Karl Jacoby
@karl-jacoby
Professor of History at Columbia University; author of CRIMES AGAINST NATURE, SHADOWS AT DAWN: A BORDERLANDS MASSACRE AND THE VIOLENCE OF HISTORY; and THE STRANGE CAREER OF WILLIAM ELLIS. Working on a new project on the US-Mexico War (1846-1848).
Cool find at the National Archives today: handbill printed in Mexico in 1847 in Spanish, English, and German promising safe passage for US soldiers who deserted to the Mexican side.
I don't have to imagine it--I lived it just a few years ago. AI has made my life *worse*--from warping our politics to sucking up our energy and causing global warming to making teaching much harder than it was before because of the temptation not to think or write for oneself.
Hardly the most important point about this latest AI slop, but why are the presidents all drawing on a map of the US at the same time?
One of my highlights as a historian so far: doing a talk back with the super talented cast and creators of “Mexodus” and Savvy Wood, whose family is linked to the history of the Underground Railroad to Mexico.
This Saturday: talkback about "Mexodus," award-winning musical about the Underground Railroad to Mexico.
Interview with me and Guillaume Blanc about environmental history in the French journal POLITIX. Happy to share pdfs with any French speakers out there.
My distinguished colleague Mae Ngai speaking at her retirement celebration at Columbia University today
Only 18% of faculty and staff at Columbia feel that the university aligns with their values.
One of the highlights from the recent survey of faculty and staff morale at Columbia University
Last day to pre-register for the talk about the Livingstons (one of Columbia University's founding families) and their connections to slavery. Use this link: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
About that Palantir statement: What do they mean by "Musk's interest in grand narrative"? (And why no mention that the crime rate in the US has dropped sharply in recent years?)
Upcoming at Columbia University on 4/29--and open to all so long as you pre-register ahead of time using the QR code on the poster. Chris Rabb will explore the intertwined histories of slavery, Columbia University, and the influential Livingston family through the lens of his own lineage.
I am not one of those who believes that history repeats, but consider the following from Herodotus: the Oracle at Delphi told the fabulously wealthy King Croesus that if he invaded Persia he would "destroy a great empire." Croesus invaded and lost--the empire he destroyed was his own.
And here is Columbia allowing the US government access to most everything on campus, including, I suspect, my syllabi, emails, etc.
Here is Columbia agreeing to an increased security presence on campus, with arrest powers.
Here is Columbia agreeing to cut international student enrollments (presumably because many international students eventually get green cards and immigrate to the US).
Here is Columbia agreeing to admissions standards that are more extreme than the recent Supreme Court ruling.
Here is Columbia's agreement to follow the Trump Administration's anti-trans agenda.
Columbia AAUP Statement about ICE's abduction of student this morning.
Police outside Columbia’s main gate following DHS abduction of a Columbia student
Latest from Columbia U: "This morning at approximately 6:30 a.m., federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security entered a Columbia Residential building & detained a student. ... [T]he federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a 'missing person.'"
As a historian of the American West, I winced to hear Trump blatantly ignored all our scholarship in his SOTU, prattling on about an "unforgiving wilderness" and "empty" landscapes-- without the slightest acknowledgment of the Indigenous and Mexican presence on these same lands.