Neelika Jayawardane
@sugarintheplum.bsky.social
Writer. Immigrant.
Sharp-tongued literature professor🌶️
Images, photographs, visual culture
Writing on Afrapix, a South African photographers' collective
Website: https://neelikajayawardane.com/
Sharp-tongued literature professor🌶️
Images, photographs, visual culture
Writing on Afrapix, a South African photographers' collective
Website: https://neelikajayawardane.com/
Pinned
Lindokhule Sobekwa. I carry Her photo with Me.
Gratitude, even for the grief we hold for those who went far and could not find their way back
www.mackbooks.us/products/i-c...
Gratitude, even for the grief we hold for those who went far and could not find their way back
www.mackbooks.us/products/i-c...
Reposted by Neelika Jayawardane
I havent read such a banger of an essay in a very long time. This is so well-written!
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:37 PM
I havent read such a banger of an essay in a very long time. This is so well-written!
So wonderful to listen to the 2025 Alchemy Lecture: Sound at the Interregnum. It's chilly, sunny day here. I made rooibos tea, crunched berry pastry made by the sourdough baker.
Was so grateful for the nourishment, for the vibrations that all sentient beings make 🤍
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqpH...
Was so grateful for the nourishment, for the vibrations that all sentient beings make 🤍
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqpH...
The 2025 Alchemy Lecture: Sound—at the Interregnum
YouTube video by York University - Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
www.youtube.com
November 8, 2025 at 10:25 PM
So wonderful to listen to the 2025 Alchemy Lecture: Sound at the Interregnum. It's chilly, sunny day here. I made rooibos tea, crunched berry pastry made by the sourdough baker.
Was so grateful for the nourishment, for the vibrations that all sentient beings make 🤍
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqpH...
Was so grateful for the nourishment, for the vibrations that all sentient beings make 🤍
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqpH...
Colombo, #SriLanka: please join me at Collective for Historical Dialogue & Memory (CHDM)
25 Elibank Rd, 5:30pm, 31 July
"This is not the correct history": Lacunae, Contested Narratives, and Evidentiary Images from Sri Lanka’s Civil War
@artswriters.bsky.social
25 Elibank Rd, 5:30pm, 31 July
"This is not the correct history": Lacunae, Contested Narratives, and Evidentiary Images from Sri Lanka’s Civil War
@artswriters.bsky.social
July 30, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Colombo, #SriLanka: please join me at Collective for Historical Dialogue & Memory (CHDM)
25 Elibank Rd, 5:30pm, 31 July
"This is not the correct history": Lacunae, Contested Narratives, and Evidentiary Images from Sri Lanka’s Civil War
@artswriters.bsky.social
25 Elibank Rd, 5:30pm, 31 July
"This is not the correct history": Lacunae, Contested Narratives, and Evidentiary Images from Sri Lanka’s Civil War
@artswriters.bsky.social
Please help me translate this:
“Aghar baanam bar baaney dil" (if the arrow is made of steel, then the heart will be hurt?)
Is it part of the poem recited here?
www.instagram.com/reel/Cr0s_Xj...
“Aghar baanam bar baaney dil" (if the arrow is made of steel, then the heart will be hurt?)
Is it part of the poem recited here?
www.instagram.com/reel/Cr0s_Xj...
Login • Instagram
Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.
www.instagram.com
April 3, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Please help me translate this:
“Aghar baanam bar baaney dil" (if the arrow is made of steel, then the heart will be hurt?)
Is it part of the poem recited here?
www.instagram.com/reel/Cr0s_Xj...
“Aghar baanam bar baaney dil" (if the arrow is made of steel, then the heart will be hurt?)
Is it part of the poem recited here?
www.instagram.com/reel/Cr0s_Xj...
Reposted by Neelika Jayawardane
The Harisiades case the Trump DOJ cites first here represented one of the low points of early McCarthyism. Permanent residents who’d been in the US since childhood or their early teens were deported for communist party membership.
![Beyond the statute, the President's inherent Article Il authority is plainly
violated by the district court's order. As a function of his inherent Article II authority
to protect the nation, the President may determine that TdA represents a significant
risk to the United States, that it is intertwined and advancing the interests of a foreign
government in a manner antithetical to the interests of the United States, and that its
members should be summarily removed from this country as part of that threat. The
exercise of authority in this case is firmly supported by longstanding precedent of
the Supreme Court. As that Court has repeatedly held, Article II confers upon the
President expansive authority over foreign affairs, national security, and
immigration. See Harisiades v. Shaughnessy, 342 U.S. 580, 588 (1952); United
13
USCA Case #25-5067 Document #2105928|
Filed: 03/15/2025
Page 15 of 18
States v. Curtiss-Wright Exp. Corp., 299 U.S. 304, 320 (1936). And where, as here,
"the President acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress," i.e.,
50 U.S.C. § 21, coupled with the President's own Article Il powers over foreign
affairs and national security, "his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that
he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate." Youngstown Sheet
& Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579, 635 (1952) (Jackson, J., concurring); see
Zivotofsky ex rel. Zivotofsky v. Kerry, 576 U.S. 1, 10 (2015) (similar).
If anything, this authority is heightened in the context presented by this case.
The Supreme Court has consistently noted that "[i]t is an accepted maxim of
international law that every sovereign nation has the power, as inherent in
sovereignty, and essential to self-preservation, to forbid the entrance of foreigners
within its dominions, or to admit them only in such cases and upon such conditions
as it may see fit to prescribe." Nishimura Ekiu v. United States, 142 U.S. 651, 659
(1892). Thus, "[w]hen Congress p…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:on5oeywiqx32fh2zau473wz6/bafkreib6a5zetp5iozkdrnrkg6wxjr3nmjrq5qtha4hfbew5ccdhzfb5l4@jpeg)
March 15, 2025 at 9:59 PM
The Harisiades case the Trump DOJ cites first here represented one of the low points of early McCarthyism. Permanent residents who’d been in the US since childhood or their early teens were deported for communist party membership.
No law broken.
But deported because…
But deported because…
NEW: White House says the arrest and deportation of student activist & legal US resident, Mahmoud Khalil, is a blueprint for more.
The final line here is chilling. The White House specifically says Khalil was not breaking the law.
No evidence, no due process, no crime. He was just disappeared.
The final line here is chilling. The White House specifically says Khalil was not breaking the law.
No evidence, no due process, no crime. He was just disappeared.
March 11, 2025 at 9:51 PM
No law broken.
But deported because…
But deported because…
Reposted by Neelika Jayawardane
Yes. If DHS can barge in, say your visa was revoked, be told you have a green card, say it's revoked too, and then disappear you so that neither your lawyer nor your family can find you, then all the guardrails are gone. There is no policy, practice, or law protecting anyone.
re the previous repost: if they can disappear permanent residents they can disappear citizens
March 9, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Yes. If DHS can barge in, say your visa was revoked, be told you have a green card, say it's revoked too, and then disappear you so that neither your lawyer nor your family can find you, then all the guardrails are gone. There is no policy, practice, or law protecting anyone.
Reposted by Neelika Jayawardane
My grant was one of those terminated. Our team included political and climate scientists using machine learning/language models and a unique corpus of high quality media from developing countries to model the effects of climate change on climate adaptation, political stability, and conflict. (1/2)
NEW: The Minerva Research Initiative, established by the Pentagon to fund social science relevant to national security, is being gutted. Dozens of researchers studying threats from extremist groups, misinformation or climate change have received notices that their grants are being terminated.
🧪
🧪
Pentagon guts national security program that harnessed social science
Dozens of U.S. academics lose grants from Minerva program for studies related to terrorism, drug trafficking, and other threats
www.science.org
March 2, 2025 at 8:55 PM
My grant was one of those terminated. Our team included political and climate scientists using machine learning/language models and a unique corpus of high quality media from developing countries to model the effects of climate change on climate adaptation, political stability, and conflict. (1/2)
Reposted by Neelika Jayawardane
The Journal for Architectural Education’s Palestine issue — for which I was an issue co-editor — was cancelled by the board of Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture citing risks and “new actions by the U.S. presidential administration” 😐
www.archpaper.com/2025/02/acsa...
www.archpaper.com/2025/02/acsa...
ACSA cancels Fall 2025 Journal of Architectural Education issue about Palestine and fires its interim executive editor
ACSA announced this afternoon it has cancelled a forthcoming JAE edition about Palestine. The Fall 2025 issue was planned to be edited by Cruz Garcia, Nora Akawi, Omar Jabary Salamanca, Zoé Samudzi, a...
www.archpaper.com
March 1, 2025 at 2:40 PM
The Journal for Architectural Education’s Palestine issue — for which I was an issue co-editor — was cancelled by the board of Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture citing risks and “new actions by the U.S. presidential administration” 😐
www.archpaper.com/2025/02/acsa...
www.archpaper.com/2025/02/acsa...
Reposted by Neelika Jayawardane
I see African Literature is having a renaissance again www.nytimes.com/2025/01/19/b...
In African Publishing, ‘There Is a Renaissance Going On’
www.nytimes.com
January 22, 2025 at 12:13 AM
I see African Literature is having a renaissance again www.nytimes.com/2025/01/19/b...
Reposted by Neelika Jayawardane
If you’re going to the MJK tribute at BAM tomorrow be sure to check out the ‘Ernest Cole: Lost and Found’ documentary about the South African photographer Ernest Cole. Scholar @johnedwinmason.bsky.social reviewed it for us last fall and it’s a must read. 📷
The Anti-Apartheid Photographer Who Was Stranded in America
Ernest Cole’s life story is an anti-colonialism epic, Cold War thriller, and a tragedy.
hyperallergic.com
January 19, 2025 at 5:57 PM
If you’re going to the MJK tribute at BAM tomorrow be sure to check out the ‘Ernest Cole: Lost and Found’ documentary about the South African photographer Ernest Cole. Scholar @johnedwinmason.bsky.social reviewed it for us last fall and it’s a must read. 📷
Reposted by Neelika Jayawardane
Reposted by Neelika Jayawardane
Adam Sameer, 8, is the first child to be killed in Gaza in 2025. According to his father, he went to sleep hungry. He was dismembered by an Israeli airstrike before he woke up.
January 1, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Adam Sameer, 8, is the first child to be killed in Gaza in 2025. According to his father, he went to sleep hungry. He was dismembered by an Israeli airstrike before he woke up.
Reposted by Neelika Jayawardane
If you discerned the world through NY Times editorials and op-eds over the last decade you would think that the greatest threat to speech rights came from students and faculty, rather than a political party promising to use authoritarian tactics to silence dissent. Massive error in judgement.
New York Times published a featured editorial lamenting a crisis of free speech in America.
“Americans are losing hold of a fundamental right as citizens of a free country,” the editors wrote.
They were referring to some people verbally criticizing others’ statements in a harsh manner. Seriously.
“Americans are losing hold of a fundamental right as citizens of a free country,” the editors wrote.
They were referring to some people verbally criticizing others’ statements in a harsh manner. Seriously.
“Trump signals plans to use all levers of power against the media”
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
December 23, 2024 at 4:12 PM
If you discerned the world through NY Times editorials and op-eds over the last decade you would think that the greatest threat to speech rights came from students and faculty, rather than a political party promising to use authoritarian tactics to silence dissent. Massive error in judgement.
Reposted by Neelika Jayawardane
Only Shakespeare cld have invented a leader so ambitious & courtiers so craven as to toss the US & the world on the burning heap of their arrogance & desire for power.Pple shld stop yammering abt why Dems lost. A cabal like no other in Congress & WH burnt it all down.
www.wsj.com/politics/bid...
www.wsj.com/politics/bid...
How the White House Functioned With a Diminished Biden in Charge
Aides kept meetings short and controlled access, top advisers acted as go-betweens and public interactions became more scripted. The administration denied Biden has declined.
www.wsj.com
December 19, 2024 at 2:57 PM
Only Shakespeare cld have invented a leader so ambitious & courtiers so craven as to toss the US & the world on the burning heap of their arrogance & desire for power.Pple shld stop yammering abt why Dems lost. A cabal like no other in Congress & WH burnt it all down.
www.wsj.com/politics/bid...
www.wsj.com/politics/bid...
Mitch begins to feel it all beginning to impinge on his self-narrative... bec POLIO
Mans gonna feel the consequences of all his machinations soon enough bec of 2nd gen South Asian lawyers who can match his maniacal 👀
Mans gonna feel the consequences of all his machinations soon enough bec of 2nd gen South Asian lawyers who can match his maniacal 👀
Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former Republican leader and a polio survivor, issued a statement in support of the polio vaccine, hours after The New York Times reported that the lawyer for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. petitioned regulators to withdraw the vaccine from the market. nyti.ms/4iwSCbV
McConnell Defends Polio Vaccine, an Apparent Warning to RFK Jr.
“Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed — they’re dangerous,” said the former Republican leader, who is a polio survivor.
nyti.ms
December 14, 2024 at 1:10 AM
Mitch begins to feel it all beginning to impinge on his self-narrative... bec POLIO
Mans gonna feel the consequences of all his machinations soon enough bec of 2nd gen South Asian lawyers who can match his maniacal 👀
Mans gonna feel the consequences of all his machinations soon enough bec of 2nd gen South Asian lawyers who can match his maniacal 👀
Yes it is.
It was, a year ago, 6months ago, 3months ago.
Where were you, Amnesty’s leadership?
It was, a year ago, 6months ago, 3months ago.
Where were you, Amnesty’s leadership?
Après des mois d’enquête, de collecte de preuves et d’analyses juridiques, Amnesty International publie un rapport de 300 pages aux conclusions accablantes : les autorités israéliennes commettent un génocide contre la population palestinienne de Gaza.
www.amnesty.fr/actualites/r...
www.amnesty.fr/actualites/r...
December 5, 2024 at 12:24 PM
Yes it is.
It was, a year ago, 6months ago, 3months ago.
Where were you, Amnesty’s leadership?
It was, a year ago, 6months ago, 3months ago.
Where were you, Amnesty’s leadership?
Reposted by Neelika Jayawardane
Essential reading from the one in a generation @janemayer.bsky.social
Pete Hegseth’s Secret History www.newyorker.com/news/news-de...
Pete Hegseth’s Secret History www.newyorker.com/news/news-de...
Pete Hegseth’s Secret History
A whistle-blower report and other documents suggest that Trump’s nominee to run the Pentagon was forced out of previous leadership positions for financial mismanagement, sexist behavior, and being rep...
www.newyorker.com
December 2, 2024 at 4:50 AM
Essential reading from the one in a generation @janemayer.bsky.social
Pete Hegseth’s Secret History www.newyorker.com/news/news-de...
Pete Hegseth’s Secret History www.newyorker.com/news/news-de...
African Literature Conference in Nairobi, 2025
Join a roundtable with me?
"When our methodologies of practicing “resilience” and “resistance” fail, how might the amalgamation between visual and written narratives provide new tools for navigating structures intended to obfuscate violent histories?"
Join a roundtable with me?
"When our methodologies of practicing “resilience” and “resistance” fail, how might the amalgamation between visual and written narratives provide new tools for navigating structures intended to obfuscate violent histories?"
December 2, 2024 at 2:49 AM
African Literature Conference in Nairobi, 2025
Join a roundtable with me?
"When our methodologies of practicing “resilience” and “resistance” fail, how might the amalgamation between visual and written narratives provide new tools for navigating structures intended to obfuscate violent histories?"
Join a roundtable with me?
"When our methodologies of practicing “resilience” and “resistance” fail, how might the amalgamation between visual and written narratives provide new tools for navigating structures intended to obfuscate violent histories?"
Damn but this whole thread, featuring gems from an Errol Musk (papa to Apartheid Clyde) interview 🥲😭
"Elon was a Democrat at the time"
"Well yes, if you go to America from South Africa and you're a white person, in those days you had to not be showing that you are a supporter of anything but, you know, being a Democrat"
"Well yes, if you go to America from South Africa and you're a white person, in those days you had to not be showing that you are a supporter of anything but, you know, being a Democrat"
November 27, 2024 at 1:37 AM
Damn but this whole thread, featuring gems from an Errol Musk (papa to Apartheid Clyde) interview 🥲😭
Reposted by Neelika Jayawardane
Your homework. inthesetimes.com/article/toni...
November 20, 2024 at 2:57 AM
Your homework. inthesetimes.com/article/toni...
Reposted by Neelika Jayawardane
I created a South Asian languages and literatures starter pack! I’m sure I missed many people. If you are a translator, linguist, scholar, or even a dabbler or dilettante, please let me let me know in the comments and I will add you. go.bsky.app/AFjHSX6
November 18, 2024 at 2:01 PM
I created a South Asian languages and literatures starter pack! I’m sure I missed many people. If you are a translator, linguist, scholar, or even a dabbler or dilettante, please let me let me know in the comments and I will add you. go.bsky.app/AFjHSX6
If you know faculty/staff at the U. Washington (esp. programmes in Education), which has a programme to accept students from conflict areas, please dm.
(for Gazan students applying for undergrad/postgrad)
See: “Natural Disaster or Emergency Situation”
admit.washington.edu/contact/have...
(for Gazan students applying for undergrad/postgrad)
See: “Natural Disaster or Emergency Situation”
admit.washington.edu/contact/have...
Natural Disaster or Emergency Situation
Natural disasters and emergency situations, including international conflicts, have impacted the lives of many students and their families. While entirely optional, applicants for undergraduate...
admit.washington.edu
November 4, 2024 at 3:43 PM
If you know faculty/staff at the U. Washington (esp. programmes in Education), which has a programme to accept students from conflict areas, please dm.
(for Gazan students applying for undergrad/postgrad)
See: “Natural Disaster or Emergency Situation”
admit.washington.edu/contact/have...
(for Gazan students applying for undergrad/postgrad)
See: “Natural Disaster or Emergency Situation”
admit.washington.edu/contact/have...
Winners, all.
My heart, of course, is with Lindokuhle Sobekwa’s walk with his sister, Ziyanda.
She is always with me 🩶
#deutscheborseprize @CristinaDeMiddel @rahimfortune
@tarrahkrajnak_studio @lindokuhlesobekwa
www.instagram.com/reel/DBbBfWi...
My heart, of course, is with Lindokuhle Sobekwa’s walk with his sister, Ziyanda.
She is always with me 🩶
#deutscheborseprize @CristinaDeMiddel @rahimfortune
@tarrahkrajnak_studio @lindokuhlesobekwa
www.instagram.com/reel/DBbBfWi...
The Photographers' Gallery on Instagram: "Revealing the 2025 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize shortlisted artists!
🌟Cristina De Middel, Rahim Fortune, Tarrah Krajnak and Lindokuhle Sobekw...
533 likes, 10 comments - thephotographersgallery on October 22, 2024: "Revealing the 2025 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize shortlisted artists!
🌟Cristina De Middel, Rahim Fortune, Tarrah ...
www.instagram.com
October 22, 2024 at 3:58 PM
Winners, all.
My heart, of course, is with Lindokuhle Sobekwa’s walk with his sister, Ziyanda.
She is always with me 🩶
#deutscheborseprize @CristinaDeMiddel @rahimfortune
@tarrahkrajnak_studio @lindokuhlesobekwa
www.instagram.com/reel/DBbBfWi...
My heart, of course, is with Lindokuhle Sobekwa’s walk with his sister, Ziyanda.
She is always with me 🩶
#deutscheborseprize @CristinaDeMiddel @rahimfortune
@tarrahkrajnak_studio @lindokuhlesobekwa
www.instagram.com/reel/DBbBfWi...
Reposted by Neelika Jayawardane
Found this unexpectedly in a book store yesterday (along with the brilliant accompanying essay by @sugarintheplum.bsky.social): www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture... overwhelmingly moving and thoughtful, a portrait of always haunted Johannesburg.
I carry Her photo with Me – Lindokuhle Sobekwa | Magnum Photos Magnum Photos
www.magnumphotos.com
October 20, 2024 at 9:02 AM
Found this unexpectedly in a book store yesterday (along with the brilliant accompanying essay by @sugarintheplum.bsky.social): www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture... overwhelmingly moving and thoughtful, a portrait of always haunted Johannesburg.