Thinking about Oceans as archives has been deeply rewarding for me, a historian trained to work in traditional colonial archives, collections of written texts collide compiled by agents of empire. I invite you to ponder the archival ocean with us.

Here's a report from Jenny Sinclair @jsresearchpro.bsky.social on the low success rate for DECRAs this week, driven by high demand and low Government funding for early career researchers in Australia. [Free article in @resprofnews.bsky.social]

He’s not wrong, the former Science Minister* *In the same Party as the current one! (From Guardian Australia “live”)

Please sign. This stupid decision needs reversing actionnetwork.org/petitions/cs...

Check my new essay "The deepest South: Slavery in Latin America, on a huge scale, was different from that in the United States. Why don’t we know this history?" just published in @aeon.co Many thanks to historian Sam Haselby, who beautifully edited it #slaveryarchive aeon.co/essays/way-d...

SPOILER. Proof pages of my review of The Heretic of Cacheu by Toby Green to be published in Slavery & Abolition. Curious about the book? Join Toby, @elotroalex.bsky.social and myself at the #Slaveryarchive book club this SAT 2:00 PM EST to discuss the book. Register ⬇️ us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Congratulations to @thehistoriann.bsky.social, whose book PIRACY AND THE MAKING OF THE SPANISH PACIFIC WORLD has won the Bolton-Johnson Prize for best book in English on Latin American history, granted by @clahistorians.bsky.social! bit.ly/3KGDV9M

As Chair of the 2025 @clahistorians.bsky.social Bolton-Johnson Prize I congratulate historians Brooke Larson & @thehistoriann.bsky.social CO-WINNERS with The Lettered Indian and Piracy & the Making of the Spanish Pacific World. Was a pleasure to work with jurors Jonathan Ablard & Kaysha Corinealdi

If you're a writer that's currently thinking "What am I doing with my life? How did I get here?" just know that Peter Benchley partly wrote the novel JAWS in a converted chicken coop at his in-laws' house.

A silver lining

So happy that Piracy and the Making of the Spanish Pacific World made the shortlist for the NSW’s History Awards. My book is in great company - huge honour. www.sl.nsw.gov.au/awards/nsw-h...

I’m recruiting a PhD student to work with me in Melbourne on the history of empire in Micronesia and the Pacific. We are offering a full scholarship, Australian and international students can apply. More info here, please reach out if you are interested www.acu.edu.au/research-and...

Grateful for Prof Ponce Vázquez’s review of my book in The Americas.

📢 Just announced! The programme & booking is now live for our Annual Conference 2025. 🗓️ Join us online & free on 4–5 Sept for Hidden in Plain Sight: Women in Archives, Libraries, Museums & Personal Collections. 🔗 womenshistorynetwork.org/the-womens-h... #WHN2025 #WomensHistory #Archives #Heritage

“Books won’t stay banned. They won’t burn. Ideas won’t go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost.” — A. Whitney Griswold

Folds: If we’ve been told our whole lives that we can’t spend money on the arts because they’re not important—then why was taking over the Kennedy Center and the arts the first thing they did? It is extremely important. It’s the bedrock of self-expression.

join us next week at Melbourne Uni!

Hey, who's up for a #RemoteRetreatAUS ??? I need to get some writing DONE, and I need my peeps! Paging my regulars: @kbneal.bsky.social @thehistoriann.bsky.social @nikolasorr.bsky.social @justjenerally.bsky.social @nonsequitania.bsky.social @mlcseah.bsky.social

“Eliminating federal funding for the humanities saves next to no money, but it will cost … something precious: one of the few federal institutions whose whole purpose is to foster community and thoughtful discussion across the polarities that increasingly divide … us” www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/o...

Every historian’s dream is to find an archival treasure

Looking forward to discussing pirates and the Spanish Empire in the Pacific at this hybrid event in Hong Kong next week. I’ll be joining online.

In 2022, historian Dr Kristie Flannery @thehistoriann.bsky.social received a Humanities Travelling Fellowship to access rare documents in Spain and the Philippines. Her research considers the influence of slavery, and the wider Spanish empire, on the Asia-Pacific region today: bit.ly/4kSyRN7

Catching up on Not Just the Tudors and delighted to hear the brilliant @thehistoriann.bsky.social discussing piracy and the Spanish Pacific with @sixteenthcgirl.bsky.social . More early modern #Pacifichistory, please! 🗃️ open.spotify.com/episode/75hT...

For audiobook fans! The audio edition of my book Pirates and the Making of the Spanish Pacific World is on sale for less than a buck. Great deal! Now you can was the dishes / work out/ doze off while listening.

Grateful to Nino Vallen for reviewing my book in the latest issue of the Hispanic American Historical Review. read.dukeupress.edu/hahr/article...

GLH. Now online! @pedrogargui.bsky.social (@univmalaga.bsky.social, 2024) reviews "Piracy and the Making of the Spanish Pacific World"(@pennpress.bsky.social, 2024) by @thehistoriann.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Y mientras tanto, la verdad se subleva 🤍

Those who think Assad's demise inevitably spells disaster for Syria's Christians should read this @newlinesmag.bsky.social essay by Tony Homsy, a Jesuit priest and the director of the Jesuit Cultural Forum in Homs, reflecting on the dawn of a new era in his country. newlinesmag.com/first-person...

Depressing, not surprising

Ironically, this article about a university calling out the unsustainable of super expensive-for-universities and extremely profitable academic journal publishing platforms is pay-walled

Last min Christmas gift? 40% off Pirates and the Making of the Spanish Pacific World and other @PennPress titles. Use the code PENN-HOLIDAY24 through December 31 www.pennpress.org/978151282574....

Saturday. Baby woke at 6am. Big kids had their taekwondo classes. Then I had to feed them again, take them to swimming class, then a 5yo birthday party. Just put baby to sleep. I’m spent.

Thanks for the generous review

I'd managed to miss that @rnshiplosses.bsky.social had made its way over here - if you're into #NavalHistory, I recommend a follow (and I'll be sure to make sure their posts make the Naval History feed going forward).

The “Heart Book” from c.1550 is a collection of 83 Danish love ballads collected at the court of King Christian III. It is the oldest known Danish manuscript of its kind, and an early example of the heart being used to signify romantic love. #skystorians

Tune in to this episode of Not Just The Tudors to learn more about pirates and empire the Pacific world eu1.hubs.ly/H0fkds00 @history-hit.bsky.social

Late next year I’m taking 18 undergraduates to Manila in the study abroad trip of a lifetime. Can’t wait!

Opportunity for UK and Germany-based / affiliated scholars

🎶 They're writing murder ballads for the UHC CEO 🎶

Interested in researching migration and refugee narratives? This online research training session will introduce participants to a wealth of resources and is free to attend. 🗓 20 March 2025 🕰 14:00-15:30 BST 🖥 Online Register today via: www.history.ac.uk/events/resea...

A great day coming up at the conference for the National Committee for Information Resources on Asia, hosted by @britishlibrary.bsky.social We have giant cookies 🍪 and lots of collections to share!

50% of my book and lots of other good reads!

This, my friends. This.

How are you this morning?

I am not a Trump fan but you can’t blame him for everything!

Another review of Pirates and the Making of the Spanish Pacific World.

So happy to be working in a team with these rockstar historians to write a history of many empires in Micronesia, thinking about the and ruptures across Spanish, German, Japanese, and US colonialism in the Pacific. Thanks to the Australian Research Council for funding this important project.

A good time to remind people of this book, filled with stellar essays---contribs include @grosenfeld.bsky.social @matthewspecter.bsky.social @notoriousrsg.bsky.social @areidross.bsky.social @annaduensing.bsky.social @milleridriss.bsky.social @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social @cambridgeup.bsky.social

The key sentence for me was “What I don’t get is historians, of all people, thinking that just because a system works a certain way, this is the way it has to work. “

lol that this is a headline.