fredleept
@fredleept.bsky.social
Political Science & Asian/Asian American Studies, UConn, studying Asian American political thought & East Asian science fiction. https://linktr.ee/fredleept
It's a mistake to think that all "administration of things" is bullshit work (my preferred term to "bullshit jobs," as "non-bullshit jobs" are bullshitified and people in "bullshit jobs" do non-bullshit work).
January 18, 2026 at 4:15 PM
It's a mistake to think that all "administration of things" is bullshit work (my preferred term to "bullshit jobs," as "non-bullshit jobs" are bullshitified and people in "bullshit jobs" do non-bullshit work).
Theory isn't all attitude, but attitude is no small part.
January 18, 2026 at 3:42 PM
Theory isn't all attitude, but attitude is no small part.
The old -Running Man- was set in a dystopian future. The new -Running Man- is set in the present.
January 18, 2026 at 2:03 AM
The old -Running Man- was set in a dystopian future. The new -Running Man- is set in the present.
January 17, 2026 at 11:56 PM
It looks like I'm shadowbanned on X. Probably for the best LOL.
January 17, 2026 at 9:59 PM
It looks like I'm shadowbanned on X. Probably for the best LOL.
Reposted by fredleept
This absolutely tracks with what journal article submissions now look like. Tons from scholars at East Asian institutions, fewer and fewer from the US.
This is what decline looks like. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/u...
January 15, 2026 at 3:35 PM
This absolutely tracks with what journal article submissions now look like. Tons from scholars at East Asian institutions, fewer and fewer from the US.
The "American Academic Dream" is dead. The dream was roughly that your professional legacy is "professional accomplishments": hyper-productivity, placing graduate students, winning fellowships/funding, citation games, and maybe even becoming a minor celebrity.
January 16, 2026 at 3:26 PM
The "American Academic Dream" is dead. The dream was roughly that your professional legacy is "professional accomplishments": hyper-productivity, placing graduate students, winning fellowships/funding, citation games, and maybe even becoming a minor celebrity.
Reposted by fredleept
Wendy Brown's comments at a memorial for Kirstie McClure, organized by Davide Panagia back in 2024, are now available. #poltheory www.pdcnet.org/pga/content/...
Kirstie McClure - published on January 9, 2026
I offered these remarks about Kirstie McClure on September 6, 2024, at an informal memorial for her at the American Political Science Association’s Annual Conference. The venue was the Bank and Bourbo...
www.pdcnet.org
January 9, 2026 at 12:21 PM
Wendy Brown's comments at a memorial for Kirstie McClure, organized by Davide Panagia back in 2024, are now available. #poltheory www.pdcnet.org/pga/content/...
Reposted by fredleept
Matthew Crow's contribution to our symposium on Kirstie McClure, "Historical Writing, Material Text, and Political Theory," is now available from Philosophy & Public Affairs. #poltheory www.pdcnet.org/pga/content/...
Historical Writing, Material Text, and Political Theory - published on January 15, 2026
Kirstie McClure’s writing took Walter Benjamin’s and Hannah Arendt’s respective attention to acts of reading and remembrance to new depths, and her writing has a great deal to say to historians, poli...
www.pdcnet.org
January 15, 2026 at 6:33 PM
Matthew Crow's contribution to our symposium on Kirstie McClure, "Historical Writing, Material Text, and Political Theory," is now available from Philosophy & Public Affairs. #poltheory www.pdcnet.org/pga/content/...
There are no academic jobs. The jobs there are will go to the hyper crendentialed and/or play it safe types. The real work of the institution, the work the university only purports to do, will be done outside of it.
January 16, 2026 at 5:40 AM
There are no academic jobs. The jobs there are will go to the hyper crendentialed and/or play it safe types. The real work of the institution, the work the university only purports to do, will be done outside of it.
Why you have to read the footnotes
2. The role of man is very artificial. How it may be with the dwellers on other planets and their nature we do not know.
(Kant, Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View)
2. The role of man is very artificial. How it may be with the dwellers on other planets and their nature we do not know.
(Kant, Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View)
January 14, 2026 at 3:34 PM
Why you have to read the footnotes
2. The role of man is very artificial. How it may be with the dwellers on other planets and their nature we do not know.
(Kant, Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View)
2. The role of man is very artificial. How it may be with the dwellers on other planets and their nature we do not know.
(Kant, Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View)
Reposted by fredleept
The first piece of our symposium in honor of Kirstie McClure is available from Philosophy and Global Affairs. Thank you to Patchen Markell for his lovely essay and to Jane Anna Gordon for shepherding it through the publication process. #poltheory
Kirstie McClure and the Textures of Political Thought - published on January 8, 2026
Drawing on one of Kirstie McClure’s unpublished essays on John Locke’s use of language in his letters from exile in Holland, and recalling her fondness for an intriguing image from the frontispiece of...
www.pdcnet.org
January 8, 2026 at 11:29 PM
The first piece of our symposium in honor of Kirstie McClure is available from Philosophy and Global Affairs. Thank you to Patchen Markell for his lovely essay and to Jane Anna Gordon for shepherding it through the publication process. #poltheory
It is a waste of time ethically appealing to someone who structurally dominates you. Let us, in reality, meet as equals; then we can talk.
January 5, 2026 at 5:44 PM
It is a waste of time ethically appealing to someone who structurally dominates you. Let us, in reality, meet as equals; then we can talk.
Every history of philosophy presupposes a philosophy of history.
December 22, 2025 at 3:14 AM
Every history of philosophy presupposes a philosophy of history.
This piece is interesting because the author knows he's more mediocre than meritorious.
Except, as one can tell from the whiny tone of the entire article, he doesn't BELIEVE it.
It's a classic case of "disavowal."
www.compactmag.com/article/the-...
Except, as one can tell from the whiny tone of the entire article, he doesn't BELIEVE it.
It's a classic case of "disavowal."
www.compactmag.com/article/the-...
The Lost Generation
For fifteen years I’ve scalped tickets to pay the bills. But in January 2016 I almost managed a real career.
www.compactmag.com
December 19, 2025 at 10:17 PM
This piece is interesting because the author knows he's more mediocre than meritorious.
Except, as one can tell from the whiny tone of the entire article, he doesn't BELIEVE it.
It's a classic case of "disavowal."
www.compactmag.com/article/the-...
Except, as one can tell from the whiny tone of the entire article, he doesn't BELIEVE it.
It's a classic case of "disavowal."
www.compactmag.com/article/the-...
Reading an advisee's dissertation and thinking to myself, "Damn, I really am a 'traditional intellectual.'" In respect of "organic intellectualism," I am quite pleased to be surpassed.
December 19, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Reading an advisee's dissertation and thinking to myself, "Damn, I really am a 'traditional intellectual.'" In respect of "organic intellectualism," I am quite pleased to be surpassed.
From here on out, I'm just going to stop replying to these after the final grade has been submitted "is there anything you can do to raise my grade" requests. It's getting ridiculous.
December 17, 2025 at 6:18 PM
From here on out, I'm just going to stop replying to these after the final grade has been submitted "is there anything you can do to raise my grade" requests. It's getting ridiculous.
I'm far closer to a Gramscian than an Afropessimist, but Frank Wilderson's "Gramsci’s Black Marx: Whither the Slave in Civil Society?" is one of the most original polemics I've read.
November 13, 2025 at 2:36 AM
I'm far closer to a Gramscian than an Afropessimist, but Frank Wilderson's "Gramsci’s Black Marx: Whither the Slave in Civil Society?" is one of the most original polemics I've read.
UConn professors union calls for stronger protections for academic freedom. Why they are worried. www.courant.com/2025/10/23/u...
UConn professors union calls for stronger protections for academic freedom. Why they are worried.
Union officials say they are looking for stronger protections for professors to be able to “teach, research, and express ideas freely.”
www.courant.com
October 25, 2025 at 12:57 PM
UConn professors union calls for stronger protections for academic freedom. Why they are worried. www.courant.com/2025/10/23/u...
Union organizer job in Las Vegas NV
www.unionjobs.com/listing.php?...
Feel free to contact Siyu HUANG siyuhuang0514@gmail.com for more information
www.unionjobs.com/listing.php?...
Feel free to contact Siyu HUANG siyuhuang0514@gmail.com for more information
Organizer - CCEA : Nevada — Union Jobs Clearinghouse
Organizer - CCEA : Nevada — Union Jobs Clearinghouse
www.unionjobs.com
September 16, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Union organizer job in Las Vegas NV
www.unionjobs.com/listing.php?...
Feel free to contact Siyu HUANG siyuhuang0514@gmail.com for more information
www.unionjobs.com/listing.php?...
Feel free to contact Siyu HUANG siyuhuang0514@gmail.com for more information
Fear of non-recognition for those without recognition; status anxiety for those with status. Fear and anxiety as "world making."
September 7, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Fear of non-recognition for those without recognition; status anxiety for those with status. Fear and anxiety as "world making."
There's no significant difference between doing tourist activities 50 vs 5000 miles away. Just passing through.
August 24, 2025 at 2:14 PM
There's no significant difference between doing tourist activities 50 vs 5000 miles away. Just passing through.
In _The Dispossessed_, Shevek says that Urras is hell compared to Anarres and Keng replies that it is heaven compared to Earth. It's a great follow up on the perspectivism theme, as posed by the earlier question of "which is planet and which is satellite"?
August 13, 2025 at 5:51 PM
In _The Dispossessed_, Shevek says that Urras is hell compared to Anarres and Keng replies that it is heaven compared to Earth. It's a great follow up on the perspectivism theme, as posed by the earlier question of "which is planet and which is satellite"?