Jared Margulies
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jaredmargulies.bsky.social
Jared Margulies
@jaredmargulies.bsky.social
3K followers 1.9K following 450 posts
Geographer, political ecologist, enthusiastic dilettante, plant pal. Author of The Cactus Hunters ('23, Minnesota). All the links: https://linktr.ee/jdmargulies
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jaredmargulies.bsky.social
Why Brett Stephens embarrasses Jews like me, example 589: Perhaps Brett you are frightened because you are an ignorant Islamophobe?
Screenshot of opinion section of NYT: Opinion BRET STEPHENS Why Mamdani Frightens Jews Like Me
October 22, 2025 at 3:04 AM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
The #POLLEN2026 prelim program looks amazing! With that in mind, John Casellas Connors and I are going to be looking for paper submissions for our accepted session "Critical engagements in necropolitical ecologies" -check it out!

pollenpoliticalecology.network/pollen-2026/...
DESCRIPTION In this proposed session, we welcome papers related to present currents and critiques of political ecology's engagements with Achille Mbembe's theory of necropolitics. Necropolitics, the “…contemporary forms of subjugation of life to the power of death” (Mbembe, 2005: 39), powerfully shows how politics becomes "the work of death" (Ibid., pg. 16). Necropolitics is a welcome antidote to Foucault's theory of biopolitics and its relatively anemic approach to race, the postcolony, and active geographies of death-making practices ranging from overt-geographies of violent confinement and killing such as in Palestine, to the spatial logics of the plantation and its ghostly afterlives (Mbembe, 2003). Necropolitics has quickly emerged as a powerful analytical theory embraced by political ecologists examining subjects ranging from spaces of killing in postcolonial landscapes (Cavanaugh and Himmelfarb, 2015), to climate change (deBoom, 2015), to state practices reconfiguring human relations with ecologies and nonhuman life (Adolfi and Fleishmann, 2024; Bluwstein and De Rosa, 2024; Margulies, 2019). More recently, several critiques have questioned and raised concerns about the theoretical reading of Mbembe's necropolitics within political ecology (Gibson, 2024; Peters et al., 2024), as well as the political and theoretical consequences of a necropolitical turn away from historically more popular engagements with Foucauldian biopolitics and what might be pursued otherwise as a kind of 'anti-necropolitics' (Strange, 2024). With an openness to critique, generous dialogue, and debate in mind, our session proposes to develop a timely discussion around the (mis)uses of necropolitics in political ecology, welcoming both empirically-driven papers that productively engage with necropolitics as framework and mode of analysis, as well as more theoretically-oriented works that critique or demonstrated the place of necropolitical theory in political ecology today.
October 8, 2025 at 3:13 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
I love game days in the SEC. Hardware store midday Saturday is as busy as midnight on a Tuesday 😂
A completely empty Lowe’s at 1:30 pm On a Saturday
September 13, 2025 at 6:49 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
Roll Tide Roll
As the end of the semester approaches, The University of Alabama campus is preparing to celebrate the latest group of Legends - our nearly 6,500 candidates for spring commencement. UA graduates make a positive impact in the workforce and communities across Alabama, our nation and the world. The University of Alabama is honored to have been selected as one of the universities President Donald J. Trump will visit to deliver a spring commencement address. This optional ticketed event will be held the evening of Thursday, May 1, at Coleman Coliseum and will be open to all spring 2025 graduates. All spring graduates will have the opportunity to attend this distinct event in addition to their college-specific ceremonies where degrees will be conferred from May 2 to May 4, as scheduled.
April 22, 2025 at 7:22 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
CALL TO ACTION: CONTACT PRESIDENT BELL AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA GOAL: Encourage the University to cancel Trump's visit HOW: Emails and phone calls WHEN: As soon as possible Contact Info: Dr. Stuart R. Bell, President president@ua.edu 205-348-5100 Suggested phone script: Hello, my name is [Name] and I'm a resident of [Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Northport, Birmingham, etc.]. I am calling to request the University cancel the speaking engagement of President Donald Trump at the Spring 2025 Commencement Ceremony. The University is an institution of learning, not a stage for political platforming. The commencement ceremony is a time of celebration for our students. It would be a serious mistake to allow President Trump to take resources and attention away from the purpose of this ceremony while spreading his lies, misinformation, and hatred. {lf you are an alum or donor, consider adding something about not supporting the University financially and/or a personal story or reason. Also, if you are the parent or loved one of a graduating student, tell him how unhappy they are.} Thank you for your time and consideration.
April 22, 2025 at 6:03 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
I’m disappointed to now be missing folks in person at the AAG this year (hugs to all!), but it’s for a righteous cause… my wife and I are expecting a lil baby and I’m done being away from home! 🥰

Speaking of being away-I just saw fur seals sun bathing in Cape Town.
4 Cape Fur seals sun bathing on a marina dock
March 17, 2025 at 11:31 AM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
If you are a researcher who doesn't leave 'fieldwork' with oversized carnivorous plant models gifted by a participant, maybe it is time to reconsider your subject area?
A bouquet of fake, very large, carnivorous plants, including very large Venus flytraps with red 'traps' and green stems. Also included are some red and green pitcher plants.
March 7, 2025 at 3:32 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
Supremely generous review of The Cactus Hunters was just published by Laura Butler at University of Wollongong in Geographical Research. Some very worthwhile critiques (I fully agree with), developed out of a very close read of my book and its arguments. So appreciative of this kind of reader!
In summary, The Cactus Hunters is an enormously worthwhile read for geographers interested in more-than-human methods, vegetal capacities, caring practices, and cognate fields such as green criminology. Moreover, for early career academics and PhD candidates like myself, in ways that will be brilliantly instructive for emerging writers, The Cactus Hunters offers a masterclass in balancing self-reflection, narrative vignettes of research fieldwork, and theoretical engagement. Margulies’ discussion builds in each chapter slowly and with care. It pays attention to key sources across time and with consistency in ways that echo the practices of care observed among the cacti collectors we meet in this book. Regardless of subdiscipline, geographers will gain from The Cactus Hunters an appreciation of what human-plant relationships can teach us about ourselves and each other, and perhaps, for those who have ever gifted, received, cared for, or neglected a cacti or succulent, a new appreciation of the worlds these resilient plants bring into our lives.
February 25, 2025 at 1:36 AM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
Seemed like a day to finally pick up Laura Ogden’s Loss and Wonder at the World’s End. Begins with Solnit as epigraph: “The future is dark, with a darkness as much of the womb as the grave.” .—REBECCA SOLNIT, Hope in the Dark
Photo of page five of the book (first page of introduction). Begins with Epigraph: The future is dark, with a darkness as much of the womb as the grave.—REBECCA SOLNIT, Hope in the Dark
February 13, 2025 at 11:47 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
Why didn’t anyone tell me about felting before.
A felted green opuntia cactus with red fruit on a yellow background held up by a hand.
December 28, 2024 at 7:40 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
The greatest bumpersticker in the world does not exis…
Yellow bumper sticker with black Text that reads: “HONK IF YOU'D RATHER BE WATCHING THE 1999 CINEMATIC MASTERPIECE THE MUMMY" STARRING BRENDAN FRASER AND RACHEL WEISZ.”
December 2, 2024 at 7:27 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
I have never taken a more chaotic CITI program training in my life.
Screenshot of a CITI training on foreign collaboration. Pictured: a man named Sameer with a red and white mushroom cap on his head saying “it’s… the ceremonial headdress of my ancestral homeland” while a woman named Fatima smiles.
November 26, 2024 at 11:48 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
What is your favorite tree bark rn? I’ll go first, Eastern Persimmon, Diospyros virginiana. So chunky and dark!
Chonky dark brown/grey bark of persimmon tree.
November 25, 2024 at 10:27 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
My comrade colleague in vegetal arms Nick Anderson made this meme and I think it’s perfect
The creepy alien guy in the corner at the party meme and it says on top “they don’t know that I’m really just into plants” and then the party people say at the bottom “yes we do, that’s literally all you ever talk about”
November 21, 2024 at 5:43 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
(It was good)
Bowl of chili with sour cream, avocado, picked onion and cilantro
November 17, 2024 at 6:50 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
Unplanned mushroom foray modeled and styled by Kongi with Apioperdon pyriforme (pear shaped puff ball- choice!). Sadly she is still useless as a mushroom sniffing dog but I haven’t given up hope.
Black dog with orange collar sitting in woods next to bag of small puff ball mushrooms. Apioperdon pyriforme (pear shaped puffball mushrooms) growing on stick.
November 16, 2024 at 9:52 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
This one is for the Rancho Gordo fans in honor of @ranchogordo.bsky.social entering the chat. Alabama temps finally dropped so it’s time for a chaotic good chili tonight while waiting for next box 🤗🤗
A mix of brightly colored beans including buckeye, good mother Stallard, and borlotti beans.
November 15, 2024 at 6:26 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
Kongi’s Friday wisdom: Always find your light!
Black dog with beard and brown eyes lying on rug in a patch of sun
November 15, 2024 at 6:00 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
Political ecology class field trip today to Sloss Furnace and Red Mountain to learn about the rise of Birmingham has a site of industrial capitalism in the South. Studying urban PE through lens of iron, racialized labor regimes, and nature-city dialectics. Awesome day out.
Sloss furnace, Birmingham,AL. Pictured: iron pipes and old brick building with windows. Blast furnace in background Students reading sign about convict leasing and racial violence within the pouring shelter for pig iron. Sloss furnace, Birmingham,AL. Pictured: massive iron pipes for moving hot air and steam. Boiler towers in background Students in woods (faces obscured) looking at former temporary labor camp with Archaeologist Will McCollum. Kongi, black dog, on ground playing with stick in foreground.
November 9, 2024 at 9:10 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
Kongi is rapidly developing a pretty coherent, intersectional class analysis. They grow up so fast 🥲
Cute black dog with big brown eyes and white paws. She has a beardy face and is carrying a small stick with leaves.
November 8, 2024 at 7:31 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
Maybe you are someone who would benefit from cute dog photos from today. This is my cute dog.
cute black dog with beard staring at ground in the sun cute black dog with beard and orange collar cuddled up in a pile sleeping and dreaming of snacks and toys.
October 11, 2024 at 8:39 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
A couple years in the works! Happy to share Co-edited special issue in Conservation Biology entitled "Beyond Charismatic Megafauna in Illegal Wildlife Trade." Special Issue has 19 essays, original research articles, and reviews, mostly open access..

conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/15231739...
Image of Venus flytraps on cover of journal Conservation Biology. Volume 38, Number 5, October 2024. "Special Issue: Beyond Charismatic Megafauna in Illegal Wildlife Trade." Cover: Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula). Endemic only to the coastal plain of North and South Carolina (United States), Venus flytraps are collected illegally from the wild for sale in the horticultural trade. Through an expert elicitation process, Margulies et al. (e14320) examined how much of a threat wild collecting is to the species. Photographer: As a National Geographic Explorer and Documentary Photographer Matthew Cicanese examines the intersection of art, science, and the visceral connections humans have with the natural world. An associate fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers, Matthew works with entities around the world to produce visual stories with lasting impact.
September 9, 2024 at 5:29 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
Folks this is why learning history is so important.
On Gilmore Girls, Emily Gilmore, saying to Logan, 'so demure. Isn't she demure?'
September 6, 2024 at 2:18 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
How all virtual office meetings (about succulent trade) should be. Deep in the uncanny valley.
three silly researchers sitting around a virtual table with a bouquet of succulents in the middle of the table
September 4, 2024 at 3:02 PM
jaredmargulies.bsky.social
NYC folks: pretty excited about this event I’m apart of Wednesday evening at nine orchard on the lower east side- it should be really fun!
www.eventbrite.com/o/nonhuman-t...
Non-Human Teachers & Nine Orchard Present 5/22/24 7-10PM JOHN CAGE'S "BRANCHES" LIVE Performed by musicologist Corey Fogel using Cage's original cactus. & A LECTURE ON THE WORLD OF CACTUS POACHING By the author of "The Cactus Hunters," Jared Margulies.
May 21, 2024 at 9:22 AM