Andrew J. Eisenberg
@anthroposound.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Music @ NYU Abu Dhabi. Writes on music & sound in Kenya. #Ethnomusicology #Anthropology. Author 'Sounds of Other Shores: The Musical Poetics of Identity on Kenya's Swahili Coast' www.weslpress.org/9780819501066/sounds-of-other-shores
Pinned
Sounds of Other Shores – Wesleyan University Press
A study of transoceanic musical appropriation and Swahili ethnic subjectivity on the Kenyan coastSounds of Other Shores takes an ethnographic ear to the hist...
www.weslpress.org
Hello new followers! Pls allow me to tout my new book Sounds of Other Shores, published earlier this year. It explores the history of transoceanic appropriation as reflexive cultural critique in the popular music of Kenya’s Swahili coast.
My 7 yr old is apparently still processing what it means that his grandmother passed away two months ago. If you ever want to experience strange dreams, I recommend having your young child ask you out of the blue, as if reporting a dinosaur fact, if you happen to know that your mother died.
November 10, 2025 at 8:06 AM
My 7 yr old is apparently still processing what it means that his grandmother passed away two months ago. If you ever want to experience strange dreams, I recommend having your young child ask you out of the blue, as if reporting a dinosaur fact, if you happen to know that your mother died.
The same people who like to paint the left as purveyors of incoherent ideas that lack grounding in “common sense” also spout completely opaque drivel like this.
Look, I know it's fun to be ranking on Douthat but true feminist praxis in 2025 means ridiculing the faux intellectual women he interviews. Because this is all very ridiculous.
November 6, 2025 at 2:50 PM
The same people who like to paint the left as purveyors of incoherent ideas that lack grounding in “common sense” also spout completely opaque drivel like this.
Don't ever Douthat
November 6, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Don't ever Douthat
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenberg
Mamdani got a humanities degree.
His win helps to illustrate that one of the central forces driving higher ed’s dissolution of the humanities is the fear that teaching people how power works can also lead to their interest in seizing it on behalf of the less powerful.
His win helps to illustrate that one of the central forces driving higher ed’s dissolution of the humanities is the fear that teaching people how power works can also lead to their interest in seizing it on behalf of the less powerful.
November 5, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Mamdani got a humanities degree.
His win helps to illustrate that one of the central forces driving higher ed’s dissolution of the humanities is the fear that teaching people how power works can also lead to their interest in seizing it on behalf of the less powerful.
His win helps to illustrate that one of the central forces driving higher ed’s dissolution of the humanities is the fear that teaching people how power works can also lead to their interest in seizing it on behalf of the less powerful.
Every time I listen to SCOTUS arguments I feel second-hand embarrassment for every justice who isn't Ketanji Brown Jackson. She sounds at least twice as smart as the others. To be sure it is partly due to her drama training. But it is probably also true that she just IS smarter.
November 5, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Every time I listen to SCOTUS arguments I feel second-hand embarrassment for every justice who isn't Ketanji Brown Jackson. She sounds at least twice as smart as the others. To be sure it is partly due to her drama training. But it is probably also true that she just IS smarter.
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenberg
If I was a GOP strategist, I’d be pretty worried about diluting my safe +15 districts into a bunch of +5 gerrymandered districts after tonight.
November 5, 2025 at 5:10 AM
If I was a GOP strategist, I’d be pretty worried about diluting my safe +15 districts into a bunch of +5 gerrymandered districts after tonight.
Just want to see one (1) news story on how toxic the Republican brand is among average, everyday Northeast urbanites, and how that should be seen as a major crisis for Republicans. Unfortunately I won’t bc this is still a country where cows and empty land get strong political representation
November 5, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Just want to see one (1) news story on how toxic the Republican brand is among average, everyday Northeast urbanites, and how that should be seen as a major crisis for Republicans. Unfortunately I won’t bc this is still a country where cows and empty land get strong political representation
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenberg
East coast to Trump: DROP DEAD
What we know, 10:20pm
—VA Dems flip Gov, LG, *and* AG
—BIG Dem gains in VA House
—Dems win NJ-Gov
—Mamdani wins
—Dems keep PA supreme court
—Larry Krasner & Bragg win
— GA Dems flip 2 statewide offices
—JD Vance’s half-brother loses Cincy
—Dems sweep Orlando council
—ME anti-mail vote measure loses
—VA Dems flip Gov, LG, *and* AG
—BIG Dem gains in VA House
—Dems win NJ-Gov
—Mamdani wins
—Dems keep PA supreme court
—Larry Krasner & Bragg win
— GA Dems flip 2 statewide offices
—JD Vance’s half-brother loses Cincy
—Dems sweep Orlando council
—ME anti-mail vote measure loses
November 5, 2025 at 3:52 AM
East coast to Trump: DROP DEAD
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenberg
Here's another bit of conventional wisdom Zohran completely blew away: His speech was at well above a 10th-grade level. It was complex, erudite, punctuated by deep and fluent references. You don't have to condescend to voters with baby talk! Part of re-establishing norms is speaking like an adult.
November 5, 2025 at 5:14 AM
Here's another bit of conventional wisdom Zohran completely blew away: His speech was at well above a 10th-grade level. It was complex, erudite, punctuated by deep and fluent references. You don't have to condescend to voters with baby talk! Part of re-establishing norms is speaking like an adult.
In so many respects Cheney set the stage for Trump
November 4, 2025 at 3:25 PM
In so many respects Cheney set the stage for Trump
Keanu Reeves, the disembodied sage from the SpongeBob movie
Richard Attenborough as the cuddly old guy who played Santa.
I think everybody has a “Wallace Shawn from Young Sheldon” — my first one would probably be “Vincent Price, the guy who did the voice of Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective”
November 3, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Keanu Reeves, the disembodied sage from the SpongeBob movie
If a Democratic president did this, it would be referenced constantly by the mainstream media for the next 600 years as indisputable evidence that every single member of the Democratic party is elitist and out of touch.
Trump slammed for lavish Gatsby-themed Halloween party as vital food funding lapses
Trump slammed for lavish Gatsby-themed Halloween party as vital food funding lapses
Trump slammed for lavish Gatsby-themed Halloween party as vital food funding lapses
www.independent.co.uk
November 2, 2025 at 12:36 PM
If a Democratic president did this, it would be referenced constantly by the mainstream media for the next 600 years as indisputable evidence that every single member of the Democratic party is elitist and out of touch.
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenberg
The United States was the leading destination for top scientists from all over the world.
That is ending. Politicians ended it. It will cripple our future competitiveness.
And it’s such a bitter tragedy. Almost no Americans, Conservative or Liberal, grasp what is now being stolen from them.
That is ending. Politicians ended it. It will cripple our future competitiveness.
And it’s such a bitter tragedy. Almost no Americans, Conservative or Liberal, grasp what is now being stolen from them.
Top researchers consider leaving U.S. amid funding cuts: 'The science world is ending'
YouTube video by PBS NewsHour
youtu.be
November 1, 2025 at 3:44 AM
The United States was the leading destination for top scientists from all over the world.
That is ending. Politicians ended it. It will cripple our future competitiveness.
And it’s such a bitter tragedy. Almost no Americans, Conservative or Liberal, grasp what is now being stolen from them.
That is ending. Politicians ended it. It will cripple our future competitiveness.
And it’s such a bitter tragedy. Almost no Americans, Conservative or Liberal, grasp what is now being stolen from them.
Very weird seeing this on the front page of the NYT while sitting at home in Abu Dhabi. It's like, I guess if I ever get bored of being an expat in the UAE, I can try moving to CoreWeave or AMD. Or maybe Oracle, which I heard is nice this time of year.
October 31, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Very weird seeing this on the front page of the NYT while sitting at home in Abu Dhabi. It's like, I guess if I ever get bored of being an expat in the UAE, I can try moving to CoreWeave or AMD. Or maybe Oracle, which I heard is nice this time of year.
They also mentioned that water is wet, but that only earned them a reprimand
The Justice Department locked two federal prosecutors out of their devices and placed them on leave after they wrote in a court filing that on Jan. 6, 2021, “thousands of people comprising a mob of rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol.”
https://bit.ly/3X6Q6iU
https://bit.ly/3X6Q6iU
DOJ Puts Prosecutors On Leave For Accurately Describing Jan. 6 Attack
Read more here.
bit.ly
October 30, 2025 at 4:32 PM
They also mentioned that water is wet, but that only earned them a reprimand
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenberg
The framing of this article is deeply anti intellectual, anti Black, antisemitic and islamophobic. There was no sinister a cabal of (((intellectuals))) who magically “influenced” Mamdani, because in college, and I don’t know if the reporter knew this, students choose what courses to take
A few thoughts about this deeply-flawed Jeremy W. Peters article.(Gift link.) www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/u...
How a Small Elite College in Maine Influenced Mamdani’s World View
www.nytimes.com
October 29, 2025 at 12:59 PM
The framing of this article is deeply anti intellectual, anti Black, antisemitic and islamophobic. There was no sinister a cabal of (((intellectuals))) who magically “influenced” Mamdani, because in college, and I don’t know if the reporter knew this, students choose what courses to take
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenberg
Sometimes after a long day I like to sit on the couch, close my eyes and ever so briefly become just as oblivious to the world around me as the Speaker of the US House of Representatives
October 28, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Sometimes after a long day I like to sit on the couch, close my eyes and ever so briefly become just as oblivious to the world around me as the Speaker of the US House of Representatives
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenberg
The NY Times and WaPo may be lost causes but holy shite look at PEOPLE out here absolutely killing it with 100% unvarnished truths 🌟
October 28, 2025 at 1:09 AM
The NY Times and WaPo may be lost causes but holy shite look at PEOPLE out here absolutely killing it with 100% unvarnished truths 🌟
Woke up this morning in Abu Dhabi to a hilarious timeline of posters in baseball purgatory. More of this please.
October 28, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Woke up this morning in Abu Dhabi to a hilarious timeline of posters in baseball purgatory. More of this please.
Last week I was reading Barthes's classic 'Grain of the Voice' piece with students, and I went on an extended riff about Jack DeJohnette's playing as an example of how and why we might take the "limb as it performs" as an object of analysis. He was truly inimitable.
October 27, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Last week I was reading Barthes's classic 'Grain of the Voice' piece with students, and I went on an extended riff about Jack DeJohnette's playing as an example of how and why we might take the "limb as it performs" as an object of analysis. He was truly inimitable.
Daffy Duck only has teeth when he bares them. In this philosophy talk I will…
October 26, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Daffy Duck only has teeth when he bares them. In this philosophy talk I will…
Ok how do I convince meta that I am not a hetero male bc the thirst traps are honestly exhausting, and just blocking and hiding them all seems to only tell the algorithm I want more. Seriously, why does enshittification have to be so horny?
October 26, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Ok how do I convince meta that I am not a hetero male bc the thirst traps are honestly exhausting, and just blocking and hiding them all seems to only tell the algorithm I want more. Seriously, why does enshittification have to be so horny?
My daughter assures me that she can feel her frontal lobe developing
October 25, 2025 at 1:05 PM
My daughter assures me that she can feel her frontal lobe developing
Democrats need to be talking nonstop about all the ways they plan to leverage the precedents being set by this administration the next time they hold the White House, including going after opponents. Make it clear to everyone in gov and civil society that bending to maga is a big gamble.
October 25, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Democrats need to be talking nonstop about all the ways they plan to leverage the precedents being set by this administration the next time they hold the White House, including going after opponents. Make it clear to everyone in gov and civil society that bending to maga is a big gamble.