- 400 jobs to go at Lancaster University - 1 in 4 people will be made redundant But where's the financial evidence for this extreme action? Please read 👇 Sign the petition 👇 chng.it/7F52bThYqn

First published in 2016, and read by me since then on a regular basis, I feel it's time for @academicdiary.bsky.social important #AcademicDiary again Academic Diary - Les Back | Goldsmiths Press share.google/GDd3fj4SL2rN...

“You know The Blues is hard to get acquainted with like death… the Blues will dwell with you every day and everywhere.” Lightnin Hopkins … glad to have written this piece. Feels like so true today. www.everythingjazz.com/story/john-l...

With my dear friend Michael Keith this week in Wapping. When we worked together at Goldsmiths I always thought we were like the academic Odd Couple! He was Jack Lemon though, the good looking one. Still the sharpest of minds. He almost smiles too 😘

Only read one thing on your phone today trans friends & make it this. Ruth’s writing is a gift & this essay is a little parcel of hope & possibility (wrapped in a bow of grief because it’s still a trans essay). I read it on my phone & now I’m putting my phone down. Think about how we create together

Found this in my favourite independent book shop in South London congratulations, Alice. 👏👏👏 @uofgsociology.bsky.social

'Good Muslims, good citizens? An #intersectional approach to Muslims’ everyday (hidden) resistance tactics in Belgium' From #Identities' latest Special Issue, by Samira Azabar Read with #OpenAccess: doi.org/10.1080/1070...#intersectional#Identities'#OpenAccess:nasarmeer.bsky.social @aaronwinter.bsky.social #PoliticalParticipation

So pleased to speak at this celebration of Michael Bull’s work in Lewes this week. Suitably it was in a local jazz venue with Bird and Monk blasting out. Michael mention a teacher had described him as an “academic dabbler” the highest possible form of praise in my mind.

UK academic hivemind: if your uni has a workload points allocation system that distinguishes “research” from other activities, does it have a formula for accounting for UKRI-type %FTE project funding? Eg if funded 0.5 on a project, would you expect to see exactly 50% of yr “points” under “research”?

There's always something good to read in the @thesociologicalreview.org magazine...

Glen Arbor, Michigan “The rustling of the trees keeps changing into words I almost understand.” ~ W.H. Auden #michigan #puremichigan #sleepingbeardunes #midwest #midwestliving #landscape #photography #nature #fall #autumncolors #fallcolors

Here's something to get us through the middle of the week... a lovely reflection on the life and music of Ray Charles from our own @academicdiary.bsky.social

“Ray & Quincy would play pop from 7-10pm in the white tennis clubs, then go to the black clubs and play rhythm & blues. At 2am they’d meet at the Elks Club, tear off their ties & play bebop for nothing.” @academicdiary.bsky.social on the genius of Ray Charles www.everythingjazz.com/story/ray-ch...

Something new to celebrate Ray Charles, who would have been 95 today - Genius + soul + jazz www.everythingjazz.com/story/ray-ch...

The heart of New Cross, South London - Rose’s kitchen. The food always looks like Caribbean Crown Jewels. Bumped into old friends but sadly Rose wasn’t there.

Congratulations Dr Phavine Phung who was awarded her PhD today on quilting migration stories. Her exhibition is on in the Kingsway Corridor, Goldsmiths, New Cross, London

Back in New Cross, south London today to examine a PhD at Goldsmith passing Cummin Up take away this morning and the smoke of Jerk on the BBQ… the scent of home. ❤️

STEWART: “Comedy doesn’t change the world, but it’s a bellwether— we’re the banana peel in the coal mine… authoritarians are the threat to comedy, music, art, thought… progress.” Nailed it.

We are excited to announce the launch of #lessonplans tied to our #Uncommonsense #podcast. Each highlights relevant AQA & Cambridge OCR modules, and shares recommended reading. You can find all episodes listed in this news story, here. Engage! Enjoy! Share! thesociologicalreview.org/announcement...

Wonderful surprise to hear from a friend that this student powerful radio project by former Goldsmiths student Magdalena Moursy was broadcast on Radio 4 yesterday. Always say ‘yes’ to students because they are the makers and shakers of tomorrow www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Brilliant resources for teaching and thinking on a huge range of topics from the Uncommon Sense Podacast and @thesociologicalreview.org. With contributions from our own @academicdiary.bsky.social and @kirsteen-paton.bsky.social

Amazing resource with contributions from my @uofglasgow.bsky.social colleagues @kirsteen-paton.bsky.social and @academicdiary.bsky.social

Saw this at the Citizens Theatre tonight in Glasgow. A show about the Lockerbie bombing on 21st December, 1988, and the acts of love practiced by the local community to hold the belongings of the victims dear. Makes me very proud to be living in Scotland. Dealing with loss is what makes us human.

BB King would have been 100 years old this week. Write this tribute after he passed. A giant of the blues but also as a person. www.theoryculturesociety.org/blog/les-bac...

Govan Community Project are hosting a comedy night to raise funds for their excellent work - it takes places at The Stand Comedy Club on the 8th October. Details below...

Love this Jackie Kay Plaza at Uni of Strathclyde - getting it right. Thinking spaces that include thinkers

Q: Attending the @britsoci.bsky.social conference? Q: Feeling sociologically quizzical? Q: Fancy a battle of wits? If you answered YES to all three, why not join us on 23 April for Untaken-for-Granted? 🎟️ buff.ly/xSLAoqe @manchester_university_press @manmetcrimsoc @officialuom sociology

Get your words' worth! Apply by 1 September to join Strictly Come Writing, the Sociological Review Foundation's annual funded writing retreat for early career researchers. Join us in beautiful rural Wales for the time, space & facilitation you need to get that chapter/paper done. buff.ly/HGegMPZ

Thanks to all the @ucu.org.uk branches supporting us today and this week! Here's a link to our hardship fund -- solidarity donations appreciated! www.ucuedinburgh.org.uk/hff-fundrais...

OUT TODAY: @alimeghji.bsky.social on social struggles & sociological perspectives, research insights on chicken shops & beedi-makers, Alice Bloch on podcasting, Journal editors on peer review, #Alevelsociology resources + much more. ➡️ The Sociological Review magazine Sept issue buff.ly/5crknOP

The end of the rainbow in Glasgow 💚💚💚💚

OUT NOW: The Sociological Review journal 73.5, featuring 13 new papers (11 #openaccess). 💡 Includes a Special Section on the ideas and impact of @academicdiary.bsky.social and Nirmal Puwar’s Live Methods, published in 2012 as part of our monograph series. buff.ly/bJQXWs6 @journals.sagepub.com

Also, thank you @robinjsmith.bsky.social, who said we need to hear more about tattooing practices - and @thesociologicalreview.org for funding this pilot study.

New from The #Identities Podcast! Episode 7: On The Unfinished Politics of Race With Les Back, John Solomos, Michael Keith, Anya Ahmed & Trishauna Stewart open.spotify.com/epi...#Identities @academicdiary.bsky.social @baggieyiannis.bsky.social @nasarmeer.bsky.social @uofgsps.bsky.social

“Live Methods made an important intervention into how sociological research methods are practised, understood & written about.” @kirsteen-paton.bsky.social‬ @emmakjackson.bsky.social‬ introduce a journal Special Section on @academicdiary.bsky.social & Nirmal Puwar’s Live Methods. buff.ly/S2TR4F2

This has been a long time in the making (understatement!). Massive thanks to @academicdiary.bsky.social @saranahmed.bsky.social, Alice Bloch, Tia DeNora, @sophierwoodward.bsky.social and @amychandler.bsky.social for guiding our thinking. Thank you also to @rosedwards.bsky.social for the support.

#ICYMI: Writing About Activists, our recent Conversations series event chaired by @academicdiary.bsky.social and featuring scholars Hannah Ishmael, John Narayan and A.S. Francis. 🎥 VIDEO buff.ly/o11njAN 🎧 Listen to our new #podcast mini-series Sideways Sociology: UK Anti-Racism buff.ly/EUCdEHZ

Wonderful surprise to hear from a friend that this student powerful radio project by former Goldsmiths student Magdalena Moursy was broadcast on Radio 4 yesterday. Always say ‘yes’ to students because they are the makers and shakers of tomorrow www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Here's something a bit special and a bit different - with thanks to @awtsn.bsky.social for facilitating these exciting engagements, and featuring @mindyptolomey.bsky.social, @academicdiary.bsky.social, @kenglish.bsky.social, @erdemavsar.bsky.social, @harveyhumphrey.bsky.social and more...

Would you like to read a special @uofgsociology.bsky.social edition of the So Fi Zine wonderfully curated by @awtsn.bsky.social and featuring @mindyptolomey.bsky.social @academicdiary.bsky.social @kenglish.bsky.social @erdemavsar.bsky.social and more (& me)? Thought so: sofizine.com/latest-editi...

The new special edition of So Fi Zine is live! A beautiful collection of sociological fiction - HUGE thanks to the legend that is Ash @awtsn.bsky.social for making this possible and including my piece, and to everyone involved. Read here: sofizine.com/latest-editi...

Vibes-based methods Something new from me: people are (still) using ‘vibes’ to talk about generative ambiguities and this says something interesting about social life and social research. Here I look across conceptual trends to consider why vibes are the vibe journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

It’s not too late to get abstracts in for the BSA conference next year…

Abstract submissions are now invited for the BSA’s 75th anniversary conference, 8-10 April 2026, University of Edinburgh. Take part in ‘75 Years of Sociology’ – a fixture in the sociological calendar unlike any other. Submission deadline: 3 October 2025 tinyurl.com/23sjk4nh #sociology

Our next #IdentitiesEvent is open for registration! 'Race, Gender and Misogynoir Stereotypes within the Constructions of Digital Women Footballers​' @uofgsociology.bsky.social @uofgsps.bsky.social @uofgsocsci.bsky.social @nasarmeer.bsky.social @aaronwinter.bsky.social www.eventbrite.co.uk...

Thinking about the possibility of setting up a sociologically informed podcast? Here's a chance to get some guidance about how best to go about doing that, thanks to @thesociologicalreview.org

#ICYMI: What’s love got to do with research? In the latest #UncommonSense #podcast episode on #CHILDHOOD, Brenda Herbert, our Sociological Review Fellow 2024–25, explains how Black feminism shows us the value of working with love, rather than simply studying it. Listen: buff.ly/INGMkf6

For anyone interested in thinking about how we might bring together the literary and sociological imaginations, here's something special from @theoryculturesociety.org: a reprint of a striking sociological fairy tale from Georg Simmel.

"Caspar wore his skills lightly" Indeed he did Les.