While the presence of colonial subjects on 'display' in brutal conditions in the International Colonial Exhibition of 1931 in Paris has received much attention in recent years, the exhibition also included delegations of veterans from the colonies. They were supposed to embody loyalty and service.

While the presence of colonial subjects on 'display' in brutal conditions in the International Colonial Exhibition of 1931 in Paris has received much attention in recent years, the exhibition also included delegations of veterans from the colonies. They were supposed to embody loyalty and service.

Campus is looking well on the first day of term. This is what all of you french colonial historians can expect at @frenchcolonial.bsky.social in June (blue skies not guaranteed).

I think a big part of where you’ll stand on the government’s (and others) intervention this weekend is whether you’re more upset by the tainting of the flag by association with racism or the actual racism (and the government’s unashamed dalliance with it).

Awful awful stuff. My heart goes out to all those who have or hope to get ILR who will wake up to this splashed all over the media. So grim as well to see how neither mainstream politicians or the media in Britain seem to have learned anything from rise of populist extreme right parties elsewhere.

Join me on Nov 13 for my talk: A Recipe for Resistance? Vegetarianism and Ethics in the anti-Nazi Underground. My alternative title was: First add oats, then kill Hitler.

Culture Night in my home village of Lusk was marked by the inauguration of an exhibition on Palestine. Well done to all involved. The depth of solidarity with Palestine across communities, big and small, in Ireland is a great source of pride. Saoirse don Phailistín! 🇵🇸🇮🇪

Spending my Friday afternoon reading about these guys, a group of Algerian veterans of the First World War who were involved in leftist veteran activism and were attacked by far right activists in their home city of Relizane in Western Algeria 1938.

Very grateful for the opportunity to share some of my research at the Department of History Research Seminar in Maynooth later this term (27 November), and to be included in this fantastic lineup. Many thanks to the seminar conveners. All welcome.

A sketch of West African soldiers at the Victory Parade in Paris on Bastille Day 1919 by French artist Paul Goute.

I wrote this short blog on the discriminatory demobilisation of French colonial troops for the Returning Soldier network: returningsoldier.co.uk/2025/09/18/n...

Looking forward to discussing Dr Sarah Roddy’s fantastic new book ‘Money and Irish Catholicism’ with her on 6 November at Maynooth! #skystorians #speirgorm www.cambridge.org/universitypr...

A great lineup for this semester's Department of History Research Seminar in Maynooth. This is open to all so do join us and please share widely.

Bumping this up again. Deadline for applications is October 3rd.

As opposed to... a dead historian?

This is heartbreaking but reporting like this makes me proud to work for The Journal Foster sister of Daniel Aruebose, little boy found dead in Donabate, says he was 'special and loved' jrnl.ie/6819390

This is such weak sauce in response to the perpetration of genocide. The EU's response has been a moral catastrophe. www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...

Now that the UN Commission, chaired by a judge who headed the tribunal in Rwanda, has affirmed that Israel is perpetrating genocide on 4 different grounds, will we hear from those who dismissed, and in some cases denigrated, colleagues for raising the alarm? www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Robert Redford talking about how the Algerian War led him to interrogate his own understanding of the United States of America.

I still think the extent to which civilian populations in parts of Africa were terrorized by the violence deployed in forced recruitment of soldiers and labourers during the First World War is underpriced in broader narratives of the conflict. Whole communities uprooted and decimated.

Another major independent report led by experts confirms that Israel is perpetrating genocide. The Israeli government has denounced its authors as "Hamas proxies". The litany of crimes continues with impunity. Full sanctions and boycott are long overdue. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

🚨Call for Papers🚨Delighted to share the CfP for next year's meeting of @frenchcolonial.bsky.social which we will be hosting in Maynooth June 25-27. The theme is "Après la tempête: Afterlives of Colonial Crisis and Conflict". Deadline for submissions is November 14 frenchcolonial.org/annual-meeti...

Who needs the Wild Atlantic Way when you have the Fingal Rivers!

We are happy to present the conference which will take place in Naples, 6 and 7 March 2026, on "Violence and Empire" Here is attached the CFP including a list of themes we are interested into Deadline for proposals November 16, authors will be notified by January 9

A friend of mine was on Charlie Kirk's "watch list" of Black professors. She received so many death and rape threats that her university offered her a security detail for the walk to class. This is Kirk's legacy. You would never know it from reading all of these legacy newspaper op-eds about him.

It's been a great two days- fascinating papers across a whole range of topics. So much work put in by colleagues, including grad students, to make it happen. I did relatively little and I am still Fairly exhausted now so I am looking forward to wiring into this!

Just witnessed the nicest 'I have more of a comment than a question: an older man who, in a very genuine and not patronising way, told a panel of young ECRs (all women) that he was blown away by the quality of their work and their presentation of it. You love to see it. And he was dead right

Fuelling up for Day Two of the Irish Conference of Historians. Looking forward to presenting on Grief and Great War: Emotions in French Colonial Pension Files. I'll be sharing a panel with @khayyat.bsky.social and with fellow COLVET Tema members @camilleriana.bsky.social and Anindita Bhattacharya

A beautiful morning for the kick off of the Conference of Irish Historians here in Maynooth. We have over 40 papers, 4 book launches and two wonderful keynotes to look forward to over the next two days.

A thoughtful piece on students' use of AI that talks about broader structural issues, especially the rise of credentialism and the knock on effect of the housing crisis that means students are both cash and time poor.

Although it's very hard to estimate, it is likely that roughly the same number of Africans died in the service of Belgian forces in the First World War (soldiers, porters and camp followers) as Belgians died in service in Belgium.

condemnations of political violence are well taken but it does feel as if some prominent political commentators are of the view that violence isn’t a part of the history of American politics and that is very much not true.

Salvador Allende with Houari Boumédiène. Allende visited Algeria a year before his death during the US backed coup on this day 52 years ago. "Placed in a historic transition, I will pay for loyalty to the people with my life... History belongs to us, and it is the people who make history".

It's like the Hunger Games out there as prospective candidates for the GOI Fellowships try to find a mentor. I really feel for them. I am not a fan of the new one application per mentor rule- seems unnecessarily restrictive for candidates. I also wish it had been better signposted in advance.

Me scanning through the introduction of a French thèse d'Etat that is over 900 pages long.

The deadline for the Call for Papers for this fascinating conference on 'Women in War: France, Britain and Ireland in the early 20th century' has been extended until October 18th. It should be a fascinating conference. Come to beautiful Boulogne-sur-Mer femmescombattantes.univ-littoral.fr/en/home/

Another harrowing read about the killing with impunity of civilians by Israeli forces in Gaza. Underpinning the boasts of this Chicagoan volunteer sniper is the broader genocidal logic that has driven the wider campaign of slaughter and starvation in Gaza. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Sebastian Lecornu, new French Prime Minister, not only opposed marriage equality but said he was 'as exasperated by gay communitarianism as by homophobia'....

Have spent this morning reading @johnsiblon25.bsky.social's wonderful thesis: 'War memory and the construction of hierarchy: representations of African and Caribbean colonial service personnel in the aftermath of the FWW'. It's fascinating and opens for interesting comparisons with other empires.

The British War Office's Manual of Military Law in 1914: "Troops formed of coloured individuals belonging to savage tribes and barbarous races should not be employed in a war between civilised states"

Gallica is down so I'm having to rely on the Journal officiel de la République de Djibouti to retrace historic legislation about veterans in France and its empire. Seems fitting as the French government is about to fall. Grateful to the good people of Djibouti!

Really looking forward to this conference on Friday + Saturday. Registration closes this evening so get your tickets. If you want a taster, listen in to myself and two wonderful colleagues, @clodaghtait.bsky.social and M'hamed Oualdi previewing it on Talking History www.newstalk.com/podcasts/hig...

This is awful. No one should have to put up with this. Harris and his family have been targeted repeatedly, Paul Murphy's home was also targeted and SF's Martin Kenny's car was burnt out. Completely unacceptable. jrnl.ie/6810113

Trump is lucky he is a misogynist because if he had delayed the women's final, Aryna Sabelenka would have killed him stone dead. Just a furious look from her would probably do the job.

Just got a taxi home on from a dinner on a weekend visit to Lusk and the driver was Algerian and he insisted I take his number so I could visit his family for dinner in Algiers next time I go. You cannot best Algerian hospitality! 🇮🇪🇩🇿

Me looking across the Irish Sea today (and, let's face it, every day).

🚨JOB Alert🚨 We are looking for another postdoctoral researcher to cover the history of veterans in the British colonies of Southern and/or East Africa in the interwar period. 24 month contract, deadline October 03. Please share widely. universityvacancies.com/maynooth-uni...

A clarion call to colleagues in French studies and across academia from students of French in Gaza. "In Gaza, all the students study against death... We come to class despite illness and hunger. We don't give up. To study is to stand tall, to be free" www.lemonde.fr/idees/articl...

This is what they were going to serve at the afters of the RIC commemoration.

📢 CALL TO ACTION | EAA Leadership Overturns Democratic Vote Following Threats Intimidation tactics forced the EAA to abandon solidarity with Gaza. Archaeologists: Cancel membership | Speak up | Share Full statement: blacktrowelcollective.wordpress.com/2025/09/02/b... #EAA2025 #Archaeology #Gaza