I hope they're planning to subsidise student rail fares - that's an intimidating commute!

Last week I presented my PhD research to a packed room at the 50th British Association for #JapaneseStudies conference. The panel I convened on "Imperial heritage today and tomorrow" went down a treat with many pertinent questions from an engaged audience of scholars across the disciplinary spectrum

It's great to be back! As part of an ongoing retrospective project on WWII at Sainsbury Institute (SISJAC), I produced a special episode of #BeyondJapan, interviewing Mary-Grace Browning on post-war reconciliation through their Pacific Venture programme. Have a listen and share your thoughts!

On Sunday I joined a reconciliation Evensong at Westminster Abbey to commemorate the 80 years since the end of WWII. With the Japanese ambassador in attendance, it was a sombre yet reassuring occasion indicating willingness at the highest level to heal past wounds.

Hello, my book will be out in just one month! I don't really want to do a book launch, can I just have a normal party instead?

💥”Lady Thangam Debbonaire said the statue commemorating Robert Clive’s bloody establishment of British rule presented the UK in a poor light and was historically inaccurate” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Obviously a lie, since the definition of PhD-level expertise, standard across universities worldwide, is that you can produce original knowledge.

A Poster advertising public libraries Painting: Harvey Dunn. 1923. #Libraries #Art

Bit of #BlueSkyWriting this fine July Friday "Wont To Do" So I thought I'd write a poem, But that won't get me knowledge, And that won't get me a degree, But that won't get me money, And that won't get me a degree, But that won't get me knowledge, So I thought I'd write a poem. #poem #poetry

Excellent article from David Wengrow. Given how much the far right and white supremacists have co-opted history and prehistory, as well as "race science", this should be required reading for anyone interested in how we combat fascism seeping its vile way into perceptions of the archaeological past.

Hey there #Skystorians! Looking for more great people to populate your feed? Eager for more history in your social media timeline? Don’t forget to check out the AskHistorians Starter Pack! A collection featuring the mods, flairs, friends & contributors that make up the community!

Sign up now for this free webinar on heritage crime and maritime heritage. Monday 30 June 12-2pm. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/heritage-c... #MaritimeHistory #MaritimeArchaeology

The second point here nails why generative so-called AI cannot replace human translation. Cheapskate publishers are trying to, even so, offering skilled translators copy edit rates to 'tidy up' machine translation which ends up as more work than starting from scratch. Readers, please reject this.

After having recently debated with fellow Cambridge Heritage Research Centre PhDs about the need for historians and heritage experts to work together, I had the great pleasure of attending and presenting at King's College London's 'Second World War 80 Years On' conference. 1/7

The toppling of Colston's statue was a pivotal moment in public discourse on British colonialism. Eleanor's article is an excellent and inspiring story of how dissonant heritage can be recontextualised to better reflect public sentiment today. www.historyworkshop.org.uk/museums-arch...

Anyone else think this is a strange choice of approach to public engagement? I can think of plenty of other ways to commemorate this event for the whole community without involving descent

It's been a productive month - two journal articles finished and submitted for review! One discusses how semiotic markers of war, e.g. the Nanjing Massacre, elicit different responses from different language communities based on their prior knowledge.

Out this morning & Open Access! 📢 My new article in Public Archaeology on the entanglement of archaeology, the far right and ancient genetic studies, using the British National Party as a case study: ‘In Our Blood’: Archaeology and ‘Indigeneity’ in the British National Party’s Magazine Identity'

Very excited to take my research methodology to the intranational level, looking at imperial Japanese heritage sites in Korea and what they mean to locals today. Read more below!

I’m giving a talk about my work on the use of archaeological themes and misuse of ancient DNA evidence by the far right on 12th June, please join us! The event is free, online & part of ARFA, an important resistance to extremist appropriation of the past

Come and Inspect Yorkshire!

Hello! We are Archaeologists Resisting Far-Right Appropriation (ARFA for short). You can learn more about us at our website here: archaeologistsrfa.wordpress.com Watch this space for blog posts, events, and commentary on the co-option and misuse of heritage in the near future.

Currently doing some reading on #peace/ #violence studies for an upcoming article, and I can't get over this table from Johan Galtung's paper on cultural violence (1990). Cuts through a lot of hostile online rhetoric today. Which row do you encounter most often?

How it feels getting an article published after #Reviewer2 is done with you

It was great to be back in #Norwich with @sisjac.bsky.social last week to present at their Interdisciplinary Japanese Studies Students' Conference. I shared my work on unpacking dissonance at conflict heritage sites at an engaging WWII reconciliation workshop along with Prof Ben Raffield.

On Aaron Swartz: “He stood for freedom of access to information, especially for scientific research — things the public had already paid for.” - Lisa Rein, co-founder of @creativecommons.bsky.social sfstandard.com/2025/02/08/a...

A very good article in The Times (not behind a paywall) about proposals to end language degrees at Cardiff University. www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/card...

Looks like America's going to be quiet on the cultural heritage front for the next four years. Also, it says an awful lot about your administration when you have to ban the word "antiracist"

👩‍🎓Last week, SAAH's Prof. Ruth Harris co-convened an international symposium in Jaffna, Sri Lanka on 'Rethinking Heritage: Conflict, reconciliation and agency'. The event discussed how heritage is used in post-conflict situations & how to address nationalist agendas in heritage. #heritage #srilanka

🚨JOB ALERT🚨 Work with us! Fixed-term (12 months FTE) Lecturer in Heritage with research time! 🔗 elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid... ⏰ 26th Feb 2025 #heritage #job #EdinArch #archaeology #Edinburgh #academicjob #lecturer @hcaatedinburgh.bsky.social

The DESTRUCTION OF THE HUMANITIES at Cardiff University Management seems to think that Humanities scholars don't know how to read statistics Diving into their proposals shows how they are trying to hide the true extent of damage to Humanities disciplines here /1

I know how tough it is out there, but we do have a fully funded PhD scholarship available here at CCCU, with a UKRI-linked stipend and great staff to support you. If you want to pursue a PhD in History, Archaeology, or Heritage; consider applying. We're a friendly bunch and Canterbury is lovely. 🗃️

Hey all, this Friday (noon CST/6pm GMT) I'll be giving an online lecture for Northwestern University's Global Antiquities Group on my research and public engagement about Atlantis pseudoarchaeology If you are interested in attending, register here: northwestern.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Devastating for scientists and their research, and everyone who benefits from that research. I’m not sure if everyone outside academia is aware that a delay or “pause” in grant funding often means the researchers themselves are lost from the field, along with their expertise.

A #poem for trying times

huh...

I don't know why I waited as long as I did, but seeing its owner throw an unmistakable Nazi salute was the clincher. So glad that the global town square is being rebuilt here. I hope it lasts longer as a space for kind yet critical thought, and remains intolerant of intolerance.

My new book has arrived!

I can't believe there is a threat to Japanese at Sheffield University. Please take the time to read and sign this petition. www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/sh... #Japan #JapaneseStudies #JapaneseLanguage

So sad to hear my undergraduate department, the School for East Asian Studies at Sheffield University, is being targeted for cuts. It's a top dept in Japanese Studies, providing specialist knowledge rarely available at such quality. Please consider signing: www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/sh...

Just submitted an abstract to the WWII Research Group at KCL for their conference next summer on the 80th anniversary of the conflict's end. Hoping to bring Japan's war heritage into the European conversation! One week left to submit if it's up your street: www.swwresearch.com/post/the-sec...

'Japan will hold first memorial for "all workers" at Sado gold mines but blurs WWII atrocity' AP News apnews.com/article/japa...

An amazing resource for researching/teaching about the Japanese Empire. I collaborated on the essay below with one of @sayakachatani.bsky.social's NUS students, who did a fantastic job translating this tale of a female smuggler on the colonial Yalu River border. japaneseempire.info/secret-story...

Interested to learn about the Indigenous Peoples of the Southern Caribbean? You can read about this topic in my chapter in the "The Dutch Caribbean Gender Studies Handbook" (2024) brill.com/display/book... and learn more at the website Gentedemar.org a project I co-lead with @fidelrodv.bsky.social

[chef's kiss] get a load of this fence

planning committee decision on the new Colston plinth plaque wording in Bristol expected today www.bbc.com/news/article...

Trade offer: we both receive friendship Pls help our feed is so bare. Who should we be following? 👀

Cardiff Japanese Webinar: Dogen Returns – Comedy, Culture, and Japanese Language #Japan #Japanese #JapaneseLanguage #Dogen #Comedy #Culture #JapaneseCulture #Language #LanguageLearning hoodcp.wordpress.com/2024/11/01/c...

Delighted to have presented some early fieldwork findings at yesterday's #RootsRevived24 conference, even more so to have been given the Sir Geoff Palmer award for best young scholar presentation. Looking forward to my next visit to @edinburghnapier.bsky.social! Photos c/o Shemroy Roberts