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Mallory James

@secondordersocialresearch.com
679 followers 1K following 254 posts

political economy & engineering studies research. neurodiverse, first-generation college student, she/her. PhD anthropology, Chicago. academic writing teacher. energy expert on non-normative terms.

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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 01/05/2026
It is 'bandcamp Friday' on a specific music platform that on certain Fridays, passes all their revenue to the musicians themselves. I recommend this band! countingcardsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/jormun...
countingcardsmusic.bandcamp.com
Jormungandr, by Counting Cards
10 track album
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Eveyweveydevey @eveyweveydevey.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Okay kicking my own shins that I didn't check this out earlier!!! This is awesome! It reminds me of the SoCal skatepunk I grew up on. Melodic and a pechant for harmonic choruses but add a smidge of filth to it and a bit of a Metal feel and aesthetic...
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
everything we are seeing now is the consequence of having a political environment in which indifference to the deaths and suffering of other people - even by the state whose supposed responsibility is to safeguard their welfare - is a superpower rather than a political liability
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Todd Stoll @ctoddstoll.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
the disparity poem/collage: february 9th, 2026 © #Poetry #ŞehîdNamirin #JinJiyanAzadi
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Sleepy Lutz Schruttke @garstigesweib.eurosky.social · 08/03/2026
Apropos Fachkräftemangel: Eine Bekannte ist ausgebildete Erzieherin. Sie muss sich einen neuen Arbeitsplatz suchen. U.a. bewarb sie sich für eine Stelle in einem Gemeindekindergarten. Sie wurde abgelehnt, weil sie Fachkraft und damit zu teuer ist. Frauenarbeit muss billig sein! Nämlich! #Frauentag
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 06/03/2026
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 28/02/2026
Bridgebuilders and Historians Turned Metal Into Myth thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/bridgebuilde... #Bridges #Engineering #Evolution #Metal via @mitpress.bsky.social
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu
Bridgebuilders and Historians Turned Metal Into Myth
Historians often reinforce evolutionist narratives that rank civilizations and nationalize invention.
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 28/02/2026
Interesting combined material and conceptual history here: Bridgebuilders and Historians Turned Metal Into Myth thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/bridgebuilde... #Bridges #Engineering #Evolution #Metal via @mitpress.bsky.social #Anthropology #STS
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu
Bridgebuilders and Historians Turned Metal Into Myth
Historians often reinforce evolutionist narratives that rank civilizations and nationalize invention.
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CanihazCAREER @canihazcareer.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
Day 207: No funding this year? What a gift—extra time to reflect, build character, perfect the syllabus, and cultivate resilience. Cheerful perseverance will fund itself! ⏳ #AcademicChatter
A generative art cat waiting for grant
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 13/02/2026
Write me at mgjames at secondordersocialresearch dot de or by DM here or on LinkedIn for the call link! Also, don't forget that attendees can nominate future readings, host calls, and discuss. Lastly, save the date for our Spring Planning Meeting: April 10, 2026 @ 1300h GMT / 1400 CET / 0800 EST.
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 13/02/2026
Focus on: Chapter 1 ("Sowing the Oil"), Chapter 3 ("Aspiration and Disparities in the Bolivarian Barrio"), Chapter 5 ("The Moral Life of Revolution"), and Chapter 9 ("Beyond the Magical State"). Please read however much you are able. All are welcome, no matter how much you are able to prepare.
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 13/02/2026
Date: Friday, February 20, 2026 Time: 1400h - 1530h CET (or 1300h - 1430h GMT, 8:00-9:30 AM EST) Discussant: Eeva Kesküla Moderator: Satoru Mizuguchi Place: Online, link upon request Themes: #Energy, #Economy, #PoliticalScience #PoliticalAnthropology, #Oil
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 13/02/2026
In one week from today, our 📚 Energy and Social Science Reading Group 📚 will meet online to discuss Matt Wilde’s book A Blessing and a Curse: Oil, Politics, and Morality in Bolivarian Venezuela (2023): www.sup.org/books/latin-... #Anthropology #Venezuela #Oil
sup.org
A Blessing and a Curse | Stanford University Press
A Blessing and a Curse examines the lived experience of political change, moral uncertainty, and economic crisis amid Venezuela's controversial Bolivarian Revolution.
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 12/02/2026
Writing my journal article: Dealing with just one subsection at a time 👣 Laying all my sources out, at hand! 🗞🛠 #academicsky #academicchatter #anthropology #sts
Ten piles of printed academic articles are laid in an arc across a colorful carpet and wood laminate floor. Some stacked folders are seen in the distance.
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 07/02/2026
I do not recommend Latour for this. With his 2004 piece 'Why Has Critique Run Out of Steam', he became associated with 'post-critical' anthropology, which turns away from attempting to explore the *causes* of harms/inequalities. I found 'Modes of Existence' unreadable. Leave him for the undergrads.
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Counting Cards @countingcardsmusic.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
It's bandcamp Friday and you can help support my music. Below is the @etherdiver.bsky.social review of my debut album. countingcardsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/jormun...
countingcardsmusic.bandcamp.com
Jormungandr, by Counting Cards
10 track album
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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Christi Belcourt, contemporary Métis visual artist known for her paintings which depict floral patterns inspired by Métis and First Nations historical beadwork art #WomensArt
Four paintings featuring multicoloured and significant floral designs on black backgrounds
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 04/02/2026
I still don't have the funding for this particular inquiry, but today I have the courage. I still don't have the help, but now I AM the help. 💪🏼📚 That's right: I have coaxed so many other students forward with their interests, in the meantime; now I will do the same with myself. 💛🧵 #AcademicChatter
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 04/02/2026
At the time, I did not have funding, courage, or advice to help me do better with these micro-details I should have known about before attempting an empirical MA in a humanistic R1 department, after coming straight out of a tech writer role that mainly positioned me as a scribe for men's ideas. 🧵
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 04/02/2026
But at least she knew how to use subfolders with names such as 'Added to bibliography' so I could follow her 👣. That's a hardworking girl, with faith in the future, sufficient to keep good records for it! 🧵
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 04/02/2026
The unfortunate MA student, whom I used to be, had no idea how to correctly input government and corporate reports into the bibliography and integrate their ideas into the flow of a disciplinary argument. Poor lady 🧵
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 04/02/2026
Returning today to data and unpublished writing that are more than 10 years old, but speak to a phenomenon of ongoing interest. 🥲😶 I am filled with compassion towards my younger self, even while amused at her evident immaturity in the academic profession:🧵 #AcademicSky #STS #Anthropology
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 29/01/2026
There's an image, now, to illustrate the book destruction we wrote about: ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/112... 😢
ieeexplore.ieee.org
Special Issue Editorial: Extraction by Design—AI, Value, and the Future of Work
In August 2025, Australia’s Productivity Commission acknowledged that “large AI models are already being trained on copyrighted materials without consent or compensation” [1, p. 25]. In doing so, they...
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 14/01/2026
Looking forward to energy #anthropology panel proposals for #EASA 2026! 🔌🔦 nomadit.co.uk/conference/e...
nomadit.co.uk
P153: Opacity and Energy Knowledge: Getting to Just, Sustainable Energy Policy in a Polarizing World [Energy Anthropology Network (EAN)]
This panel explores changing cultural visibility and opacity of energy in anthropological research and impacts on energy justice and sustainability. It asks
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 14/01/2026
Looking forward to energy #anthropology panel proposals for #EASA 2026! 🔌🔦 nomadit.co.uk/conference/e...
nomadit.co.uk
P153: Opacity and Energy Knowledge: Getting to Just, Sustainable Energy Policy in a Polarizing World [Energy Anthropology Network (EAN)]
This panel explores changing cultural visibility and opacity of energy in anthropological research and impacts on energy justice and sustainability. It asks
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 14/01/2026
Interesting resource for enabling the more deliberate use of language in our professional #writing! #AcademicSky #STS #anthropology www.selfdefined.app
selfdefined.app
Home «
A modern dictionary about us. We define our words, but they don't define us.
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 10/12/2025
Our #energy #anthropology network panel for #EASA Poland 2026! . . . 👁️Thematizing visibility, mediation, and justice🔌🤨 Please send abstracts by 26 Jan. nomadit.co.uk/conference/e...
nomadit.co.uk
P153: Opacity and Energy Knowledge: Getting to Just, Sustainable Energy Policy in a Polarizing World [Energy Anthropology Network (EAN)]
This panel explores changing cultural visibility and opacity of energy in anthropological research and impacts on energy justice and sustainability. It asks how scholars might contribute to “energy w...
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 06/01/2026
"An interdisciplinary team is not a group of people trained in 'interdisciplinarity'. It’s a group of people who have deep knowledge and sound judgment in their disciplines." Interesting point I just stumbled across here: theconversation.com/why-the-inte... #AcademicSky #AcademicChatter
theconversation.com
Why the ‘interdisciplinary’ push in universities is actually a dangerous antidisciplinary trend
Talk of “breaking down the barriers” is all too often a cover for breaking down academic disciplines to create administrative flexibility.
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 16/12/2025
I haven't lived in DC for quite a while, but somehow I still was invited to this #Anthropology event, which I am appreciatively watching a recording of now: youtube.com/watch?v=6_1Q...
youtube.com
Surviving DOGE: Anthropological Adaptations and Career Shifts
YouTube video by Washington Association of Professional Anthropologists
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 16/12/2025
With co-authors @dschiff.bsky.social, @ketraschmitt.bsky.social (& a few more not on Bluesky) I just finished a peer-reviewed editorial about #automation and the future of work that uses the Anthropic case as a jumping-off point: ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/112... (2/2)
ieeexplore.ieee.org
Special Issue Editorial: Extraction by Design—AI, Value, and the Future of Work
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 16/12/2025
Anthropic settlement checks are arriving in the mail to book authors who suffered #AI #plagiarism. This reminds us that beyond a one-off check, #AcademicSky authors, #nonfiction #writers and community members need sustainable livelihoods and the ability to hope for a positive 'Future of Work.' (1/2)
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 15/12/2025
"Thinking of AI technologies by means of the relationship between mining (as a practice) and energy (as a concept) reminds us of how regrettable environmental legacies can hide behind a clean and innocent-sounding key term set forth as a social good." #AI #STS ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/112...
ieeexplore.ieee.org
Special Issue Editorial: Extraction by Design—AI, Value, and the Future of Work
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 12/12/2025
"How can it be possible to predict a package’s arrival down to the hour, yet know almost nothing about the conditions of its manufacture?" Indeed. logicmag.io/scale/see-no...
logicmag.io
See No Evil
An investigation into how software wires global supply chains, and what code conceals.
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 10/12/2025
Our #energy #anthropology network panel for #EASA Poland 2026! . . . 👁️Thematizing visibility, mediation, and justice🔌🤨 Please send abstracts by 26 Jan. nomadit.co.uk/conference/e...
nomadit.co.uk
P153: Opacity and Energy Knowledge: Getting to Just, Sustainable Energy Policy in a Polarizing World [Energy Anthropology Network (EAN)]
This panel explores changing cultural visibility and opacity of energy in anthropological research and impacts on energy justice and sustainability. It asks how scholars might contribute to “energy w...
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 08/12/2025
I have words, and I am going to use them. I have a voice, and I am going to use it. #AmWriting People in my birth country are trying to curtail the existence of the form of expertise my colleagues and I represent, #Anthropology. But we won't be erased. We will persist! Go #SocialScience go! ❤️‍🔥💪🏼❤️‍🔥
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 28/11/2025
Thank you for publicizing this terrible news 😨😢
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 28/11/2025
This is such terrible news!! 😨
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Robin G Nelson @robingnelson.blacksky.app · 26/11/2025
The NSF Bio Anthro Program DDRIG, Cultural Anthrpology DDRIG, and Archaeology DDRIG have all been archived (as of yesterday afternoon). Please speak with your grad students and plan accordingly. To say I am angry and depressed about this is an understatement.
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 28/11/2025
🚂 Suggested reading selections are the Introduction, Ch.2 "Technological Enterprise," and Ch.4 "Imperial Extraction." 🚂 ⚡️Hope to see many scholars and practitioners from #AcademicSky, #STS, #history, and #anthropology next Friday the 5th for the Energy and Social Science Reading Group! ⚡️(6/6)
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 28/11/2025
This reading group is open to anyone interested in reading and discussing the latest publications focused on political ecology, political economy, and energy transitions. ✍️🏼📃 We are a network of scholars who convene virtually every 6 weeks during the academic year to debate and discuss texts. (5/6)
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 28/11/2025
As we know, societies are struggling with the material and imaginative legacies of fossil-fuel-based 'development.' Seow draws on extensive primary sources, addresses the material peculiarities of coal technologies, and thematizes social power beyond material differences in ways of living. (4/6)
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 28/11/2025
This multiply-awarded historical book addresses a coal mine and mining town in Northeastern China. Coal extraction was the focus of technological innovation and labor control. Choices made here had ramifications for industrialization, ecology, statecraft, and technology across East Asia. (3/6)
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 28/11/2025
🗓 Date: Friday, December 5, 2025 🕰 Time: 1400h - 1530h CET (or 1300h - 1430h GMT, 8:00-9:30 AM EST) ▶️ Discussant: Mallory James ▶️ Moderator: Nikita Taniparti 🖥 Location: Online (2/6)
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 28/11/2025
📖 Would you like to join us next week to discuss the book Carbon Technocracy: Energy Regimes in Modern East Asia (2022)? 📖 #STS #energy #anthropology #history #energyhistory #technologyhistory Our reading group is meeting for the last time in 2025! (1/6)
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Joerg Lau @joerglau.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
„Quiet, Piggy!“ Just think about that for a minute, and what it means to live in a time when a President can assault a woman in public like that without any consequences. It‘s quite a testimony to the age of regression we live in.
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Counting Cards @countingcardsmusic.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
"...this infuses responsible professionalism with class-specific loyalties that could more readily serve to dampen, rather than amplify, critiques of engineering’s wider harms." www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
Class, Critique, and Containment: Arcs of Historical Change in Australian Engineering Ethics Codes
Participation in national professional associations is a common strategy for self-distinction. Since 1919, some Australian engineers have joined a national association, affirming agreement to align...
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 13/11/2025
"Universities provide the fundamental infrastructure for decision-making in industry and government. And they provide the tools for bolstering democracy - indeed, this was what the systems we have inherited from the post-war moment were largely for." open.substack.com/pub/hannahfo... #AcademicSky
open.substack.com
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 12/11/2025
LMU posted my publications onto the Department's page!! 🥰 www.en.ekwee.uni-muenchen.de/publications...
en.ekwee.uni-muenchen.de
Articles in English - Institute for European Ethnology and Cultural Analysis - LMU Munich
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Mallory James @secondordersocialresearch.com · 11/11/2025
I found exactly the same thing recently! On one of our browsers, it won't even guess the language accurately or let us easily select it.
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