Laura C. Dees
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lauradees.bsky.social
Laura C. Dees
@lauradees.bsky.social
Doing a PhD (or trying to) in the realm of evolutionary language science @Uni Zurich, generally interested in linguistic and cultural diversity.
Background pic: one of Matthew Wongs masterpieces
Reposted by Laura C. Dees
Nederland kan in de komende jaren een taalpolitiek voorbeeldland worden.

neerlandistiek.nl/2026/01/mijn...
Brief aan de informateur
Nederland kan in de komende jaren een taalpolitiek voorbeeldland worden.
neerlandistiek.nl
January 16, 2026 at 5:26 AM
Reposted by Laura C. Dees
Instead of withdrawing from Gaza, Israel has imposed a so-called "Yellow-Line," leaving its military occupying 58% of Gaza and forcibly confining Palestinians to the remaining 42 percent. This largely unmarked and lethal boundary functions as de facto annexation... 1/3
January 14, 2026 at 10:52 PM
such an exciting topic!!
It was a great honor to act as the promotor (together with Prof Gijsbert Rutten) at the PhD defence by Kefan Bao: Language policy and planning of Amazigh languages in Morocco.

Congratulations to Kefan on a great piece of work!

scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/...
Language policy and planning of Amazigh languages in Morocco | Scholarly Publications
scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl
January 12, 2026 at 1:36 PM
Reposted by Laura C. Dees
Wrote about sweet Tsova-Tush children's book project, trying to revive a dying language, for @ocmedia.bsky.social
oc-media.org/the-tsova-tu...
The Tsova-Tush children’s book aiming to save one of Georgia’s most endangered languages
A 2019 documentary failed to find anyone under the age of 30 who knew Tsova–Tush.
oc-media.org
December 27, 2025 at 3:53 AM
Reposted by Laura C. Dees
"Free societies are under assault from a resurgent fascism. Across the world, fears about immigration have been one of the main—arguably the main—weapon used. And across the world, there has been a timidity on the part of progressives about countering these arguments."
We Need to Get Off the Defensive About Immigration
Free movement is a fantastic thing, and we should say it.
www.liberalcurrents.com
January 9, 2026 at 1:12 AM
Reposted by Laura C. Dees
Arabische cartoonisten hebben een field day.
January 4, 2026 at 1:29 PM
In 2025 I spent 19 full nights or large parts of the day on a train travelling through Europe. There’s so much to improve still (looking at you, Germany) but it’s exciting to see the growing number of possibilities the European rail network offers!
January 3, 2026 at 9:58 AM
Reposted by Laura C. Dees
Waar is het protest van de NRC-redactie tegen alle bizarre beslissingen vd leiding?
Hertzberger heeft geprobeerd de medische en persoonsgegevens van trans mensen met de Tweede Kamer te delen, ze heeft gestemd voor de strafbaarstelling van het helpen van ongedocumenteerden, en ze heeft geruime tijd een fascistisch kabinet omhoog helpen houden. Nu direct weer in dienst bij @nrc.nl
Controversiele columnist Rosanne Hertzberger heeft onmiddelijk weer haar column terug bij NRC na de politiek, nadat haar partij met VVD BBB en PVV dit land op slot heeft gegooid?

In plaats van letterlijk welk ander onafhankelijk kritisch journalistiek talent of minderheid dan ook?

Tja, keuzes.🙄
January 1, 2026 at 11:27 PM
Reposted by Laura C. Dees
Francesca Albanese: "This is the genocide that continues through other means. Israel has zero intention to relinquish control of the Gaza strip.. what has been sold to the world as the peace plan.. is a way to push the intl community to have an alibi not to continue to engage with Gaza"
December 14, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Reposted by Laura C. Dees
Israel hunted a 70 year old lady down with a gun drone and then hoovered above to make sure she bled out next to her dying son. They both join almost 1,000 Palestinians Israel has massacred or maimed in its genocide during the "ceasefire".

www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12...
Israeli drone chases and kills elderly woman in Gaza as attacks continue
At least seven Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks as military pushes deeper beyond truce demarcation line.
www.aljazeera.com
December 8, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Reposted by Laura C. Dees
#WestBank: new @hrw.org report finds #Israel 's mass displacement of Palestinians amounts to ethnic cleansing: hrw.org/news/2025/11...

Countless EU statements on "two state solution" have done nothing to stop this. Sanctions, settlement trade ban urgently needed: hrw.org/news/2025/10...
November 21, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Reposted by Laura C. Dees
I am by no means a prominent public intellectual, but my inbox is increasingly filled with messages from people who have been convinced by sycophantic chatbots that they have discovered revolutionary theories that entirely upend our scientific understanding of the universe.
November 21, 2025 at 2:49 AM
Reposted by Laura C. Dees
Being available; sharing network and resources; giving timely feedback; offering opportunities and learning moments (e.g. co-reviewing a paper, organising a conference, co-presenting - these are things you have to learn somehow). Oh and be kind - there is enough harshness in academia.
November 19, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by Laura C. Dees
being available when needed, offering constructive criticism as well as motivation and recognition, being humane (do not request unreasonable achievements, or expect huge personal sacrifices, respect holidays, time to rest etc.), there's probably more but this are top three to me
November 12, 2025 at 2:58 PM
things look so bleak.. and Europe seems to have stopped caring since the start of the ceasefire which is not a ceasefire
November 20, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Laura C. Dees
genuinely curious: what, according to my academic followers, are characteristics of good doctoral supervision?
November 10, 2025 at 9:15 PM
genuinely curious: what, according to my academic followers, are characteristics of good doctoral supervision?
November 10, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Reposted by Laura C. Dees
Today, 250.000 people took to the streets of Amsterdam to protest Israel's genocidal violence in Gaza and the cowardly response by the Dutch government. It followed on two earlier protests, one with 150.000 protesters, and the first one with about 100.000. By Dutch standards, these are huge numbers.
WIJ ZIJN MET MEER❗

#RodeLijn
October 5, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Reposted by Laura C. Dees
RIP Jane Goodall, who has died at 91.

She was a gentle disrupter who reshaped how we understand our place in nature. Her research with chimpanzees revolutionized science, and her boundless optimism touched the world.

buff.ly/5Hwx3Z7 🌎🩺
October 1, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Laura C. Dees
Together with 1000 Madleens to #Gaza @1kmadleenfr.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy we are sending a boat with international journalists & health workers in solidarity with Palestinian journalists & medics who continue to report & provide care through #genocide #BreakTheSiege #FreePalestine #AllEyesOnGaza
September 28, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Reposted by Laura C. Dees
When you consider the *ecocide* alongside the genocide being perpetrated in Gaza, you begin to grasp the totality of the Israeli state’s attempt to eliminate both the Palestinians and their homeland.
My column today.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Israel’s ecocide in Gaza sends this message: even if we stopped dropping bombs, you couldn’t live here | George Monbiot
Consider the annihilation of agricultural land alongside the genocide – and grasp the chilling totality of this attempt to eliminate all life, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
www.theguardian.com
September 27, 2025 at 6:59 AM
"The big perspective change from ancient DNA study is that people living today are almost never the descendants of the people in the same place thousands of years before." "People’s stories about their history are almost always wrong."
September 23, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Reposted by Laura C. Dees
From burying beetles to shamans, follow Manvir Singh @manvir.bsky.social in his sweeping Q&A from our latest issue.

www.cell.com/current-biol...
Manvir Singh
Interview with Manvir Singh, who studies the evolutionary and cognitive origins of human cultural behaviors at the University of California, Davis.
www.cell.com
September 22, 2025 at 8:32 PM
hemeltergend
September 18, 2025 at 1:37 PM