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Geoff Bil

@geoffbil.bsky.social

Historian of science, assistant professor, University of Delaware. Interests: botany, anthropology, Indigenous history, IP, colonialism, environmental history.

258 Followers  |  178 Following  |  2 Posts  |  Joined: 27.07.2023  |  1.5591

Latest posts by geoffbil.bsky.social on Bluesky


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PhD on offer at Kew: Plants and their Products: Biocultural collections at Kew Gardens & the South Kensington Museum during the long nineteenth century

If only I could apply! Fascinating mutual interests of Kew and the V&A in plants. Closes 16 May

www.royalholloway.ac.uk/studying-her...

18.03.2025 19:28 — 👍 104    🔁 75    💬 3    📌 3

At least 20,000 orphans

22.01.2025 19:33 — 👍 155    🔁 62    💬 9    📌 1
Preview
What It’s Truly Like to Sleep in a Damp, Frigid Tent: A Report From Gaza Five newborns have died of hypothermia amid the cold in Gaza. Doctors tell Drop Site the deaths are a direct result of Israel's blockades

Six people have frozen to death in Gaza during the past week. Five were infants less than a month old. Abubaker Abed reports from Gaza. Full story at @dropsitenews.com 🔽

www.dropsitenews.com/p/tents-gaza...

01.01.2025 19:05 — 👍 148    🔁 96    💬 9    📌 6
Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza – Historians for Peace and Democracy Whereas the US government has underwritten the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) campaign in Gaza with over $16 billion in military aid between October 2023 and June 2024. Whereas that campaign, beyond caus...

Historians: if you are an AHA member in good standing, please sign this Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza. If you are not a member, RT so that other historians see it: historiansforpeace.org/2024/09/03/r...

19.09.2024 21:03 — 👍 2    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0

SCHOLASTICIDE
IN GAZA!
COME TO THE AHA BUSINESS MEETING
WHEN?
Sun, Jan 5
5:15 PM-6:30
PM
WHERE?
Mercury Ballroom
New York
Hilton, Third Floor)
Since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023, the IDF have destroyed all 12 University campuses in Gaza, over 80% of all schools, and countless sites of historical and cultural significance. Thousands of teachers and students have been killed.
The level of destruction meets the U.N. definition of
"scholasticide", or the systematic destruction of a people's historical memory and access to education. We voice our outrage at this senseless destruction and call on our profession to protest collectively.
This Sunday, from 5:15pm, AHA
members will gather in the Hilton's Mercury Ballroom to debate and vote on a "Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza",
", printed on the reverse of
this flier.
Please join us.
Scan this QR code or visit www.historiansforpeace.org
to learn more

SCHOLASTICIDE IN GAZA! COME TO THE AHA BUSINESS MEETING WHEN? Sun, Jan 5 5:15 PM-6:30 PM WHERE? Mercury Ballroom New York Hilton, Third Floor) Since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023, the IDF have destroyed all 12 University campuses in Gaza, over 80% of all schools, and countless sites of historical and cultural significance. Thousands of teachers and students have been killed. The level of destruction meets the U.N. definition of "scholasticide", or the systematic destruction of a people's historical memory and access to education. We voice our outrage at this senseless destruction and call on our profession to protest collectively. This Sunday, from 5:15pm, AHA members will gather in the Hilton's Mercury Ballroom to debate and vote on a "Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza", ", printed on the reverse of this flier. Please join us. Scan this QR code or visit www.historiansforpeace.org to learn more

Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza
Whereas the US government has underwritten the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) campaign in Gaza with over $12.5 billion in military aid between October 2023 and June 2024.
Whereas that campaign, beyond causing massive death and injury to Palestinian civilians and the collapse of basic life structures, has effectively obliterated Gaza's education system;
Whereas in April 2024, UN experts expressed "grave concern over the pattern of attacks on schools, universities, teachers, and students in the Gaza Strip" including "the killing of 261 teachers and 95 university
professors... which may constitute an intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system, an action known as scholasticide.'
The bases for this charge include:
• The IDF's destruction of 80 percent of schools in Gaza, leaving 625,000 children with no educational access;
The IDF's destruction of ali 12 Gaza university campuses:
The IDF's destruction of Gaza's archives, libraries, cultural centers, museums, and bookstores, including 195 heritage sites, 227 mosques, three churches, and the al-Aqsa University library, which preserved crucial documents and other materials related to the history and culture of Gaza;
The ID's repeated violent displacements of Gaza's people, leading to the irreplaceable loss of students' and teachers' educational and research materials, which will extinguish the future study of Palestinian history;
Whereas the United States government has supplied Israel with the weapons being used to commit this scholasticide;
Therefore, be it resolved that the AHA, which supports the right of all peoples to freely teach and learn about their past, condemns the Israeli violence in Gaza that undermines that right;
Be it further resolved that the AHA calls for a permanent ceasefire to halt the scholasticide documented above;
Finally, be it resolved that the AHA form a committee to assist in rebuilding Gaza's educational infrastructure.

Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza Whereas the US government has underwritten the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) campaign in Gaza with over $12.5 billion in military aid between October 2023 and June 2024. Whereas that campaign, beyond causing massive death and injury to Palestinian civilians and the collapse of basic life structures, has effectively obliterated Gaza's education system; Whereas in April 2024, UN experts expressed "grave concern over the pattern of attacks on schools, universities, teachers, and students in the Gaza Strip" including "the killing of 261 teachers and 95 university professors... which may constitute an intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system, an action known as scholasticide.' The bases for this charge include: • The IDF's destruction of 80 percent of schools in Gaza, leaving 625,000 children with no educational access; The IDF's destruction of ali 12 Gaza university campuses: The IDF's destruction of Gaza's archives, libraries, cultural centers, museums, and bookstores, including 195 heritage sites, 227 mosques, three churches, and the al-Aqsa University library, which preserved crucial documents and other materials related to the history and culture of Gaza; The ID's repeated violent displacements of Gaza's people, leading to the irreplaceable loss of students' and teachers' educational and research materials, which will extinguish the future study of Palestinian history; Whereas the United States government has supplied Israel with the weapons being used to commit this scholasticide; Therefore, be it resolved that the AHA, which supports the right of all peoples to freely teach and learn about their past, condemns the Israeli violence in Gaza that undermines that right; Be it further resolved that the AHA calls for a permanent ceasefire to halt the scholasticide documented above; Finally, be it resolved that the AHA form a committee to assist in rebuilding Gaza's educational infrastructure.

Members of #AHA25 please consider attending the Business Meeting and voting in support of this resolution condemning scholasticide in Gaza

04.01.2025 17:30 — 👍 8    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 0
Academia in a time of genocide: scholasticidal tendencies and continuities
Basma Hajir  &Mezna Qato
Received 11 Sep 2024, Accepted 18 Dec 2024, Published online: 02 Jan 2025

Abstract
This essay takes up Edward Said’s insistence on truth, justice, and tracing continuities of colonial violence to reflect on the university in a time of genocide. We set the stage with an outline of the university complicities; conditions continuous with, and connected to, the ongoing genocide in Gaza. We establish the legal resonance of ‘scholasticide’ and use the term as an explanatory tool to unpack four key ‘scholasticidal tendencies’ that extend to the USA, UK, and European academies: silence, the suppression of solidarity, ‘complex’ or ‘nuanced’ arguments, and the threat posed by certain theories. We critique these tendencies and highlight their deflections, obfuscations, contradictions, and moral failings. We gesture to possibilities beyond them and towards justice as an answer to the ‘question of Palestine’.

Academia in a time of genocide: scholasticidal tendencies and continuities Basma Hajir &Mezna Qato Received 11 Sep 2024, Accepted 18 Dec 2024, Published online: 02 Jan 2025 Abstract This essay takes up Edward Said’s insistence on truth, justice, and tracing continuities of colonial violence to reflect on the university in a time of genocide. We set the stage with an outline of the university complicities; conditions continuous with, and connected to, the ongoing genocide in Gaza. We establish the legal resonance of ‘scholasticide’ and use the term as an explanatory tool to unpack four key ‘scholasticidal tendencies’ that extend to the USA, UK, and European academies: silence, the suppression of solidarity, ‘complex’ or ‘nuanced’ arguments, and the threat posed by certain theories. We critique these tendencies and highlight their deflections, obfuscations, contradictions, and moral failings. We gesture to possibilities beyond them and towards justice as an answer to the ‘question of Palestine’.

Academia in a Time of Genocide – scholars Basma Hajir and Mezna Qato describe "key manifestations of scholasticide" within US, UK & European universities #AHA #AHA2025

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

03.01.2025 18:40 — 👍 29    🔁 19    💬 1    📌 3
Screenshot of Middle East Eye article: “Israeli historian produces vast database of war crimes in Gaza”; Lee Mordechai says his country is committing genocide, as his report documents a wide range of atrocities committed by Israeli forces

Screenshot of Middle East Eye article: “Israeli historian produces vast database of war crimes in Gaza”; Lee Mordechai says his country is committing genocide, as his report documents a wide range of atrocities committed by Israeli forces

In January, Israeli historian Lee Mordechai released a 124 page report with 1,400 footnotes detailing evidence of Israel’s genocide, which he continues to update. How many of you heard about it? witnessing-the-gaza-war.com/wp-content/u...

06.12.2024 22:27 — 👍 1131    🔁 609    💬 21    📌 29

Thank you to contributors incl. @dinostalgia.bsky.social, @roguechieftan.bsky.social, @geoffbil.bsky.social, @lydiapyne.bsky.social + so many others migrating over to this platform. + of course thank you to the National Endowment for the Humanities for funding this project.

02.12.2024 17:45 — 👍 4    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
Maysara Salah

Maysara Salah

Say his name: Maysara Salah, journalist for the Quds News Network, who succumbed to his injuries yesterday, after being shot by US-backed Israel. Reportedly an ambulance was kept from reaching him for 8 hours.

01.12.2024 14:08 — 👍 86    🔁 49    💬 3    📌 3

I’ve been silent on all things Kamala Harris. What passes as legitimate choice, hope and empowerment these days is mighty depressing and on the literal bodies of dead children. I just can’t.

11.08.2024 19:16 — 👍 6    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0
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Historians of HSTM, mark your calendars: "Circulating Knowledge—20 years on," University of King's College, August 2024 cfp: Abstracts due 26 Jan 2024

13.12.2023 20:36 — 👍 5    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

There's now a second history of science, technology & medicine feed #hstm

New: bsky.app/profile/did:...

Original #histsci feed
bsky.app/profile/did:...

19.11.2023 20:45 — 👍 14    🔁 12    💬 0    📌 2
Preview
Lakota Ethno-Botanists Catalogue the Flowering Plants of Ghost Canyon, a project from Mr. Snethen Help me give my students the supplies (plant pressess) necessary to catalogue the flowering plants of Ghost Canyon. My indigenous students are interested in traditional plants used in ceremonies, f...

Plant Friends! 🧪 Help this teacher in a Lakota school get plant presses for his students! I funded an entomology project with this teacher last year and it was fantastic https://www.donorschoose.org/project/lakota-ethno-botanists-catalogue-the-flo/7565736/

03.08.2023 17:14 — 👍 8    🔁 9    💬 2    📌 0

Hey hey @jaivirdi.bsky.social !

27.07.2023 22:36 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

@geoffbil is following 20 prominent accounts