Alexander Jabbari
@ajab.bsky.social
Professor of sundry Persianate things. I write about language, literature, history, philology, politics. Twitter @yakabikaj
Pinned
Alexander Jabbari
@ajab.bsky.social
· Oct 2
My latest article "Cosmopolitan Philology and Sacred Grammar" is out in @histandtheojrnl.bsky.social. I examine the 1st Persian grammar "Minhaj al-Talab" (1660, from China), using it to think through the history of Persian philology & the relationship between cosmopolitan/vernacular & Persian/Islam.
English #etymology of the day: the word "mocha" (as in coffee) is ultimately from the name of the city of Mocha or المخا al-Mukhā in Yemen. A port city on the Red Sea, Mocha played an important role in the historic coffee trade. "Moka pot" also has the same etymology.
Reading about Rabbi Baruch ben Shumel. Born in Pinsk, immigrated to Safed (1819) and then travelled widely in the Arab world. Became the physician of the Imam of Sanaa, al-Imam al-Mahdi Abdallah, and then killed by him (after advising the Imam to refrain from sex, and asking to be governor of Mocha)
November 8, 2025 at 10:54 PM
English #etymology of the day: the word "mocha" (as in coffee) is ultimately from the name of the city of Mocha or المخا al-Mukhā in Yemen. A port city on the Red Sea, Mocha played an important role in the historic coffee trade. "Moka pot" also has the same etymology.
Reposted by Alexander Jabbari
“Mysticism now rules the world, the cult of blood and violence, darkness, the longing for the past, nationalism. Do you think that anything great and noble, like this book, can come out of such chaos? No; you’ll see, our time will be remembered for its barbarity and barrenness.”
November 7, 2025 at 3:25 PM
“Mysticism now rules the world, the cult of blood and violence, darkness, the longing for the past, nationalism. Do you think that anything great and noble, like this book, can come out of such chaos? No; you’ll see, our time will be remembered for its barbarity and barrenness.”
Reposted by Alexander Jabbari
Thinking about how the Israeli gov intervened to get Omri Boehm, Israeli-born philosopher and grandson of Holocaust survivors, banned from speaking at the 80th anniversary ceremony of the liberation of Buchenwald this year, because he planned to say that "Never again" is about more than just Jews.
October 28, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Thinking about how the Israeli gov intervened to get Omri Boehm, Israeli-born philosopher and grandson of Holocaust survivors, banned from speaking at the 80th anniversary ceremony of the liberation of Buchenwald this year, because he planned to say that "Never again" is about more than just Jews.
Reposted by Alexander Jabbari
NEW: Identity and Cultural Diplomacy of the Abraham Accords
Shir Alon interrogates how the Abraham Accords normalization process has sought to transform Arab and Jewish identity in the region.
Shir Alon interrogates how the Abraham Accords normalization process has sought to transform Arab and Jewish identity in the region.
Identity and Cultural Diplomacy of the Abraham Accords
In December 2020, three months after the Abraham Accords were signed enabling the first commercial flights between Israel and the UAE, a short video went modestly viral on Israeli twitter. A man in a…
buff.ly
October 24, 2025 at 4:01 PM
NEW: Identity and Cultural Diplomacy of the Abraham Accords
Shir Alon interrogates how the Abraham Accords normalization process has sought to transform Arab and Jewish identity in the region.
Shir Alon interrogates how the Abraham Accords normalization process has sought to transform Arab and Jewish identity in the region.
Reposted by Alexander Jabbari
NEW: "Material Politics of Normalization" the Summer/Fall Issue of Middle East Report!
A hard hitting collection of 11 essays, reviews, and interviews on the architecture of normalization with Israel, from the Abraham Accords to the Gaza Genocide.
buff.ly/ZmeaAty
A hard hitting collection of 11 essays, reviews, and interviews on the architecture of normalization with Israel, from the Abraham Accords to the Gaza Genocide.
buff.ly/ZmeaAty
Material Politics of Normalization
Summer/Fall 2025
www.merip.org
October 21, 2025 at 5:30 PM
NEW: "Material Politics of Normalization" the Summer/Fall Issue of Middle East Report!
A hard hitting collection of 11 essays, reviews, and interviews on the architecture of normalization with Israel, from the Abraham Accords to the Gaza Genocide.
buff.ly/ZmeaAty
A hard hitting collection of 11 essays, reviews, and interviews on the architecture of normalization with Israel, from the Abraham Accords to the Gaza Genocide.
buff.ly/ZmeaAty
Reposted by Alexander Jabbari
You can now watch Oscar Award winning documentary No Other Land in the United States of America.
Link below.
Link below.
No Other Land Film - Support Masafer Yatta - Watch No Other Land
supportmasaferyatta.com
October 20, 2025 at 4:32 PM
You can now watch Oscar Award winning documentary No Other Land in the United States of America.
Link below.
Link below.
"Ceviche" and "escabeche" in Spanish may have a Persian #etymology. The RAE says they're from Arabic sikbāj, itself from Middle Persian sik "vinegar" + bāg "soup" (cf. سکبا).
October 19, 2025 at 3:18 PM
"Ceviche" and "escabeche" in Spanish may have a Persian #etymology. The RAE says they're from Arabic sikbāj, itself from Middle Persian sik "vinegar" + bāg "soup" (cf. سکبا).
Hunting in America - Tehila Hakimi
Devoured this violent little novel in just a couple hours. It's great.
Devoured this violent little novel in just a couple hours. It's great.
October 16, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Hunting in America - Tehila Hakimi
Devoured this violent little novel in just a couple hours. It's great.
Devoured this violent little novel in just a couple hours. It's great.
Application deadline is Monday, October 13!
JOB POSTING
Assistant Professor, Buddhist Studies
Religious Studies Program, University of Minnesota
Area, time period, and discipline are open and it's a great place to work!
Assistant Professor, Buddhist Studies
Religious Studies Program, University of Minnesota
Area, time period, and discipline are open and it's a great place to work!
October 10, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Application deadline is Monday, October 13!
Reposted by Alexander Jabbari
Two years into Israel’s genocide, the US movement in solidarity with Palestinians is far weaker than it should be.
To cut off American arms to Israel, we need to build a powerful movement oriented to ordinary Americans beyond activist circles.
To cut off American arms to Israel, we need to build a powerful movement oriented to ordinary Americans beyond activist circles.
Ultraleftism Can’t Free Palestine
Two years into Israel’s genocide, the US movement in solidarity with Palestinians is far weaker than it should be. To cut off American arms to Israel, we need to build a powerful movement oriented to ordinary Americans beyond activist circles.
jacobin.com
October 7, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Two years into Israel’s genocide, the US movement in solidarity with Palestinians is far weaker than it should be.
To cut off American arms to Israel, we need to build a powerful movement oriented to ordinary Americans beyond activist circles.
To cut off American arms to Israel, we need to build a powerful movement oriented to ordinary Americans beyond activist circles.
I have a feeling the Urdu hajj pe jānā, literally "to go on Hajj," is calqued from English. English uses the phrasal verb "to go on" holiday, pilgrimage, etc.
October 5, 2025 at 3:06 PM
I have a feeling the Urdu hajj pe jānā, literally "to go on Hajj," is calqued from English. English uses the phrasal verb "to go on" holiday, pilgrimage, etc.
My latest article "Cosmopolitan Philology and Sacred Grammar" is out in @histandtheojrnl.bsky.social. I examine the 1st Persian grammar "Minhaj al-Talab" (1660, from China), using it to think through the history of Persian philology & the relationship between cosmopolitan/vernacular & Persian/Islam.
October 2, 2025 at 1:49 PM
My latest article "Cosmopolitan Philology and Sacred Grammar" is out in @histandtheojrnl.bsky.social. I examine the 1st Persian grammar "Minhaj al-Talab" (1660, from China), using it to think through the history of Persian philology & the relationship between cosmopolitan/vernacular & Persian/Islam.
Tomorrow at McGill!
Looking forward to giving this talk, on some of my latest work, at McGill later this month
September 29, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Tomorrow at McGill!
Deleted my academia.edu account and you should too
September 21, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Deleted my academia.edu account and you should too
Orly Noy doesn't mince words: "The urgent task now is to bring this holocaust to an end. But stopping it is only the first step. If Israeli society is ever to return to the fold of humanity, it must undergo a deep process of denazification."
Israel is waging a holocaust in Gaza. Denazification is our only remedy
The deadly ethno-supremacy inherent to Israeli society runs deeper than Netanyahu, Ben Gvir, and Smotrich. It must be confronted at its root.
By Orly Noy.
www.972mag.com/israel-holoc...
The deadly ethno-supremacy inherent to Israeli society runs deeper than Netanyahu, Ben Gvir, and Smotrich. It must be confronted at its root.
By Orly Noy.
www.972mag.com/israel-holoc...
Israel is waging a holocaust in Gaza. Denazification is the remedy
The deadly ethno-supremacy inherent to Israeli society runs deeper than Netanyahu, Ben Gvir, and Smotrich. It must be confronted at its root.
www.972mag.com
September 19, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Orly Noy doesn't mince words: "The urgent task now is to bring this holocaust to an end. But stopping it is only the first step. If Israeli society is ever to return to the fold of humanity, it must undergo a deep process of denazification."
The genocide grinds on. Israel is surrounding Gaza City, blowing up entire neighborhoods, blocking aid. 740,000 people are still in northern Gaza even as the conditions for life are deatroyed. Please help.
Please donate and share to help families being forcibly displaced from Gaza City
chuffed.org/project/1494...
chuffed.org/project/1494...
Emergency Fundraiser: Northern Gaza Displacement
Emergency Fundraiser: Northern Gaza Displacement
chuffed.org
September 19, 2025 at 2:26 AM
The genocide grinds on. Israel is surrounding Gaza City, blowing up entire neighborhoods, blocking aid. 740,000 people are still in northern Gaza even as the conditions for life are deatroyed. Please help.
Reposted by Alexander Jabbari
Please donate and share to help families being forcibly displaced from Gaza City
chuffed.org/project/1494...
chuffed.org/project/1494...
Emergency Fundraiser: Northern Gaza Displacement
Emergency Fundraiser: Northern Gaza Displacement
chuffed.org
September 18, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Please donate and share to help families being forcibly displaced from Gaza City
chuffed.org/project/1494...
chuffed.org/project/1494...
Please donate and share to help families being forcibly displaced from Gaza City
chuffed.org/project/1494...
chuffed.org/project/1494...
Emergency Fundraiser: Northern Gaza Displacement
Emergency Fundraiser: Northern Gaza Displacement
chuffed.org
September 18, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Please donate and share to help families being forcibly displaced from Gaza City
chuffed.org/project/1494...
chuffed.org/project/1494...
Reposted by Alexander Jabbari
We have an open position for a pre-doctoral researcher in Dr. Ariane Sadjed's "Persian Jews – History, Community, Memory" team, looking at the Jewish communities of central Asia.
See here for job profile and other details: applications must be in by October 1st.
www.oeaw.ac.at/jobs?jh=pp87...
See here for job profile and other details: applications must be in by October 1st.
www.oeaw.ac.at/jobs?jh=pp87...
Offene Stellen an der ÖAW
Aktuelle Stellenausschreibungen aus den Instituten und der zentralen Verwaltung der ÖAW
www.oeaw.ac.at
September 13, 2025 at 2:18 PM
We have an open position for a pre-doctoral researcher in Dr. Ariane Sadjed's "Persian Jews – History, Community, Memory" team, looking at the Jewish communities of central Asia.
See here for job profile and other details: applications must be in by October 1st.
www.oeaw.ac.at/jobs?jh=pp87...
See here for job profile and other details: applications must be in by October 1st.
www.oeaw.ac.at/jobs?jh=pp87...
Looking forward to giving this talk, on some of my latest work, at McGill later this month
September 13, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Looking forward to giving this talk, on some of my latest work, at McGill later this month
Reposted by Alexander Jabbari
September 6, 2025 at 6:31 AM
Reposted by Alexander Jabbari
Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars.
OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.
OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.
Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI
Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.
www.theatlantic.com
September 6, 2025 at 6:31 AM
Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars.
OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.
OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.
Reposted by Alexander Jabbari
So excited about this new Assistant Professor of Buddhist Studies role at the University of Minnesota! Come live in the Twin Cities and do cool work! ✨
JOB POSTING
Assistant Professor, Buddhist Studies
Religious Studies Program, University of Minnesota
Area, time period, and discipline are open and it's a great place to work!
Assistant Professor, Buddhist Studies
Religious Studies Program, University of Minnesota
Area, time period, and discipline are open and it's a great place to work!
September 5, 2025 at 6:16 PM
So excited about this new Assistant Professor of Buddhist Studies role at the University of Minnesota! Come live in the Twin Cities and do cool work! ✨
In Arabic (and subsequently Persian and Urdu) نقد naqd connotes both cash and criticism.
The connection lies in an earlier sense of the word: testing the authenticity of coins.
The connection lies in an earlier sense of the word: testing the authenticity of coins.
September 5, 2025 at 2:35 PM
In Arabic (and subsequently Persian and Urdu) نقد naqd connotes both cash and criticism.
The connection lies in an earlier sense of the word: testing the authenticity of coins.
The connection lies in an earlier sense of the word: testing the authenticity of coins.