A final repost for this:

For the evening crowd.

Archaeology’s tools were forged in war: from spy planes to satellites, the line between research and militarisation has always been thin. Benjamin Thomas White (@btwhite.bsky.social) considers the role of Antoine Poidebard in pioneering aerial archaeology.

I’ve heard much about this project as it develops, and it is amazing! A preview of the bigger story here.

From spy planes to satellites, archaeology has long shared a sky with empire. What does that mean for the knowledge it produces? Benjamin Thomas White (@btwhite.bsky.social) considers the colonial history of aerial archaeology.

I've written a piece about the bomber's view of the past: how aerial archaeologists of the Middle East have looked at the region's past through the eyes (and lenses) of people who bomb it in the present. In fact they're sometimes the same people. www.historyworkshop.org.uk/empire-decol...

I've written a piece about the bomber's view of the past: how aerial archaeologists of the Middle East have looked at the region's past through the eyes (and lenses) of people who bomb it in the present. In fact they're sometimes the same people. www.historyworkshop.org.uk/empire-decol...

Aerial archaeology began not in neutral curiosity but in the violence of colonial Syria. Benjamin Thomas White (@btwhite.bsky.social) traces its entanglement with empire.

I think I won't.

A super helpful thread for anyone updating course materials etc ahead of the new academic year.

"As ever, my goal is not to measure fantasy against historical accuracy as some sort of purity test. But rather to challenge us to interrogate the meaning behind the design." This is a FANTASTIC watch. Highly recommend. www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGr5...

Just sharing the “Xtreme endnotes” assignment @parisnoire.bsky.social mentions here in case anyone else finds it helpful as we begin a new academic year. FWIW, it’s a purely analog exercise in an AI-freaky world & my students have never not had fun doing it.✌🏽 www.historians.org/perspectives...

Very few people seem to understand university finances and, distressingly, this includes many academics and most policymakers. This is an attempt to condense the key points you need to know. open.substack.com/pub/profseri...

To my astonishment, my new book Vanished has been shortlisted for the Royal Society’s Trivedi Science Book Prize. Thankful to all the roarsome people who helped make it happen, from the Royal Society and judges to many beloveds. Roaring! 🐯 #Extinction #BookSky #HPS #Skystorians

How can the entangled histories of asylum denial help us to understand the politics of exclusion? Niro Kandasamy on the struggle of Tamil asylum seekers denied entry to Britain. www.historyworkshop....

Some strong history opinions here ⬇️

In the latest bulletin of the Syrian Studies Association there's a report by Michael Provence on the current state of the Syrian national archives. They'll be an important resource for any future Syria, but they're in a precarious state. www.syrianstudiesassociation.org/ssa-bulletin

Thanks to the @financialtimes.com for this lovely review of my book Vanished. ‘The history of extinction, she points out in her dark and persuasive narrative, is bound up with concepts of race, empire and colonisation, and the Darwinian concept that some species are fated to outcompete others.’

Brilliant opportunity, do consider applying!

Join us! We are advertising two part-time, paid Editorial Fellowships at History Workshop in 2025-27. Our fellowships support early career historians to develop expertise in public, radical and digital history & to gain experience of working in an editorial team. www.historyworkshop....

I hear that Macron has been talking about how the UK needs to do more to remove the pull factors of welfare and work in order to stop small boat Channel crossings. This is an analysis which doesn't event flirt with reality. What are the pull factors?

Last repost for this, from over the weekend.

the RHS does a lot of good, democratising work - as far as “UK” academic bodies goes it’s better than most in terms of engaging with us over in Northern Ireland - but… this does not look good.

A powerful blog post from one current Dundee University Humanities PhD student on postgraduate study during a time of huge uncertainty at the university sgsahblog.com/2025/07/03/p... #AcSky

You may be wondering about the winners of this year's Royal Historical Society book and article prizes. The answer, in no particular order, is: Oxford (PhD Cambridge) Oxford (current doctoral candidate) Oxford (current doctoral candidate) St Andrews (PhD Cambridge, MSc Oxford)

"The Nazis... imagined their targets would self-deport. Once the myth of self-deportation collapsed, they turned to more punitive measures. On Tuesday, Noem similarly noted the Everglades camp was meant to frighten immigrants into self-deporting. 'If you don’t,' she said, 'you may end up here.'"

I wrote about how the Everglades experiment fits into the history of concentration camps in the US and abroad, and how it will connect a domestic network of camps to an international one. We’re watching the imposition of a global concentration camp network.

I’m sure this is all excellent and deserving work and nothing against the winners. But I’m just so depressed about ‘pedigree’ and elitism in our field.

Lucky no-one's doing any good research in all those history departments that are sacking people / being shut down, eh

You may be wondering about the winners of this year's Royal Historical Society book and article prizes. The answer, in no particular order, is: Oxford (PhD Cambridge) Oxford (current doctoral candidate) Oxford (current doctoral candidate) St Andrews (PhD Cambridge, MSc Oxford)

Difficult to express how I feel about those in our politics and media who are more concerned about what some rapper said at Glastonbury than fact that, as a matter of deliberate policy, the Israeli government is paying mercenaries to murder starving civilians for fun. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

There is a PhD scholarship on offer for someone to come and work on Asterix, with me, at Monash: careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...

I’m thrilled to finally share my article on citizenship, caste, and exit control at the time of the India-Pakistan partition out now on first view in Modern Asian Studies: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #skystorians

Happy publication day to the amazing Sadiah Qureshi!

A beautiful crew on @radicalglasgowtour.bsky.social (anti) colonial Glasgow tour! Still a few tickets left if you fancy following in their footsteps on: Friday 6th June 2pm ✨ Sunday 8th June 10:30am ✨ Tours are pay what you can, drop me a line for free tickets. Radical history is for everyone!

Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction by moi (aka Professor Little Shark) is ready to land with a roar! 🦈 Grateful to roarsome David Olusoga, Helen Macdonald, and Olivette Otele for their kind words. 💚 🐯 💙 More info here. www.penguin.co.uk/books/309254... #BookSky #Extinction #HistSci

This new report on the experiences of women in the U.K. asylum system is exceptional. Written by women with Lived Experience of our asylum system, first hand accounts of the harm inflicted on them by government policy. These are the experiences of women in our communities:

OPEN LETTER: HISTORIANS FOR TRANS RIGHTS Are you a historian in the UK or working on UK history fed up at seeing the history of LGBTQIA+ discrimination repeat itself? Sign this open letter to MPs demanding they stand up for trans rights now! Letter: tinyurl.com/879vuver Sign: tinyurl.com/4p7wktrn

I liked Jack Shenker's review of Nick Bano's book in the latest @lrb.co.uk. But I didn't like this bit, which thinks it is celebrating – but is actually belittling – a historic victory for tenants' rights. Let me name Mary Barbour.

Tomorrow (8 May 2025) in Dublin: the annual @ria.ie international affairs conference. 'Reconstructing the Global Order: Imperatives and Possibilities for Cooperation in Turbulent Times' Browse the programme and grab one of the last remaining tickets here: www.tickettailor.com/events/royal...

Yes, that is what I am, that is what I am doing.

Our response to the recent Supreme Court ruling ‘For Women Scotland Ltd. v. The Scottish Ministers’: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

A reminder of this. Register by this Friday 2 May if you would like to attend! ⬇️

Take a look at this map, from the Fagel Collection at Trinity College Dublin. (A close look.)

Here is a blog post for Refugee History by Helidah Ogude-Chambert: refugeehistory.org/blog/2025/4/...

On 23 May I'm running an archives hackathon on doing global history through the estate archive of the earls and dukes of Argyll, held at Inveraray Castle. It's open to doctoral researchers based at any Scottish institution. Details here! Transport provided. tockify.com/sgsah/detail...

On 23 May I'm running an archives hackathon on doing global history through the estate archive of the earls and dukes of Argyll, held at Inveraray Castle. It's open to doctoral researchers based at any Scottish institution. Details here! Transport provided. tockify.com/sgsah/detail...

Here's a new post on RefugeeHistory.org from Ellie Smith, about residents' clothing at El Shatt refugee camp in the 1940s: refugeehistory.org/blog/2025/3/...

Properly-paid three-year postdoc at University College Dublin: Vietnamese boatpeople in the South China Sea in the 1970s and 1980s €45–58k/year, full time, working on Irial Glynn's ERC project on the global history of boat refugees Deadline soon – Tue, 1 April www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMG724/p...

Definitely worth it. I haven’t written a book but I still received £137 from ALCS today for various magazine pieces and reports.