Brian Ulrich
@brianjulrich.bsky.social
Professor of History @ShippensburgU, focused on Middle East since the rise of Islam, author of The Medieval Persian Gulf (https://www.arc-humanities.org/9781802700046/the-medieval-persian-gulf/), views are my own
Pinned
Brian Ulrich
@brianjulrich.bsky.social
· Oct 13
The Medieval Persian Gulf - Arc Humanities Press
The Persian Gulf today is home to multiple cosmopolitan urban hubs of globalization. This did not start with the discovery of oil. This book tells of the Gul...
www.arc-humanities.org
My book The Medieval Persian Gulf is meant as an accessible introduction to the region's history of multiculturalism and global connections, and among other places can be ordered directly from the publisher (with affordable international shipping!)
Reposted by Brian Ulrich
MEM book prize goes to @rachelschine.bsky.social for her 'Black Knights: Arabic Epic and the Making of Medieval Race'!
November 14, 2025 at 6:14 PM
MEM book prize goes to @rachelschine.bsky.social for her 'Black Knights: Arabic Epic and the Making of Medieval Race'!
Includes a roundtable discussing @shannonchakraborty.bsky.social's The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi!
The business meeting marks the official launch of the @alusuralwusta.bsky.social: journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/al....
A huge thanks to @zaydeantrim.bsky.social, @medievalqabq.bsky.social and the editorial board for all of their hard work in bringing this to fruition.
A huge thanks to @zaydeantrim.bsky.social, @medievalqabq.bsky.social and the editorial board for all of their hard work in bringing this to fruition.
Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta
Middle East Medievalists (MEM) is an international professional non-profit association of scholars interested in the study of the Islamic lands of the Middle East during the medieval period (defined r...
journals.library.columbia.edu
November 14, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Includes a roundtable discussing @shannonchakraborty.bsky.social's The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi!
Reposted by Brian Ulrich
The business meeting marks the official launch of the @alusuralwusta.bsky.social: journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/al....
A huge thanks to @zaydeantrim.bsky.social, @medievalqabq.bsky.social and the editorial board for all of their hard work in bringing this to fruition.
A huge thanks to @zaydeantrim.bsky.social, @medievalqabq.bsky.social and the editorial board for all of their hard work in bringing this to fruition.
Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta
Middle East Medievalists (MEM) is an international professional non-profit association of scholars interested in the study of the Islamic lands of the Middle East during the medieval period (defined r...
journals.library.columbia.edu
November 14, 2025 at 5:26 PM
The business meeting marks the official launch of the @alusuralwusta.bsky.social: journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/al....
A huge thanks to @zaydeantrim.bsky.social, @medievalqabq.bsky.social and the editorial board for all of their hard work in bringing this to fruition.
A huge thanks to @zaydeantrim.bsky.social, @medievalqabq.bsky.social and the editorial board for all of their hard work in bringing this to fruition.
Reposted by Brian Ulrich
Message to all faculty: your expertise is no longer trusted or valued at this so-called “university.”
November 14, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Message to all faculty: your expertise is no longer trusted or valued at this so-called “university.”
Reposted by Brian Ulrich
I hate to be a broken record, but this is exactly what happened with Gaza. Palestine was the trial run for institutional capitulation. Some faculty self-censored, some spoke out, some lost their jobs. Universities showed they were willing to crack down on speech, and they're primed to do it again.
As the DEI Crackdown Escalates, Faculty Choose Between Silence and Resistance
While one professor says faculty are “pre-emptively censoring themselves” in response, others are defiant—while another is asking himself, “What would I be willing to lose my job for?” #HigherEd #EDUSky bit.ly/413XhLP
While one professor says faculty are “pre-emptively censoring themselves” in response, others are defiant—while another is asking himself, “What would I be willing to lose my job for?” #HigherEd #EDUSky bit.ly/413XhLP
Trump attacks DEI; faculty pick between silence, resistance
While one professor says faculty are “pre-emptively censoring themselves” in response, others are defiant—while another is asking himself, “What would I be willing to lose my job for?”
bit.ly
November 14, 2025 at 1:31 AM
I hate to be a broken record, but this is exactly what happened with Gaza. Palestine was the trial run for institutional capitulation. Some faculty self-censored, some spoke out, some lost their jobs. Universities showed they were willing to crack down on speech, and they're primed to do it again.
I was just thinking that if I had gotten a job there (I did have a conference interview), as a history professor, I'd have to submit material for all my classes
If you have tenure at Texas A&M and aren't maliciously emailing the president a dozen times every day to ask if you can say this or you can say that, then what's the point in having tenure?
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Texas A&M adopts policy requiring professors to get OK from school president to discuss certain race and gender issues.
November 13, 2025 at 11:49 PM
I was just thinking that if I had gotten a job there (I did have a conference interview), as a history professor, I'd have to submit material for all my classes
Reposted by Brian Ulrich
Our annual Algerian Studies Master’s Dissertation Prize is now open for students at any UK university. If you get a high grade for a thesis related to #Algeria, apply & get your hard work recognised!
Deadline 30 November 2025, prizes announced January 2026, apply here: www.lse.ac.uk/middle-east-...
Deadline 30 November 2025, prizes announced January 2026, apply here: www.lse.ac.uk/middle-east-...
Algerian Studies Master's Dissertation Prize
The LSE Middle East Centre and the Society for Algerian Studies run a UK-wide prize for Master's dissertations on Algeria.
www.lse.ac.uk
November 13, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Our annual Algerian Studies Master’s Dissertation Prize is now open for students at any UK university. If you get a high grade for a thesis related to #Algeria, apply & get your hard work recognised!
Deadline 30 November 2025, prizes announced January 2026, apply here: www.lse.ac.uk/middle-east-...
Deadline 30 November 2025, prizes announced January 2026, apply here: www.lse.ac.uk/middle-east-...
Reposted by Brian Ulrich
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s coalition has come first in the parliamentary election, winning by a margin of around 370,000 votes.
November 13, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s coalition has come first in the parliamentary election, winning by a margin of around 370,000 votes.
Reposted by Brian Ulrich
When you tell the ringleader of the pedophile conspiracy that, fine, you’ll see him but you don’t want to run into Donald Trump …
November 12, 2025 at 8:56 PM
When you tell the ringleader of the pedophile conspiracy that, fine, you’ll see him but you don’t want to run into Donald Trump …
Reposted by Brian Ulrich
Threats to the humanities as institutions like my own tend to get a lot of attention, but the decimation of our disciplines is happening rapidly at regional public schools across the US, which serve far more students.
Students at every university & college deserves access to humanities education.
Students at every university & college deserves access to humanities education.
Montclair State is getting rid of its humanities departments. 🤬🤬🤬
Sign the Petition
Montclair State is Eliminating All Humanities Departments
c.org
November 11, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Threats to the humanities as institutions like my own tend to get a lot of attention, but the decimation of our disciplines is happening rapidly at regional public schools across the US, which serve far more students.
Students at every university & college deserves access to humanities education.
Students at every university & college deserves access to humanities education.
"I examine...government subsidies and transfers; the employment of foreign labor; charitable giving; and Islamic banking and finance... in #Kuwait, #Qatar, #Oman, and #SaudiArabia...I explore how these practices are carried out, by whom, for what purposes, and with what effects."
Miriam R. Lowi, Refining the Common Good: Oil, Islam and Politics in Gulf Monarchies (New Texts Out Now)
In 2008, I went to the Gulf for the very first time. I had spent about ten years studying the political economy of oil-exporting states and writing mostly about Algeria, and I was asked by an editor t...
www.jadaliyya.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:49 PM
"I examine...government subsidies and transfers; the employment of foreign labor; charitable giving; and Islamic banking and finance... in #Kuwait, #Qatar, #Oman, and #SaudiArabia...I explore how these practices are carried out, by whom, for what purposes, and with what effects."
Reposted by Brian Ulrich
“”If it doesn’t rain in Tehran by late November, we’ll have to ration water. And if it still doesn’t rain, we’ll have to evacuate Tehran,” President Masoud Pezeshkian was cited as saying on Thursday by the SNN.ir semi-official news agency.”
apnews.com/article/iran...
apnews.com/article/iran...
Iranian capital faces water rationing and evacuations if it doesn't rain soon, president warns
Iran’s capital is facing an unprecedented water and energy crisis as reservoirs supplying the city plunge to historic lows, threatening supplies of drinking water and electricity generation.
apnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:07 PM
“”If it doesn’t rain in Tehran by late November, we’ll have to ration water. And if it still doesn’t rain, we’ll have to evacuate Tehran,” President Masoud Pezeshkian was cited as saying on Thursday by the SNN.ir semi-official news agency.”
apnews.com/article/iran...
apnews.com/article/iran...
Ali's Ansari's latest on the ongoing power of nostalgia for ancient and modern monarchs in #Iran - he notes it is not so much about royal dynasties, but about the idea of savior figures leading restorations
A Royal Romance (Part II)
Monarchy and power in the Islamic Republic
iranshahr.substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Ali's Ansari's latest on the ongoing power of nostalgia for ancient and modern monarchs in #Iran - he notes it is not so much about royal dynasties, but about the idea of savior figures leading restorations
Reposted by Brian Ulrich
I'm reviewing this book for the JAH; just wanted to put it on the radar of the nat sec crowd. Probably the most thorough and insightful account of Somalia I've encountered.
November 8, 2025 at 4:50 PM
I'm reviewing this book for the JAH; just wanted to put it on the radar of the nat sec crowd. Probably the most thorough and insightful account of Somalia I've encountered.
Reposted by Brian Ulrich
Thrilled to have this piece by Omar Muhammed & @fancynahyan.bsky.social out now. I'll be using it tomorrow in a talk at UC-Merced on "Where Do Pandemics Come From? Using Black Death Narratives to Rethink the Origin of Pandemics." Or the question we really need to ask: when are pandemics? A quick 🧵.
Thanks to Kerra for this write up on the Plague maqama article. @uniofexeternews.bsky.social news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-h...
Myths about rapid spread of the Black Death influenced by single “literary tale”, experts show
Myths about how the Black Death travelled quickly across Asia, ravaging Silk Route communities, date back to a single fourteenth-century source, experts have found. Modern portrayals of the plague qui...
news.exeter.ac.uk
November 5, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Thrilled to have this piece by Omar Muhammed & @fancynahyan.bsky.social out now. I'll be using it tomorrow in a talk at UC-Merced on "Where Do Pandemics Come From? Using Black Death Narratives to Rethink the Origin of Pandemics." Or the question we really need to ask: when are pandemics? A quick 🧵.
I did not realizing this book about #Khuzestan #Iran existed, but it sounds awesome and is 40% off with discount code UTXGIFTS through January 31, 2026
Bordering on War: A Social and Political History of Khuzestan, by Shaharzad Ahmadi (@utexaspress.bsky.social)
utpress.utexas.edu/9781477329931/
Bordering on War: A Social and Political History of Khuzestan, by Shaharzad Ahmadi (@utexaspress.bsky.social)
utpress.utexas.edu/9781477329931/
Bordering on War
A study of transnational identity, migration, and state loyalties told through the social and political history of Iran’s Khuzestan province. In 1980, Sadd...
utpress.utexas.edu
November 5, 2025 at 8:25 PM
I did not realizing this book about #Khuzestan #Iran existed, but it sounds awesome and is 40% off with discount code UTXGIFTS through January 31, 2026
Bordering on War: A Social and Political History of Khuzestan, by Shaharzad Ahmadi (@utexaspress.bsky.social)
utpress.utexas.edu/9781477329931/
Bordering on War: A Social and Political History of Khuzestan, by Shaharzad Ahmadi (@utexaspress.bsky.social)
utpress.utexas.edu/9781477329931/
Reposted by Brian Ulrich
A new report published today by the AAUP & @mesa1966.bsky.social finds that the weaponization of civil rights law has been central to attacks on campus speech over the past two years.
Only one of 102 antisemitism complaints reviewed raise antisemitism claims unrelated to criticism of Israel.
🧵
Only one of 102 antisemitism complaints reviewed raise antisemitism claims unrelated to criticism of Israel.
🧵
Surge in antisemitism investigations at US universities after October 7 attacks, data shows
A report shared exclusively with the Guardian documents how a civil rights law has become a tool to impose ideological priorities on US schools
www.theguardian.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:28 PM
A new report published today by the AAUP & @mesa1966.bsky.social finds that the weaponization of civil rights law has been central to attacks on campus speech over the past two years.
Only one of 102 antisemitism complaints reviewed raise antisemitism claims unrelated to criticism of Israel.
🧵
Only one of 102 antisemitism complaints reviewed raise antisemitism claims unrelated to criticism of Israel.
🧵
New Journal of #Abbasid Studies special issue on #water - open access @degruyterbrill.bsky.social #medievalsky
brill.com/view/journal...
brill.com/view/journal...
brill.com
November 4, 2025 at 11:46 PM
New Journal of #Abbasid Studies special issue on #water - open access @degruyterbrill.bsky.social #medievalsky
brill.com/view/journal...
brill.com/view/journal...
Reposted by Brian Ulrich
I got my copy of "Civilizing Contention"! This beautiful book tells the story of how nonviolent action persisted throughout the Syrian war, shaped by both the agency of Syrian activists & the influence of international aid. Congratulations @rbkhoury.bsky.social on this important contribution!
November 3, 2025 at 8:21 PM
I got my copy of "Civilizing Contention"! This beautiful book tells the story of how nonviolent action persisted throughout the Syrian war, shaped by both the agency of Syrian activists & the influence of international aid. Congratulations @rbkhoury.bsky.social on this important contribution!
Reposted by Brian Ulrich
Saudi female employment has continued to grow more than twice the gain in Saudi male employment. – Tim Callen
Vision 2030 Reforms and Economic Outcomes in Saudi Arabia - AGSI
The Vision 2030 reforms are continuing to deliver positive economic outcomes, but the pace of gains is slowing in some areas.
agsi.org
November 3, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Saudi female employment has continued to grow more than twice the gain in Saudi male employment. – Tim Callen
Reposted by Brian Ulrich
Look folks gen AI videos are out in the wild so if you weren't already being careful about sharing rage bait videos then now is a great time to start
If you can't trace a video back to a trusted source then I recommend leaving it where it is, like a slice of bologna you found on the street
If you can't trace a video back to a trusted source then I recommend leaving it where it is, like a slice of bologna you found on the street
November 2, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Look folks gen AI videos are out in the wild so if you weren't already being careful about sharing rage bait videos then now is a great time to start
If you can't trace a video back to a trusted source then I recommend leaving it where it is, like a slice of bologna you found on the street
If you can't trace a video back to a trusted source then I recommend leaving it where it is, like a slice of bologna you found on the street
Reposted by Brian Ulrich
Too grim to bear. But as I read a stack of essays arguing that if we can just get things right in Gaza, it’ll be better next time, I’m indebted to those who are compiling the evidence that next time is now.
Satellite images show that most of the 260,000 civilians in Sudan’s el-Fasher are likely still trapped, as mass RSF killings continue
Satellite images show most el-Fasher civilians likely still trapped
Latest images suggest that majority of 260,000 civilians still in captured city, as mass RSF killings continue
www.middleeasteye.net
November 2, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Too grim to bear. But as I read a stack of essays arguing that if we can just get things right in Gaza, it’ll be better next time, I’m indebted to those who are compiling the evidence that next time is now.
Reposted by Brian Ulrich
Allow me to summarize:
1. 5 IDF soldiers caught sexually molesting a Palestinian prisoner.
2. IDF files charges.
3. IDF AG faces enormous pressure from government to drop charges. Mob storms base where it happened.
4. IDF AG leaks video documenting the molestation.
5. IDF AG pushed out (continued)
1. 5 IDF soldiers caught sexually molesting a Palestinian prisoner.
2. IDF files charges.
3. IDF AG faces enormous pressure from government to drop charges. Mob storms base where it happened.
4. IDF AG leaks video documenting the molestation.
5. IDF AG pushed out (continued)
IDF's legal chief resigns over suspected involvement in Gaza detainee abuse video leak
In a Statement Friday Morning, Defense Minister Israel Katz Cited the 'Severity of the Suspicions' Against Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi in the Sde Teiman Affair, Saying She Won't Be Reinstated. Sh...
www.haaretz.com
October 31, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Allow me to summarize:
1. 5 IDF soldiers caught sexually molesting a Palestinian prisoner.
2. IDF files charges.
3. IDF AG faces enormous pressure from government to drop charges. Mob storms base where it happened.
4. IDF AG leaks video documenting the molestation.
5. IDF AG pushed out (continued)
1. 5 IDF soldiers caught sexually molesting a Palestinian prisoner.
2. IDF files charges.
3. IDF AG faces enormous pressure from government to drop charges. Mob storms base where it happened.
4. IDF AG leaks video documenting the molestation.
5. IDF AG pushed out (continued)
This coming book looks excellent
Storytelling, Seafaring, and Travel Writing: The Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean
From @degruyterbrill.bsky.social
brill.com/display/titl...
Storytelling, Seafaring, and Travel Writing: The Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean
From @degruyterbrill.bsky.social
brill.com/display/titl...
brill.com
November 2, 2025 at 3:23 PM
This coming book looks excellent
Storytelling, Seafaring, and Travel Writing: The Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean
From @degruyterbrill.bsky.social
brill.com/display/titl...
Storytelling, Seafaring, and Travel Writing: The Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean
From @degruyterbrill.bsky.social
brill.com/display/titl...