ali altaf mian
@alialtafmian.bsky.social
“Only he who has measured the dominion of force, and knows how not to respect it, is capable of love and justice." --Simone Weil
https://undpress.nd.edu/9780268210908/islamic-ethics-and-spiritual-sovereignty/
https://undpress.nd.edu/9780268210908/islamic-ethics-and-spiritual-sovereignty/
Reposted by ali altaf mian
"Balle takes immense care to describe the loneliness of the few mortals doomed to change, grow, shrink, and die in a timeless world," notes critic Jack Rockwell. Read Rockwell’s review of ON THE CALCULATION OF VOLUME (BOOK III) here: wordswithoutborders.org/book-reviews...
“Stranded in Time”: Memory and Repetition in Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume (Book III) - Words Without Borders
One of the basic tricks of narrative writing is assigning multiple functions to details. Under the guise of plot, we get characterization. Apparent description begets foreshadowing. Readers, by now…
wordswithoutborders.org
November 24, 2025 at 3:57 PM
"Balle takes immense care to describe the loneliness of the few mortals doomed to change, grow, shrink, and die in a timeless world," notes critic Jack Rockwell. Read Rockwell’s review of ON THE CALCULATION OF VOLUME (BOOK III) here: wordswithoutborders.org/book-reviews...
Reposted by ali altaf mian
Big thanks to David for playing a track from Aïssaoua: Sufi Trance from Morocco on @wfmu.bsky.social
The album will be available until the end of November and then will be set to private. Grab it while you can:
hivemindrecords.bandcamp.com/album/a-ssao...
The album will be available until the end of November and then will be set to private. Grab it while you can:
hivemindrecords.bandcamp.com/album/a-ssao...
November 23, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Big thanks to David for playing a track from Aïssaoua: Sufi Trance from Morocco on @wfmu.bsky.social
The album will be available until the end of November and then will be set to private. Grab it while you can:
hivemindrecords.bandcamp.com/album/a-ssao...
The album will be available until the end of November and then will be set to private. Grab it while you can:
hivemindrecords.bandcamp.com/album/a-ssao...
Reposted by ali altaf mian
Reposted by ali altaf mian
Anouar Brahem - After the Last Sky
anouarbrahem.com/en/discograp...
Can't believe it's been so long since Blue Maqams (which i compositionally still prefer) but this is a beautiful album that's more of the same (same band as Maqams) with Anja Lechner on cello. Django Bates is amazing as always.
anouarbrahem.com/en/discograp...
Can't believe it's been so long since Blue Maqams (which i compositionally still prefer) but this is a beautiful album that's more of the same (same band as Maqams) with Anja Lechner on cello. Django Bates is amazing as always.
November 23, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Anouar Brahem - After the Last Sky
anouarbrahem.com/en/discograp...
Can't believe it's been so long since Blue Maqams (which i compositionally still prefer) but this is a beautiful album that's more of the same (same band as Maqams) with Anja Lechner on cello. Django Bates is amazing as always.
anouarbrahem.com/en/discograp...
Can't believe it's been so long since Blue Maqams (which i compositionally still prefer) but this is a beautiful album that's more of the same (same band as Maqams) with Anja Lechner on cello. Django Bates is amazing as always.
Reposted by ali altaf mian
“Moves with spectral grace through questions that have long troubled Marxist and feminist theory.”
The Spectral Woman by @ciaracr.bsky.social reviewed in Marx and Philosophy:
marxandphilosophy.org.uk/reviews/2235...
The Spectral Woman by @ciaracr.bsky.social reviewed in Marx and Philosophy:
marxandphilosophy.org.uk/reviews/2235...
‘The Spectral Woman: Transfemininity and the Abolition of Gender’ by Ciara Cremin reviewed by Stevphen Shukaitis
To write about The Spectral Woman is to be caught in the act of haunting. Ciara Cremin’s new book, subtitled Transfemininity and the Abolition of Gender, moves with spectral grace through questions…
marxandphilosophy.org.uk
November 23, 2025 at 2:10 PM
“Moves with spectral grace through questions that have long troubled Marxist and feminist theory.”
The Spectral Woman by @ciaracr.bsky.social reviewed in Marx and Philosophy:
marxandphilosophy.org.uk/reviews/2235...
The Spectral Woman by @ciaracr.bsky.social reviewed in Marx and Philosophy:
marxandphilosophy.org.uk/reviews/2235...
Reposted by ali altaf mian
FREE weekly read from @dukepress.bsky.social
intro to new special issue FILMING CAPITAL
Pietro Bianchi+Joshua Harold Wiebe, "Lexicon for a Capitalist Image"
read.dukeupress.edu/south-atlant...
also includes "Falling Heists, Rising Grift: Filming Capital in the Already Long Twenty-First Century"
intro to new special issue FILMING CAPITAL
Pietro Bianchi+Joshua Harold Wiebe, "Lexicon for a Capitalist Image"
read.dukeupress.edu/south-atlant...
also includes "Falling Heists, Rising Grift: Filming Capital in the Already Long Twenty-First Century"
Lexicon for a Capitalist Image | South Atlantic Quarterly | Duke University Press
read.dukeupress.edu
November 23, 2025 at 12:37 PM
FREE weekly read from @dukepress.bsky.social
intro to new special issue FILMING CAPITAL
Pietro Bianchi+Joshua Harold Wiebe, "Lexicon for a Capitalist Image"
read.dukeupress.edu/south-atlant...
also includes "Falling Heists, Rising Grift: Filming Capital in the Already Long Twenty-First Century"
intro to new special issue FILMING CAPITAL
Pietro Bianchi+Joshua Harold Wiebe, "Lexicon for a Capitalist Image"
read.dukeupress.edu/south-atlant...
also includes "Falling Heists, Rising Grift: Filming Capital in the Already Long Twenty-First Century"
Happening this Monday at the annual meeting of @aarweb.bsky.social : a discussion of Professor Basit K. Iqbal's book, _The Dread Heights: Tribulation and Refuge after the Syrian Revolution_ (published by @fordhampress.bsky.social)
Monday, 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Sheraton, Boston Common (Fifth Floor)
Monday, 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Sheraton, Boston Common (Fifth Floor)
to discuss Basit’s book, inshallah there will be an Author-Meets-Critics Panel at this year’s AAR meeting in Boston, featuring @alakhira.bsky.social, Carlota McAllister, @a-p-s.bsky.social, and Samaah Jaffer, with a response by @biqbal.bsky.social (description below)
Monday 24 November 12:30-2:30
Monday 24 November 12:30-2:30
November 21, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Happening this Monday at the annual meeting of @aarweb.bsky.social : a discussion of Professor Basit K. Iqbal's book, _The Dread Heights: Tribulation and Refuge after the Syrian Revolution_ (published by @fordhampress.bsky.social)
Monday, 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Sheraton, Boston Common (Fifth Floor)
Monday, 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Sheraton, Boston Common (Fifth Floor)
Reposted by ali altaf mian
Long esteemed in the art world and a local hero in San Francisco, Ruth Asawa has lately become a national figure, both for her sculptural inventions and for the arc of her life. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/JCZ5-5
Ruth Asawa’s Art of Defiant Hospitality
A retrospective at MOMA puts forth a persuasive case for an artist who saw making her work and living with others as inextricably entwined.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 21, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Long esteemed in the art world and a local hero in San Francisco, Ruth Asawa has lately become a national figure, both for her sculptural inventions and for the arc of her life. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/JCZ5-5
Reposted by ali altaf mian
@melissabroder.bsky.social revisits the “Christian mysticism, absurdism, existentialism, or the Zen Buddhist conception of present-moment awareness” of Jennifer Dawson‘s forgotten 1961 classic, The Ha-Ha.
Melissa Broder on Jennifer Dawson’s Forgotten 1961 Classic The Ha-Ha
In The Ha-Ha, Jennifer Dawson relies on her own history as a patient in a psychiatric hospital to tell the story of Josephine Traughton, a young woman who suffers a breakdown while studying at Oxfo…
buff.ly
November 21, 2025 at 4:30 PM
@melissabroder.bsky.social revisits the “Christian mysticism, absurdism, existentialism, or the Zen Buddhist conception of present-moment awareness” of Jennifer Dawson‘s forgotten 1961 classic, The Ha-Ha.
Reposted by ali altaf mian
Between the “war on terror” and Covid lockdowns, Giorgio Agamben “had said all along that when governments take charge of matters of health, reproduction, and bodily autonomy, they will ultimately exercise power over life and death.” —Adam Kirsch
The Apolitical Life | Adam Kirsch
The philosopher Giorgio Agamben exalts an ideal of what he calls “inoperativity”—a kind of passivity as an antidote to the West’s politics of power and domination.
www.nybooks.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Between the “war on terror” and Covid lockdowns, Giorgio Agamben “had said all along that when governments take charge of matters of health, reproduction, and bodily autonomy, they will ultimately exercise power over life and death.” —Adam Kirsch
Reposted by ali altaf mian
The reaction among Spanish speakers has differed vastly artreview.com/what-do-rosa...
What Do Rosalía’s Lyrics Actually Mean?
Dear the artist’s English-speaking audience: you might be better off not knowing
artreview.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:49 PM
The reaction among Spanish speakers has differed vastly artreview.com/what-do-rosa...
Reposted by ali altaf mian
Congratulations to UC Davis PhD Alum Dr. Rajbir Singh Judge, who won the Best First Book in the History of Religions Prize at the American Academy of Religion! Read more at this link
aarweb.org/news/2025-aa...
aarweb.org/news/2025-aa...
October 22, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Congratulations to UC Davis PhD Alum Dr. Rajbir Singh Judge, who won the Best First Book in the History of Religions Prize at the American Academy of Religion! Read more at this link
aarweb.org/news/2025-aa...
aarweb.org/news/2025-aa...
Reposted by ali altaf mian
Lorsque le soleil se noie dans une mer de brume
Lorsqu'une vague d'obscurité enveloppe le monde
Lorsque ne voient plus ni les yeux ni l'esprit
Lorsque le chemin devient un labyrinthe
Ô rebelle, toi qui comprend le monde
Tu n'as plus d'autre guide que les yeux des mots.
youtu.be/y37jkSVryt4?...
Lorsqu'une vague d'obscurité enveloppe le monde
Lorsque ne voient plus ni les yeux ni l'esprit
Lorsque le chemin devient un labyrinthe
Ô rebelle, toi qui comprend le monde
Tu n'as plus d'autre guide que les yeux des mots.
youtu.be/y37jkSVryt4?...
Eza El Shams Gher2et - اذا الشمس غرقت || Revolution Records - El Sheikh Imam
YouTube video by Revolution Records
youtu.be
May 11, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Lorsque le soleil se noie dans une mer de brume
Lorsqu'une vague d'obscurité enveloppe le monde
Lorsque ne voient plus ni les yeux ni l'esprit
Lorsque le chemin devient un labyrinthe
Ô rebelle, toi qui comprend le monde
Tu n'as plus d'autre guide que les yeux des mots.
youtu.be/y37jkSVryt4?...
Lorsqu'une vague d'obscurité enveloppe le monde
Lorsque ne voient plus ni les yeux ni l'esprit
Lorsque le chemin devient un labyrinthe
Ô rebelle, toi qui comprend le monde
Tu n'as plus d'autre guide que les yeux des mots.
youtu.be/y37jkSVryt4?...
new arrivals from @dukepress.bsky.social (thank you for your seasonal half off deals)
November 20, 2025 at 8:21 PM
new arrivals from @dukepress.bsky.social (thank you for your seasonal half off deals)
Reposted by ali altaf mian
We are so thrilled for @poetpatriciasmith.bsky.social, who just won a National Book Award!! In 2023, @recycledgiraffe.bsky.social interviewed her about “Unshuttered” (@nupress.bsky.social), check it out as we celebrate her win in Chicago 🥳
chireviewofbooks.com/2023/03/13/u...
chireviewofbooks.com/2023/03/13/u...
Summoning the Past Through Words and Images: A Conversation with Patricia Smith About "Unshuttered" - Chicago Review of Books
A list of Patricia Smith’s achievements in poetry could take up much of this interview. A poet, playwright, essayist, educator and mentor, she’s deservedly won nearly every accolade and award, includi...
chireviewofbooks.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:17 PM
We are so thrilled for @poetpatriciasmith.bsky.social, who just won a National Book Award!! In 2023, @recycledgiraffe.bsky.social interviewed her about “Unshuttered” (@nupress.bsky.social), check it out as we celebrate her win in Chicago 🥳
chireviewofbooks.com/2023/03/13/u...
chireviewofbooks.com/2023/03/13/u...
Reposted by ali altaf mian
New essay, written for the excellent @transitionsec.bsky.social
Propelled by the climatic and hegemonic transitions, military-imperial forms of state capitalism are confiscating our collective right to a safe, green, tech-powered future.
transitionsecurity.org/imperial-sta...
@campolis.bsky.social
Propelled by the climatic and hegemonic transitions, military-imperial forms of state capitalism are confiscating our collective right to a safe, green, tech-powered future.
transitionsecurity.org/imperial-sta...
@campolis.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 8:36 AM
New essay, written for the excellent @transitionsec.bsky.social
Propelled by the climatic and hegemonic transitions, military-imperial forms of state capitalism are confiscating our collective right to a safe, green, tech-powered future.
transitionsecurity.org/imperial-sta...
@campolis.bsky.social
Propelled by the climatic and hegemonic transitions, military-imperial forms of state capitalism are confiscating our collective right to a safe, green, tech-powered future.
transitionsecurity.org/imperial-sta...
@campolis.bsky.social
Reposted by ali altaf mian
Omar El Akkad’s One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This wins the National Book Award for Nonfiction! Read more here:
buff.ly/r2NOkNr
buff.ly/r2NOkNr
Omar El Akkad on Genocide, Complicit Liberals, and the Terrible Wrath of the West
On October 25, 2023—when Israel’s war on Gaza had already claimed the lives of 6,500 Palestinians, including 2,500 children—the Egyptian-Canadian novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad posted …
lithub.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Omar El Akkad’s One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This wins the National Book Award for Nonfiction! Read more here:
buff.ly/r2NOkNr
buff.ly/r2NOkNr
Reposted by ali altaf mian
Patricia Smith’s The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems has won the National Book Award for Poetry! Read more here: buff.ly/HKCSQQQ
Patricia Smith on How a Poet Ages
Nobody—and I mean NOBODY—warned me about my pubic hair. It glistened for years, springy and sprite, an Ivory Soap-scented welcome mat for lucky episodic visitors. I never gave it much thought, cert…
lithub.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Patricia Smith’s The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems has won the National Book Award for Poetry! Read more here: buff.ly/HKCSQQQ
Reposted by ali altaf mian
the new issue of _religious studies review_ includes our 20th anniversary book forum on Saba Mahmood's POLITICS OF PIETY share.google/Jcwby87NDTpI...
Religious Studies Review: Vol 51, No 3
Click on the title to browse this issue
share.google
November 19, 2025 at 1:51 PM
the new issue of _religious studies review_ includes our 20th anniversary book forum on Saba Mahmood's POLITICS OF PIETY share.google/Jcwby87NDTpI...
Reposted by ali altaf mian
Felt compelled to write about Pope Leo and his remarkable recent speech about cinema: www.vulture.com/article/the-...
The Pope vs. the Algorithm
In his speech to filmmakers last weekend, Pope Leo XIV showed he’s been paying serious attention to the issues facing cinema as an art form.
www.vulture.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Felt compelled to write about Pope Leo and his remarkable recent speech about cinema: www.vulture.com/article/the-...
Reposted by ali altaf mian
Over at @negationmag.com I went long on Everyday Resistance, Revolution, and the Rarity of Politics. Along the way I get some help from Marx, Lefebvre, Scott, Certeau, Ranciere, Badiou and of course the GOAT, Sylvain Lazarus.
www.negationmag.com/articles/mar...
www.negationmag.com/articles/mar...
Marxism as Egalitarian Ethos
Negation Magazine
www.negationmag.com
November 19, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Over at @negationmag.com I went long on Everyday Resistance, Revolution, and the Rarity of Politics. Along the way I get some help from Marx, Lefebvre, Scott, Certeau, Ranciere, Badiou and of course the GOAT, Sylvain Lazarus.
www.negationmag.com/articles/mar...
www.negationmag.com/articles/mar...
Reposted by ali altaf mian
AAA and AAR panels on THE DREAD HEIGHTS coming up next week, organized by milad and ali
November 12, 2025 at 3:57 PM
AAA and AAR panels on THE DREAD HEIGHTS coming up next week, organized by milad and ali
Reposted by ali altaf mian
All Days Lost Days
Carol Ann Duffy
Here are the little gravestones
where memory
stands in the wild grass,
watching the future
arrive in a line of big black cars.
Carol Ann Duffy
Here are the little gravestones
where memory
stands in the wild grass,
watching the future
arrive in a line of big black cars.
November 16, 2025 at 5:52 PM
All Days Lost Days
Carol Ann Duffy
Here are the little gravestones
where memory
stands in the wild grass,
watching the future
arrive in a line of big black cars.
Carol Ann Duffy
Here are the little gravestones
where memory
stands in the wild grass,
watching the future
arrive in a line of big black cars.
Reposted by ali altaf mian
“Defects of style betray defects of content. There are always defects. Everybody has things they can say well and things they can’t say. And that, of course, has to do as much with society as with a writer’s individual life choices.” —Fredric Jameson
buff.ly
November 16, 2025 at 3:02 PM
“Defects of style betray defects of content. There are always defects. Everybody has things they can say well and things they can’t say. And that, of course, has to do as much with society as with a writer’s individual life choices.” —Fredric Jameson
Reposted by ali altaf mian
hemmed and hawed with shobhana xavier about the book newbooksnetwork.com/the-dread-he...
Basit Kareem Iqbal, "The Dread Heights: Tribulation and Refuge after the Syrian Revolution" (Fordham UP, 2025) - New Books Network
newbooksnetwork.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:16 PM
hemmed and hawed with shobhana xavier about the book newbooksnetwork.com/the-dread-he...