Joshua Shaw

Historian of eugenics here. I don't normally like to retweet bad arguments, but this is such a fundamental misunderstanding of eugenics, I think it's important to point out. I don't have time to debunk all of the ways this is inaccurate, but I'll highlight a few things and then recommend some books🧵

The legal somatics of body bequests before the Anatomy Act 1832 Without the authority of legislation in the United Kingdom, some bequeathed their bodies to physicians, surgeons and apothecaries to dissect and create anatomical specimens in the eighteenth and ea...

My latest article, “The Legal Somatics of Body Bequests Before the Anatomy Act 1832”, is published in Mortality, an interdisciplinary journal on death and dying. In the article, I analyze the medico-legal history of 18th- and 19th-century body bequests in England and Ireland. doi.org/10.1080/1357...

This is Mr. Paworotti. His favorite Christmas song is Howl-lelujah. If you'll excuse him, his solo is coming up. 13/10 (TT: therealpaworotti)

Criminalising ‘Conversion Therapy’ An increasing number of jurisdictions have introduced legal bans on so-called ‘conversion therapy’ practices. Yet significant uncertainty and disagreement persist among legal scholars, policymakers a...

There is growing consensus that so-called 'conversion therapy' practices are harmful and must be banned.

But which legal mechanisms should be used to do this?

My article (with Stuart Goosey), Criminalising “Conversion Therapy”, published in the MLR, takes up this urgent question shorturl.at/AHkfb

Susie Silvestri had to travel to a hospital in the U.S. because her American insurance wouldn't cover the cost of the feeding tube that she needed in Canada.

American ALS patient died alone after paying $84K US in pursuit of healing at controversial Sask. facility www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀 ⇢ CanadaHealthwatch.ca 🍁

A man smiles whilst holding a small dog who is wearing a festive collar.

First term of teaching at @usask.ca done. In holiday/book writing mode for the rest of the month. 🎅🏼

Pretty sure the Medical Profession Act 1981 does not authorize the College to discipline a non-member. The government needs to lay information and prosecute an offence under the Medical Profession Act 1981.

Yes, in my classes I've shifted a lot to in-class writing (critical analyses, tests). The one 'take home' assignment I kept is the traditional research paper, but with added elements (including documenting step-by-step how research sources were found) to try to mitigate AI use.

I do not like that universities feel the need to “brand” themselves. Find your “identity” as a department, they say. Revise your “mission.” I believe our mission is advancing knowledge in all areas. That hasn’t changed in a thousand years.

“The [Saskatchewan] government acknowledged to CBC that there seems to be some confusion on [the] point [of who prosecutes offences under the Medical Profession Act 1981], promising a review ‘to ensure there is clarity on who enforces the Act.’”

The Crown. Pretty sure the Crown prosecutes offences.

American ALS patient died alone after paying $84K US in pursuit of healing at controversial Sask. facility | CBC News A 70-year-old American ALS patient came to Saskatchewan chasing the promise of healing offered by the Dr. Goodenowe Restorative Health Center in Moose Jaw, Sask. But former Goodenowe employees say tha...

Maddening more hasn't been done to stop this exploitive clinic that markets unproven BS.

American ALS patient died alone after paying $84K US in pursuit of healing at controversial Sask. facility www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Supplements to cure ALS? Feels criminal.

Indigenous scholars say Thomas King case 'shockingly similar' to others falsely claiming ancestry | CBC News After another respected name in Indigenous arts and culture was  revealed to not have Indigenous ancestry , some scholars say it’s time to examine the Canadian institutions that have helped these peop...

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

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46 needs to get a life! Miss you, too!

A bespectacled man sits back on a couch with a small Yorkshire Terrier nestled in the crook of his arm. The dog is fast asleep.

Prudence is thrilled that I’m working from home today.

Law, Drugs, and the Moving Body By Kate Seear, Maria Federica Moscati, Sean Mulcahy, and Alejandra ZuluagaKeywords: drugs, movement, dance, socio-legal studies‘Law, Drugs, and the Moving Body’ was a seminar held as a satellite event...

Check out the latest SLSA Blog post! ‘Law, Drugs, and the Moving Body’ by Kate Seear, Maria Federica Moscati, Sean Mulcahy, and Alejandra Zuluaga

www.slsa.ac.uk/post/law-dru...

If anyone has successfully explained to a STEM boss that, no actually humanities scholars don't need a team of postdocs to collect all the data for them & write their papers & it's completely normal to just... do all your work mostly by yourself with some peer insight & feedback, lmk what you said.

The @royalhistsoc.org is running a charitable donation campaign to fund the research of historians who lack support. The number of applications we're seeing is way up. I've been very lucky to have a career as a historian, I've donated, and I think this Christmas you should too. Pay it forward.

one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.

Oh coooool look @joshuashaw.bsky.social has published his piece on body bequests prior to the Anatomy Act of 1832 and I know from when he presented it at KLS that this is absolutely fascinating stuff www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

1/9 I LOVE the intro chapter of this book on close reading. We do close reading in law, too. It shows concretely how close reading is done, in 5 steps: scene setting, noticing, local claiming, regional argumentation and global theorizing.

The full final cover is in and I would just like to draw your attention to that slim elegant spine - you will be able to get through this bad boy over the course of a medium-length train journey and arrive at your destination freshly conscious of the alien lifeform that battens on our biosphere

The legal somatics of body bequests before the Anatomy Act 1832 Without the authority of legislation in the United Kingdom, some bequeathed their bodies to physicians, surgeons and apothecaries to dissect and create anatomical specimens in the eighteenth and ea...

The first 50 users can download a free eprint: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/XZBYG...

My research was possible because of a small research grant from the @slsauk.bsky.social in 2024, when I was working in England. This reflects the first step in my new research program on the theory and history of exceptional uses of the dead body and biomaterials in English and Canadian common law.

By such bequests, individuals gifted their corpses to “medical men” for the purpose of dissection or experimentation. Their bequests often formed part of explicit efforts at law reform, using representations of the beautiful, useful body to institute a different way of legally relating to the dead.

The legal somatics of body bequests before the Anatomy Act 1832 Without the authority of legislation in the United Kingdom, some bequeathed their bodies to physicians, surgeons and apothecaries to dissect and create anatomical specimens in the eighteenth and ea...

My latest article, “The Legal Somatics of Body Bequests Before the Anatomy Act 1832”, is published in Mortality, an interdisciplinary journal on death and dying. In the article, I analyze the medico-legal history of 18th- and 19th-century body bequests in England and Ireland. doi.org/10.1080/1357...

Oooh I should add that it has attracted this very helpful endorsement quote:

I don't understand how anyone can watch how blatantly Grok is manipulated to answer the way ownership desires it to and then act like the other LLM chatbots couldn't possibly be similarly but less obviously compromised to produce responses in whatever way corporate interests and priorities dictate.

Puberty blockers: why politicians overriding doctors sets a dangerous precedent The government’s ban on puberty blockers undermines clinical expertise and targets trans youth with a policy that lacks evidence, consistency and fairness.

“The voices that matter most – trans young people, their families, the clinicians who work with them and trans health experts in Aotearoa – have been clear: access to puberty blockers is crucial.”

Young trans people need access to transition healthcare. We must listen to them, not to transphobes.

If interested, send an e-mail to me at Joshua.Shaw@usask.ca with an abstract (max 250 words) and a one- page CV, by 31 December 2025. Please indicate if you are already a current member of the CLSA or, if not, whether you are willing to become a member before 30 January 2026.