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Zarena Aslami

@zda.bsky.social
593 followers 638 following 44 posts

Scholar & teacher, 19th-C British Lit & culture. Author of Marginal Sovereignty: The Literatures of Empire and the Making of Victorian Afghanistan, 1798-1900 (coming soon, Cornell UP). Currently researching race, empire, disability, & eugenics.

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Reposted by Zarena Aslami
Andrea Kaston Tange @aktange.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
🎉Midwest Victorian Studies conference CFP alert🎉 Aviva Briefel is keynote speaker. Theme is Detection—not just detectives, but also medical mysteries, tech innovations, colonial extraction, plant species discovery & everything in between. April 1-3 in Minneapolis. Please apply/pass it on!
midwestvictorian.org
Conference
“Detection: Exploring, Innovating, Locating, Uncovering”2027 Call for Papers April 1-3, 2027, hosted in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Sidney Paget, “Glancing about Him Like a Rat in a Trap,” …
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Until noon today. (Thank you, Beth.)
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19thnews @19thnews.org · 20/08/2026
Aisha Wahab is projected to win the special election for the U.S. House seat formerly held by Rep. Eric Swalwell, making her the first person of Afghan descent to be elected to Congress. bit.ly/4ikVXgv
A person in a suit speaking with another individual in a formal setting. A headline reads: "Election 2026: Aisha Wahab makes history as the first Afghan American elected to Congress. The progressive California state senator will fulfill 
the rest of the term of former Rep. Eric Swalwell, 
who resigned amid accusations of sexual misconduct."
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Zarena Aslami @zda.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
OMG!!!!
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Corbin Hiday @chiday.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
looking like my time in academia finally coming to an end, with no job lined up beyond May. If you're interested in my early attempt to think through a new project on energy, riots, and masses, check out new issue of @victorianreview.bsky.social. muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
muse.jhu.edu
Project MUSE -- Verification required!
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Tricia Matthew @triciamatthew.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
The first book in the Race in Nineteenth Century Literatures and Cultures series (Oxford University Press) is out in June! Porscha Fermanis’ Settler Fiction from the Southern Hemisphere, 1820-1890 Get your library to order copies! global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Book cover: SETTLER FICTION FROM THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE, 1820-1890
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Nicole Rizzuto @nicolerizzuto.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
🚨: My new monograph ARRESTING ECOLOGIES: GLOBAL LITERATURE ACROSS AIR, LAND, and SEA, 1926-2014 is available for preorder from OXFORD UP, with 30 percent discount.
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Andrea Kaston Tange @aktange.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
Eight days left till applications are due for this guaranteed MLA seminar "Close Reading, Professional Practice, and Public Writing." Write something for a general readership about why close reading matters & join this seminar to read other smart people's takes & get feedback on yours!
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Essaka Joshua @essaka.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
4 days left to get your free download of Disability & the Gothic.
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ProfKori @profkori.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
The “report” the WSJ & Chronicle of Higher Education took seriously enough to engage had as much merit as a Reddit rant, but their treating it seriously made a response necessary. ASA President Alex Lubin did members and the entire profession proud! I’m grateful. www.chronicle.com/blogs/letter...
chronicle.com
Letter | Misunderstanding American Studies
A recent report and the news coverage around it failed to reflect the field’s aims, writes Alex Lubin.
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Andrea Kaston Tange @aktange.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Twin Cities' horrors continue though media has moved on. Families are still in hiding (schools w/virtual options till April), ICE still abducting people w/disregard for law, ongoing need for rent relief. Here's one hyper-local effort from my trusted colleague. Please RT even if you can't donate.
artistic poster of a wolf and a hand and garlands of wildflowers; the text reads "March rent financial mutual aid needed. Supporting 11 families. Current goal: $7,000.00. Venmo: @Emma-Torzs"
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Andrea Kaston Tange @aktange.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
This is in a neighborhood near me that I frequent for the restaurants and coffee shops and go running through in spring and summer. It's bustling with shops & history. F. Scott Fitzgerald once lived there. They're doing their best to destroy everything peaceful & community-filled in the Twin Cities.
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Zarena Aslami @zda.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
"“We worked with the U.S. for 20 years. We fought terrorism. We supported democracy. What was the benefit?”" theconversation.com/afghan-migra...
theconversation.com
Afghan migrants stranded in Pakistan after the US suspends refugee resettlement
After a failed US intervention exposed Afghan civilians to Taliban threats, Washington is retreating from its humanitarian obligations.
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Andrea Kaston Tange @aktange.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
The situation in MN remains horrific. In-depth reporting here reveals a pattern of ICE detaining people who are here legally, ignoring court orders, shipping them out of state, refusing them counsel, and even deporting them. Make sure your Senators know the horrors more ICE funding will perpetuate.
mprnews.org
‘ICE conveyor belt’ illegally detaining, moving Minnesota children to Texas faster than courts can respond
ICE is pulling Minnesota immigrant families with legal status out of their driveways, homes and school commutes and sending them to Texas within hours — in at least two cases against a judge’s order. ...
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Ann Arbor Indivisible @aaindivisible.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
There have been multiple sightings of ICE in the last couple of days in Washtenaw County, especially in Ypsi. Save these numbers. WICIR Linktree: linktr.ee/wicir
Support neighbors. Stop ICE. Call: Report ICE sightings to MIRA, (734) 224-3852. Immigration-related emergency support: (734)355-2707. Give or volunteer: See WICIR linktree. WICIR logo in bottom left.
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Andrea Kaston Tange @aktange.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Edina is a suburb so wealthy that when its local paper publishes profiles of graduating high school seniors, photo captions tell you "who" they're wearing & how much the clothes cost. The video in the quoted post is worth watching in full. Imagine the whole fury of the PTA directed in righteousness.
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Andrea Kaston Tange @aktange.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
I have a friend on the scene, and their video (taken just moments ago) shows agents tear-gassing those who have shown up with nothing but phones and whistles. You can hear the popping noises of some kind of shots in the background and see the clouds of gas/smoke billowing.
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Andrea Kaston Tange @aktange.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
I should have been more clear: if you want updates (we do not know yet if this man survived), this page will give you them. It also includes the video, but you do NOT have to play it. It is traumatic.
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Andrea Kaston Tange @aktange.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
St Paul, MN: Helicopters have been patrolling overhead on and off all day. They are back, and hovering. This does not make us feel good or safe, but terrorized.
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Zarena Aslami @zda.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
About to submit my revised ms, Marginal Sovereignty: The Literatures of Empire and the Making of Victorian Afghanistan, to @cornellupress.bsky.social. It's been an emotional, discordant journey, but I am supremely grateful for current colleagues and friends and the new ones I met along the way.
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Zarena Aslami @zda.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
www.salon.com/2025/12/13/a...
salon.com
Afghanistan's tragedy: From Reagan's "nation of heroes" to Trump's "hellhole on Earth" - Salon.com
In the '80s, Afghans were "freedom fighters." Today, they're despised terrorists. Both stories were made in America
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
This is so sad; so many lives ruined. And for what?
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Nicole Chung @nicolechung.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
Amy Sherald says the Smithsonian suggested removing a painting of a transgender woman as the Statue of Liberty from her upcoming show at the National Portrait Gallery “to avoid provoking President Trump.” Sherald: “I cannot in good conscience comply with a culture of censorship”
nytimes.com
Amy Sherald Cancels Her Smithsonian Show, Citing Censorship
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Zarena Aslami @zda.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
@aktange.bsky.social field trip!
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Zarena Aslami @zda.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...
theguardian.com
Lawmakers call for release of Afghan man seized by Ice at green card appointment – US politics live
Man who worked for US military in Afghanistan seized by immigration agents and taken out of state after arriving for green card appointment, say attorneys
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Alexander Chee @alexanderchee.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
Rümeysa Öztürk wrote about ICE detention and the women who helped her survive. www.vanityfair.com/news/story/r...
vanityfair.com
“Even God Cannot Hear Us Here”: What I Witnessed Inside an ICE Women’s Prison
Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk opens up about her 45 days in a South Louisiana processing facility—and the generous and compassionate women she met.
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Eric Gardner @profgardner.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
A powerful piece by Patricia Okker, former President of the New College of Florida, on how reading American women writers can shape our current moment. This is what the humanities can do, and this is why they are so afraid of us. Free access from Legacy: muse.jhu.edu/article/959226
muse.jhu.edu
Project MUSE - Learning to Read American Women Writers
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Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
MIT just pubbed a study on ChatGPT users. “Brain scans revealed neural connection collapse... a 47% reduction in brain connectivity. When researchers forced ChatGPT users to write w/o AI, they performed worse than people who never used AI at all. It's not just dependency. It's cognitive atrophy.”
media.mit.edu
Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task – MIT Media Lab
 This study explores the neural and behavioral consequences of LLM-assisted essay writing. Participants were divided into three groups: LLM, Search Engine…
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Bonnie Honig @bonniehonig.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
Sounds awesome!
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Huron Valley DSA @huronvalleydsa.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
Hey all, if you don't want a massive data center in your backyard, the folks at Stop the Data are holding a rally at the June 17th Ypsilanti Town Board meeting at 5:30pm! The rally will be at the Tilden R. Stumbo Civic Center Board Room!
Stop the Data Rally, happening June 17th, 5:30pm, at the Ypsilanti Township Board of Trustees meeting. Meeting is at Tilden R. Stumbo Civic Center Board Room (7200 S. Huron River Dr., Ypsilanti, MI 48197)
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Truthout @truthout.org · 09/06/2025
The U.S. owes Afghans and Afghan Americans a huge debt. Instead of repaying this debt and undoing the harm it has caused over four decades, Muslim ban 2.0 has been yet another deep betrayal and abandonment.
buff.ly
Trump’s New “Muslim Ban” Wipes Out Hope for 250,000 Afghans Seeking Refuge in US
The US owes Afghans a huge debt, but instead of starting to repair decades of harm, Trump is banning them from the US.
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
"A former Afghan National Army soldier in the process of applying for asylum in the U.S. was arrested last month by federal immigration agents at his Houston-area home, according to his attorney, who said the man and most of his family are being threatened with deportation."
houstonpublicmedia.org
Former Afghan soldier arrested at Houston-area home by ICE, stripped of asylum protections, attorney says | Houston Public Media
The soldier is one of at least 20,000 Afghans seeking asylum nationwide, having fled Afghanistan after aiding the U.S. military during the two-decades-long war there.
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Chad Loder @chadloder.dev · 07/06/2025
🚨 Support Los Angeles immigrant communities 🚨 Please consider donating to one or all of the following orgs: Immigrant Defenders Law Center: give.immdef.org/donate LA Jail Support / Bail Fund: account.venmo.com/u/jailsuppor... Unión del Barrio: uniondelbarrio.org/main/support...
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Zarena Aslami @zda.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
What was it again that John Locke said about putting labor into the land?
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Andrea Kaston Tange @aktange.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
If you're working in any Victorian Studies field & would like some group support/motivation to get summer writing done, consider applying to these (VIRTUAL) seminars. You need not live in the midwestern US to apply. Seminar groups are based on topic intersections & time zones for ease of meeting.
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Victorian Poetry @victorianpoetry.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
Excited to share the call for Victorian Poetry’s 2025 Early Career Prize! Please circulate widely. Happy to answer any questions (see the attached CFP for more details)!
Victorian Poetry invites submissions for its 2025 Early Career Essay Prize, which recognizes exemplary essays by untenured scholars of all ranks and affiliations (including contingently employed and graduate student colleagues). Conferred on an annual basis, the prize carries an award of $500 and publication in Victorian Poetry. Strong essays that do not win the award may also be considered for publication as recommended by the prize committee. Applications are due 4 August 2025. Scholars wishing to be considered should submit anonymized MS Word essays and brief CVs to victorianpoetryjournal@gmail.com with “Early Career Essay Prize” in the subject line. Prior to submission, consult our guidelines for authors.
 
Winning articles will be selected according to three criteria: (1) significance of contribution to the field of Victorian poetry (including its involvement with Victorian studies and other areas of inquiry in or beyond literary studies); (2) excellence of research, interpretation, and method; and (3) efficacy of presentation. The journal continues to expand its purview to a wider compass of archives and approaches. We welcome work that capaciously (re)interprets the field's originary contexts and reconsiders Victorian poetry (broadly construed) in new, innovative, cross-disciplinary, theoretical, and / or experimental ways.

For author guidelines, see the following link: https://victorian-poetry.scholasticahq.com
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Paula Krebs @paulakrebs.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
My most sincere thanks to everyone who has stepped up to contribute to our legal action with AHA and ACLS to restore the NEH. More than 300 people have chipped in. Here's the link to join the fight: www.mla.org/About-Us/Sup... The fund we are using for the legal fees is Paving the Way.
mla.org
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
For Mother’s Day I talked to moms who are being put through hell because of the new administration’s policies. “I am aware of Project 2025 and their goals of getting women out of the workforce, and this really feels like part of it.” Read here:
thehandbasket.co
Being a mom in the federal government wasn’t easy. Trump made it “impossible.”
The Handbasket spoke to several moms about the series of painful choices they've had to make since January.
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Zarena Aslami @zda.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Feel like trotting out one of my favorite quotes in my book The Dream Life of Citizens. It's from Sydney Webb's 1889 essay "Historic." In it, he counters Herbert Spencer's 1884 diatribe against liberals granting the state more power to mitigate people's suffering and to provide public services:
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Zarena Aslami @zda.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Very excited that two of our contributors to the special issue of VLC on Victorian Infrastructure that @timwatson.bsky.social and I co-edited have brand new brilliant books coming out. (1/?)
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Zarena Aslami @zda.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
This is beyond horrifying.
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Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha @thellpsx.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
PAGE NOT FOUND As of this morning, trans people are removed from federal health websites. Information on trans people and HIV, trans people in Ryan White programs, trans people and cancer- all mentions removed. (cont)
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Truthout @truthout.org · 23/01/2025
About 1,600 Afghans who are vetted and cleared to resettle in the U.S. — including unaccompanied minors reuniting with family members and Afghans at risk of retribution from the Taliban for assisting the U.S. during the 20-year war — had their entry to the U.S. blocked.
truthout.org
Betrayed by US Again, Afghan Evacuees Stranded After Refugee Program Suspension
About 1,600 Afghans approved to come to the US are now in limbo as the State Department cancels travel plans.
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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
reuters.com
Exclusive: Trump administration canceling flights for nearly 1,660 Afghan refugees, say U.S official, advocate
Nearly 1,660 Afghans cleared by the U.S. government to resettle in the U.S., including family members of active duty U.S. military personnel, are having their flights canceled under President Donald Trump's order suspending U.S. refugee programs, a U.S. official and a leading refugee resettlement advocate said on Monday.
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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
Disgusting. My family & I have worked in Afghan resettlement for the past 4 years. These are amazing people from whom we have learned so much. Biden didn’t do nearly enough for them, esp after the withdrawal debacle. But at least he allowed in a steady trickle (thru a grueling vetting process).
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Zarena Aslami @zda.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
Higher Education Must Champion Democracy, Not Surrender to Fascism truthout.org/articles/hig...
truthout.org
Higher Education Must Champion Democracy, Not Surrender to Fascism
Critical education must become a key organizing principle to defeat the emerging authoritarianism in the US.
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kristinmahoney.bsky.social @kristinmahoney.bsky.social · 29/12/2024
The deadline for the Annual USC Comparative Lit conference focusing on Fin-de-Siècle Modernisms is January 3. Please circulate the CFP and consider submitting: sc.edu/study/colleg...
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