The Week in Links (The I Hope I Have Something Interesting To Say in this Space Soon Edition)

I've been saying pretty much since my first entry into it that the peer review process is really badly broken. Here's an unusually frank discussion of a really concrete breakdown in that process:

Reviewing JDH Roundup

This is a web exhibition put together by last year's Katz Center fellows with objects from the Penn library collections. The exhibition is about as weird as the group of fellows was. (I say that mostly affectionately):

Thirteenth-Century Entanglements

And an interesting post on a lone Algerian Isagoge manuscript:

Isagoge

From medieval in Algeria to medievalism in present-day Cairo:

Back to School, Cairo 2013: A Return to the Politics of Fear?

"I'm not saying Palin is fluent in the language, but she did use the Arabic word "Allah." She could've simply used the word "God" instead of Allah since it has the identical meaning. (Christian Arabs use the word Allah when speaking of God in Arabic.) I think deep down she wanted to show off her language skills.But Palin went with the Arabic. Why? Because I think deep down she loves the language. And I bet Palin knows even more Arabic words such as humus, falafel and possibly babaganoush."

This is a good article that touches upon two issues: Why it is inappropriate to substitute the word "Allah" to talk about God in Islamic contexts; and the possible medieval origins of the phrase "kill them all and let God sort it out."

Sarah Palin's Offensive Remarks About Syria

In the wake of a recent sex scandal in the world of academic philosophy (and sadly, hardly the only recent sex scandal involving older male professors and younger female graduate students) the New York Times has published five pieces about women in philosophy. Since Arabic and Islamic Studies is still a pretty male-dominated field that sees some of the venerable fathers of the discipline wondering aloud whether women can be competent Arabists, these are of particular interest to me:

Women in Philosophy? Do the Math

What's Wrong with Philosophy?

The Disappearing Women

Academia's Fog of Male Anxiety

The Double Bind

And sadly, the last of a breed has died in New Haven:

Typewriter Stalwart Dies at 96