little to add to Platner discourse that others haven't said better. so i'll just say once again that the era of consequence free politics is no good and it is important to bring back shame
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Nome @nome.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
God, what an exhausting time to have pattern recognition and more than a six month memory.
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
The political problem, though, is that the public doesn’t know this. They think “Oh, it’s crazy but it will all be fine, & our beloved 🏈/🏀 State U will still be there for our kids like it’s always been, in the same form” because no one has alerted them to the existential nature of the crisis.
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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
The newly formed coalition US Scholars Speak just published an important and powerful statement titled “Confronting the AHA’s (@historians.org) Palestine Exception.” Fellow historians, please consider signing it if you haven’t already done so. 🗃️ www.usscholarsspeak.org
usscholarsspeak.org
US Scholars Speak
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