@alexburchmore.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer in Art History and Curatorial Studies, Australian National University; author of New Export China (University of California Press, 2023) and Material Selves (Bloomsbury, 2024); scholar of things and people in motion
Green-blue-grey blocky soundwaves on background. Centred in black serif lettering “Sonance”, with “journal of early modern sound studies” underneath.
👀 Over the last few months, I’ve been working with the terrific triumvirate @spparkle.bsky.social, @emiliekmmurphy.bsky.social & Hannah Yip to set up “Sonance: A Journal of Early Modern Sound Studies”, a diamond open access journal dedicated to historic sounds in all their wondrous & eclectic forms.
03.03.2026 18:18 — 👍 115 🔁 60 💬 14 📌 9
New book review published advance access by @jich.bsky.social
Felipe Souza Melo reviews 'Colours, Commodities and the Birth of Globalization: A History of the Natural Dyes of the Americas, 1500-2000', edited by Carlos Marichal and David Pretel
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
A canning jar full of plain white garlic cloves in pale yellow vinegar.
The same canning jar one week later. The garlic cloves are developing curved bands of pale bluish green.
Same canning jar at two weeks. The garlic cloves are turning an improbable blue-green color, but the ends of each clove are still white.
Final result. The garlic cloves are a distinct blue-green color, which is deeper in the center and lighter at the ends.
I decided to make 腊八蒜, a kind of pickled garlic that turns jade green as copper compounds in the garlic react with the vinegar. I kind of didn’t believe it was going to work, but it absolutely did and I’m so tickled (also, does anyone have recommendations for using the stuff up?)
01.03.2026 21:25 — 👍 16 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0An important question! And one that I know is now a major focus for the Classics Museum - the repatriation cases touched on in the article are just the start of what I'm sure will be a long process of coming to terms with past misjudgements and cultivating more ethical collection and custodianship
28.02.2026 06:19 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
I’m embarking on a new collaborative research project that deals with a part of the USA I haven’t studied much. #Skystorians , what are your favorite books and articles about #envhist , science, and technology in the Mountain West/PNW?
(This project is mostly about Idaho.)
Shop our curated booklist celebrating Black voices and contributions to literature and culture. The list spans history, criticism, social justice, and the ongoing work of preservation and equity. Use code BHM for 20% off before it ends. buff.ly/KGfMlHe #BHM @columbiauniversity.bsky.social
28.02.2026 02:30 — 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Great to see the ANU Classics Museum and the work of Prof Elizabeth Minchin and Dr Georgia Pike-Rowney featured on ABC News! 🏛️🏺
"The collection has all the latest interior decor, gadgets and gizmos during ancient Greek and Roman times ... akin to peering into a kitchen cupboard 2,000 years ago"
This will only take you five minutes (or less) and it helps us tremendously! Have a squiz: tally.so/r/vGyqVg
27.02.2026 05:16 — 👍 11 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 0The declyne of readinge ys caused by manye thinges. One cause ys a systematic devaluinge of literature at all levels of educacioun. Fundinge the humanityes ys key to a just societye of informed citizens.
27.02.2026 05:21 — 👍 186 🔁 41 💬 0 📌 2
Layers of information in an archival document:
- What is said
- What is not said
- What is alluded to
- What is omitted intentionally
(and unintentionally)
- What is misleading
- What is ambiguous
- What is highlighted
- What is downplayed
- What is weaponized
- What is unintelligible today
...
English actress Ellen Terry born #OTD 1847, painted as Lady Macbeth by John Singer Sargent in 1888; her acclaimed emerald dress by aesthetic designer Alice Comyns Carr shimmered with iridescent wings of 1,000 jewel beetles.
Tate Museum | Smallhythe, National Trust
I loathed group assignments as a student, but I gotta say... now that I'm on the other side of the room, I see how valuable they are not only for encouraging collaboration, but for building community
Especially as campus social spaces are replaced by profit generators and "flexible study areas"
"Just because collaborative abilities are not as easy to assess, that doesn’t make them any less important ... If universities stop mandating collaboration, they will no longer be valuing the very 'empathic muscles' that make us human"
Insightful piece by @jasonmlodge.bsky.social 👇🏽
As #BlackHistoryMonth draws to a close: Mickalene Thomas's Les Trois Femmes Noire, her interpretation of Manet's Luncheon on the Grass.
26.02.2026 17:58 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Poster showing a truck loaded with old clothes in India.
We are thrilled to announce that the ninth installment of our open-access online publication 𝘚𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 is now live. It offers a dialogue on human nature and the origins of environmental degradation, taking inspiration from tradition and Indigenous practices.
springs-rcc.org
#envhum #envhist
Due out in many markets 24 March (but not North America, stay tuned for word on a future US/Canada edition), my very very short book on the PRC in the Xi era--deeply grateful to Minh Bui Jones for many things, Rana Mitter for his Intro, & Tania B, Cindy Y, David M & Victor M for the blurbs
26.02.2026 18:57 — 👍 10 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
As someone who has published books with 100+ images, here are my tips for finding free #earlymodern images (and tips for discounts when you have to pay for them!) 🗃️
sarahabendall.com/2020/03/11/e...
As we move into spring, we’re spotlighting the latest titles shaping MUP’s Art History list. This year’s books push the field forward with work that explores displacement, ecology, resistance, and the politics of visual culture.
Shop the latest titles: manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
Book cover of Spontaneous Objects by Rebecca Zorach, showing ammonite fossils (spiral shells) in different colors on a pink background
And...it's here! Thanks @psupress.bsky.social
21.02.2026 17:11 — 👍 33 🔁 12 💬 2 📌 0So excited to see this out! My essay entitled “Between Pleasure and Precarity” is included in this issue! The article tells stories about migrant gender/sexual non conforming workers. If you like my essay, you are in for some treats! I am writing a book about these workers’ cruising practices!
24.02.2026 00:56 — 👍 5 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
Step inside the world of one of the most important figures of the German Renaissance, Albrecht Dürer.
This February, enjoy the book at 70% off using the code FLASH70 at checkout. Offer valid for UK customers until 28 February.
Buy now: manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526167606/
ANU Press Coming Soon. Cover image of Made in China Journal: Volume 10, Issue 2, 2025
🚨OUT TOMORROW🚨
Gender and sexuality shape struggles over belonging worldwide. In China, the state narrows family norms as lives exceed them. 'Made in China Journal: Queer China’ explores politics, culture and everyday life.
Register your interest: doi.org/10.22459/MIC...
Southern Imagining’ reaches Queensland, Australia! @princetonupress.bsky.social @engfac.bsky.social
22.02.2026 13:00 — 👍 8 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
ANU Press Coming Soon. Cover image of 'Reshaping the State'.
‘Based on extensive fieldwork and impressive analytic skills, Wen-Hsuan Tsai has produced the most detailed and informative account of the evolving political system in Xi Jinping’s China that I have ever read.’ – Kjeld Erik Brødsgaard
Learn more and register your interest: doi.org/10.22459/RTS...
Side note: if any of you #Skystorians etc. know of pots of money or opportunities specifically oriented toward #earlymodern public history, PLEASE let me know. 🥺 I am aware that I am fucking weird as an early modernist public historian, but man it is really rough out here
23.02.2026 02:23 — 👍 13 🔁 10 💬 2 📌 0
As someone who has written on the ancient history of indigo for awhile now? This is exciting. archaeologymag.com/2026/02/olde...
22.02.2026 23:15 — 👍 141 🔁 34 💬 4 📌 6
Join us next Tuesday for a fascinating seminar.
22.02.2026 23:33 — 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
The Conversation is hiring two cadet journalists, send this on to all the young journos and new grads jobs.theconversation.com/jobs/5026001...
23.02.2026 00:00 — 👍 6 🔁 11 💬 0 📌 0
Ars Orientalis is open access and welcomes individual submissions. It’s one of the leading journals for publishing research on Asian art. Please spread the word and consider submitting your work!
21.02.2026 01:56 — 👍 29 🔁 17 💬 1 📌 0
I have a new article out (open access!) about what the Archaeological Survey of India was doing in Nepal in the 1960s, with thoughts about the global complexity of post-war archaeological knowledge and the categories we use to understand it: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
10.02.2026 08:53 — 👍 32 🔁 12 💬 0 📌 5