I'll be back in Cambridge, MA next Monday to talk at MIT. I'll get into how "ancient trepanation" or cranial surgery was given an existence via 19th and 20th century "ancient Peruvian" and "Inca" examples, and the political stakes of it becoming "Andean." history.mit.edu/.../trepanni...

So honored by this review by Marco Avilés of Empires of the Dead in El País: "Through Inca mummies, Heaney unravels colonization, capitalism and the birth of anthropology, revealing the impacts of pre-Hispanic ancestors on the living." english.elpais.com/culture/2024...

I'll be in Boston/Cambridge Tuesday to talk at Harvard (CGIS South, S-050, at 5:15 on Tuesday) about how to remember the entangled history of American and Peruvian anthropology, and accounting for its remains. Looking forward to the conversation.

I'm sitting with the contrast between this great stat on NAGPRA's acceleration and the incredible news that Penn "repatriated" 19 Black Philadelphians collected by Samuel George Morton by secretly burying them. 1/ propublica.org/article/sena...

Current reading: @chrheaney.bsky.social excellent new book 'Empires of the Dead: Inca Mummies and the Peruvian Ancestors of American Anthropology'. To say I'm enjoying it is an understatement.

There will be an online feed. Interested in the history of archaeology and medicine in the Andes and Americas? : www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEpE...

Thrilled to be giving the public lecture tonight on the 3 burials of Julio César Tello at the annual meeting of the Institute of Andean Studies. In the Bay Area? Dwinelle 145, on Cal’s campus in Berkeley at 7!

If you're at #aha24 check out Empires of the Dead at Oxford University Press's table! Charmed to see it on the banner. @ahahistorians.bsky.social

Lots of good stuff in the Xmas @londonreview.bsky.social. My favourites: @jamesmeek.bsky.social on Peter Biskind on TV's recent golden age. Colin Kidd on Claire Rydell on America on John Locke. @artcrimeprof.bsky.social on @chrheaney.bsky.social on Incan mummies. 1/2

In addition to punching Nazis and working behind enemy lines in WWII, Jack Kirby was the 'Argo' artist. He drew the concept art for 'Lord of Light', the fake science fiction film that helped the CIA rescue the Tehran hostages in 1976. Kirby did not phone that shit in. You can find it all online.

Thanks to those in the replies who pointed out that Lego seems to swooping in on a tellurium (h/t, @rhiggitt.bsky.social) that already exists! a.co/d/fDdkfGh

Lego is a Danish company, right? Release the 38,291-piece Tychonic geoheliocentric version, you unpatriotic cowards!

L: Joseph Wright of Derby, A Philosopher Lecturing on an #Orrery (1766) R: LEGO System A/S of Billund, An Aspiring Philosopher Demonstrating a Tellurium (As @rhiggitt.bsky.social notes, an orrery features the entire solar system) #histsci #histSTM #sciart #astronomy #STEM #LEGO 📜🗃️🔭

We'd call it a tellurium rather than an orrery (focus on the earth-sun system rather than solar system)

Calling all historians of science -- Lego is releasing what's basically a orrery: www.lego.com/en-us/produc...

In World History since 1500 this Fall I had students do a graphic history project in place of a final! One-page comics, based on primary and secondary sources. We even printed a compilation! Here's my fave on the Haitian Revolution, by Nicholas Bobinski (who gave me permission to share it).

Happy early solstice! The first review of Empires of the Dead is in, and I'm so honored that it's by the great @artcrimeprof.bsky.social for the @londonreview.bsky.social!

Happy early solstice! The first review of Empires of the Dead is in, and I'm so honored that it's by the great @artcrimeprof.bsky.social for the @londonreview.bsky.social!

A year from now, I’ll be releasing a book about the first center for #transgender rights, surgery, support—1918-1933. It follows the story of trans pioneer Dora Richter, her Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, and the fight against Nazi oppression. The fight continues: www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

Feeling grateful for the amazing audience for my book at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia on Monday—especially the Peruvian doctors who came out to hear about the recognition of pre-Hispanic Andean surgery. Also, the 1st time my work was advertised in a bathroom stall. Achievement unlocked!

The CHSTM community of historians of science has been so important for my work. I'm excited to be talking online today (Thursday, Dec.7, 12pm EST) about the writing of Empires of the Dead, and Peruvian mummies and museums, with its wonderful working group on Latin America: chstm.org/latin-america

Next Monday in Philadelphia, I'll be talking on the history of Andean medicine, anthropology and the collection of Inca and Peruvian ancestors at the Mütter Museum. See you there?

On Dec. 11 I'll be speaking at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia on Inca and Andean trepanation and the collection of ancestral remains from Peru in America's museums. Am grateful for the opportunity. Philadelphia folks, see you there? muttermuseum.org/events/heali...

On Dec. 11 I'll be speaking at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia on Inca and Andean trepanation and the collection of ancestral remains from Peru in America's museums. Am grateful for the opportunity. Philadelphia folks, see you there? muttermuseum.org/events/heali...

Day 2 of #HSS23 is upon us, starting with the History of Science and Knowledge in Latin America Forum at 9am, which will honor Lydia Crafts and Diana Montaño, and feature a roundtable with Marcos Cueto, Gabriela Soto Laveaga, and Diana Heredía. Come! 1/ t.co/G9N22VKdHO

Very excited for this one!

Panels for #HSS23 start today. See the googledoc round up below, but here's also a quick thread on ones of interest for Latin Americanists -- if I miss one, please add it! 1/

Hello, #histsci and#histSTM crew! Going to #HSS23 and want that good work on the Latin American history of science, knowledge, technology and medicine? Our interest Forum has a roundup. Make sure to check out our sponsored panel and business meeting Friday! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Have a car trip ahead? This is wild to type, but Empires of the Dead is now an audiobook, read by the great Christian Barillas of Modern Family. I'm honored. You can listen to how Inca mummies became the Peruvian ancestors of anthropology here: www.audible.com/pd/Empires-o...

I love Pasts Imperfect (and appreciate the shout-put to my work in this one). But the real draw is the great essay taking down the misuse of stoicism by techbros.

How did colonialism and science turn Andean ancestors into the "mummies" and skulls of American museums? I really appreciated having this conversation on Empires of the Dead with the wonderful Babak Ashrafi at Consortium for History of Science, Technology, and Medicine: www.chstm.org/video/171

when your boss has never actually been to the office:

Thanks to @alisabokulich.bsky.social I'm now on this app. Historian of science and medicine. I do postcolonial science studies, as well. Last Book is Difference and Disease: Medicine, Race, and the 18th C British Empire.

Why did José de San Martín send the British Museum an "Inca mummy"? I wrote on the export of ancient Peruvian bodies and skulls to Europe in the 19th century for History Today. CW: human remains. Let me know if you need a PDF! www.historytoday.com/archive/feat...

I had a good conversation about Pachacuti, the Incas, Machu Picchu, and my new book about the collection of the Andean dead with Patrick Garvey on his Ancient Heroes podcast : soundcloud.com/ancient-hero...

Anthropology, 2023: sending two early human fossils into the edge of space is unethical. Anthropology, 1965: displaying 160 "ancient Peruvian" skulls to represent the "explosion" of humanity from Christ to "The Space Age" is reasonable. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202... #histsci #bioethics 🏺

A figure that is half smartly dressed gentleman and half skeleton stands between life and death in this image by Robert Dighton. On one side are the trappings of life and on the other a tomb inscribed with messages about the fragility of life 🗃️ #c18th

Thrilled to get a copy of @chrheaney.bsky.social's gorgeous new book Empires of the Dead which reveals how Andean peoples have learned from their ancestors & how debates over Indigenous remains sit at the crux of knowledge and nationhood. global.oup.com/academic/pro... Just Look at that cover!

Teaching the encounter between Moctezuma and Cortés on Wednesday, and this gorgeous 3D simulation of Tenochtitland couldn't have come at a better time. Brought tears to my eyes: tenochtitlan.thomaskole.nl?fbclid=IwAR3...

Timely + good opinion piece by @chrheaney.bsky.social: “Why we need to address the Peruvian skeletons in the Smithsonian’s closet” wapo.st/3sAH81v

Adding tags to boost to Philosophy of Science feed= #philsci History of Science feed = #histsci bioethics feed = #bioethics & Anthropology/Archaeology feed = 🏺 #ScientificRacism

There are more Andean human remains in the Smithsonian than any other population. Why? Because Peru’s state let them leave—but Peruvian scholars also mobilized them against scientific racism. My new essay for @washingtonpost.com opens that history: www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

a panel from my upcoming graphic novel MILES DAVIS & THE SEARCH FOR THE SOUND written, drawn, colored, and lettered by me created in cooperation with the Miles Davis estate published by Z2 Comics dropping everywhere in November

Excited to start making the jump - who's talking about history of science, and Latin American history, on here? (Also, comics!)

Excellent WaPo article on the mind-boggling collection of 250+ human brains, mostly Indigenous, at the Smithsonian assembled by and for Ales Hrdlicka, the museum's long-time anthropology curator, by (in almost all cases) seizing them w/o permission from the recently dead. (1/7)