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Maura Elizabeth Cunningham

@mauracunningham

She/her. China historian and writer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Also reader, knitter, Phillies/Flyers fan, road tripper. https://mauracunningham.org/

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07.09.2023
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Latest posts by Maura Elizabeth Cunningham @mauracunningham

Preview
Censorship Is Not Deterring Global Adoption of Chinese AI China tech watchers have quickly pointed that Chinese LLMs face an obstacle almost guaranteed to hinder its capability and potential to compete with similar Western products: censorship. But DeepSeek…

At @chinafile.bsky.social, @wenhao.bsky.social digs deep into the popularity of Chinese LLMs and the relatively distant concern censorship seems to be in the eyes of most foreign consumers and tech companies.

11.03.2026 13:15 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

😬 Your trip can only get better!

11.03.2026 12:33 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Introducing GRANDMALY who does not pretend to offer expert advice about your writing at all. She just says β€œthat’s nice dear” no matter what you type. She’s still really proud of you!

11.03.2026 00:50 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

I know it's only March, but I believe that "sloppelganger" is 2026 Word of the Year

10.03.2026 21:22 πŸ‘ 174 πŸ” 58 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
View from above of an airport arrival hall, with two large totem poles standing at the entrance to the immigration queue.

View from above of an airport arrival hall, with two large totem poles standing at the entrance to the immigration queue.

My @asianstudies.org colleagues and I are assembling in Vancouver for #AAS2026! I look forward to seeing/meeting Bluesky connections at the conferenceβ€”my desk will be in the convention center badge pick-up/registration area, so if you see me there please say hello!

10.03.2026 22:56 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

The cap to this is that my driver from Ann Arbor to DTW this morning was a Rangers fan. He didn’t gloat … much.

10.03.2026 21:36 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I would like to use a new computer program and not have it automatically launch an AI companion. Also: when I turn it off I mean it! No take backs because there was an update.

10.03.2026 20:53 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I’m in Denver now, en route to YVR! See you there. Safe travels.

10.03.2026 17:05 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Excellent thread on what counts as β€œDEI” in Asian studies researchβ€”revealing and full of contradictions

10.03.2026 15:35 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

thread: tour the silliness of people trusting genai and the model’s nonreasoning on Asian Studies topics

10.03.2026 15:42 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
When DOGE Unleashed ChatGPT on the Humanities

🧡1/x Lots of blunt and contradictory conclusions by (de)generative AI on extent of #DEI in #AsianStudies projects that had received funding from #NEH

10.03.2026 02:57 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 9 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2

Flyers losing 6-1 and I have to leave for the airport at 6am. I think I can skip the third period.

10.03.2026 00:43 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Weekly Wanderings: March 8,Β 2026 Happy International Women’s Day! And boo to daylight saving time. This is not a weekend when I can easily lose an hourβ€”because on Tuesday I’m flying to Vancouver for the start of my own personal Super Bowl, the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference. My AAS colleagues and I are in full-tilt β€œget it done NOW” mode, making our final PowerPoints and responding to participant emails as fast as we can.

Weekly Wanderings: March 8,Β 2026

Happy International Women’s Day! And boo to daylight saving time. This is not a weekend when I can easily lose an hourβ€”because on Tuesday I’m flying to Vancouver for the start of my own personal Super Bowl, the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference. My…

08.03.2026 12:00 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Orange and white traffic cones and a barricade with text indicating asianstudies.org is currently down.

Orange and white traffic cones and a barricade with text indicating asianstudies.org is currently down.

Our website is currently experiencing an outage 🫣

We know that you're all trying to get information about #AAS2026β€”we apologize for the inconvenience! Our tech provider is working with the hosting service to troubleshoot the problem. We hope to be back online soon🀞

09.03.2026 16:55 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

I find it extremely difficult to believe that anyone experiencing what honestly looks like the apocalypse is going to regard it as a form of liberation or that anyone responsible for it actually cares about how Iranians regard it at all.

09.03.2026 11:51 πŸ‘ 2206 πŸ” 450 πŸ’¬ 9 πŸ“Œ 12

Genre snobs are such dull people.

Read what you want! I know people who read only in one genre, and others who read broadly. Both are good, in fact!

09.03.2026 14:41 πŸ‘ 29 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Maybe you can't make it to #AAS2026 this week ... what about #AAS2027 in Boston? We just saw the first CFP for next year's Annual Conference!

u.osu.edu/mclc/2026/03...

09.03.2026 14:19 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
an exhausted orange cat, on a pillow, yawning widely

an exhausted orange cat, on a pillow, yawning widely

Give me my fucking hour back. I need it

09.03.2026 08:27 πŸ‘ 1482 πŸ” 150 πŸ’¬ 11 πŸ“Œ 6
Pedagogy Under Threat (in the U.S. and Beyond) - Sponsored by AAS Diversity and Equity Committee
Sat, March 14, 2026 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM PDT Location: VCC, Room 212
Over the last decade, higher education has experienced a disconcerting variety of threats which have taken a variety of forms at institutions globally, include but are not limited to restrictions on academic freedom, budget cuts and the adjunctification of instruction, the elimination of entire departments, surveillance, and much more. In recent years, the United States in particular has been a site of further and accelerated existential attacks on the infrastructure of the humanities, area studies, higher education as a whole, and students whose identities or activism make them vulnerable, destabilizing the foundations of critical pedagogy and rejecting the necessity of diversity, equity, and justice for educators and students alike. The reckless and often extractive push towards new and little-understood technologies like generative AI without consideration of their influence on teaching, research, or student development further hinders instructors of every discipline and background. Finally, the militarization of campus security, including intensive surveillance technology, has restricted free speech.
With repercussions far beyond North American academic circles, these trends both echo and resonate with the experiences of colleagues and institutions around the world. These targeted forms of disempowerment have effects well beyond US borders, necessitating that we both raise awareness of these issues and collaborate on strategic paths forward.

Pedagogy Under Threat (in the U.S. and Beyond) - Sponsored by AAS Diversity and Equity Committee Sat, March 14, 2026 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM PDT Location: VCC, Room 212 Over the last decade, higher education has experienced a disconcerting variety of threats which have taken a variety of forms at institutions globally, include but are not limited to restrictions on academic freedom, budget cuts and the adjunctification of instruction, the elimination of entire departments, surveillance, and much more. In recent years, the United States in particular has been a site of further and accelerated existential attacks on the infrastructure of the humanities, area studies, higher education as a whole, and students whose identities or activism make them vulnerable, destabilizing the foundations of critical pedagogy and rejecting the necessity of diversity, equity, and justice for educators and students alike. The reckless and often extractive push towards new and little-understood technologies like generative AI without consideration of their influence on teaching, research, or student development further hinders instructors of every discipline and background. Finally, the militarization of campus security, including intensive surveillance technology, has restricted free speech. With repercussions far beyond North American academic circles, these trends both echo and resonate with the experiences of colleagues and institutions around the world. These targeted forms of disempowerment have effects well beyond US borders, necessitating that we both raise awareness of these issues and collaborate on strategic paths forward.

As we get closer to #AAS2026, a number of scholars on the Diversity and Equity Committee panel "Pedagogy Under Threat (in the U.S. & Beyond)" have found that they cannot attend the conference due to visa issues. We are therefore encouraging scholars to stop by and share in this important discussion.

08.03.2026 16:17 πŸ‘ 15 πŸ” 15 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

I like how this describes both Daylight Savings Time and also everything about America.

08.03.2026 16:22 πŸ‘ 1044 πŸ” 312 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 1

I bought my car in 2021 and today I managed to reset the clock without resorting to YouTube for the first time.

08.03.2026 16:00 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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24 hours? Not this year. πŸ€·β€β™€οΈΒ 

International Women’s Day comes up one hour short this year. Today, PWHL players who wear 24 are wearing 23 β€” a reminder that when women get less, the answer is to give women’s sports more.

08.03.2026 15:31 πŸ‘ 279 πŸ” 105 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 23

In The Future That Was, I document how Intnl Women’s Day was key for women fighting against neofascist states in Iran, Algeria, Pakistan forty yrs ago

Women took to the streets, faced down the police, and were beaten/arrested fighting authoritarian laws

Solidarity on International Women’s Day ✊🏽

08.03.2026 13:46 πŸ‘ 16 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Weekly Wanderings: March 8,Β 2026 Happy International Women’s Day! And boo to daylight saving time. This is not a weekend when I can easily lose an hourβ€”because on Tuesday I’m flying to Vancouver for the start of my own personal Super Bowl, the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference. My AAS colleagues and I are in full-tilt β€œget it done NOW” mode, making our final PowerPoints and responding to participant emails as fast as we can.

Weekly Wanderings: March 8,Β 2026

Happy International Women’s Day! And boo to daylight saving time. This is not a weekend when I can easily lose an hourβ€”because on Tuesday I’m flying to Vancouver for the start of my own personal Super Bowl, the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference. My…

08.03.2026 12:00 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
To Ensure a More Sustainable Future, Human Rights Work on China Should Move Away from U.S. Government Funding Last month, the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia announced that it had resumed broadcasts to audiences in China, after cuts under the Trump administration last year largely forced the outlet to ...

Lots of tough but important questions in @yaqiu.bsky.social exploration of the way dependence on USG funding shapes China human rights advocacy. Haven't seen anything before that attempts this kind of blunt cost/benefit analysis. www.chinafile.com/reporting-op...

03.03.2026 17:52 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

There are more important films from that year but this is still the best one.

07.03.2026 02:25 πŸ‘ 25 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 0

All at once! I might not listen right away, but I'll save it for a flight, long drive, etc.

06.03.2026 20:24 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

this is not news. we have been a fully sentient posting museum since at least 2016

06.03.2026 16:13 πŸ‘ 580 πŸ” 64 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 2
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This is false consciousness. Call us when it shows signs of socialism.

06.03.2026 16:26 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0