Alice Corble

Recommended reading for all those of us working at the technofeudalist coalface of Higher Education...

Empire by Omission by Luxman Brooke N. Newman’s The Crown’s Silence is a book that does not merely revise British history; it indicts it. Written with the precision of an archival historian and...

“Written w/ the precision of an archival historian & the moral urgency of a political intervention, the book dismantles one of the key myths of British national identity: that the monarchy stood above, apart from, or uneasily adjacent to the transatlantic slave trade.” slguardian.org/empire-by-om...

Trans Community and Survival in South Sudan: An Interview with a Trans Refugee [Author’s Note: I have never run an interview on this blog before so this post will be different than my normal personal essays and media analysis. A friend of mine reached out to ask if I wo…

A friend reached out to me to ask if I could help bring attention to the plight of queer and trans refugees in South Sudan and her gofundme for her and her friends whose need for #mutualaid is incredibly urgent. Please share this post and donate to the campaign. Sophie & her friends need your help.

Free Ebooks: Abolish ICE, Abolish the Border In solidarity with all those standing up for our communities against the brutality of immigrant detention and ICE occupation, we're offering free ebooks of three crucial books about migrant justice an...

In solidarity with all those standing up for our communities against the brutality of immigrant detention and ICE occupation, we're offering free ebooks of three crucial books about migrant justice and border abolition.

We’ve also added a list of additional recommended reading:

The false logic of Reeves' statement bears haunting family resemblances to Maggie Thatcher's infamous "there's no such thing as society" (1987) rhetoric. Talk about Blue Labour.

Signatories to the open letter about the Guardian article, in alphabetical order Paola Vargas Arana, Research Associate, History, University of Manchester Desirée Baptiste Independent Scholar and Writer, UK Holly Brewer Burke Professor of American History and Associate Professor, University of Maryland Steve Cushion Senior Research Fellow, UCL Institute of the Americas Nicholas Draper Co-founder, Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave Ownership at UCL Claudius Fergus, Former Head of the Department of History, UWI, Trinidad and Tobago, Independent Scholar Rupert Lewis Professor Emeritus of Political Thought, University of the West Indies, Jamaica Gelien Matthews Head of Department of History. University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago Ian Randle Founder of lan Randle Publishers, the first commercial publishing house in the English-speaking Caribbean to specialize in scholarly books Alvin O. Thompson Professor Emeritus of History, University of the West Indies, Barbados

Signatories to the letter, requesting that the article be removed or amended are mostly older prominent scholars of the Caribbean who are not necessarily on this platform, which is why I agreed to share it. The concern was that without a social media effort, @theguardian.com would ignore the request

OPEN LETTER TO THE GUARDIAN Dear Editors, We write in reference to a recent article published in the UK online edition of The Guardian on Friday, 23 January 2026, which carried the following misleading headline: "British crown was world's largest buyer of enslaved people by 1807, book reveals." The article in question, by Chris Osuh, showcases a new book by Dr. Brooke Newman, The Crown's Silence: The Hidden History of Slavery and the British Monarchy (Harper Collins, 2026). But Newman's book is not the original source of that claim. That claim derives from earlier scholarship, the painstaking archival work of a Black historian of Caribbean heritage: the late Roger Norman Buckley. It is unfortunate that the silencing of his original scholarship appears in the profiling of a book advertised as uncovering silences. While it is great to see public attention brought to the history of the Crown's involvement in slavery through the new book and its profiling in The Guardian, the headline compromises The Guardian's efforts to address the legacies of slavery generally and its own institutional links when it extracts and reframes earlier work by a Black scholar as a revelation new to this book. The relevant passage in The Crown's Silence draws on original scholarship by Roger Norman Buckley in Slaves in Red Coats: The British West India Regiments, 1795-1815 (1979). Dr. Brooke Newman repeats Buckley's figures, which she cites (referencing page 55 of Buckley's book, see attached) while changing his "British government" to "Crown." She then converts his careful "perhaps the largest individual buyer" to a more conclusive claim, changing his "British government" to "king" but without citing Buckley for that claim which is on page 56 of his book (see attached) and which, uncited in Newman's book, is the Guardian headline. There is room for popular histories that rely largely on the secondary scholarship of other historians. But other historians have not been silent.

Page from Buckley’s 1979 book

2nd page from Buckley’s 1979 book

An open letter to @theguardian.com about their article last week about the Crown’s Silence, requesting that the Black scholar of Caribbean heritage who did the years of archival research behind this claim, and published it in 1979, Roger Norman Buckley, be acknowledged as the source of this reveal:

Taking Action in Higher Ed Taking Action for Higher Education is a workbook to assist university workers in assessing personal risk and making decisions about how and when to take action to resist fascism.

I just posted a free workbook that aims to help university workers better understand when and how to take risks in the fight against fascism in higher ed.

halperta.com/shalperta%20...

Ooh thanks for sharing - that special issue looks great

Perfect timing for an upcoming guest lecture on epistemic injustice (and algorithms and AI). This whole issue of Kula looks excellent: kula.uvic.ca/index.php/ku...
Great to be reading Sam Popowich again!

The climatologist told me
historians
will wonder
why we didn’t do more.

The epidemiologist told me
historians
will wonder
why we didn’t do more.

The activist told me
historians
will wonder
why we didn’t do more.

The historian told me
that nobody
listens to historians.

A mechanized creature, half-human half-serpent, from Johannes de Fontana’s 15th-century manuscript Belli Corum instrumentorum liber cum figuris. (Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/frolicsome-engines-the-long-prehistory-of-artificial-intelligence/)

"If...knowledge (...know-how) and thought have parted company for good, then we would indeed become the helpless slaves, not so much of our machines as of our know-how, thoughtless creatures at the mercy of every gadget which is technically possible, no matter how murderous it is." H. Arendt, 1958

"Whoever scheduled perimenopause during the fall of democracy in the middle of winter did not read the room." A social media post by @lauricefattal - text is placed above a silhouette image of three women in a field with their heads back and arms in the air.

Well this is resonant AF

Critical Legal Pedagogies of Race and Empire

Check out our website for the Critical Legal Pedagogies of Race and Empire research network! The network brings together a wide range of scholars engaged in the praxis of embedding the teaching of race, colonialism and empire into their work.
sites.google.com/view/critica...

Building Your Own Verification Toolkit A guide to the tools and databases librarians use, plus a personal fact-checking workflow you can run in under 60 seconds.

A guide to the tools and databases librarians use, plus a personal fact-checking workflow you can run in under 60 seconds

"In my experience, academic work that acknowledges racism, inequality, oppression & climate injustice is in no way easier than any other form of learning. It is oftentimes harder, more complex, as it is fighting against the grain, and THAT is exactly why we need to bring care to our teaching."

I’m sharing this video again because people don’t really get what these data centers and ai are doing to our planet and our communities. Especially Black communities because they were strategically placed there.

I need you to listen to these people.
STOP USING AI. STOP SUPPORTING AI.

Sociology of Hope | Book launch at LSE Join us for our book talk, 'Sociology of Hope' | Wednesday 21 January 2026 | 6.30pm to 8pm | Online (via Zoom)

Join us next week for our virtual book talk, Sociology of hope.

Adrian Scribano will join us to discuss his books themes of revolution, utopia, social change, and collective action.

📅 Wed 21 January
⏰ 6.30pm
🎟️ Free and open to all | register to attend⬇️

'There is no humane colonialism
There is no democratic colonialism
There is no non-exploitative colonialism'
- Samora Machel, Mozambican military commander, politician, revolutionary... President (1933-1986)

Seems like a good day to re-post this.
#NoPasarán!
¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!

Libraries Can’t Get Their Loaned Books Back Because of Trump’s Tariffs Libraries have shared their collections internationally for decades. Trump’s tariffs are throwing that system into chaos and can ‘hinder academic progress.’

“There are libraries that have our books that we've lent to them before all of this happened, and now they can't ship them back to us because their carrier either is flat out refusing to ship anything to the U.S., or they're citing not being able to handle the tariff situation." #libraries

Image of the main screen of the 'Prejudice in Power' digital exhibition at UCL's Student Centre. The speaker on the right in the image is Subhadra Das - more about her here: https://www.subhadradas.com/

Head of UCL Special Collections, Sarah Aitchison, @saraha73.bsky.social, reflects on the digital 'Prejudice in Power' exhibition. The visuals and eye‑catching quotations have drawn passersby to pause, reflect, and engage with UCLs eugenic history. blogs.ucl.ac.uk/special-coll... #eugenics

"I am considering the techniques used to make this book, its targeted audiences, and Housman’s role in its production."

Also interested in working with our fascinating collections? Apply for a UCL RIC Visiting Fellowship & receive a grant of £5,000. Deadline 12th Jan: www.ucl.ac.uk/research-ins...

"This article speaks to the cultural context of the harm that racism and colonialism cause for Indigenous peoples that they encounter in institutions of higher education, including libraries."
www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2025/more-th...

Congratulations Caroline and OBC - a great woman for the job!

Winds may roar and seas may rise,
But the heart of Jamaica never dies.
Strong in spirit, brave, and true—
The world stands hand in hand with you.🧡

Paws In for the Land of Wood and Water.🐾🙏 #HurricaneMelissa
#hedgewatch

10 Book Censorship Posts to Revisit: Book Censorship News, October 24, 2025 Revisit these 10 stories about book censorship from years past, including stories about the cost of book bans, book sanctuaries, and more.

10 book censorship posts to revisit, plus this week's roundup of book censorship news. Y'all, it's been a DOOZY of a week.

bookriot.com/10-book-cens...

From the Caribbean to Caledonia: Two National Bards in Conversation Scotland's current Makar, Peter Mackay, and the former Poet Laureate of Jamaica, Lorna Goodison, exchanged poems, stories, thoughts and much laughter at Ellisland Farm, once home to Robert Burns and h...

FROM THE CARIBBEAN TO CALEDONIA

Lorna Goodison, the former Poet Laureate of Jamaica, in conversation with Scotland's Makar, Peter Mackay.

Recorded outdoors beside the River Nith at the Robert Burns Ellisland Farm & Museum.

www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/podcast/from...

Can't make it to the live talk? Go ahead & register to receive a link to the recording!