Aditya Balasubramanian

Bringing together stories of environment and Empire, genocide and ecocide, war and peace – Sunil Amrith's The Burning Earth is a razor-sharp study of accountability for the climate crisis.

The Burning Earth is shortlisted for the British Academy Book Prize. Learn more here https://bit.ly/3WsTunW

Australia explained for Americans courtesy Arun Chandran

Beyond ridiculous decision

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Making It Count A history of how Chinese officials used statistics to define a new society in the early years of the People’s Republic of China

On modern China, see
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Found Rule of Experts overrated but @adamtooze.bsky.social’s Statistics and the German State is outstanding and so worthy of being retaught and re-read. Prob my favorite of his books after Wages

Image shows a screenshot of the conclusion of the linked Senate inquiry submission. This text can be found on page 10. The text is too long for alt text, but here is the first three quarters of the text: Conclusion Over the past decade, Nous Group’s UniForum data has quietly taken on the status of authoritative benchmark for the quality of a range of professional and academic services performed by public universities in Australia and across the world. This authoritative status is performed through scientific-looking graphs and scientific-sounding jargon designed to imply UniForum data is generated through rigorous methods and backed by expert consensus. This performance of authority is significant: it lends UniForum data an air of credibility and facticity that makes acting upon its results irresistible. When one begins to open the black box and examine how UniForum data is actually produced, however, it becomes difficult to justify the degree to which Australian university executives are relying upon it in their decision-making. My analysis is based on a review of publicly available documents, and it is therefore possible that Nous or its clients would point to things not in the public domain that address some of the conceptual and methodological flaws that I have highlighted in UniForum. But the fact that the underlying UniForum data and methodology is not in the public domain is itself one of the key causes for concerns. When the stakes are so high, it cannot be acceptable for Nous Group and its clients to simply tell university staff and governing councils, ‘trust us, these numbers are based on rigorous methods and analysis.’ The lack of rigor, external scrutiny, and transparency in UniForum’s underlying data and methodology would be a cause for concern in any public institution, but it is especially concerning in the context of universities where rigorous, transparent, and accountable knowledge production is a core part of what we do. ...

Private consultants are taking control of how public universities are evaluated and run.

My submission to the Senate university governance inquiry raises concerns about the impact of Nous Group and their dodgy UniForum data on our universities.

www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStor...

A thread

And let me take this opportunity to say again:

WHITE PPL ARE NOT OPPRESSED IN SOUTH AFRICA

photo of Professor Prasenjit Duara at the Duke conference on Global China - profile and medium shot of Prasenjit, in glasses and light suit jacket, other conference participants in background.

Celebrating my beloved, brilliant colleague Prasenjit Duara on the occasion of his 75th and his retirement. “Colleague” doesn’t quite encompass my fondness and gratitude. Prasenjit has been mentor, teacher, friend, and teammate. I am so happy we will be toasting and roasting him for two whole days!

YouTube video by The Lallantop ये किताबें पढ़कर इतिहास के सारे बवाल समझ आ जाएंगे| Book Recommendations

thank u to @itihaasnaama.bsky.social for recommending my new book The Future That Was alongside these amazing authors @kalramnath.bsky.social @abalasub.bsky.social 🥰💕 youtube.com/shorts/S99MW...

It was a great privilege to be elected by my peers as an academic staff representative on ANU Council in May 2025. I thank you all for the faith you placed in me to advocate for the best interests of the University. On Monday, 11 August, I resigned from that role. Many people have since asked me why I have resigned. In short, I came to the view that I could no longer continue to effectively discharge my duties. I have been advised that the confidentiality obligations that apply to me as a former member of Council limit my ability to speak about this in detail. I did give evidence to the Senate yesterday, where under parliamentary privilege, I said the following:

I resigned from the ANU Council because of my concerns about governance practices within the council. Recent council meetings have revealed a fundamental disagreement regarding our interpretations of our roles. Efforts by other council members to seek information have been unsuccessful, as you heard from Mr. Burfoot earlier today. Attempts to move motions have not been permitted by the chair at times, as was reported by the Australian Financial Review and again spoken to by Mr. Burfoot earlier. My experience has been that meeting procedures make it difficult at times to know what decisions have been made and at times limit full discussions. More recently, as was announced in the ANU staff newsletter, the council has been subject to an external investigation into alleged misuse of confidential information. During this period of investigation, which coincides with a critical time in our university's restructuring process, oversight by Council has been restricted. In order to operate effectively, I believe that the Council must be empowered to deliberate, seek information, and operate with transparency.

A brief statement on my resignation from ANU Council.

Thank you, Francis. Proud to call you a colleague!

How one of the world's most prestigious universities fell from grace The prestige of the Australian National University is fast fading. It must now respond to explosive allegations.

All cuts, at all Unis, should be stopped until the rot at the top of every single one of them has been thoroughly examined.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...

The book cover

8/8 The issue ends with a second regular review by Raheel Bashir (Jawaharlal Nehru University) on "Toward a Free Economy: Swatantra and Opposition Politics in Democratic India" (@princetonupress.bsky.social, 2023) by @abalasub.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

ELIZABETH WARREN: What Zohran is saying is 'I want people to be able to afford to live in NYC'

FABER: But raising taxes in order to do it?

WARREN: Oh my goodness! Oh dear! Are you worried that billionaires are going to go hungry?

I’m sorry what? I was not aware anyone taught grad students how to read 😭
Both my schools just threw us into the theory fire.
“Here’s Chakrabarty. Good luck” 😘

Make this a great thread plz.

This map shows how unevenly Nobel Prizes have been distributed across the world.

Loved this piece, Ben! I don’t know anyone else writing stuff like this. Fills a huge lacuna in tennis journalism! Merci

Tennis, Under the Influencers Taylor Fritz's wins are adding up in Washington, but maybe don't ask him to multiply.

Taylor Fritz is getting clowned by players like Shelton and Tiafoe about a video in which he couldn't do basic multiplication, but there's a bigger story about how tennis players are being set up to succeed—and fail—on social media videos.

Read it at Bounces:

www.benrothenberg.com/p/taylor-fri...

There is a special place in hell for T&F

'Hunger Games scenario': four ANU lecturers and only three jobs Four lecturers going for three jobs speak out about the stress and the cost.

This is based on an interview I did last week. For days, I’ve been anxious about repercussions for speaking to media. I was totally overwhelmed to discover today that my colleagues have all stuck their necks out with me.

I have the best colleagues!

www.canberratimes.com.au/story/901572...

Staff hope to find a way through ANU trouble, say cuts aren't the answer 'Education funding has been under attack for decades.'

Honours student, Pippa, spoke about her thesis on the history of higher education in Australia which was about “universities and governments putting profits over people.”

She said she would like to see Vice Chancellor Bell, “demanding more public funding.”

www.canberratimes.com.au/story/901699...

What's up with Justice Jackson? She started making her mark and speaking out early, and some of her dissents are so pointed Kagan and Sotomayor don’t even join them. The far right is out for her, and even Republican justices are getting snarky.

So what's up? Here’s my take 🧵

I just texted a friend that celebrity culture in academia should die but every rule has exceptions. Friends, Romans, the woman who gave us Life as Surplus, Family Values, Counterrevolution and more has joined and made this platform worth it.
Welcome, Melinda! Follow her!!
@melindacooper.bsky.social

Comrades! Friends! Nemeses! The CfP for the annual meeting of Australian Progressive Legal Studies is open until next Friday, 11th of July. Send us your abstracts on all things law, political economy and modern authoritarianism.

The one and only Melinda Cooper (!!!) will deliver the keynote.

Zohran Mamdani. Overlaid text reads: Breaking news - Andrew Cuomo concedes New York mayoral primary to Zohran Mamdani

Breaking news: Former New York state governor Andrew Cuomo has conceded to progressive rival Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary for New York City’s next mayor www.ft.com/content/e4b8...

Hello recent History PhDs! My School is supporting applications to the BA postdoc fellowship scheme (and selected applications to the Leverhulme). If you've always wanted to work with me or my super colleagues, get in touch! We have an excellent grants team to help you write your application.

there are a million reasons not to vote for cuomo but let’s start with the fact that he doesn’t fucking live here