This is a travesty. African and African Diaspora Studies at UT Austin has been one of the best programs in the country. And for historical context, this is explicitly about reversing the gains of student movements in the 60s and 70s.
www.statesman.com/news/educati...
My country music issue of @scquarterly.bsky.social is out! I'm proud of how it's come together. Thank you to the wide range of contributors, including musicians and scholars and artists, and of course the dream team editorial crew at SC who make creative freedom a reality.
For instance, Kris Kristofferson was not a “good” singer, but no one denies he is one of the greats. Riley Green recently said something along the lines of “I’m not the best at singing…I don’t sing, I just talk with my exact voice and It sounds like singing.”
You don’t have to be a good singer to be a good country artist, could name many examples. Agree she sounded not great, she should have lip-synched as others did last night.
UPDATE: The Indiana legislature announced that, across the state's public universities, it will immediately eliminate 75 programs, suspend/teach-out 101, and force 232 to consolidate or be eliminated. Not surprisingly, these closures disproportionately affect arts, humanities, and social science.
Seeing it for the second time in a few!
Blown away by Sinners and still processing. This is an excellent movie syllabus but would def add Roediger etc. for the Irish component.
www.aaihs.org/the-sinners-...
Great to hear and so well deserved! Hope to see you at ICMC 🤠
"At the same time, his administration has elevated candidates with scant qualifications to positions of power across the federal bureaucracy...That this is all being done in the name of “merit-based opportunity,” as Trump’s executive order put it, is patently absurd."
slate.com/news-and-pol...
Amanda Marie Martinez with the opening graphic for her paper.
And @amamartinez.bsky.social wraps up the panel with ““My Own Kind of Hat”: Headwear and Country Music’s Evolving Class Politics” #PopCon2025
Black Studies and the Fight Against Fascism Davarian Baldwin Johanna Fernandez Sarah Haley Robin D.G. Kelley Barbara Ransby Robyn Spencer-Antoine Tuesday, March 4 at 6:00 pm ET
Black Studies and the Fight Against Fascism
Join us for a timely conversation with @davarianbaldwin.bsky.social, @jfernandez1202.bsky.social, Sarah Haley, Robin D.G. Kelley, Barbara Ransby, & Robyn Spencer-Antoine
Tuesday, March 4 at 6:00 pm ET
RSVP to attend: www.tickettailor.com/events/hayma...
As does yours! Lots of good stuff on the first day. And then yes we can just sit back and enjoy!
The schedule looks amazing!
Thanks, Alyx!
This fall I’ll begin a tenure track Assistant Professor position in the Dept of American Studies at UNC, where my postdoc’s been since last year. Can’t imagine a better academic home. It’s been a long road of luck, community, & hard work to get here & I couldn’t be more grateful.
Trump follows a long line of conservatives who’ve co-opted country music, identifying its listeners as his voters. Like most of his predecessors, there’s little evidence he had an organic interest in the music. Many country stars have already been happy to play into his interest, as seen w the inaug
Yay!!
I’ll also use this chance to bump this excellent profile on Amythyst Kiah from @jewlyhight.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2021/06/14/a...
Right?? It will be a great few days!
Next week in Chapel Hill we’ll celebrate the Southern Folklife Collection w exciting events, a couple of which I’ll be a part of.
On 2/20, David Garcia & I will be in conversation w Amythyst Kiah
On 2/22, Jewly Hight, Jocelyn Neal, & I will have a panel on commercial country music
Join us!
bsky.app/profile/clar...
Corporate Coup in Global Context
Join @naomiaklein.bsky.social, @chenjerai.bsky.social, @astra.bsky.social, & @keeanga.bsky.social for an emergency town hall on the accelerating corporate dominance of our societies
Mon., Feb. 17 at 5:00 pm ET
RSVP to attend: www.tickettailor.com/events/hayma...
I went into the Grammys expecting the focus to be on Bey/Tay and was happy to see Bey and Kendrick get their deserved awards. But the night's story was Gen Z. Millennials are official elders now www.npr.org/2025/02/03/n...
Dear National Media,
If tariffs don’t end up materializing, please don’t say he struck a deal. He didn’t. He intentionally picked a fight with friends & tanked the stock market so he’d be able to claim he was great.
This is classic narcissistic personality BS & the remedy is calling it out.
Last day to submit. Looking at what we've gotten so far and I'm so stoked. You're not ready for how good this is gonna be!
Anyway, the Grammys were a brief nice escape from reality.
Great Cowboy Carter won big & she’s one of few Black artists to win a Country Grammy. But also worth noting every Black artist who’s won is a non-Nashville/non-primarily country artist. We need class analysis in our celebrations; the struggles for emerging Black country artists in Nashville remain
Thank you!
And she did win AOTY. And gave a shoutout to Linda Martell. Support Martell’s granddaughter, Quia Thompson, who’s working on a documentary about her grandmother: www.lindamartell.com/badcaseofthe...
