John Aerni-Flessner
@lesothojohn.bsky.social
Assoc Prof, African History, MSU, RCAH.
Dreams for Lesotho: http://undpress.nd.edu/9780
Historical Dictionary: tinyurl.com/3tyha6jt
Publications here: https://tinyurl.com/ynvwp6c5
Lesotho, Southern Africa, development, borders, running, Michigan
Dreams for Lesotho: http://undpress.nd.edu/9780
Historical Dictionary: tinyurl.com/3tyha6jt
Publications here: https://tinyurl.com/ynvwp6c5
Lesotho, Southern Africa, development, borders, running, Michigan
Pinned
John Aerni-Flessner
Articles by John Aerni-Flessner.
africasacountry.com
Hello to all my new followers!
As handle suggests, mostly Lesotho/South Africa stuff here.
Academic writing can be found in above links.
Non-Academic Writing:
AIAC: africasacountry.com/author/john-...
M&G: mg.co.za/author/john-...
Daily Maverick: www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/johna...
As handle suggests, mostly Lesotho/South Africa stuff here.
Academic writing can be found in above links.
Non-Academic Writing:
AIAC: africasacountry.com/author/john-...
M&G: mg.co.za/author/john-...
Daily Maverick: www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/johna...
Reposted by John Aerni-Flessner
Like, guys.
The US Government booked 50+ seats on a flight for "refugees."
3 people turned up.
They are not coming.
www.news24.com/citypress/ne...
The US Government booked 50+ seats on a flight for "refugees."
3 people turned up.
They are not coming.
www.news24.com/citypress/ne...
US books dozens of seats for Afrikaner ‘refugees’, but only three pitch up | News24
Far fewer ‘refugees’ arrived for their flights than were catered for. Despite this, the US government has targeted resettlement of 6 000 people by the end of November.
www.news24.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Like, guys.
The US Government booked 50+ seats on a flight for "refugees."
3 people turned up.
They are not coming.
www.news24.com/citypress/ne...
The US Government booked 50+ seats on a flight for "refugees."
3 people turned up.
They are not coming.
www.news24.com/citypress/ne...
Reposted by John Aerni-Flessner
I’ve been saying, for all but the very VERY individual and extreme, this whole “refugee program” business is being *roundly* rejected by white South Africans…
Prominent Afrikaners are pushing back after President Trump announced no U.S. officials will attend the G20 in Johannesburg, rejecting his claims of "white persecution" in South Africa as false and politically driven.
Prominent Afrikaners refuse to be 'pawns,' and hit back at Trump's claims about South Africa
Prominent Afrikaners are pushing back after President Trump announced no U.S. officials will attend the G20 in Johannesburg, rejecting his claims of "white persecution" in South Africa as false and politically driven.
n.pr
November 11, 2025 at 11:35 AM
I’ve been saying, for all but the very VERY individual and extreme, this whole “refugee program” business is being *roundly* rejected by white South Africans…
Hey, if you are around #Madison, #Wisconsin on Thursday afternoon and want to hear all about the #Lesotho Highlands Water Project ( #LHWP ), come out to the Department of Anthropology Colloquium!
www.anthropology.wisc.edu/wp-content/u...
www.anthropology.wisc.edu/wp-content/u...
www.anthropology.wisc.edu
November 11, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Hey, if you are around #Madison, #Wisconsin on Thursday afternoon and want to hear all about the #Lesotho Highlands Water Project ( #LHWP ), come out to the Department of Anthropology Colloquium!
www.anthropology.wisc.edu/wp-content/u...
www.anthropology.wisc.edu/wp-content/u...
Reposted by John Aerni-Flessner
Happy to report that the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign academic senate overwhelmingly passed a resolution against the federal “compact” all of us in higher ed have been offered, encouraging our administrators to keep opposing it. #MADC www.senate.illinois.edu/2025-2026/20...
www.senate.illinois.edu
November 11, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Happy to report that the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign academic senate overwhelmingly passed a resolution against the federal “compact” all of us in higher ed have been offered, encouraging our administrators to keep opposing it. #MADC www.senate.illinois.edu/2025-2026/20...
In case you needed to hear it: There is no "genocide" in South Africa. Especially not against white folks, even Afrikaners.
No genocide! Graciously took my MSU study abroad students there in 2019 (no genocide) and my family there in 2022. No genocide!
www.npr.org/2025/11/10/n...
No genocide! Graciously took my MSU study abroad students there in 2019 (no genocide) and my family there in 2022. No genocide!
www.npr.org/2025/11/10/n...
Prominent Afrikaners refuse to be 'pawns,' and hit back at Trump's claims about South Africa
Prominent Afrikaners are pushing back after President Trump announced no U.S. officials will attend the G20 in Johannesburg, rejecting his claims of "white persecution" in South Africa as false and po...
www.npr.org
November 11, 2025 at 3:20 AM
In case you needed to hear it: There is no "genocide" in South Africa. Especially not against white folks, even Afrikaners.
No genocide! Graciously took my MSU study abroad students there in 2019 (no genocide) and my family there in 2022. No genocide!
www.npr.org/2025/11/10/n...
No genocide! Graciously took my MSU study abroad students there in 2019 (no genocide) and my family there in 2022. No genocide!
www.npr.org/2025/11/10/n...
Reposted by John Aerni-Flessner
Prominent Afrikaners are pushing back after President Trump announced no U.S. officials will attend the G20 in Johannesburg, rejecting his claims of "white persecution" in South Africa as false and politically driven.
Prominent Afrikaners refuse to be 'pawns,' and hit back at Trump's claims about South Africa
Prominent Afrikaners are pushing back after President Trump announced no U.S. officials will attend the G20 in Johannesburg, rejecting his claims of "white persecution" in South Africa as false and politically driven.
n.pr
November 11, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Prominent Afrikaners are pushing back after President Trump announced no U.S. officials will attend the G20 in Johannesburg, rejecting his claims of "white persecution" in South Africa as false and politically driven.
Reposted by John Aerni-Flessner
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
November 11, 2025 at 1:50 AM
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
50 years ago today, the Edmund Fitzgerald was the last large freighter to sink on the American Great Lakes.
Waking up to snow today (and, I am sure, significant wind and waves last night on the lakes) makes us all realize the power of nature.
Waking up to snow today (and, I am sure, significant wind and waves last night on the lakes) makes us all realize the power of nature.
November 10, 2025 at 3:13 PM
50 years ago today, the Edmund Fitzgerald was the last large freighter to sink on the American Great Lakes.
Waking up to snow today (and, I am sure, significant wind and waves last night on the lakes) makes us all realize the power of nature.
Waking up to snow today (and, I am sure, significant wind and waves last night on the lakes) makes us all realize the power of nature.
Reposted by John Aerni-Flessner
Happy University Press Week! Join us in celebrating how authors, university press publishing professionals & so many others #TeamUP to advance knowledge. Explore this @bookshop.org collection of university press books to find your next thought-provoking read: https://bit.ly/4nhTQcc. #ReadUP
November 10, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Happy University Press Week! Join us in celebrating how authors, university press publishing professionals & so many others #TeamUP to advance knowledge. Explore this @bookshop.org collection of university press books to find your next thought-provoking read: https://bit.ly/4nhTQcc. #ReadUP
Reposted by John Aerni-Flessner
Happy University Press Week! Have you told your university press how much you love them lately?? 🥰
November 10, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Happy University Press Week! Have you told your university press how much you love them lately?? 🥰
Reposted by John Aerni-Flessner
@lesothojohn.bsky.social a shout for this blog among your followers will be much appreciated.Thank you
ntatechris.wordpress.com/2025/11/07/t...
ntatechris.wordpress.com/2025/11/07/t...
The Immorality of Lesotho’s Banking Fees: A Nation Held Hostage by Its Own Banks
Dr Chris Mokolatsie argues that Lesotho’s banking system is exploiting the poor — and that government must act to restore financial dignity. I had two exasperating conversations recently that left …
ntatechris.wordpress.com
November 8, 2025 at 12:56 AM
@lesothojohn.bsky.social a shout for this blog among your followers will be much appreciated.Thank you
ntatechris.wordpress.com/2025/11/07/t...
ntatechris.wordpress.com/2025/11/07/t...
Reposted by John Aerni-Flessner
Horrifying
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 7, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Horrifying
Reposted by John Aerni-Flessner
It's also much, much more than 3 percent though. As any faculty member reading this who obtained subvention funding from their uni (which may or may not have a UP) can attest: many unis with no UPs provide relatively quite small funds to UPs far and wide. $1K here, $3K there.
November 6, 2025 at 5:58 PM
It's also much, much more than 3 percent though. As any faculty member reading this who obtained subvention funding from their uni (which may or may not have a UP) can attest: many unis with no UPs provide relatively quite small funds to UPs far and wide. $1K here, $3K there.
Reposted by John Aerni-Flessner
It's both less and more than 3 percent. Less because not all UPs are supported by their unis. Some may get support in exchange for paying overhead. Others may truly get no support.
November 6, 2025 at 5:56 PM
It's both less and more than 3 percent. Less because not all UPs are supported by their unis. Some may get support in exchange for paying overhead. Others may truly get no support.
Reposted by John Aerni-Flessner
I'm obsessed with this stat: "with more than 4,000 degree-granting institutions and fewer than 130 university presses in the United States and Canada, this vital [publishing] infrastructure is directly supported by less than 3 percent of the institutions it benefits"
November 6, 2025 at 5:55 PM
I'm obsessed with this stat: "with more than 4,000 degree-granting institutions and fewer than 130 university presses in the United States and Canada, this vital [publishing] infrastructure is directly supported by less than 3 percent of the institutions it benefits"
Reposted by John Aerni-Flessner
Peter Berkery, executive director of @aupresses.bsky.social, with a letter in CHE on unis that close their UPs becoming "free riders" in the scholarly ecosystem--extracting without putting in. (Headline is sort of misleading--the problem is unis not UPs) www.chronicle.com/blogs/letter...
Letter | University Presses Face a Free Rider Problem
Colleges that close their presses are taking advantage of the system, writes Peter Berkery.
www.chronicle.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Peter Berkery, executive director of @aupresses.bsky.social, with a letter in CHE on unis that close their UPs becoming "free riders" in the scholarly ecosystem--extracting without putting in. (Headline is sort of misleading--the problem is unis not UPs) www.chronicle.com/blogs/letter...
Reposted by John Aerni-Flessner
The more I've personally thought about these issues, the more I think we should all be looking at UPs not (just) as funded but as directly FUNDING fields that unis have all but abandoned. Monographs cost more to make than they earn. UPs are putting $$ DIRECTLY where unis don't.
November 6, 2025 at 6:00 PM
The more I've personally thought about these issues, the more I think we should all be looking at UPs not (just) as funded but as directly FUNDING fields that unis have all but abandoned. Monographs cost more to make than they earn. UPs are putting $$ DIRECTLY where unis don't.
#Lesotho's only international flight (to #Johannesburg) is currently suspended because of a lack of fire fighting equipment at #MoshoeshoeI International Airport:
www.flyairlink.com/en/za/news/j...
www.flyairlink.com/en/za/news/j...
Johannesburg–Maseru Flights Suspended | FlyAirlink
Airlink has suspended Johannesburg–Maseru flights due to unserviceable fire and rescue equipment at Moshoeshoe I International Airport. Refunds available.
www.flyairlink.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:57 PM
#Lesotho's only international flight (to #Johannesburg) is currently suspended because of a lack of fire fighting equipment at #MoshoeshoeI International Airport:
www.flyairlink.com/en/za/news/j...
www.flyairlink.com/en/za/news/j...
Reposted by John Aerni-Flessner
To understand what was at stake here: in VA, the AG gets to appoint university counsel. From Jim Ryan’s forced resignation to the (mercifully) reject “Compact” to the odious and bizarre “settlement,” UVA has been hamstrung by counsel chosen by the state’s GOP administration. That’s about to change.
November 5, 2025 at 1:52 AM
To understand what was at stake here: in VA, the AG gets to appoint university counsel. From Jim Ryan’s forced resignation to the (mercifully) reject “Compact” to the odious and bizarre “settlement,” UVA has been hamstrung by counsel chosen by the state’s GOP administration. That’s about to change.
So evidently in May 1982, American musician Neil #Sedaka went to #SouthAfrica to play at #SunCity (in violation of the cultural santions boycott).
His reward for this? Well, I am sure he was paid well.
But he was also mugged in a #Johannesburg park!
Comeuppance?
His reward for this? Well, I am sure he was paid well.
But he was also mugged in a #Johannesburg park!
Comeuppance?
November 4, 2025 at 2:55 PM
So evidently in May 1982, American musician Neil #Sedaka went to #SouthAfrica to play at #SunCity (in violation of the cultural santions boycott).
His reward for this? Well, I am sure he was paid well.
But he was also mugged in a #Johannesburg park!
Comeuppance?
His reward for this? Well, I am sure he was paid well.
But he was also mugged in a #Johannesburg park!
Comeuppance?
The long term forecast here in #Michigan calls for our first #snow of the season next Monday.
Next Monday (10 November) is also the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the #EdmundFitzgerald and snow on that day would seem a fitting marker.
#GalesofNovember
#GitchiGami
Next Monday (10 November) is also the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the #EdmundFitzgerald and snow on that day would seem a fitting marker.
#GalesofNovember
#GitchiGami
November 3, 2025 at 9:45 PM
The long term forecast here in #Michigan calls for our first #snow of the season next Monday.
Next Monday (10 November) is also the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the #EdmundFitzgerald and snow on that day would seem a fitting marker.
#GalesofNovember
#GitchiGami
Next Monday (10 November) is also the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the #EdmundFitzgerald and snow on that day would seem a fitting marker.
#GalesofNovember
#GitchiGami
Reposted by John Aerni-Flessner
I had the wonderful opportunity to chat to Miranda Melcher about my book on urban aesthetics, Angola, oil and Indigenous urbanisms in Africa. Hosted of course by the fabulous @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...
Claudia Gastrow,
Podcast Episode · New Books in African Studies · 10/31/2025 · 58m
podcasts.apple.com
October 31, 2025 at 5:58 PM
I had the wonderful opportunity to chat to Miranda Melcher about my book on urban aesthetics, Angola, oil and Indigenous urbanisms in Africa. Hosted of course by the fabulous @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...
Interested in news from #Africa and/or #SouthAfrica, check out this interview with @siphok.bsky.social of The Continent ( @thecontinent.org ) and The Friday Paper ( @thefridaypaper.bsky.social ).
And then subscribe!
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/pan-afr...
And then subscribe!
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/pan-afr...
From pan-African to South African: The team behind 'The Continent' launches a second WhatsApp newspaper
The Friday Paper’s first edition opens with the story of a theft: the theft of the newspaper. Or, more accurately, of the laptop on which the final version of the pilot edition was stored. Fortunately...
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk
October 30, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Interested in news from #Africa and/or #SouthAfrica, check out this interview with @siphok.bsky.social of The Continent ( @thecontinent.org ) and The Friday Paper ( @thefridaypaper.bsky.social ).
And then subscribe!
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/pan-afr...
And then subscribe!
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/pan-afr...
Reposted by John Aerni-Flessner
Irreplaceable historical and cultural items like these need to be urgently relocated to a place where such crimes are non-existent, like Lusaka.
October 30, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Irreplaceable historical and cultural items like these need to be urgently relocated to a place where such crimes are non-existent, like Lusaka.
So, I mean, you can try the new E*on AI-wikipedia, but having taken a quick read through the #Lesotho entry, it is junk. Full junk.
Is it "right" about a few things? Sure. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
A couple of short examples:
Is it "right" about a few things? Sure. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
A couple of short examples:
October 28, 2025 at 1:18 PM
So, I mean, you can try the new E*on AI-wikipedia, but having taken a quick read through the #Lesotho entry, it is junk. Full junk.
Is it "right" about a few things? Sure. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
A couple of short examples:
Is it "right" about a few things? Sure. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
A couple of short examples: