Katherine Ibbett

Share widely!

We are now accepting paper and panel proposals for our 2026 Annual Conference in Ireland at Maynooth University taking place 25-27 June 2026!

The submission deadline is 14 November 2025, and you can read more information on our website!

frenchcolonial.org/annual-meeti...

PhD position in History (100%, 4 years) - Vacancies - University of Lucerne Assistant or doctoral positions, employment or internship: Looking for a job at the University of Lucerne? Find our listed open positions and apprenticeships here.

Want to work on the history of hair? I am looking for a doc and postdoc to join my project team researching #earlymodern hair, race, trade and multispecies history at the University of Lucerne.

Do apply and spread the word!

www.unilu.ch/en/universit...

www.unilu.ch/en/universit...

Taco Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Taco is a deep dive into the most iconic Mexican food…

it's national taco day! stellar mexicanist ignacio sanchez prado has a new book right on time!

TACO, in the bloomsbury object lessons series.

chicago, go celebrate with a taco and support our neighbors in little village, pilsen, logan, everywhere

www.bloomsbury.com/us/taco-9798...

Well the Basil Brush Show has totally gone to shit.

looking up the types of residence cards you can get in France for a piece and HONKING at this part of the drop-down list, from the official government website (!!) www.service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers...

Foreigner with a Frenchman: a memoir

New Orleans couple discovers ancient Roman grave marker in their yard Discovery of 1,900-year-old headstone dedicated to Roman sailor sets off effort to repatriate item to Italy

I read this on a break from trying to write a clear and succinct paragraph about which Europeans see the lower Mississippi valley when and had a sort of panicked OH NO I MISSED THIS feeling www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Oh congratulations!!

Hey British children’s lit pals! What is it about “Susan”? I’m British Gen X and I think it was maybe considered old fashioned by families naming their daughters in the late 60s?
But:
Susan the First Mate in the Swallows and Amazons
Susan the Queen in Narnia
Susan the sister of Colin in Garner

I always wonder this too. And Little Friend Susan in Milly Molly Mandy, though that’s for smaller people

CFP: A Time of Monsters The monster has been here all along. It is a historical constant that manifests in wildly different ways across time, place, and culture. Whatever form it takes, the monster claws at categories; it un...

If you are a supporter and reader of @contingent-mag.bsky.social one of the biggest things you can do to help us at the moment is get this CFP to the NTT folks in your life. The fracturing of social media has made it very difficult to get the word out esp. to adjuncts and VAPs.

1. What is the total amount of funds we have allocated to genAI so far, and how much money have we budgeted for it in the future? If the exact amount is difficult to calculate, a ballpark figure would be useful 2. What peer-reviewed studies on the pedagogical benefits and learning outcomes of genAI use in the classroom have informed our AI strategy? 3. which measures are in place to guard against the harmful effects of genAI, specifically effects on our students' mental health and de-skilling effects? Are we conducting such studies ourselves, and if so, who is conducting them? 4. have we done a sustainability study regarding our AI use, and can you share it? 5. what safe-guards are in place to protect students, faculty, and staff against implicit ideological bias as well as direct ideological interference in genAI programming? 6. Has the administration discussed the political aims of the most influential proponents of AI (Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Sam Altman, etc), who appear to be aligned with the Trump administration's goals?

In my capacity as the chair of the provost's senate-appointed advisory committees, I emailed the questions below to @umich.edu's CFO and CIO. Our bylaws entitle me to request information from any officer of the university. This was weeks ago. I have yet to receive a response.

Slinging the Dainties Lauren J Joseph on the peculiar charms of department store cafes. Illustration by Jess Nash.

Gorgeous Vittles this morning on the joys of a department store cafe. Was transported to the late 1970s 'Danish' cafe of...either Bentalls of Kingston or Owen Owen, Richmond, but either way the summit of sophistication www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/slinging-t...

Radio 3 playing birdsong: complete feline frenzy in the kitchen. He seems to think it’s coming from the sink (which is the other side of the kitchen from the radio)

Where now for Britain’s Universities? UK higher education now faces a very bleak future, retreating in the face of little public sympathy and limited political interest.

There have likely been 10,000 or more university redundancies in the academic year 2024-25.

@gsoh31.bsky.social, Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Oxford Brookes, argues that the Higher Education system as we know it is coming to an end.

Tawny owl

Six weeks ago, I picked up a year-old tawny owl with a broken leg off the main road near our home and dropped him off at our nearest vet.

After a few days, I received one of the most bizarre phone calls I’ve ever had, asking “So when are you coming to pick up your owl?” 🧵

1817 map snipping, "Well. Well. Well."

Look what we have here then.

Are you interested in the history of rivers? Do you wonder how historians and environmental scientists can work together? Join the EDHS seminar to hear from the ARTEMIS team about their amazing project exploring the histories and ecologies of the Scheldt. #envhist #histsci #skystorians #dh

Ah thank you, looks great!

Take the 15 minute Academic Writing Challenge You CAN write during term time. Research shows that even 15 minutes a day can be effective. I know you can find 15 minutes a day. Try writing for 15 minutes every work day for a term. See what…

You don’t need a whole day to get writing done. Small amounts, regularly, will lead to progress.

We have a new FREE challenge available to help you get started.

This is the best. But I like to think you assume Bertie is a girl in homage to brilliant Americanist Berties. This guy is alas not quite up to her speed. @paulecohen.bsky.social

because we didn't have him last time she came," Arabel went on anxiously, looking at the raven, who had piled a foot-high mound of tea-bags on the lid of the washing-machine, and was trying to stand on his head on top of the pile. He was the wrong shape for standing on his head, and, each time he tried, he fell heavily on his back, and the tea-bags flew all over the kitchen floor. They were getting rather dusty. Mr Jones supposed he ought to stop Mortimer, but he had too much else on his mind.

A lovely Quentin Blake illustration of a raven standing on its head on a pyramid of tea bags atop a washing machine.

Because it made me laugh - from Joan Aiken’s short stories (written in 1983 and cosily evocative of the time*) about young Arabel and her pet raven, Mortimer.

First the Joan Aiken prose, then the brilliant Quentin Blake illustration.

*Arabel’s mother is temp secretary at a pirate radio station.

Manchester Council of Mosques have issued this statement in sadness, shock and solidarity with the Jewish community about this attack at the synagogue in Manchester

Tradecraft: The Exhibition Join us at the Weston Library or online for a talk from the curators of the Weston Library’s latest exhibition, John Le Carré: Tradecraft

In person & online!

A talk about our newly opened exhibition 'John Le Carré: Tradecraft': visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/oct25/...
Co-curators Jessica Douthwaite & Federico Varese & the Bodleian's Head of Public Engagement will discuss JLC's archive & the development of this exciting exhibition

A cat sits victoriously over his spoils, a draft chapter fresh from the printer

It has been a good writing day. Bertie hunted a whole new draft chapter for me to edit.

My heart goes out to British Jews marking Yom Kippur today in the shadow of a violent attack on their community. Conflating the behaviour of the Israeli state with the Jewish faith or culture is fundamentally Antisemitic & I condemn the targeting of civilians by warmongers & terrorists alike.

once I went to a conference of 18thc scholars that shared the hotel with a group of cigar smoking bears called SMOKE OUT. Alas, also little overlap.

Myriam Bernier - Ninon de Lenclos

Une morale du désir

Vient de paraître chez Garnier

Chat noir et blanc assis/couché au dessus d’un livre « la théologie a l’université » sur un bureau avec aussi une tasse de thé et du petit bordel

Le même

J’y comprends plus rien moi je pensais elle fait le thé au logis que ça consiste à boire le thé au logis que le logis c’est un mot chic pour dire chez son chat, et là elle rapporte un livre qui dit ça se fait à l’université aussi? C’est chez des autres chats?