Gemma McLean-Carr

Deadline is tommorow! We have received so many exciting submissions - we cannot wait to hear all of your papers! 📖✍️

Tomorrow is the deadline for submission to the AHGN Graduate Conference 'Asia in the Global Context', which takes place in May. Full Cfp and link to submit at edin.ac/4082SPJ
#History #Asia #Edinburgh #CFP #Globalhistory @ahgn.bsky.social

Deadline for our 2026 AHGN Graduate Conference is next friday!

🎉 Call for Papers | 2026 Asian Histories Graduate Conference

The Asian Histories Graduate Network invites graduate scholars to submit an abstract for our 2026 conference. We look forward to hearing all your research on the 28th May!

Please use the following link to apply: lnkd.in/eeZsdZeN

UK Heritage Smell Inventory - Smell Heritage UK The research is part of an investigation on the smells that people in the United Kingdom consider meaningful and would like to preserve for the future. The study is led by UCL Institute for Sustainabl...

A piece in the Telegraph today (www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/27e9c89...) that reminds everybody that Cecilia Bembibre and I are interested in the UK smells that YOU might want to preserve for posterity (and you can log them here: smelluk.org/participate/)

I will never tire of reading ordinary people's descriptions of the smells that have defined them. It feels like the most intimate, generous, entry into another person's life. A person unfurls their world and it wraps those wreaths of scent about you both and draws you together.

History Lab Presents "British brute and Benevolence: An Investigation into the use of Colonial Violence and the Mystique of Anti-British Racism During British Imperialism in Relation to the Baptist War (1831-1) and the Morant Bay Rebellion (1865) by Tawana Kunaka. 2nd October, 5.45pm-7pm, online via Zoom. Tawana Kunaka holds a BA in History and Politics from the University of Liverpool. She is now pursuing an MA in Contemporary British History at King’s College London, focusing on the impact of colonialism on Britain and its influence on racialised perceptions of immigrants and non-white Britons. In 2025, she presented at the Lancaster Postgraduate Conference on her paper ‘Stella Dadzie and the Significance of experience on the Black radical tradition’. Tawana’s research seeks to contribute as a progressive force in academia, using historical inquiry not only to understand the past but also to envision more equitable futures.

This research investigates the role of colonial violence and the mystique of British anti-racism in sustaining imperial authority. Popular memory of the British Empire often omits the violence found within the colonial period, instead Britain is often presented as a benevolent power committed to justice and humanitarian progress. By using Perry’s conception of the ‘mystique of British anti-racism’, this study examines how such myths were constructed and maintained despite repeated episodes of colonial brutality.

Our first seminar of the academic year is taking place on Thursday 2nd October! 🤩 Tawana Kunaka will be presenting her research titled British Brute and Benevolence which investigates the role of colonial violence and the mystique of British anti-racism in sustaining imperial authority.

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After a summer break, the SSG is back in business!
To mark off our 4th year together (yay!), we're having a 1-hour Zoom meeting on September 24th 2025 at 4pm CET / 10 AM EDT. Everyone is welcome; we'll chat, share news, and discuss the year ahead!
And it's never too late to join: champ.ly/9Yaemozj

👃✨ The Smell Studies Group (SSG) is back for its 4th year! ✨👃

Are you curious about smell and its connections to culture, research, art, and everyday life? 🌍 Join our welcoming, interdisciplinary community of smell-enthusiasts, researchers, and creatives. 💫

👉 Sign up here: champ.ly/98oJub-x

Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking at the 30th Lancaster Historical Postgraduate Conference (@l-h-p-c.bsky.social), as part of their 'Historicising Urban Experiences' panel.

Thank you so much to the committee who organised such a fantastic conference!

Very excited to speak @l-h-p-c.bsky.social later today as part of their 'Historising Urban Experiences' panel!

The Smell Studies Group now has new ways to stay in touch!
You can find us on Bluesky, LI or IG @smellstudiesgroup.bsky.social
We post on smell and the senses in all disciplines; feel free to tag or DM us with upcoming events, CFPs and publications.
#smellstudies #olfaction #sensorystudies

I had the opportunity to present at the 2025 British Postgraduate China Studies Conference at the University of Glasgow today: “Sniffing China from the West: The Role of Olfactory Prejudice in Shaping Mobility and Diaspora”.
Thank you to the other researchers and organisers, I learnt so much!

I will be speaking at the BCPS Annual conference tomorrow in Glasgow! I will be chatting about Olfactory Sinophobia, diaspora, and identity - Come and ask questions about sniffing the past!

I will also be delivering a paper on Olfactory Sinophobia! Please join if you are in or around London next week; there are some fascinating events scheduled!

I am excited to present at the Oxford International History of East Asia Seminar later today. I will be talking about Opium, Odours, and Olfactory Prejudice in China and London's Chinatown. If interested, please feel free to join!

Realised local libraries have access to audiobook apps - great! But now convinced where books are in a series they don’t stock all of the audiobooks and that this is some kind of conspiracy to give you a taste and then force you to cough up elsewhere for access to the next books in the series 🫠

Patients with long Covid regain sense of smell and taste with pioneering surgery Surgeons believe the technique called functional septorhinoplasty (fSRP) ‘kickstarts’ smell recovery in patients

Smell and surgery, and the latest chapter of Covid and anosmia

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Now that's a way to start a review

(from Mainland et al., 2014; From molecule to mind: an integrative perspective on odor intensity)

Noise, Nostalgia, and the Sound of Beijing’s Peddlers What happens in the process of preserving the 'sounds of old Beijing'? Odila Schröder explores the heritagisation of Beijing's peddler calls.

What happens when we try to preserve the peddlers' calls which made up the soundscape of Peking?

As Odila Schröder writes 'As is the case with most local art forms, the process of heritagisation has fundamentally changed the art form itself'.

www.historyworkshop....

As someone in the middle of their PhD on Smell and Sinophobia in British History, your PhD topic sounds absolutely fascinating. I look forward to reading everything you publish in the future! I am so sorry for the responses you've recieved over the past few days . Congratulations on your PhD! 🎊