Thread by @AmarAmarasingam

1. "Regardless of intent or ignorance of a second meaning". I'm done with y'all.

I found myself just staring at Mia’s initial comments a few hours ago, wondering what state of mind I would need to be in to call someone who mildly critiqued my work a bitch and a whore.

https://twitter.com/MiaMBloom/status/1380538027936714755

2. And what got me was the audacity and insecurity of it all. @nimmideviarchy critique was sharp, but also one that had been made countless times: that Western writers often bring the “white feminist framework into her probe of female extremists abroad.” lareviewofbooks.org/article/eviden…

3. The proper response to this, one would think – for an adult and tenured professor who has been in the game for a few decades – was to write a response showing where the critique is wrong. An article or tweet thread should suffice. This is how this shit works.

4. Instead, Mia decided to DM Nimmi on Linkedin, and call her an “embittered bitch” at 10:50pm. Getting no response, she went back the next morning and added the word thevadiyal at 9:49am.

https://twitter.com/abiknathan/status/1379500731468746756?s=20

5. The Tamil word thevadiyal, originally referred to a temple dancer, or goddess, but is more often used to mean “whore” or “prostitute”.

6. She also stated that she was going to delete a citation to Nimmi’s work in something she was writing. This isn’t really how it works. If people have made a contribution to the literature, you cite them. You don’t just read and cite people who are nice to you.

7. Mia then posted on Twitter a photo of Nimmi on CNN – did not tag her, link the article in question, or discuss the actual critique. Then again threw in the word thevadiyal.

https://twitter.com/suchitrav/status/1379478339640041476?s=20

8. After being called out for verbally abusing a colleague – for, let me remind everyone, a fairly mild critique of her work – she found an out: google translate.

9. Google, you see, translates thevadiyal as goddess. She meant goddess all along. Haven’t you ever called someone an embittered bitch at night, only to wake up and call them a goddess?

10. At this point, an apology would have worked wonders. But, no, she’s still going. I meant goddess. It’s kind of like a fanny pack.

11. But, I’m still left starting at the comments, and trying to imagine a scenario where I would respond in this way to a colleague who critiqued my work. The sense of invincibility and entitlement is just astounding.

12/12. Almost every single person who has spoken publicly about this have been grad students (women and POC) and junior scholars.

They will experience all the blowback as always.

13/13. Let me also say: she's done a lot worse to a lot of people. But, those are private stories for those affected to share if they wish.

But, this is public and it's fucked up.

14/14. I got permission from these people to post these samples, but I'm getting endless DMs like this.

This level of fear among students and junior scholars 👋is 👋not 👋 okay.

I’m being told this is a “hand wave” emoji and not a “hand clap” emoji. I apologize if this has caused any harm. I blame google translate.