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Catherine Baker

@richmondbridge.bsky.social

PERFORMING QUEER NATIONS: THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST SINCE 1990 due from Manchester University Press in 2027. She/her.

2,408 Followers  |  2,249 Following  |  636 Posts  |  Joined: 07.09.2023
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Posts by Catherine Baker (@richmondbridge.bsky.social)

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How I'm Teaching About Generative AI Every choice I make about how to discuss GenAI with my students is predicated on trusting them

New today in TIW: Historian @cjdenial.bsky.social on teaching about AI. "in every iteration of this conversation I have had with students in the last two years, there is one constant: almost no one knows about the ethical issues surrounding GenAI before they delve into the readings I’ve assigned."

03.03.2026 12:55 β€” πŸ‘ 31    πŸ” 16    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 3
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CFP: Sounding Things: Props, Material Culture, and Accessories in Popular Music

Abstract Deadline: May 1, 2026
Abstract Length: 350–500 words
Editors: Kate Galloway, Paxton Haven, and Mike Levine

Full call here: drive.google.com/file/d/1mfyd...

03.03.2026 02:35 β€” πŸ‘ 19    πŸ” 17    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
A family with 3-d glasses shocked by what they see on their mobile devices screens

A family with 3-d glasses shocked by what they see on their mobile devices screens

The far right in Spain and Portugal didn’t go mainstream alone.

The Iberian media system played a key role in their normalization πŸ“ΊπŸ“»πŸ“°

2 new publications out nowπŸ”₯

This marks the closing chapter of my project POLAR, a research journey that began in 2021.

A 🧡on how Vox and Chega became mainstream πŸ‘‡

03.03.2026 10:38 β€” πŸ‘ 50    πŸ” 19    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 4

β€˜With YLE satisfied that their demands from the EBU have been met for this year’s contest, the protesters’ demands instead get pushed onto the winning act … like many others, they will have to act as unwilling diplomats in this fractured geopolitical landscape’

03.03.2026 09:27 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

But fair enough as a reaction - that’s been a lot of people’s…

01.03.2026 18:53 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Is Terry as disappointed by Eurovision as a number of people on here currently…?

01.03.2026 14:23 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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"Everything is politics...You don't get to make art in a fascist state"

CMAT delivering, mar is gnΓ‘ch. πŸ‘

(Same goes for sport btw)

#Speirgorm

01.03.2026 08:48 β€” πŸ‘ 766    πŸ” 293    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 31
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Half Excel, Half Imagination: UMK's Quirky Confidence And Rebellion Promotional image for an article prvieiwng UMK 2026 (photo: Ben Robertson)

What sets UMK, Finland’s selection show for Eurovision, apart from the others is the quality of its staging concepts, argues @bensvision.bsky.social. Here, he speaks with Show Producer Matti Myllyaho to learn how Yle finds each act, the quality-over-quantity approach, and how it all comes together.

28.02.2026 15:26 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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"He propagates what we call cyborg conservatism."

I spoke with @quinnslobodian.com and @bentarnoff.com for this week’s @verfassungsblog.de editorial about their new book "Muskism" and the fusion of political authority and machine power.

πŸ“– Read the full interview here: verfassungsblog.de/muskism/

27.02.2026 15:10 β€” πŸ‘ 23    πŸ” 10    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

…or of European public broadcasters?

27.02.2026 14:33 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I loved this article, particularly this: "In highlighting the ways some fans endeavour to minimize or avoid contributing to harm, even as they continue to watch to the contest, I do not aim to let people off the hook for more complicit actions, but to show that complicity and resistance coexist"

26.02.2026 16:42 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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β€œI was completely heartbroken”: Trans woman forced to stop playing cricket for fun | Good Law Project When the ECB banned trans women, Lily’s amateur club barred her from the team where she had played for years – we’re helping her hit back

"These rules are hurting women who just want to play sport with their friends.

"We’re helping Lily sue the ECB for discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. Lily, and players like her across the UK, are pillars of their community, and excluding them is a stain on women’s sport."

26.02.2026 14:12 β€” πŸ‘ 326    πŸ” 98    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 4

*agrees in historian*

26.02.2026 22:38 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Not been following Eurovision much for obvious reasons, but this long read from Catherine is a great exploration of the complicated cultural history some ex-Yugo nations are struggling with on the musical front <3

26.02.2026 14:26 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Few in this country have worked to promote the understanding of race and class as historical phenomena in Britain as long, or as well, as Catherine Hall.

None of it is a fad. It is all politics, in the hard, real sense.

26.02.2026 11:26 β€” πŸ‘ 27    πŸ” 12    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Witchiness, feminism, ethnonationalism, Balkan religious and historical messiness, the intersection of art and politics, complex messaging and the lack of it, etc etc
There's no politics in Eurovision though.

26.02.2026 11:39 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Teaching Slavery Teaching Slavery offers ground-breaking research and practical guidance for teaching Britain’s role in transatlantic slavery. Combining historical analysis with classroom strategies, it equips educato...

I cannot recommend highly enough this free, open access resource for anyone teaching about slavery in the UK

uclpress.co.uk/book/teachin...

26.02.2026 12:04 β€” πŸ‘ 76    πŸ” 46    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 5

It certainly took me back to when I was writing mine!

26.02.2026 10:49 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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β€˜Why is history writing itself all over again?’: 37 things about Lelek which can all be true at once This year’s Eurovision Song Contest will be taking place without five of its most regular participants, including one from the post-Yugoslav space: Slovenia’s broadcaster was one of the earliest to…

Since Lelek became Croatia’s #Eurovision entry, I’ve been trying to think through where they sit in πŸ‡­πŸ‡· and πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί cultural politics right now.

New blog post: β€˜Why is history writing itself all over again?’: 37 things about Lelek which can all be true at once bakercatherine.wordpress.com/2026/02/26/w...

26.02.2026 10:24 β€” πŸ‘ 16    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 4
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Policy priority 2 after 4 years of Russia’s war against Ukraine: Stop relying on πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦'s β€˜resilience’ to ensure its survival. European leaders should not look at the dogged endurance of Ukraine’s armed forces & civilians & assume that it is infinite.

Read here: buff.ly/6RWmjER

26.02.2026 09:00 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

Whatever else you’ve done today, you probably haven’t had a Β£2m FabergΓ© egg nicked out of your handbag.

There’s more to say about how the FabergΓ©s were helping a Russian Empire that was colonising Ukraine, the Caucasus etc assert itself as an imperial power, but that’s a whole other conversation.

25.02.2026 22:34 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

And he got away with her laptop. How big was this handbag…?

25.02.2026 22:30 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Queer histories in theΒ farm records What can farm records teach us about same-sex relationships? Researcher Tim Jerrome shares his work exploring queer rural experiences.

If you're researching queer history in England, farm records might be one of the last places you'd check.

Yet for #LGBTQHistoryMonth, @timjerrome.bsky.social shares how he's tracing queer histories within our farm archives, and gives tips for future research.

merl.reading.ac.uk/news-and-vie...

25.02.2026 16:01 β€” πŸ‘ 172    πŸ” 57    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 1
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Politics take center stage at 2026 Winter Olympics From JD Vance at the Opening Ceremony to athletes refusing to shut up and ski, politics has been a major story at the 2026 Olympics.

β€˜In other words, the Olympics has always been about more than just the sports athletes compete in, and the Games have always been political. So, too have sports outside of the Olympics … β€œEveryone’s humanity is worth more than sports.”’ awfulannouncing.com/news/politic...

25.02.2026 15:51 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Festival Of Tomorrow - Eurovision and the future of broadcast entertainment
YouTube video by Festival of Tomorrow Festival Of Tomorrow - Eurovision and the future of broadcast entertainment

One of the exhibition curators was speaking a few weeks ago - it takes so long to develop exhibitions like these that this is legacy from #Eurovision being in πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ in 2023 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9HI...

24.02.2026 17:32 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I was *just* at a wonderful event on queer cultures and the post-Yugoslav space at the IAS last week.

Firmed up some ways of thinking with Bosnian queer ideas of possibility, connected an activist and researcher who didn’t know each other, and that’s just what one person got from being there.

24.02.2026 12:45 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

β€˜The turn of c20/21 witnessed mainstream politicians hype the far right & use it as a scarecrow, while they positioned themselves as the bulwark: vote for us to save democracy!… Yet as crises remained unaddressed & things worsened, the far right found itself increasingly legitimised & mainstreamed’

23.02.2026 13:40 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Bluesky autocorrect seems to have its own miniature internal demons over and above whatever Apple thinks it’s doing (and at same time even less likely to catch the extra letters between words I type all the time) - am continually deleting and reposting things…

22.02.2026 19:48 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Myth, monsters and making sense of a disenchanted world: why everyone is reading fantasy I have made the leap from literary fiction to fantasy – for those who think it’s mere wish-fulfilment, here’s why we need that thing with the dragons

β€˜β€¦(paradoxically) a kind of necessary realism, arising in response to qualities of the contemporary world that we couldn’t properly attend to, couldn’t narrate, any other way’ www.theguardian.com/books/2026/f...

22.02.2026 13:43 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Vince Rafael, my teacher and dear friend, and eminent historian of the Philippines, passed away today. If you work in cultural anthropology, translation studies, Asian studies, Asian Am, you'll know the monumental impact he had. He also endlessly supported young scholars. He'll be deeply missed.

22.02.2026 05:03 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0