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Zaria El-Fil

@dearzaria

History PhD Candidate | Southern Borderlands | Slavery Studies | Bookstagram: @BlackademicReads

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09.12.2024
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Latest posts by Zaria El-Fil @dearzaria

Preview
University of Texas regents OK limits on controversial subjects Opponents warned the policyโ€™s vagueness could push professors to self-censor and leave students less prepared for the workplace.

Forget the Alamo!
www.texastribune.org/2026/02/19/t...

20.02.2026 01:41 ๐Ÿ‘ 33 ๐Ÿ” 8 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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UNC Admin Can Now, Officially, Secretly Record Faculty The new policy prohibits students from recording class without permission but explicitly allows administrators to surveil professors for any โ€œlawful purpose.โ€

UNC Administrators Can Now Secretly Record Faculty

The new policy prohibits students from recording class without permission but explicitly allows administrators to surveil professors for any โ€œlawful purpose.
www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

11.02.2026 22:14 ๐Ÿ‘ 16 ๐Ÿ” 9 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 2
The Science of Racial Slavery in the British Empire

An academic panel featuring Dr. Brittany Merritt Nash, Dr. Elise A. Mitchell, and Dr. Kyle Prochnow


Thursday, February 26, 2026
5:30-6:30pm
The Bearโ€™s Den
Ursinus College

Learn how European colonialism and racial slavery shaped understandings of disease, medicine, and science across African, Caribbean, and European populations in the British Empire.

Generously funded by a Histories and Legacies of Slavery Grant administered by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and funded by the Mellon Foundation. Co-sponsored by African American and Africana Studies, History, and the Melrose Hub for Global Leadership at Ursinus College.

The Science of Racial Slavery in the British Empire An academic panel featuring Dr. Brittany Merritt Nash, Dr. Elise A. Mitchell, and Dr. Kyle Prochnow Thursday, February 26, 2026 5:30-6:30pm The Bearโ€™s Den Ursinus College Learn how European colonialism and racial slavery shaped understandings of disease, medicine, and science across African, Caribbean, and European populations in the British Empire. Generously funded by a Histories and Legacies of Slavery Grant administered by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and funded by the Mellon Foundation. Co-sponsored by African American and Africana Studies, History, and the Melrose Hub for Global Leadership at Ursinus College.

The Science of Racial Slavery in the British Empire

An academic panel featuring Dr. Brittany Merritt Nash, Dr. Elise A. Mitchell, and Dr. Kyle Prochnow

Thursday, February 26, 2026
5:30-6:30pm
The Bearโ€™s Den
Ursinus College

12.02.2026 02:54 ๐Ÿ‘ 18 ๐Ÿ” 9 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 3
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Bad Bunny Delivers a History Lesson and an Important Reminder for America's 250th If you are like me, last nightโ€™s halftime show performed by Bad Bunny (aka Benito Antonio Martรญnez Ocasio) is still ringing in your head.

Bad Bunny Delivers a History Lesson and an Important Reminder for America's 250th ๐Ÿ—ƒ๏ธ open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...

11.02.2026 23:50 ๐Ÿ‘ 27 ๐Ÿ” 5 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 2
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โ€œLa Negritaโ€: A History of African Girlhood in the Spanish Caribbean Slave Trade - Dr. Elise A. Mitchell - 2nd March โ€” CEMS KCL Blog On 2nd March at 17:00 (GMT)/12:00 (EST) we will discuss a pre-circulated paper titled โ€œLa Negritaโ€: A History of African Girlhood in the Spanish Caribbean Slave Tradeโ€ by Dr. Elise Mitchell (Swarthmor...

On 2nd March at 17:00 (GMT)/12:00 (EST) we will discuss a pre-circulated paper titled โ€œLa Negritaโ€: A History of African Girlhood in the Spanish Caribbean Slave Tradeโ€ by Dr. Elise Mitchell. Dr. Mitchell will introduce the paper for discussion.

kingsearlymodern.co.uk/race-and-the...

12.02.2026 02:56 ๐Ÿ‘ 17 ๐Ÿ” 12 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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โ€˜Heโ€™s not the sameโ€™: Father of Liam Conejo Ramos says 5-year-old continues to suffer Some people thought they say the 5-year-old during the Super Bowl halftime show. But Liam is still in hiding with his family, after he and his father were detained and then released from a Texas deten...

Super Bowl viewers Sunday speculated that 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos appeared in the halftime show. In fact, he has been in hiding with his family.

โ€œHe canโ€™t sleep well at night. He wakes up three or four times a night screaming, โ€˜Daddy, Daddy,โ€™โ€ Liam's father Adrian Conejo Arias, said.

10.02.2026 01:10 ๐Ÿ‘ 13913 ๐Ÿ” 5354 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 374 ๐Ÿ“Œ 525

It was transforming the biggest NFL stage in the world into a sugar cane plantation that did it for me.

Like, the multiple layers of turning an American icon into a plantation and highlighting the history of exploitation of Black and Brown bodies by the NFL and American colonialism simultaneously?

09.02.2026 01:54 ๐Ÿ‘ 9208 ๐Ÿ” 1761 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 77 ๐Ÿ“Œ 67

HOLY FUCK YOU GUYS

07.01.2026 17:28 ๐Ÿ‘ 118 ๐Ÿ” 32 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 5 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Friends, I hope youโ€™ll share this widely. The @jcblibrary.bsky.social is hiring 2 3-yr research associates for collaborative work on religions and freedoms in the early Americas. Info is here and Iโ€™m happy to take questions offline: brown.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/staff-...

07.01.2026 14:49 ๐Ÿ‘ 135 ๐Ÿ” 147 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 3
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We're excited to welcome Ana Lucia Araujo, Toby Green, and Brooke Newman as the new editorial team for our Race in the Atlantic World series! Check out the blog for more on the editors and the series.
https://loom.ly/j2osHxM

19.11.2025 09:32 ๐Ÿ‘ 11 ๐Ÿ” 3 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Have you ever heard someone go off, and their words are so perfectly chosen, so well said in that moment, that youโ€™re in awe? You think, โ€œThereโ€™s nothing to add here,โ€ and you applaud in your head.

Thatโ€™s exactly this. Pure perfection. ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿฝ

21.12.2025 15:40 ๐Ÿ‘ 17034 ๐Ÿ” 6307 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 642 ๐Ÿ“Œ 321
Book cover of Special Damage: The Slander of Women and the Gendered History of Defamation Law by Jessica Lake

Book cover of Special Damage: The Slander of Women and the Gendered History of Defamation Law by Jessica Lake

In Special Damage, Jessica Lake offers a comparative legal history of gendered hate speech, verbal abuse, and sexual harassment across 19th-century America, Australia, and England. #ReadUP

https://www.sup.org/books/law/special-damage

16.12.2025 16:02 ๐Ÿ‘ 19 ๐Ÿ” 8 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 1
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The Driverโ€™s Story: Labor and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery Published in Slavery & Abolition: A Journal of Slave and Post-Slave Studies (Vol. 46, No. 4, 2025)

Nice review of THE DRIVER'S STORY in the latest issue of Slavery & Abolition, which calls the book "a fascinating and excellent study that will be of great benefit to scholars of slavery within the Caribbean and beyond."
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

16.12.2025 17:45 ๐Ÿ‘ 5 ๐Ÿ” 1 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Mahmood Mamdani on how Uganda's history shaped his belonging โ€” and his son's moment NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Professor Mahmood Mamdani about his new book, "Slow Poison." The book is a firsthand report on the tragic unraveling of Uganda's struggle for independence.

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Professor Mahmood Mamdani about his new book, "Slow Poison." The book is a firsthand report on the tragic unraveling of Uganda's struggle for independence. n.pr/4oQgMjr

16.12.2025 13:31 ๐Ÿ‘ 131 ๐Ÿ” 20 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 1
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Spirits of Empire The Declaration of Independence depicted Native Americans as bloodthirsty savages, and from its founding the United States aimed to expand westward by seizin...

My new book is now available for pre-order from UNC Press @uncpress.bsky.social! Use code 01SOCIAL30 at checkout to save 30%. uncpress.org/978146969362...

16.12.2025 02:22 ๐Ÿ‘ 46 ๐Ÿ” 20 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 2
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At least 2 killed and several more hurt in shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island Police say multiple people have been shot in the area of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

@apnews.com:
At least 2 killed and several more hurt in shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island

13.12.2025 23:23 ๐Ÿ‘ 414 ๐Ÿ” 167 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 20 ๐Ÿ“Œ 17

I was in Myanmar in 2015, just as identity cards were taken from Rohingya to keep them from voting. It was part of a decades-long process of redefining citizenship that ate away at their rights more every year. When governments start doing this, they can move the goalposts anytime they want to.

13.12.2025 15:08 ๐Ÿ‘ 756 ๐Ÿ” 303 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 8 ๐Ÿ“Œ 1
CALL FOR PAPERS: Patrick Wolfeโ€™s Settler Colonial Theory, 20 Years On
This special issue of Settler Colonial Studies aims to collaboratively examine the residual
impacts of Patrick Wolfeโ€™s influential essay, โ€œSettler Colonialism and the Elimination of the
Native."

โ€ข What did this essay do to shift or situate the conversation of postcolonial studies
towards settler colonialism?
โ€ข What chord did it strike that made it so widely taken up? And how have the
essayโ€™s key concepts travelled globally?
โ€ข How do the essayโ€™s arguments hold up when considered in settler colonial
contexts not addressed in Wolfeโ€™s essay.

Our aim is to curate a special issue by inviting a mix of scholars from across the globe,
Indigenous and non-Indigenous, established and newer voices, to comment on the essay in
2026 as a way to examine the current state of the field. We seek research article contributions
of 5,000 words that will undergo double-blind peer-review and also encourage reflective
essays and creative responses to โ€œSettler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native.โ€
We will hold an online symposium in June 2026, where a working version of accepted essays
will be shared with scholars from across the globe. Our target deadlines are as follows:
โ€ข 350 word abstracts by March 15, 2026;
โ€ข Conference version of the paper for the online symposium in June 2026;
โ€ข Submitted draft for peer review, October 2026;
โ€ข Revised and final draft for publication, Jan 2027;
โ€ข Publication: May 2027.
Please send abstracts of 350 words with a 1 page CV to: Rebecca Weaver-Hightower,
rebeccawh@vt.edu or raweav1@yahoo.com. Please make sure the subject line indicates the
special issue. Abstracts will be acknowledged with an email. If you do not receive a response
within 2 weeks, please email Rebecca (in case your original email was unintentionally filtered
out by her email program).

CALL FOR PAPERS: Patrick Wolfeโ€™s Settler Colonial Theory, 20 Years On This special issue of Settler Colonial Studies aims to collaboratively examine the residual impacts of Patrick Wolfeโ€™s influential essay, โ€œSettler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native." โ€ข What did this essay do to shift or situate the conversation of postcolonial studies towards settler colonialism? โ€ข What chord did it strike that made it so widely taken up? And how have the essayโ€™s key concepts travelled globally? โ€ข How do the essayโ€™s arguments hold up when considered in settler colonial contexts not addressed in Wolfeโ€™s essay. Our aim is to curate a special issue by inviting a mix of scholars from across the globe, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, established and newer voices, to comment on the essay in 2026 as a way to examine the current state of the field. We seek research article contributions of 5,000 words that will undergo double-blind peer-review and also encourage reflective essays and creative responses to โ€œSettler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native.โ€ We will hold an online symposium in June 2026, where a working version of accepted essays will be shared with scholars from across the globe. Our target deadlines are as follows: โ€ข 350 word abstracts by March 15, 2026; โ€ข Conference version of the paper for the online symposium in June 2026; โ€ข Submitted draft for peer review, October 2026; โ€ข Revised and final draft for publication, Jan 2027; โ€ข Publication: May 2027. Please send abstracts of 350 words with a 1 page CV to: Rebecca Weaver-Hightower, rebeccawh@vt.edu or raweav1@yahoo.com. Please make sure the subject line indicates the special issue. Abstracts will be acknowledged with an email. If you do not receive a response within 2 weeks, please email Rebecca (in case your original email was unintentionally filtered out by her email program).

Attention scholars: to mark the 20th anniversary of Patrick Wolfe's "Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the
Native," SETTLER COLONIAL STUDIES is soliciting reflections/ critiques for a special issue on Wolfe and his influence.

Details below. Please circulate widely!

10.12.2025 18:30 ๐Ÿ‘ 32 ๐Ÿ” 27 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 2
Cover of The Invention of Order: On the Coloniality of Space by Don Thomas Deere. The central image is a sculpture composed of irregular, interlocking dark wooden panels, some inscribed with words such as โ€œFORTIA,โ€ โ€œABSTRACTO,โ€ and โ€œCONCRETO.โ€ The book title is superimposed in white serif type across the lower panels of the sculpture.

Cover of The Invention of Order: On the Coloniality of Space by Don Thomas Deere. The central image is a sculpture composed of irregular, interlocking dark wooden panels, some inscribed with words such as โ€œFORTIA,โ€ โ€œABSTRACTO,โ€ and โ€œCONCRETO.โ€ The book title is superimposed in white serif type across the lower panels of the sculpture.

Save 30% on #NewBook "The Invention of Order," in which Don Thomas Deere retraces the colonial origins of spatial organization in the Americas and the Caribbean and its lasting impact on modern structures of knowledge, power, race, and gender. #LatinAmStudies #PostcolonialTheory buff.ly/G60iAfG

10.12.2025 19:47 ๐Ÿ‘ 17 ๐Ÿ” 4 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

Everyone in Chicago needs to read this AND TAKE ACTION. Everyone else should read this and ask what's happening where you are with your public library systems.

03.12.2025 18:36 ๐Ÿ‘ 527 ๐Ÿ” 276 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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The Clements Center for Southwest Studies invites fellowship applications for the 2026-2027 academic year.

For more info and to apply:
www.smu.edu/dedman/resea...

If you're interested of have questions, feel free to contact me directly.

05.12.2025 19:18 ๐Ÿ‘ 11 ๐Ÿ” 13 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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National Park Service Ends Fee-Free Days on MLK Day and Juneteenth and Places Trump on America the Beautiful Passes Itโ€™s been a while since we checked in with our friends at the National Park Service.

National Park Service Ends Fee-Free Days on MLK Day and Juneteenth and Places Trump on America the Beautiful Passes #NationalParks open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...

07.12.2025 12:26 ๐Ÿ‘ 23 ๐Ÿ” 6 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 8 ๐Ÿ“Œ 2
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Itโ€™s a Miracle That Mexico Exists at All

Itโ€™s a Miracle That Mexico Exists at All www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/b... ๐Ÿ—ƒ๏ธ

06.12.2025 13:26 ๐Ÿ‘ 2 ๐Ÿ” 1 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Now is a good time to read @marthasjones.bsky.social incredible scholarship on this subject: www.cambridge.org/core/books/b...

05.12.2025 20:51 ๐Ÿ‘ 52 ๐Ÿ” 25 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 2
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Christina Sharpe: "The Shapes of Grief" An essay by Christina Sharpe on witnessing the unbearable.

Happy birthday! (Going through my mom's emails this morning and we had an exchange โ€” on September 21, 2024 โ€” about your Yale Review essay. I shared it with her & she wrote back that she loved it & would reread it more slowly on the weekend.)

04.12.2025 15:16 ๐Ÿ‘ 10 ๐Ÿ” 3 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Good mail day. Emilie Connollyโ€™s new book that I am excited to read. ๐Ÿ—ƒ๏ธ

02.12.2025 21:51 ๐Ÿ‘ 39 ๐Ÿ” 12 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I have no idea how one is supposed to teach American History at Texas Tech under this system. But perhaps that is the goal.

My larger fear is that TX has been the proving ground for the conservative takeover of academia. So what happens at Texas Tech will not stay at Texas Tech.

02.12.2025 01:08 ๐Ÿ‘ 20 ๐Ÿ” 3 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 4 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Reckoning With Yaleโ€™s Ties to Slavery An institutional history of the โ€œpeculiar institution.โ€

The Chronicle of Higher Education: โ€œ'Yale and Slavery' is not just a book about Yale: It is [...] a deeply researched panorama of Americaโ€™s psychic and literal investment in the enslavement of Native American and African people.โ€

01.12.2025 20:02 ๐Ÿ‘ 10 ๐Ÿ” 3 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

The most precious commodity you have is your attention. You donโ€™t have to waste it on poor-faith debates or arguments with strangers if you donโ€™t think theyโ€™ll be productive. You can prioritize the things that matter to you and make your life richer.

30.11.2025 20:00 ๐Ÿ‘ 11819 ๐Ÿ” 3003 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 131 ๐Ÿ“Œ 196