Joshua Rushton

☺️☺️☺️ xxx

Huge congratulations Claire! Great news and richly deserved! ❤️

Excited to share that from October I’ll be working as a Bridging Fellow in Medical Humanities at Durham University! I’ll be developing my project on ‘The Sensescapes of Cancer, 1700-1950’ and publishing my PhD research on sensory experiences of plague in early modern London. I can’t wait to start!

Thank you so much Mattia! I’m really thrilled it worked out. Hope you’re doing well - I’ll write to you soon!

Congratulations Claire! 🥳🥳🥳

I'll be in Manchester regularly between May and July next year, so do let me know if you're planning on being in the city in any of those months!

Thank you so much and sorry for my horribly late reply (not on here much)! Yes I’d like that too! Do you want to drop me an email at joshua.rushton@manchester.ac.uk? :)

Congratulations Sadiah! I’m looking forward to reading! 📖

Book cover for Vanished. Features a nineteenth-century print with a fossilised mastodon skeleton, Asian elephant being ridden by a turbaned man, Native and colonial figures looking on. In the background is a mountainous landscape and there is also a single passenger pigeon in the sky. The whole scene is framed by an ornate frame and foliage. Below the book is the following text: A love letter to the astonishing ways of being that have survived past extinctions, and an exhortation to create a worthwhile world.

Love’s Labour Launches with a roar! Thanks to many roarsome people I’ve gone from peasant to PhD, to Professor, and Penguin author with Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction out today. 🐅

Pls share, read, and help create a worthwhile world.
#WorldEnvironmentDay
#BookSky #HPS #Skystorians 🗃️

Maybe look at Rachel Winchcombe’s article “The Limits of Disgust” which is about food and inedibility but might be useful to you?

Rogue question of the day: does anyone happen to know of any references (primary or secondary) to feelings of disgust in relation to medical practice, past and/or present?

Thanks John! I’m so pleased!

Thank you Amy!

I am beyond proud of my bestie @joshuarushton8.bsky.social on securing Leverhulme funding for his amazing new project! Can’t wait to see what comes out of it.

Ah thank you so much mate! Thank you for all the encouragement! 🖤

Thank you so much Sasha - I’m really thrilled! 🎉

I’m so thrilled by this news and extremely grateful to the many people who have supported me with this! Looking forward to starting the project “Catholic Renewal and Environmental Change in the Early Modern World” in 2026! 🎉

Dr Joshua Rushton wins Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship

Congratulations to our very own @joshuarushton8.bsky.social who has been awarded a prestigious Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship for his project "Catholic Renewal and Environmental Change in the Early Modern World". Read all about it here: sites.manchester.ac.uk/bodies-emoti...

Planetary Futures: Rethinking Extinction and Conservation in the Anthropocene Conference, 18-19 September 2025, at the University of Manchester. Call for Papers

Call for Papers #HistSTM #EnvHist: Planetary Futures - Rethinking Extinction and Conservation in the Anthropocene. Manchester, 18-19 Sept 2025. Organisers: @sadiahqureshi.bsky.social and @duncanwilson78.bsky.social

blogs.manchester.ac.uk/chstm/2025/0...

Thank youuuu!

Don't forget to submit your abstract in for our June conference, 'Bodies and Environments in the Early Modern World' - speaker expenses will be covered and we have two amazing keynotes in Marcy Norton & Sara Miglietti!

Huge congratulations Holly! 🥳🥳🥳 @drhollyfletcher.bsky.social

Dr Holly Fletcher Receives Wellcome Trust Early Career Award Holly Fletcher, who is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate on the ‘Sleeping Well’ Project at the University of Manchester, has been awarded a prestigious Wellcome Trust Early Career Award for ...

Congratulations to @drhollyfletcher.bsky.social who has received a Wellcome Trust Early Career Award for 'The Fats of Life, 1500-1750: Matter in Multispecies Medicine', which she will take up at UCL in autumn 2025. Read more about this fascinating project here: sites.manchester.ac.uk/bodies-emoti...

New Cultural and Social History Article by Dr Joshua Rushton

Congratulations to Joshua Rushton, whose article 'The Emotional Dimension of Shrine Formation in Early Modern Catholicism' is now out in Cultural and Social History. Read more about this fascinating work here: sites.manchester.ac.uk/bodies-emoti...

Thank you for this @bemccollective.bsky.social !

Climate Justice in the Anthropocene: An Introductory Reading List - JSTOR Daily Justice discourse in the Anthropocene has shown us that perhaps we aren't as homogeneous of an “Anthros” as we’d expect.

And another on climate justice and the Anthropocene. Lots of others on the website, but these obviously resonate strongly with my own interests and expertise so sharing here.

daily.jstor.org/climate-just...

Natural History: A Reading List - JSTOR Daily This annotated bibliography samples scholarship on the rich—and difficult—history of natural history.

Just come across this really useful list on the links between natural history and empire, featuring moi as ‘essential reading’. Perfect if you’re interested in museums or science more broadly too. Also ideal for passing to students as a starting point.

daily.jstor.org/natural-hist...

Ancestral remains should no longer be displayed in UK museums, say MPs Remains brought to Britain as part of colonialism, such as Egyptian mummies, should be repatriated, a report says

This is long overdue.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

I'm on the lookout for Wellcome Early Career Award applications that people might be willing to share with me. I've asked before on my other social media but not on here, so reaching out to see if I have any new connections willing to help. Please share!

The Politics of Blood Donation and Transfusion: Histories, Controversies, and Futures 6 June 2025, Thackray Museum of Medicine (Leeds, UK) Keynote Speaker: Dr Jenny Bangham (University of Edinburgh) From early transfusion experiments and wartime blood banking to contemporary controversies over donor eligibility and the global plasma economy, blood has been a site of both solidarity and division. At the same time, new developments in synthetic blood, xenotransfusion, and bioengineered alternatives challenge existing frameworks of donation and transfusion, raising questions about the future of blood governance, ethics, and access. This symposium seeks to examine the historical, social, and political dimensions of blood donation and transfusion, focusing on how they have been governed, contested, and reimagined across time and space. We invite contributions from scholars in anthropology, history, sociology, medical humanities, Science and Technology Studies, bioethics, and related fields. This symposium is held in conjunction with the special exhibition Blood: Ties and Tensions at the Thackray Museum of Medicine and will feature a keynote lecture by Dr. Jenny Bangham, author of Blood Relations: Transfusion and the Making of Human Genetics (2020, University of Chicago Press). Panellists will also have the opportunity to explore the exhibition, fostering further discussions around its curated themes. A limited number of bursaries will be available to support domestic travel for postgraduate, early career researchers, and independent scholars.

Some key questions we seek to explore: • How have the politics of blood donation and transfusion changed over time, and how do these shifts reflect broader transformations in biomedicine, nationalism, and social imaginaries? • How has the history of blood banking shaped knowledge and discourses on race and ethnicity, class and caste, gender, sex, sexuality, and citizenship? • How do infrastructures of blood banking and the commercialization of blood products reproduce or mitigate global health inequalities? • What ethical and political challenges emerge with new blood technologies, such as synthetic blood, xenotransfusion, and stem cell-based alternatives? • How do patients, donors, and medical professionals experience and navigate the evolving landscape of blood donation and transfusion? • How do artistic, literary, and activist engagements with blood expose or reimagine the politics of donation and transfusion? Potential topics include, but are not limited to: • Historical and contemporary shifts in donor eligibility and exclusion • National blood donation policies and their political and ethical stakes • Racialised and gendered discourses surrounding blood donation and transfusion • Ethics and governance of blood banking, plasma economies, and commercialised donation • Technological futures: synthetic blood, xenotransfusion, and regenerative medicine • Stigma and discrimination in blood donation and patients receiving transfusion • Political, aesthetic, and activist engagements with blood donation and transfusion in media, art, and literature To apply: Please submit a 200–300 word abstract and a brief bio (100-150 word) via the Submission Point by 25 April. We hope the symposium will lead to contributions to a special issue or edited volume. For any inquiries, please contact Dr Jieun Kim (j.e.kim@leeds.ac.uk) or Dr Claire Turner (c.o.turner@leeds.ac.uk).

CALL FOR PAPERS

We are delighted to share the CFP for our second symposium, ‘The Politics of Blood Donation and Transfusion: Histories, Controversies, and Futures’.

Details on how to apply, including a link to our submission site, can be found via our website:

hematopolitics.org/symposium/