"The very first words of a language made one reexamine who one was... nor did you speak the truth when you learned a new language; You said whatever you could with the words you had, and you spent a long while in kindergarten simplicity, in the sunshine of perpetual present tense."
- Kiran Desai

At Faneuil Hall gift shop, these displays sit next to each other, too. You can buy a "Betsy the colonial girl" sticker book as well as a underground railroad children's playbook, side by side. Which and whose history gets celebrated?

There is some reckoning on the red "freedom trail" with the slave labor and history that enabled white life in the colonies, but it feels like an afterthought - not central. What does #freedom cost, and who carries that cost? What other freedoms are eclipsed in the pursuit of liberty??

On the local level, there are *two* "freedom trails" in @boston.gov, one tracking independence from the British (red), one tracking black heritage and ways in which people assisted others in gaining freedom from slavery (blue). How can they be separate? What does this say about the city/country?

"The Commonwealth Requires the Education of the People as the Safeguard of Order and Liberty" - Reflecting in the @bostonlib.bsky.social Public Library, post- #aarsbl25 and pre-flight, on the meaning and layers of #freedom & #liberty...

Such a treat to attend #aarsbl25 and introduce my new book, 'Palestinian Evangelicals and Global Evangelicalism' (global.oup.com/academic/pro...)! Discount code for all pre-orders still active!

Thoroughly inspired by all the conversations & talks!

@aarweb.bsky.social @oxfordacademic.bsky.social

Book proof time!

**Palestinian Evangelicals and Global Evangelicalism. An Ethnography of Unequal Encounter**

Released later this year by Oxford University Press.

My 1st monograph, & I'm proud. Yet mostly, my heart is so heavy as I think of #Gaza.

I wish there was no need for this book at all😞

"Aber wer hat das Recht, zu bestimmen, was mehr und was weniger ist, wenn es um #Freiheit geht? Der Mann? Die Zeit? Die geographische Lage? Der Grad der Bildung? Oder sind es unsere Vorfahren, die die Ungerechtigkeit jahrhundertelang hingenommen haben?"
- Haneen Al-Sayegh, Das Unsichtbare Band

Just finished #teaching a 3 day master-level #anthropology workshop on "Refugee Rights" at @uni-konstanz.de with guest students from @uniheidelberg.bsky.social and @uni-freiburg.de. Included a 'student conference' with impressive presentations and a policy consultation simulation. My key win?🏅

🎶 "In the wake of violence ... we ask what we might need, how we might weather this time, how we might care for each other, how we might cultivate the space which encourages honesty, which encourages surrender. How we might build a small world, where we might feel beautiful, might feel free."

The German #election happened in the middle of the #carneval season: a classic example of Victor Turner's "anti-structure" I have often discussed with my students in my "Introduction to Anthropology" course. The images of people in costume 🤡 heading to the polls fit so well with the results -

Here to build the good community, networks, pool of information, and sounding board that I enjoyed on the *other* platform. Posting as anthropologist of law, religion, migration - and general human living in this ☄️moment. Just trying to stay sane, empathetic, courageous, and not give up imagining ⛅️

... stand on. But what use was a solid ground if they couldn't all move freely on it?...

"The lions eat the noisy ones," Hari murmured.
Sol ... smirked. "Not if they all make enough noise," he said.

Janika Oza, A History of Burning
#booksky

As the world goes crazier by the hour, I seek solace in books, novels. Somehow they keep open a space to breathe, think, dream, resist. One of the most poignant (prophetic?) this year has been Celeste Ng's @pronounced-ing.bsky.social "Our Missing Hearts", where libraries are literally a life line.