Had a great time chatting with @drdomdavies.bsky.social about literature, automobiles, infrastructure, and US empire. @ttinfranetwork.bsky.social is a really cool project - well worth checking out.

Detailed report on the case of Usama Ghanem, indefinitely suspended by @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social for taking part in pro-Palestine protests and now facing deportation back to the Egyptian dictatorship. www.cnn.com/2026/01/23/e...

Birmingham, UK, is answering this call. Saturday, 1 PM, Victoria Square. We ride in memory of Alex Pretti and against fascism. All welcome. Will you join us?

The deadline to submit an abstract to "UK American Studies against the Genocide" is fast approaching. Get your submissions in! ⌛6th February 2026 📬 [email protected] 🍉CFP here: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Well that’s me locked out. No pay for the foreseeable future, all because I refuse to reschedule lost teaching, for which I have already lost pay as part of the strike. Please donate to support @sheffielducu.bsky.social members like me at www.gofundme.com/f/heubvb-sup...

“You can’t cut one in ten staff without damaging students and teaching.” 85% of University of Essex staff have voted for strike action over plans to cut 400 jobs and close the Southend campus. Show your support and solidarity as they prepare to fight back. www.ucu.org.uk/article/1432...

Sad to see that the website, LeftEast is shutting down. It was a fucking great project and taught me so much. Well worth checking out its archive, and checking out the new project, red threads. lefteast.org

New issue of Mediations mediationsjournal.org

🔊 Upcoming Online Book Discussion The New Routes in Transnational American Studies series continues with a discussion of Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt by Orisanmi Burton. 🗓 29 Jan 2026 ⏰ 7–9 PM (GMT+1, Tunisia) 🔗 Register: bit.ly/3LaRS0n

🔊 Reminder: Abstracts for the UK American Studies Against the Genocide symposium are due by 6th February. We are also hoping to extend this into a broader network of scholars committed to organising against the genocide in the field. Please share widely + follow the below account.

#cfp UK American Studies Against the Genocide! A symposium on Palestine and American Studies in the UK 🇵🇸 Proposals are welcomed for papers & panels on the subject of Palestine & its relation with American Studies. It will take place 9th May. Deadline: 6th February 2026

The eight Palestine Action hunger strikers have now been held without trial for months, and three have been hospitalised. Here's a toolkit with 11 proposed actions you can take to support them.

UCL BDS group in solidarity with the hunger strikers

Tomorrow's front page 📰 'The UK is letting these people die'

One of our branch co-presidents, Jordan Osserman, talking on BBC Essex this morning about the devastating cuts to our University, and what needs to be done about them. Please share. We had yet more shocking news this morning - stay tuned.

I've just published my second newsletter on loss and damage - this one reflecting on Trump (urgh) and climate finance. Mostly doom and gloom but also an obligatory note of hope, to paraphrase Jenny Offill open.substack.com/pub/lossandd...

Calling all UK-based Americanists!! There is no ceasefire. The genocide continues. And we too must continue to speak up, organise, and fight for a free Palestine - in the streets and in our work places. Join us.

Something I've been thinking about for a while and have finally launched: a newsletter on Loss and Damage - do consider subscribing if you're interested in the topic, or more broadly in climate justice and questions of power, geopolitics and accountability lossanddamage.substack.com?r=a2qm0&utm_...

In the same week, both the University of Nottingham and the University of Leicester announced closing their Modern Languages departments. Disastrous for the sector as a whole and for the ML landscape in the Midlands: c.org/4X7VMy9MPD

My employer has announced a voluntary redundancy scheme. By the standards of what’s happening elsewhere in the UK it’s really not that bad… But the fact that the University insists on describing this as an ‘investment’ is mind-boggling.

Please support and share this petition to help save American Studies teaching at The University of Nottingham. Staff are facing redundancy. The expertise that would be lost would be monumental. Please sign. c.org/26qjPmffNy

Comrades - in a few months I'll be applying for yet another visa, and am trying to get some side cash to fund some of it. So *drumroll* i have made some tshirts which you can order on Everpress. They will ship early December, which means just in time for Christmas. everpress.com/unskilled-labour

Petition to save American Studies at the University of Nottingham. Please sign and share! c.org/7QNchyvcK6 @BAAS

Petition to save Geography at the University of Leicester c.org/cdSSY6RXJ7

An amazing conference! Thanks to people like @nedra-abada.bsky.social, @saaar98.bsky.social, @omaimaghezal.bsky.social, @sarrarabhi.bsky.social, @wassimdaghrir.bsky.social, @oussema-othmeni.bsky.social, & @yosra999.bsky.social, @taacs.bsky.social is becoming the space to watch in American Studies.

Football cannot claim to stand for unity while ignoring injustice. Join us to say 📣 "FIFA FIFA take a stand, Israel football must be banned" 0️⃣6️⃣ Thursday 6th November ⏰️ 6pm 📍 Aston Pavilion, Trinity Rd, Aston, B6 6JD 🇵🇸 💐 Please bring your flags, flowers & torches 🔦 🌧 Dress for the weather 🧣

a reminder to vote (you should be receiving your ballots any day now) & encourage everyone else to vote & talk about nothing else other than the ballot and the strategies for taking over the means of production 🔥

The McGill Association of University Teachers just endorsed the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, with over 90% of voters supporting the motion.

This was a fantastic discussion last night! I kept having to stop making dinner to take notes. Kudos to @mykaabramson.bsky.social (Warwick) for a brilliant book; and @johnmunro.bsky.social (Birmingham) and @yosra999.bsky.social (Carthage) for hosting!

One of the cool things about Critical Mass is its origins in the movement against the 1991 Gulf War, connecting the violence of the international system to that of our car dominated streets. The Big Ride for Palestine is one continuation of that tradition.

On 25 September, join me and @yosra999.bsky.social for a conversation with author Myka Tucker-Abramson about her new book: Cartographies of Empire With @nedra-abada.bsky.social, Kafui Attoh (@cunyslu.bsky.social), George Edwards (@zetkincollective.bsky.social), & @lclaberge.bsky.social.

Really looking forward to this event - thanks to @johnmunro.bsky.social and & Dr Yosra Amraoui for organising; and to these stellar panelists for thinking through the road novel, automobility & US Empire with me.

Good, nuanced analysis of the student mental health crisis at universities and the obligations & limitations of universities in responding to it: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

In case it hasn't been clear: whole host of us academics at Warwick are, yes, bemused by the ridiculousness of the "rebranding" but also really quite angry at the potential exorbitant money spent on this (and the denied FOI) when told there must be extreme savings (on staffing) & bigger workloads.

The funniest thing is that the profile Warwick seems to have paid for in Vogue of an SMT member is just AI word slop that says nothing. Zero. My dogs could produce more meaningful prose. During a university funding crisis.

It's the first Friday of the month. Time to #CircleTheCity. 6PM, Victoria Square, Birmingham.

when you and your bestie* accidentally show up in a matching outfit * and by you and your bestie we mean universities prioritising branding and vibes over students and staff

Went to the UCU Congress fringe meeting on this strategy. One of the most inspiring organising meetings I've attended in years. Highly recommend getting involved and helping shape a national trade dispute.

Looking forward to this conversation next month with Wassel Borghol, @gscoulthard.bsky.social, @priyamvadagopal.bsky.social, Dayo Gore, @johnnarayan.bsky.social, & author @samklug.bsky.social. Get registered!

Moving towards a trade dispute with the Secretary of State for Education! UCU Congress voted to support a national trade dispute with the government over the Higher Education funding crisis. Motion & further info: lu.ma/a0vv0sjb?tk=... JOIN to discuss next steps 3 June, 6pm: lu.ma/zs6bklhz 🧵

The proposed policy is abominable, and something we oppose in its entirety. The University's knee-jerk reaction has caused immense stress to trans colleagues and the University's 'apology' does not go nearly far enough in expressing a commitment to being a safe employer for Trans comrades.

Montréal et les survivants de l’Holocauste www.lapresse.ca/societe/chro...

Another cluster of strikers: lawpeeps and CS and maths, oh my! #FightingChance

Two weeks from today: Birmingham's first @betterstreetsforbirmingham.org "Circle the City" cycle ride. It'll be fun, inclusive, and make the point that you don't have to own a car to get around our city. 6PM, Victoria Square. See you April 4th!

"The decisive fact of our time is that, on the whole, we know a lot and yet we can do very little. We are both enlightened and illiterate." – Marina Garcés How can we know the world in ways that are empowering rather than overwhelming? Where is the future of radical knowledge production?

Thrilled my book is out in the world! It's a book about the rise & fall of US hegemony; about the road novel's trafficking in the fantasies of individual freedom and self-making that propel it; and about why we need to shatter those attachments for a more collective vision, narrative and politics.

Great contingent of Warwick staff + students at Coventry UCU's alternative open day. Cov Uni staff and students are the beating heart of Coventry and are fighting back against massive cuts. Support them by singing this petition: speakout.web.ucu.org.uk/remove-coven... @warwickuniucu.bsky.social