ਅਕਸ਼ਜ Akshaj, (they/he/elle/él)

thank you!!

My gratitude and thankfulness goes out to St Cross College and Ertegun House @ertegunhouse.bsky.social for being my home and community for the past two years! 🩵

blue and white tiles from the shrine of ahmad yasavi, kazakhstan

A small announcement: I'm happy to share that this October, I start my DPhil at New College, Oxford! My research will be supported by the Oxford-Nizami Ganjavi Graduate Scholarship for studies of Central Asia, Azerbaijan and the Caucasus 🧿🧿 @newcollegeoxf.bsky.social

New from Rumeysa Ozturk's lawyer:

Rumeysa hasn't been accused of any crime & "DHS has not produced any evidence" that she did anything unlawful.

Rumeysa wasn't able to speak to her lawyer for 24+ hours & not until after she was in Louisiana — despite a court order that she not be moved from Mass.

meme template of "that one friend that's..." from TikTok with a figure wearing a red-pointed Safavid turban

yeni yılınız hayırlı olsun oomflar

ziyaret yapmadan önce zaten yaptım haha

And of course, if we ask for a reason for such rules and/or someone who can explain the reasoning behind them, we receive no answer.

Other countries celebrate their modernist architectural heritage – we demolish it, or enforce arbitrary rules about photographing spaces even when not causing inconvenience to anyone.

The classic policing of cultural institutions and spaces in India is quite surprising to say the least. Even spaces such as the vaunted Triveni Kala Sangam in Delhi refuse to allow people to take pictures of an architectural marvel designed by Joseph Allen Stein.

Our first post is dedicated to Mica Ertegun, our benefactor, who passed away a year ago today. The Ertegun Alumni Society organised a memorial event at the end of October, with the help of @ox.ac.uk to celebrate Mica's life.

I 'speak' 9 languages:

-English
-Panjabi
-Urdu
-Hindi
-Spanish
-French
-Persian
-Turkish (and Ottoman Turkish)
-Hungarian (a tiny bit)

le importaría añadirme, por favor?

One small story of return. 1974 Christie's auctioned this Asante hat decorated with gold leaf. 'The Property of a Lady...Taken by Lt Cowan...from the dressingroom of Asantehene Kofi Karikari, 1874'

bunu ilk defa duyuyorum haha —Magdalen'deki tilkilerin videosunu gördünüz mü?

An era of universities crippling the future of the humanities and social sciences for digital slop is an incredible thing to watch unfold as a humanist.

Arkadaşlar, arkadaşlar: working on a list for scholars working in Ottoman Studies. Please ask to be added!

Ottoman printed text from ʿĀşıḳpaşazāde's history.

ʿĀşıḳpaşazāde being an icon.

"Savâl: Bu Bektaşiler iderler kim «yeñiçerilerün başındaki tac Hâci Bektâşiñdür» dirler"
"Cevap: yalândür."

It's here! A very incipient starter pack for the art, architecture, and archaeology of the Islamic world. This is just a first quick effort, please let me know if I can add you or others so we can build up this community!

Just described the hiring freeze in UKHE as "so hard you could drive a truck on it" and now I'm imagining nice little ice-fishing huts, each sheltering its own job-seeker watching their bright flag in the dark water, someone out with a cart selling coffee and donuts. Really make it festive.

Graph showing poverty levels including child poverty reaching 36%

Shocking news. 36% of UK children are living in poverty according to the latest Social Metrics Commission research (I am one of the Commissioners)
www.theguardian.com/society/2024...

could I please be added? thank you

The description for our public "Anti-LGBTQ+ Bigotry" blocklist has been updated to include accounts which amplify hateful content posted by others.

bsky.app/profile/brex...

a dark photograph at twilight with two glowing lamps inside a gothic arch

silhouttes of architecture including one of the towers of the bodleian libraries in oxford, with an orange lamp in focus

the skyline of oxford's spires at sunset

the bridge of sighs in oxford over an alley, with autumn foliage in the foreground

autumn and oxford; yet another love letter.

yes please!

A closed Apple iBook laptop, being held by its built-in handle

An Apple iBook laptop open with the Mac OS 9.2 boot screen displayed

An Apple iBook laptop open with with os 9.2 desktop running

An Apple iBook laptop open with a digital edition of the Bayeux Tapestry displayed

Y’all @grantls.bsky.social brought over his old iBook to donate to @skeuomorph.bsky.social - not only is it in beautiful working order, it has some og digital humanities projects on it, like this interactive edition of the Bayeux Tapestry

love reading tezkires and seeing architectural references

A printed version of an Ottoman text in Nesih.

Ikincîsî, selâtîn ve egnîyânlaruñ merkad-ı purnürleri üzerine bîna mâmur ile kubbâb sürîye(?)den olan türbe-i purnürler binâ itmîşlerdir.

"Second, sultans and rich men built illuminated mausolea consisting of splendid buildings and remarkable domes over their light filled graves." trans. Z. Yürekli

this is brilliant! could I please be added?

#Intro:

Hello, I'm yutyrannus! (i dont like my real name up here, but iykyk)

I am a queer man from India, living in London these days for my postgraduate degree. I do tech policy and regulation irl, but on here I want to mainly talk about pop music, books, telugu culture, dinosaurs and birding!

RT — looking for fellow Ottomanists, Islamic art historians and Central Asianists. Eyvallâh!