Ralph Litzinger

When t-shirts are no longer vanilla Mass-produced identity, from protest to product, printed on tees

Great piece on the “slogan t-shirt”

open.substack.com/pub/spacingi...

Donald Trump Wants to Force Colorado to Free an Imprisoned Election Denier. It’s Not Working Former election clerk Tina Peters is a hero to conspiracy theorists, and even received an empty “pardon” from the president. Colorado's governor has held firm against commuting her sentence—so far.

In recent weeks, Trump has:

• Kidnapped the leader of a sovereign country
• Threatened to invade Greenland
• Emboldened ICE to kill US citizens in Minneapolis

But the Tina Peters case is, for now, one of the few examples of the limits of Trump's power

www.wired.com/story/donald...

Happy this is out in the world. We collect 8 great essays/ commentaries by some of the best young, and a few more seasoned anthropologists working on Africa-China dynamics.

Special Series: “New Directions in Africa-China Studies” | Jason Woerner, Ralph Litzinger, Charlie Piot, “Introduction: New Directions in Africa-China Studies” — Critical Asian Studies The impetus to publish these essays in Critical Asian Studies emerged from a workshop at Duke University (US) in February 2025, entitled “New Directions in China-Africa Studies.” The workshop aimed ...

Notes from the Field | Jason Woerner, Ralph Litzinger, and Charlie Piot introduce a Special Series of seven essays collected under the theme of "New Directions in Africa-China Studies" and drawing together early career scholars: criticalasianstudies.org/commentary/2...

My guess is these chefs sell Teflon pans they would never use at home. Sort of like Steve Jobs not letting his daughter use social media when she was young.

Why are famous chefs fighting PFAS bans? The answer, in retrospect, is obvious—and it’s part of a larger campaign to stop bans on Teflon cookware nationwide.

Celebrity chefs told Californians that PFAS-coated pans were “safe,” and successfully lobbied Gavin Newsom to veto a bill phasing them out

They didn’t mention they all sell PFAS-coated pans.

New joint investigation with @mirandagreen.bsky.social and @atmosmag.bsky.social is out:

Dear colleagues- please join us in Kunshan, for our Green Transitions conference. Share widely with friends and students. sites.duke.edu/efan/call-fo...

Vietnam’s Year of Floods, Mud and Death

Vietnam’s Year of Floods, Mud and Death www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/w...

US tech companies enabled the surveillance and detention of hundreds of thousands in China U.S. technology firms such as IBM, Dell and Cisco largely designed and built China’s surveillance state, an AP investigation finds. The tech companies deny wrongdoing.

I think we knew this but it is interesting how Trump’s reign of terror, and the genocide in Gaza, has disappeared much of the critical work on surveillance. This is thus a welcome report, especialky as tech execs kiss rhe ring and sing Trump’s praises. apnews.com/article/chin...

Xi’s Parade to Showcase China’s Military Might and Circle of Autocrats

If I lived in Taiwan, and for all my friends with deep ties to Taiwan, I would be very worried. As for Ukraine, this had all been a gift from Trump.

Xi’s Parade to Showcase China’s Military Might and Circle of Autocrats www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/w...

Arundhati Roy on How to Survive in a ‘Culture of Fear’

Arundhati Roy on How to Survive in a ‘Culture of Fear’ www.nytimes.com/2025/08/30/m...

Have you been fired yet?

Millennials Are Killing Capitalism: The Obscurant Function of 'Artificial Intelligence' with Edward Ongweso Jr In this episode, we speak with Edward Ongweso Jr about "artificial intelligence" and its implications, particularly concerning corporate interests and historical parallels with labor control. Edward c...

The discussion concludes with an analysis of techno-authoritarianism, highlighting Silicon Valley's historical hostility to democracy and its prioritization of technologies that advance surveillance and social control.

millennialsarekillingcapitalism.libsyn.com/the-obscuran...

Please send me a copy!

Numbers to cite for calling NC representatives about N.I.H. policy changes (on top of everything else)- this is the impact on jobs and funding in North Carolina. I hope every colleague at Duke, UNC, & all NC Higher Ed who can, will get calling.

I am beyond furious. @gregpak.net helpful script below

As someone who has reported on AI for 7 years and covered China tech as well, I think the biggest lesson to be drawn from DeepSeek is the huge cracks it illustrates with the current dominant paradigm of AI development. A long thread. 1/

Just terrifying that this totally inexperienced and capricious opportunist, in thrall to a mash up of extremist ideologies, the most coherent of which is savage misogyny, is about to be one skipped beat of an obese elderly man’s heart away from the presidency.

The Island Where Environmentalism Implodes New Caledonia is home to thousands of species found nowhere else—and to nickel that companies like Tesla desperately need.

The Island Where Environmentalism Implodes - on the search for nickel (think Tesla or your EV) and New Caledonia. www.newyorker.com/news/the-wee...

On 4B- more of a feeling than a movement? Good overview and analysis by E. Tammy Kim.

YouTube video by Vox How AI tells Israel who to bomb

“The Gospel” and Militarized AI.

youtu.be/xGqYbXL3kZc

Silicon Valley’s Militarism has its roots in the Cold War. It’s resurfacing under Trump. Trump’s Election Is Also a Win for Tech’s Right-Wing “Warrior Class”-

Humanity Surprised It Still Hasn’t Figured Out Better Alternative To Letting Power-Hungry Assholes Decide Everything - The Onion

When is the paperback due out?

The exodus to Blue Sky is happening, finally.

You need to pull in some anthropologists! ;)

no. 76—Get in Line CHOOSE YOUR PRECIPICE. The grist that makes modern life will run out at some point—when will we tap the last barrel of crude, blow through the remaining stocks of helium, deplete those rare metals…

Our waiting issue is finally here. “Get in Line” features stories on the inevitable and the long-overdue: doomsdays and digital utopias, health care and political unity.

They say patience is a virtue, but we’re on borrowed time. Start reading now.

How the Ivy League Broke America The meritocracy isn’t working. We need something new.

"When universities like Harvard shifted their definition of ability, large segments of society adjusted to meet that definition," David Brooks writes, The effect was transformative: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...