Durba Mitra
@durba.bsky.social
Author of Indian Sex Life (Princeton University Press, 2020) &
The Future That Was: A History of Third World Feminism Against Authoritarianism (Princeton University Press, 2026). writing gender history in the time of gender ideology.
The Future That Was: A History of Third World Feminism Against Authoritarianism (Princeton University Press, 2026). writing gender history in the time of gender ideology.
Pinned
Durba Mitra
@durba.bsky.social
· Dec 3
The Future That Was
How Third World women seized the means of knowledge production to fight against rising authoritarianism and imagine a future freer than our present
press.princeton.edu
The Introduction, “What is the Future We Yearn For?,” to my book, *The Future That Was*, is now live and freely available to all on the book’s @princetonupress.bsky.social website
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Indian Americans should be ashamed that we have created pathetic Indian American men who are so desperate to be white that they are killing proven scientific research and viable vaccines.
See also: Jay Bhattacharya
crowdsourcing names in replies
www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/m...
See also: Jay Bhattacharya
crowdsourcing names in replies
www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/m...
Prasad overruled FDA staff to reject Moderna's flu vaccine application
The rejection is the latest instance of Vinay Prasad overruling career FDA scientists to place vaccines under harsher scrutiny.
www.statnews.com
February 11, 2026 at 9:59 PM
Indian Americans should be ashamed that we have created pathetic Indian American men who are so desperate to be white that they are killing proven scientific research and viable vaccines.
See also: Jay Bhattacharya
crowdsourcing names in replies
www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/m...
See also: Jay Bhattacharya
crowdsourcing names in replies
www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/m...
Reposted by Durba Mitra
Yes -- I'm on the Int'l Advisory Board of *Feminist Studies*, (2026-2029) babes. The letter's signed by *the* Jennifer Nash.
Swoon.
Exeunt (ok I'm just one character).
Swoon.
Exeunt (ok I'm just one character).
February 11, 2026 at 4:10 PM
Yes -- I'm on the Int'l Advisory Board of *Feminist Studies*, (2026-2029) babes. The letter's signed by *the* Jennifer Nash.
Swoon.
Exeunt (ok I'm just one character).
Swoon.
Exeunt (ok I'm just one character).
Reposted by Durba Mitra
If Bad Bunny can cover the history of Puerto Rico, colonialism, transatlantic slavery, hemispheric consciousness, as well as contemporary life and politics in under 14 minutes, you can do your 15- or 20-minute conference presentation with time to spare.
February 9, 2026 at 11:56 PM
If Bad Bunny can cover the history of Puerto Rico, colonialism, transatlantic slavery, hemispheric consciousness, as well as contemporary life and politics in under 14 minutes, you can do your 15- or 20-minute conference presentation with time to spare.
even accounting for the grave loss of life, surely in the millions, caused by sudden cuts to USAID is impossible because USAID built a vast dependency research infrastructure & then gutted it in 2025
"Now we’re left on our own."
In Afghanistan, a Trail of Hunger and Death Behind U.S. Aid Cuts
www.nytimes.com
February 8, 2026 at 6:32 PM
even accounting for the grave loss of life, surely in the millions, caused by sudden cuts to USAID is impossible because USAID built a vast dependency research infrastructure & then gutted it in 2025
Reposted by Durba Mitra
I have never been to Lahore but the book delivers exactly what it promised: an opportunity to experience the city nonetheless. Erudite, personal and beautifully written.
February 6, 2026 at 4:08 PM
I have never been to Lahore but the book delivers exactly what it promised: an opportunity to experience the city nonetheless. Erudite, personal and beautifully written.
Reposted by Durba Mitra
Lovely trend. Jumping in with one of the most beautiful books on South Asia I have ever read by the inimitable @sepoy.bsky.social remakes what we can do as historians of postcolonial places whose temporalities are jagged with violence but which persist nonetheless.
news.columbia.edu/content/disr...
news.columbia.edu/content/disr...
February 6, 2026 at 4:05 PM
Lovely trend. Jumping in with one of the most beautiful books on South Asia I have ever read by the inimitable @sepoy.bsky.social remakes what we can do as historians of postcolonial places whose temporalities are jagged with violence but which persist nonetheless.
news.columbia.edu/content/disr...
news.columbia.edu/content/disr...
Reposted by Durba Mitra
Dating myself but I'm old enough to remember that even before 2017 raping underage girls was considered "illegal" and "uncool."
This level of apologia (from Megan McArdle in a podcast with Josh Barro and Ross Douthat) is fucking appalling. Idk what else there is to say.
February 5, 2026 at 9:13 PM
Dating myself but I'm old enough to remember that even before 2017 raping underage girls was considered "illegal" and "uncool."
Reposted by Durba Mitra
"Rape was a concept no one had heard of before it was invented by Ronan Farrow in 2017" these people are unbelievable.
February 5, 2026 at 9:13 PM
"Rape was a concept no one had heard of before it was invented by Ronan Farrow in 2017" these people are unbelievable.
My AMAZING PhD advisee & feminist historian conspirator Poorna Swami won a PEN award for her translation of the Pakistani feminist poet Fahmida Riaz!
*Guilty as Charged: selected poems of exile 1981-1987 by Fahmida Riaz* (Pakistan), translated from Urdu by Poorna Swami (Ugly Duckling Presse).
*Guilty as Charged: selected poems of exile 1981-1987 by Fahmida Riaz* (Pakistan), translated from Urdu by Poorna Swami (Ugly Duckling Presse).
We’re delighted to announce that 18 titles from 14 publishers, 12 languages and 16 regions have won #PENTranslates awards.
www.englishpen.org/posts/news/p...
www.englishpen.org/posts/news/p...
PEN Translates winners announced - News & Events - English PEN
www.englishpen.org
February 5, 2026 at 8:00 PM
My AMAZING PhD advisee & feminist historian conspirator Poorna Swami won a PEN award for her translation of the Pakistani feminist poet Fahmida Riaz!
*Guilty as Charged: selected poems of exile 1981-1987 by Fahmida Riaz* (Pakistan), translated from Urdu by Poorna Swami (Ugly Duckling Presse).
*Guilty as Charged: selected poems of exile 1981-1987 by Fahmida Riaz* (Pakistan), translated from Urdu by Poorna Swami (Ugly Duckling Presse).
Reposted by Durba Mitra
Add the CIA World Factbook to the long and growing list of disappearing government datasets: www.cia.gov/stories/stor...
February 5, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Add the CIA World Factbook to the long and growing list of disappearing government datasets: www.cia.gov/stories/stor...
Reposted by Durba Mitra
the use of parentheticals
February 5, 2026 at 4:22 PM
the use of parentheticals
Reposted by Durba Mitra
“There can be no question Dr. McCoul was terminated based on the exercise of her right to academic freedom. The subject matter that the student, and then the university, found problematic was germane to her lesson, consistent with the syllabus, the course description and the catalog description.”
Texas A&M Lecturer Who Was Fired Over Gender Lesson Sues University
www.nytimes.com
February 4, 2026 at 8:00 PM
“There can be no question Dr. McCoul was terminated based on the exercise of her right to academic freedom. The subject matter that the student, and then the university, found problematic was germane to her lesson, consistent with the syllabus, the course description and the catalog description.”
Reposted by Durba Mitra
Well, they were
Fired after gender identity lesson, professor sues Texas A&M, arguing her free speech rights were violated
Fired after gender lesson, former professor sues Texas A&M
Melissa McCoul, arguing she was fired to appease political critics, is seeking to get her job back and other restitution.
www.texastribune.org
February 4, 2026 at 10:38 PM
Well, they were
rightly redirects people to the incredible suffering of minor girls who were raped and trafficked and have worked hard to survive
In an interview with NPR, Melinda French Gates confirmed that she ended her marriage with Bill Gates because of allegations contained in the Epstein files.
February 3, 2026 at 7:47 PM
rightly redirects people to the incredible suffering of minor girls who were raped and trafficked and have worked hard to survive
Reposted by Durba Mitra
The story and the gofundme.
When one mother was taken by ICE, another stepped in to donate breastmilk
19thnews.org/2026/02/minn...
gofund.me/f5f801087
When one mother was taken by ICE, another stepped in to donate breastmilk
19thnews.org/2026/02/minn...
gofund.me/f5f801087
Donate to Help Single Moms in Twin Cities stay Housed #ICEOUTMN, organized by B M
update- we have been able to pay one months rent for one family and help pur… B M needs your support for Help Single Moms in Twin Cities stay Housed #ICEOUTMN
gofund.me
February 2, 2026 at 9:50 PM
The story and the gofundme.
When one mother was taken by ICE, another stepped in to donate breastmilk
19thnews.org/2026/02/minn...
gofund.me/f5f801087
When one mother was taken by ICE, another stepped in to donate breastmilk
19thnews.org/2026/02/minn...
gofund.me/f5f801087
re the wretch that is ROWLING trans exclusion and anti trans violence have long been intimately linked to endorsements and normalization of the rape of girl children as enforced heterosexuality. see: colonialism
February 2, 2026 at 5:28 PM
re the wretch that is ROWLING trans exclusion and anti trans violence have long been intimately linked to endorsements and normalization of the rape of girl children as enforced heterosexuality. see: colonialism
Reposted by Durba Mitra
Reposted by Durba Mitra
Full Bad Bunny speech
February 2, 2026 at 2:25 AM
Full Bad Bunny speech
Reposted by Durba Mitra
Reposted by Durba Mitra
When the Western canon is too "woke" for conservatives, you realize that their goal has never been education but rather to deprive the next generation of any capacity to think for themselves.
“In January administrators at Texas A&M told Martin Peterson he could either strike Plato’s ‘Symposium’ from the syllabus of his introductory philosophy course or be reassigned. Reading Plato, they argued, exposed students to one of Texas’s banned topics: gender and race ideology.”
Republican states are censoring universities
New laws restrict what professors can teach
economist.com
February 1, 2026 at 11:33 PM
When the Western canon is too "woke" for conservatives, you realize that their goal has never been education but rather to deprive the next generation of any capacity to think for themselves.
Reposted by Durba Mitra
2008: Epstein is convicted of procuring a minor for prostitution
2018: Despite that conviction, [files indicate] he was invited by Rowling’s team - along with a guest of his choosing - to the Broadway opening of Harry Potter and the private after-party
Protecting women and children, is it?
2018: Despite that conviction, [files indicate] he was invited by Rowling’s team - along with a guest of his choosing - to the Broadway opening of Harry Potter and the private after-party
Protecting women and children, is it?
JK Rowling's team invited Jeffery Epstein to the deathly hallows play and to a Harry potter dinner.
www.justice.gov/epstein/file...
www.justice.gov/epstein/file...
www.justice.gov/epstein/file...
www.justice.gov/epstein/file...
www.justice.gov
February 1, 2026 at 5:38 PM
2008: Epstein is convicted of procuring a minor for prostitution
2018: Despite that conviction, [files indicate] he was invited by Rowling’s team - along with a guest of his choosing - to the Broadway opening of Harry Potter and the private after-party
Protecting women and children, is it?
2018: Despite that conviction, [files indicate] he was invited by Rowling’s team - along with a guest of his choosing - to the Broadway opening of Harry Potter and the private after-party
Protecting women and children, is it?
Reposted by Durba Mitra
Federal judge has ordered the release of Liam Ramos (the bunny hat boy) and his father. A brief and rather remarkable order. Clearly written to be shared widely, so please do. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
January 31, 2026 at 8:42 PM
Federal judge has ordered the release of Liam Ramos (the bunny hat boy) and his father. A brief and rather remarkable order. Clearly written to be shared widely, so please do. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
RUFOS SCANDINAVIAN SCOURGE STRIKES AGAIN
A Minneapolis knitting shop has resurrected the design of a Norwegian cap worn to protest Nazi occupation. Its owner says the money raised from hat pattern sales will support the local immigrant community. n.pr/4thWiUr
A red hat, inspired by a symbol of resistance to Nazi occupation, gains traction in Minnesota
A Minneapolis knitting shop has resurrected the design of a Norwegian cap worn to protest Nazi occupation. Its owner says the money raised from hat pattern sales will support the local immigrant community.
n.pr
January 31, 2026 at 4:20 PM
RUFOS SCANDINAVIAN SCOURGE STRIKES AGAIN