Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

@nahir.bsky.social

Learn more about the writers from the Speculative Detective Agency and help us support the artists!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/for...

Richie Narvaez is the author of two novels, Hipster Death Rattle and Holly Hernandez and the Death of Disco, which received an Agatha Award and an Anthony Award, and two short story collections, Roachkiller & Other Stories and Noiryorican. Richie was recently named Letrad Boricuas Fellow through the Flamboyan Foundation's Arts Fund.

Find more: https://richienarvaez.com/

September 27, 2025 at 1:57 AM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

June 9, 2025 at 12:46 AM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

June 9, 2025 at 12:45 AM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

🚨 BREAKING: The IOF has surrounded the Madleen and is demanding the surrender of the activists on board.

🚨🚨🚨 Connection has been lost on the ‘Madleen’. Israeli army have boarded the vessel.

Watch the video!

June 9, 2025 at 12:36 AM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

I am a scholar of critical race studies. I leave these cans here with no comment.

Two cans of beans. One is seasoned black beans, and it shows the beans with a yellow background. The second is great northern beans, and it shows the beans in a blue, white, green background.

May 22, 2025 at 11:28 PM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

I am so thrilled that my book is out! The Other Faces of Arthur: Chivalric Whiteness in the Global North Atlantic reveals the role of Arthuriana in constructing the racial logics of medieval whiteness.

The book theorizes Chivalric whiteness--a tool of whiteness to help control who counts as human.

Image of a fire pit filled with burning logs. At the bottom center-right is the cover of the Other Faces of Arthur catching fire. The flames match the cover as they blaze over the top of the cover (the cover is still intact).

May 19, 2025 at 11:00 PM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

Picture of a store fridge full of Dino nuggets

April 18, 2025 at 6:52 PM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

Some online events for the April 17 day of action

April 15, 2025 at 8:18 PM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

My heart is full! OAMS is officially done, and I feel deep gratitude.

It was an amazing conference filled with generosity and thoughtfulness.

Thank you to the organizers for a job brilliantly done!

OAMS has officially closed! This was the most generative conference I've been to in a very, very long time.

So well organized (and I have organized my share of events). Every paper and panel ran on time with speakers presenting incredibly generous and thoughtful ideas. With 100 registered participants which meant we had over 30 people coming to each panel, we managed to have a thoughtful Q&A meant to enhance the topics of the papers.

In poetry hour, I cried with my colleagues as we let poetry hold us.

We closed the conference with Grant Miner giving our closing remarks.

The words that come to mind are generosity and thoughtfulness. My heart is full and I feel deep gratitude to all my colleagues.

From an idea to a fully realized beautiful reality! This is what I want going forward and I will not settle for anything less than this.

March 22, 2025 at 8:25 PM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

@medievalacademy.bsky.social sent this message.

Instead of seding plenary time to a Q&A, they took it from the DEI lunch.

The MAA in one action: it's more important to hear a long lecture, pat yourself in the back, or say that you carry prestige than actually caring about diversity.

#MAA2025

Message from the Medieval Academy of America.

March 22, 2025 at 2:58 PM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

Today is the final day if OAMS.
We'll have poetry hour, more brilliant panels, a workshop with @workshops4gaza.bsky.social, and closing statements.

Check it out at linktr.ee/mfp_lestine

Here's the last slide of my presentation yesterday on Chivalric whiteness in The Knight of the Lion

Image in yellow and pink. The right side is the cover of the book The Other Faces of Arthur but in pink instead of yellow.

The left side has the following script:

Chivalric whiteness: Works really hard to make you think that what is happening is normal.

It normalizes violence and excuses violence with the ultimate goal of normalizing placed- and wealth-based theft.

This is not normal. You are not going crazy. Take a deep breath and have courage.

March 22, 2025 at 1:59 PM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

It arrived! It's my book! I have a book! 😱😱😱

A book inside a postal box with only the spine visible. The spine says Otaño Gracia The Other Faces of Arthur

Cover of a book in yellow. The images is an ivory chess piece of a knight with a dragon. The words read The Other Faces of Arthur at the bottom is says Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

March 6, 2025 at 2:53 AM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

My 14 y/o experimenting with watercolor

Water color of an angler fish in hues of blue

February 19, 2025 at 6:47 AM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

Feliz Día de la Amistad!

Palestine is my Valentine, and so are You! Writen in front of a big red heart.

February 14, 2025 at 8:43 PM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

Abstracts are due today, February 14, día de la amistad!

So here's a gift from me, but only if you apply!

Palestine is my Valentine, and so are you! With a big red heart in the background.

February 14, 2025 at 8:26 PM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

MoC is opening its yearly Hidden Curriculum Series to all interested participants!

As more and more academic organizations demonstrate a complete lack of care for their constituencies, we must find new ways to create community, expose the hidden curriculum, and creatively share our research.

Medievalists of Color
Hidden Curriculum Workshops

Medievalists of Color, an organization that represents the power of difference, is opening its yearly Hidden Curriculum Series to all interested participants!

As more and more academic organizations demonstrate a complete lack of care for their constituencies, academics must find new ways to create community, expose the hidden curriculum, and creatively share their research to each other.

Following the spirit of joy, solidarity, and liberation of Medievalists for Palestine (MfP), Medievalists of Color are opening up their hidden curriculum workshops to complement MfP’s fully online Open Access Medieval Studies conference (OAMS; March 20-22). Our aims are to demonstrate that a different future is possible, and we do not need to rely on white supremacist organizations to grow, share, and find academic joy!

Schedule
Teaching Early Global Literatures and Cultures Q&A with Geraldine Heng;
Geraldine Heng; Tuesday 11 March ••• 12:00 PM ET (9:00 AM Pacific)

Grant Writing for Mid-Career Scholars;
Roger Martinez; Wednesday 12 March ••• 12:00 PM ET (9:00 AM Pacific)

Teaching World Literature a Restorative Justice Approach; Nahir I. Otaño Gracia ••• Averie Basch; Thursday 13 March ••• 1:00 PM ET (10:00 AM Pacific)

Grant Writing for Graduate Students and Early-Career Scholars; Nicole Lopez-Jantzen; Friday 14 March ••• 3:00 PM ET (12:00 PM Pacific)

Spring 2025: Hidden Curriculum Workshops QR code to registration form

February 13, 2025 at 1:14 PM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

My book has a Google page! 😱😱😱

If you got to "look inside", you can read the preface and the first 12 pages of the intro!!

I'm so terrified and excited!!

www.google.com/books/editio...

Cover of The Other Faces of Arthur: Chivalric Whiteness in the Global North Atlantic by Nahir I Otaño Gracia.

The cover is an ivory chess piece of a knight on a horse killing a dragon.

February 7, 2025 at 1:55 PM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

Igual que los Reyes Magos, muchos puertorriqueños, seguimos una sola estrella.

January 6, 2025 at 7:29 PM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

My 14 y/o made this beautiful zine to share. The idea is that laughing creates laughter.

You can download a pdf version here if you would like to print a copy:
unmm-my.sharepoint.com/:i:/g/person...

Laughing Therapy

Written by: Nahir I Otaño Gracia

Illustrated by: V

Two women laughing

ah ah ah

Oh oh oh oh

A woman laughing and a man laughing

Xa xa xa

Wheez

December 25, 2024 at 10:30 PM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

#medievalsky #academicsky

Check out the video @richienarvaez.bsky.social made supporting my book The Other Faces of Arthur!

I love it so much!

December 19, 2024 at 9:23 PM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

I encourage everyone to read the letter in full, but these blurbs capture the main points.

I added alt text to the images

Divest

The MAA funds genocide

1. The MAA's investment strategy is tied to the S&P 500 through exchange-traded funds (EFTs)

2. Meaning, the MAA cannot separate its profits from companies like Boeing that are actively aiding and abett8ng the genocide of Palestinians

Divest
MfP calls on MAA leadership to:

1. Take down your statement against boycotts

2. Move from EFT to ESG funds immediately

3. Switch to SMAs (Separately Managed Accounts) and divest from the following companies by early 2026: Barclays, CAF, Caterpillar Inc., Chevron, Elba Systems Ltd., HD Hyundai, HIKVision, Intel, JCB, TKF Security, and Volvo

December 16, 2024 at 4:44 PM

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia

@nahir.bsky.social

Medievalists for Palestine is on Instagram!

www.instagram.com/p/DDnZf56yrg...

You can check out their community agreements. And you can join Medievalists for Palestine by filling out this intake form:

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...