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Tim Lubin

@timlubin.bsky.social
2.2K followers 876 following 130 posts

Historian of religion and law in premodern S&SE Asia, Sanskrit & Old Javanese philologist, interdisciplinarian, art spouse. Head of Law, Justice & Society program at WLU. President of the American Society for Premodern Asia. timothylubin.net

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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
How often do you get ancient parricide, infanticide, assassination, bad debt, and oral sex all in a single issue of a scholarly journal? The pecular thrills of the deep dive.
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American Society for Premodern Asia @aspa1842.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
"We are on the cusp of a dramatic shift in perspective": global antiquity and global Middle Ages are getting more attention. We at ASPA have been right on it for the last 184 years! aeon.co/essays/uncov... @aeon.co
A model chariot discovered in Tajikistan, dating from the 5th-4th century BCE. Courtesy the British Museum, London
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
India's potent new youth movement, the "Cockroach Janta Party," is satire turned serious protest. The state's attempt to silence them on xTwitter failed. Will their success grow? www.npr.org/2026/07/20/nx-s1-5889515/india-gen-z-cockroach-party-protests @cockroachjparty.bsky.social
npr.org
India's Gen Z 'Cockroach People's Party' started as satire but is serious about change
They call themselves the "cockroaches" and they're on the march — demanding action against corruption, amid a shortage of opportunities for young people in India.
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
The Indian govt has trumped up a phantom pretext for defunding the venerable Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS). It will be a major loss: the CSDS has been a hub for serious thought and analysis. indianexpress.com/article/opin...
indianexpress.com
Yogendra Yadav writes: Demolition of CSDS has begun, due process can wait
As in bulldozer justice, the formal justification is an act of post-facto creativity. Once the target, the punishment and the excuse were fixed, the ICSSR appointed a committee to prepare grounds for ...
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Springer Verlag, one of a handful of leading academic publishers, is honoring the chief billionaire opponent of democracy. (h/t @elisafreschi.bsky.social)
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
I really appreciate Frank Bruni's clear-headed assessment of the harms caused by grade-inflation in the US: pernicious and irresistible ... unless a "deflationary" policy change is coordinated across academe, as he recommends. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/13/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | I Teach at an Elite College and I Inflate Grades. Help Me. (Gift Article)
Easy A’s are an easy out.
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Jarrah Sastrawan's new book (also in OA pdf) is a fascinating and groundbreaking study of how cultural knowledge was produced and transmitted, textually and otherwise, in 5th–15th-c. Java, with valuable insights on historiography.
ucpress.edu
The Precarious Past in Premodern Java by Wayan Sastrawan - Paper
Scholarship is a powerful tool for changing how people think, plan, and govern. By giving voice to bright minds and bold ideas, we seek to foster understanding and drive progressive change.
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
And now Carlo Ginzburg, leading exponent of microhistory, has passed today. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_G...
en.wikipedia.org
Carlo Ginzburg - Wikipedia
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
In the last few days, we have lost some important voices. Robert A.F. Thurman, a former teacher of mine at Columbia, is one. A close friend of the Dalai Lama's and a co-founder of Tibet House. savetibet.org/ict-mourns-t...
savetibet.org
ICT mourns the passing of Robert Thurman, an iconic Tibetan Buddhist scholar and lifelong advocate for Tibet
June 17, 2026 The Tibet world suffered a major loss
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
We are ruled by monsters.
nytimes.com
Women Who Fled Iran Are to Be Deported to Central African Republic, Lawyers Say
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American Society for Premodern Asia @aspa1842.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Issue 146:2 of JASPA (former JAOS) is out online lockwoodonlinejournals.com/index.php/ja... on: Karna in Jain epic, Song of a Yue Person, Old Persian Hinduš & Gandāra, Chan in Tangut, Hymn to Ninurta as Savior, Uriah the Hittite, Shah Safi Safavi, al-Ghazālī on pleasure, & Jingjiao stele Christians
TOC of JASPA 146.6
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Reconnecting Balinese Manuscripts with Local Voices: WikiSami University Workshops in Bali diff.wikimedia.org/2026/03/28/r...
diff.wikimedia.org
Reconnecting Balinese Manuscripts with Local Voices: WikiSami University Workshops in Bali
WikiSami Workshop at Universitas Hindu Indonesia, Bali (Kasu Wardana CC BY 4.0) WikiSami (Sum of All Manuscripts Bali) is a Wikimedia-supported initiative that aims to identify and reconnect Baline…
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
Still time to submit comments to the FCC in opposition to Reflect Orbital's request for approval to help put a million orbital data centers into space: aas.org/posts/advoca... (SpaceX also has filed to do so, but the deadline for public comments has passed.) If you care, speak up!
WaPo image of light pollution in low-orbit space.
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American Society for Premodern Asia @aspa1842.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Issue 146:1 of JASPA (former JAOS) is out online lockwoodonlinejournals.com/index.php/ja...: on quranic reading in Andalus, holy tombs in Cairo, Tamil temple endowments, vratyas in Atharva Veda, military bounties in China, Mori Ōgai’s Dancing Girl, child-slaves in Egypt, Sumerian wordplay, & more!
TOC of JASPA 146.1 (2026).
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
This talk by Vasudha Narayanan on connections between India and Cambodia in 1st millennium religion and art will be worth tuning in for. www.sai.uni-heidelberg.de/en/events-at...
sai.uni-heidelberg.de
The Churning of the Milk Ocean - South Asia Institute
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Mekhola Gomes @oldthingsarefun.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
My article on kinship ties, Buddhism, and early medieval states has just been published. Available open access: doi.org/10.1163/9789...
doi.org
Chapter 7 Ties of Blood on Monuments of Piety: Buddhism, Kinship, and Rule in Āndhradeśa
"Chapter 7 Ties of Blood on Monuments of Piety: Buddhism, Kinship, and Rule in Āndhradeśa" published on 27 Nov 2025 by Brill.
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
"Under the Spell of the Batur Volcano," a fascinating study by Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin of a Balinese Hindu temple beside Lake Batur in the caldera of a volcano came out days before I drove a scooter up the twisting road from the coast to see it (pics below). OA Book link: brill.com/display/titl...
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American Society for Premodern Asia @aspa1842.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Issue 145:4 of the JAOS is out online doi.org/10.7817/jaos... , with articles on: Yahwists in Elephantine, oracular law in Assyria, syntax in Qur'anic interpretation, r vs rr in Khotan, Mongol text of the 1413 Tyr stele, Old Chinese parts of speech, Song dynasty incense trade, and more!
Cover of JAOS 145.4, with table of contents
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
11 in-depth studies on inscriptions from early Āndhradeśa in South India, touching on coins, pottery, grant charters, memorial stones, and religious pluralism (Buddhist, Jainist, and Hindu). Open Access download from Brill: brill.com/edcollbook-o... (this is v. 2, the studies; v. 1, also available).
Cover of "Early Āndhradeśa," showing fragment of toraṇa architrave at Phanigiri.
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American Society for Premodern Asia @aspa1842.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
The American Society for Premodern Asia web portal is now live on our new domain name: www.aspa1842.org
ASPA1846.org home page
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Astonishing finds excavated at Berenike in Egypt include Buddha images & other artifacts from India and some made locally in Indian style, plus a bilingual Sanskrit & Greek dedicatory inscription found near a marble Buddha head in an Isis temple courtyard. publications.dainst.org/journals/jdi...
Buddha head with nimbus from Berenike
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Important group of new studies on the "Kawi culture" that grew out of the use of the Old Javanese in the 8th-15th c. as a cosmopolitan vernacular by speakers of various languages, esp. in Java & Bali. Lots of exciting new work in this field. Wacana 26(3), free download: scholarhub.ui.ac.id/wacana/
Cover of Wacana journal, vol. 26.3 (2025), with illustrated manuscript page showing a battle scene.
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sepoy @sepoy.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Edel Rodriguez’s “Mayor Mamdani” (November 4, 2025) www.newyorker.com/culture/cove...
Cover of The New Yorker with Zohran!
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
Few examples suvive of written statute law from early S&SE Asia, but I propose that one might infer the existence of generally applicable, enforceable laws from immunities granted in charters: "Customary Legalism: Rules of Law in Early India, Java, and Bali" www.ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/news/news.ph...
ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp
東文研セミナー 「Customary Legalism: Rules of Law in Early India, Java, and Bali (A Lecture by Prof. Timothy Lubin)」が開催されました
報告 2025年9月24日に、当研究所訪問研究員であるTimothy Lubin教授(Washington and Lee University)を講師とする東文研セミナー「Customary Legalism: Rules of Law in Early India, Java, and Bali 」を開催した。
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Rioting and arson have engulfed Kathmandu in the wake of the govt's aborted attempt to censor or block access to social media. These brave souls sat out to protect Nepal's cultural heritage.
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Provincialising Dharma: Studies on Legal Issues in the Himalaya, a collection of essays exploring the Himalayan regional dimensions of dharma, historically & today, is out: www.asiainstitutetorino.it/cis/CIS_10.pdf including my piece, "Sacred Law as a Device of State-Building in Gorkhali Nepal."
"Map of the Dominions of the House of Gorkha" by B. Hamilton (1819)
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American Society for Premodern Asia @aspa1842.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
JAOS 145.3 is out: doi.org/10.7817/jaos..., articles on: autobiog of becoming, Ming women's anger, an old term for foreigners in China, cuneiform word lists, neo-Babylonian chronicles, the epic of Aqhat, Tabari's poetic license, bustling Buddhist monasteries, the aims of Sanskrit doxography, & more!
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
"‘Yala Toilet Frog’ named for departing Tea Board chairman." “I’m deeply gratified...” says Pethiyagoda. "If [those I've annoyed find] a frog in the toilet, I'm sure their actions will speak louder than words. Or they can simply drop the matter.” archives1.dailynews.lk/2018/03/21/l...
archives1.dailynews.lk
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American Society for Premodern Asia @aspa1842.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
Issue 145:2 of the JAOS is out online: doi.org/10.7817/jaos... with articles on: Regal code-switching in the Deccan, r-clusters in Gandhari, omens in Song shu, 3 Qing compendia on cats, the Semitic perfect tense, Joseph in Egypt, counting lines in Erra, basmala as cosmic design, and gendering sex!
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Superb new OA article by Jarrah Sastrawan sorts through the complex issues of provenance, "ownership," and violence as they bear on #cultural #heritage claims & repatriation, by exploring the precolonial history of the "Lombok Treasure" & "Lombok Collection" of manuscripts. doi.org/10.1163/2213...
doi.org
Violence in the Library
Abstract There are mounting campaigns to repatriate cultural heritage objects that were wrongfully seized under colonial rule. Studying the history of these objects before their encounters with coloni...
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
A delightful bit on the world's oldest map of the world. www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUxF...
youtube.com
The Babylonian Map of the World with Irving Finkel | Curator’s Corner S9 Ep5
YouTube video by The British Museum
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
Posted a forthcoming study of how the Gorkha kings deployed Hindu sacred law (dharma) in 18th- & early 19th-c. Nepal to integrate ethnic groups as castes within a multiethnic kingdom — in the shadow of late Mughal/early Company-raj India. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Detail of "Map of the Dominions of the House of Gorkha," by Buchanan Hamilton (1819)
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Robin Bernstein @robinmbernstein.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
To everyone (justifiably) applauding @harvard.edu 's response to the fed. administration's demands: that letter is only part of the story. Harvard's new website went public in coordination with Harvard Pres. #AlanGarber 's letter. It's completely revamped--and it's brilliant. www.harvard.edu. (1/8)
harvard.edu
Harvard University
Harvard University is devoted to excellence in teaching, learning, and research, and to developing leaders who make a difference globally.
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
After the decades of agony that uprooted the monarchy at last, violent agitation to restore it cannot be merely "the people’s discontent with Nepal's political establishment." The yearning for a king is the yearning for the old order by those who benefited from it. www.himalmag.com/podcast/nepa...
himalmag.com
Pranaya Rana on Nepal’s royalist resurgence: State of Southasia #21
In early March this year, a massive gathering of some 10,000 royalist supporters gathered to greet Nepal's former king, Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah, as he returne
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Mekhola Gomes @oldthingsarefun.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
Fascinating Mughal order reveals a history of 18th century India the right-wing doesn’t want you to know!
thehindu.com
Over 250-years-old Mughal document throws light on tax waiver for pilgrims at Allahabad
Discover a 250-year-old firman from Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II granting religious autonomy to Ganga pilgrims.
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American Society for Premodern Asia @aspa1842.bsky.social · 13/04/2025
At the 235th Meeting yesterday, we voted to continue our work under a new name: the American Society for Premodern Asia. We invite all scholars who work on languages, literatures, history, and material culture of West, Central, South, and East Asia, and North Africa join us! #ancient #medieval #asia
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American Council of Learned Societies @acls1919.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
ACLS President Joy Connolly has published a new opinion piece in the @chronicle.com calling for collaboration among higher education institutions in response to the current political climate: bit.ly/3E9Fdaq
bit.ly
Joy Connolly Calls for Collaboration Among Higher Education Institutions in Chronicle Op-Ed
In The Chronicle of Higher Education, Joy Connolly calls for collaboration among higher education institutions in responding to the current political climate.
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Himal Southasian @himalsouthasian.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Discontent does only so much to explain the revival of royalist politics in Nepal. Amish Raj Mulmi writes about what's fuelling the recent violent pro-monarchy protests:
himalmag.com
The incomplete end of Nepal’s Hindu monarchy
Pro-monarchy protests reveal Nepal’s incomplete transition from Hindu kingdom to secular republic, fuelled by nationalist myths and Hindutva
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Neil Lewis, Jr. @neillewisjr.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
I hope other university alliances start pooling resources and engaging in the kinds of collective action Rutgers is proposing here for the Big Ten. senate.rutgers.edu/report/resol...
Whereas, the Big Ten Academic Alliance represents not only athletic competition but also a longstanding tradition of academic collaboration, research excellence, and commitment to democratic values and shared governance; Whereas, the Big Ten Academic Alliance includes 18 universities with thousands of instructors serving over 600,000 students; Whereas, the preservation of one institution’s integrity is the concern of all, and an infringement against one member university of the Big Ten shall be considered an infringement against all; Be it resolved that, the Rutgers University Senate urges the President of Rutgers University to formally propose and help establish a Mutual Academic Defense Compact (MADC) among all members of the Big Ten Academic Alliance; Be it further resolved that, under this compact, all participating institutions shall commit meaningful funding to a shared or distributed defense fund. This fund shall be used to provide immediate and strategic support to any member institution under direct political or legal infringement; Be it further resolved that, participating institutions shall make available, at the request of the institution under direct political infringement, the services of their legal counsel, governance experts, and public affairs offices to coordinate a unified and vigorous response, including but not limited to: Legal representation and countersuit actions; strategic public communication; amicus briefs and expert testimony; legislative advocacy and coalition-building; related topical research as needed.
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
New insights on how Śiva worship took shape in early India and Nepal!
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Columbia University (bis alma mater mea!) caves fecklessly to brutal government tyranny. An ill omen for American academia ... until someone dares to resist. robertreich.substack.com/p/the-shame-...
robertreich.substack.com
The shame of Columbia University
In surrendering to Trump, it's opening all universities to Trump's tyranny
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Columbia U. faces a demand to sacrifice its academic freedom in exchange for $400M in federal funds. Too steep a price.
theatlantic.com
A Warning for Columbia University
Surrendering to the Trump administration’s $400 million ransom demand would be a disaster for higher education and for the United States.
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Eminent Sanskritist Sheldon Pollock, the former MESAAS dept head at Columbia, writes that "like a mob boss, the government threatens to cut off two of the university’s fingers: academic freedom and faculty governance."
theguardian.com
The US government has sent Columbia University a ransom note | Sheldon Pollock
Like a mob boss, the government threatens to cut off two of the university’s fingers: academic freedom and faculty governance
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ERC Synergy MANTRAMS Project @mantrams.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Special Project launch event (hybrid) at the The SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies with the three Principal Investigators of the ERC Synergy MANTRAMS Project, Carola Lorea, Finnian Gerety, and Borayin Larios. Register for (free) tickets… 1/
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
Follow @stlubin.bsky.social for visionary images of how ecosystems and human systems overlap. s3.amazonaws.com/images.icomp...
“Watershed: Marsh” (2022), by Laure Stevens-Lubin
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
Works from the series "After Audubon" and "Watershed" (laurestevenslubin.com/series/after...) are on view at The Branch Museum in Richmond, Va. for the next three months as part of the exhibition "Re-Think Landscape Design": branchmuseum.org/re-think-lan...
Refuge: Trumpeter Swan (2024), by Laure Stevens-Lubin
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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Don't miss this talk "Historicising Caste, Decolonizing Slavery." by the fabulous Indrani Chatterjee Friday morning 10 EST. Register here: tinyurl.com/22rvht8f
tinyurl.com
Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams
Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams
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American Society for Premodern Asia @aspa1842.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
The first JAOS issue 2025 is out online: lockwoodonlinejournals.com/index.php/ja... with articles on: early Muslim converts; the 1st world history; Tamil God in Sanskrit; Atiśa in Tangut mss; Yang Ningshi's calligraphy; Han verse; Amarna politics; Mesopotamian hermeneutics; & Aramaic cadastres!
Cover of the JAOS 145.1
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Arash Zeini @arashzeini.com · 24/02/2025
Geschockt über den Ausgang der Wahlen? Es ist an der Zeit, sich mit der Vergangenheit zu beschäftigen – auch in der Iranistik oder ähnlichen Disziplinen. Shocked by the outcome of the German elections? It may be time to engage with the past of our disciplines. www.biblioiranica.info/two-mirrors/
biblioiranica.info
Two Mirrors
A while ago, I introduced two memoirs—one by Peter Brown and the other by Averil Cameron. Reflecting on the past and the origins of our discipline is as important as reading about the trajectories …
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