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Christina Riggs

@christinajriggs.bsky.social
4K followers 649 following 2.1K posts

Writer and historian: photography, art, archives, museums, colonialism (Egypt, Sudan). Chair in the History of Visual Culture @durhamhistory.bsky.social. Author of Treasured: How Tutankhamun Shaped a Century. christinariggs.com

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Reposted by Christina Riggs
Craig Clunas @craigclunas.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
"the Italian Renaissance, broadly defined historically as the period ranging from the 14th to the 17th centuries and geographically to include transnational dialogues between Italy and other cultures (e.g. Latin American, Mediterranean, African, Asian etc.)" i.e. NOT just Italy, so go for it
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Christina Riggs @christinajriggs.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Mitzi always finds roses* lip-lickingly good. #Caturday #cats 💙🐈🐈‍⬛🌹 *thankfully non-toxic to cats!
Long haired black and white cat seated on kitchen counter next to a crystal vase of rose stems (flowers not seen), licking its lips. Or whatever cats have!
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Christina Riggs @christinajriggs.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Excellent - @sathnam.bsky.social is one of the authors I have my 3rd-years @durhamhistory.bsky.social read as an example of writing history for wider audiences (and dealing with the flak). For Empireland - though I have a couple of ‘80s pop music dissertations this year, too. 🗃️
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The Migration Museum, London, is hiring a part-time (3 days per week) curator for a year to help build the vision of the new museum. £40k pro rata plus 5% matched pension contribution. Deadline for applications 18 October.
migrationmuseum.org
We’re Hiring: Curator, Contemporary Art (Part-time)
The Migration Museum is seeking a Contemporary Art Curator to join their team on a part-time basis. Application deadline: 18 October 2026.
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Christina Riggs @christinajriggs.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
🗃️🏺📜
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Christina Riggs @christinajriggs.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
🗃️🏺
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Liam J. Liburd @liamliburd.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
For my London-based or adjacent followers, I'm speaking at an event marking the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street next Tuesday evening. I'll be reflecting on the history of antisemitism and state racism among other things. Tickets are free!
bisa.bbk.ac.uk
The Battle of Cable Street ninety years on: the struggle against fascism and antisemitism, then and now | Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism
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Side @sidegallery.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
🏗️ We’re excited to announce the upcoming exhibition: Under Development Opening Oct 17 at Newcastle Contemporary Arts, it brings together the AmberSide Collection and Four Corners Archive to ask what happens when cities change? 🔗 sidegallery.co.uk/whats-on/...
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Christina Riggs @christinajriggs.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Sentencing expected tomorrow in Italy for the 2016 kidnapping, battery, and aggravated homicide of Cambridge PhD student Giulio Regeni in Egypt, with four Egyptian military officers tried and convicted in absentia due to Egypt's non-cooperation. A long and complex case, as this article explains.
ilpost.it
L’eccezionalità del processo per l’omicidio di Giulio Regeni
Lunedì 28 settembre è prevista la sentenza di primo grado, un fatto che per molto tempo era sembrato impensabile ed era stato ostacolato in ogni modo
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Justin Carville @justinmcarville.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Call For Papers: @forarthistory.org.uk annual conference 2027 - along with Holly O’Farrell (IADT) we are co-convening a session on photo-albums and colonialism and welcome submissions from all stages of researchers; follow link for guidelines below; forarthistory.org.uk/conference-2...
forarthistory.org.uk
87. The Album as Archive – photography, materiality and colonialism. - For Art History
This session invites papers that explore photographic albums as valuable records of visual expressions of the cultural politics of colonialism during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Produced a...
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Christina Riggs @christinajriggs.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
📜🗃️🏺
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Christina Riggs @christinajriggs.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
📜🗃️
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gillian rose @profgillian.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I had a great time at the #RGS2026 conference a few weeks ago, but I was prompted to write this...
visualmethodculture.wordpress.com
how to chair a conference session
This is another in my occasional series of posts on stuff you might not be told but you will not in fact learn by osmotic immersion in the Academic Ether. (See also my posts on writing job applications, giving a job presentation and what to expect in a job interview.) This time: how to chair a conference session. As always, these are my thoughts - cross-check them with your peers, mentors, supervisors, best academic mates.
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Christina Riggs @christinajriggs.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Always a bright spot to see Ochs Fruit Farm flourishing after 156 years and counting - the current owner’s grandfather used to give me a free apple 🍏 when we stopped by. One of over 100 varieties they grow. #TinyJoys while on family duty in Ohio
Wooden crates heaped with apple varieties in a large, window-lit space (a former barn), each crate with a large sign stating the variety (Zestar, Jonaliciois, etc) and its history.
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Side @sidegallery.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
🎬 Starting tomorrow and running all weekend: “Voices From Here” brings six decades of Amber Films to Durham Folk Festival. 📍 Redhills Durham Miners Hall 📅 18 to 20 Sept 🕐 1 to 4pm daily 🎟️ Free More info: sidegallery.co.uk/whats-on/...
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Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 17/09/2026
Good to see @historytoday.com making the case for history in universities.
historytoday.com
Why Does Academic History Matter?
The study of history at UK universities appears to be under existential threat. Should anyone care?
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Christina Riggs @christinajriggs.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
🗃️📜📸📷🎞️
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Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Our first post of the autumn semester on Refugee History is from the UNHCR Records & Archives Section, where they're making the best of a bad situation: refugeehistory.org/blog/2026/9/...
refugeehistory.org
UNHCR Archives: A History of Access - is Access Now History? — Refugee History.
UNHCR Archives has temporarily closed its reading room to external researchers. Here is what that means for access, research, and the future of digital delivery.
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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The Italian diaspora longs for Italy, but sometimes Italy turns its back. Ben Faccini explores loyalty and longing in a moving essay for @aeon.co aeon.co/essays/itali...
aeon.co
Italianness is a state of travelling in both directions | Aeon Essays
Homecomings, fantasies, food and ghosts – how the myth of eternal return keeps the Italian diaspora in a state of longing
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Michelle Henning @michellehenning.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Last week to apply! Deadline for both the PDRA and the PhD are 16th September
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Fabi Kutsche @fabikutsche.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Thanks again to everyone who helped and inspired my research over the last few years. A special thanks goes to @rabeari.bsky.social who kindly supported the publication process at De Gruyter Brill. Please feel free to share and distribute the book widely and to consider it for reviews.
A book positioned on a grey bed sheet. The text reads "Fabiana Kutsche: Between Global Standards and Unequal Treatment. The International Labour Organization and Racialised Labour, 1920s-1950s". Work in Global and Historical Perspective. De Gruyter Oldenbourg". The cover shows a black and white photography of Jawaharlal Nehru standing in front of an Indian national flag and speaking to a conference audience.
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Raph Cormack @raphcormack.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
My first piece of writing on a new project, a biography of James Sanua, Egyptian-Jewish anti-colonial satirist of the 19th century. evergreenreview.com/read/the-his...
evergreenreview.com
The Historians of a Nation Are Not Careless Men
Evergreen Review
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Christina Riggs @christinajriggs.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
🗃️📜
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Apollo @apollo-magazine.com · 12/09/2026
Sunil Gupta has spent decades photographing queer subjects, as well as being at the forefront of queer activism in Britain, India and beyond. Ahead of a retrospective at Kettle’s Yard, he talks to Michael Delgado about the inseparability of art and life.
apollo-magazine.com
Sunil Gupta’s candid camera
Ahead of a major retrospective, the photographer talks to Michael Delgado about his long career spent documenting – and shaping – queer life in Britain, India and beyond
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New Lines Magazine @newlinesmag.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Editor’s Pick: Why did Italy free a Libyan general wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity? A @newlinesmag.bsky.social investigation traces the ties between migration policy, energy interests and a militia accused of running a system of torture and enslavement.
newlinesmag.com
A Libyan General Accused of Crimes Against Humanity Was Arrested in Turin. Why Did Italy Let Him Go?
Osama Njeem sat at the junction of two of Rome’s biggest priorities: gas and migration, a position that shaped the decision to release him
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Liz Watkins @liziwat.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
A review that I wrote of Alice Lovejoy’s book ‘Tales of Militant Chemistry: The Film Factory in a Century of War’ has been published in the Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. Read the review: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/CV3VZ... if you get the chance to, read the book
tandfonline.com
Tales of Militant Chemistry: The Film Factory in a Century of War
Published in Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television (Ahead of Print, 2026)
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BAFTSS Colour and Film Research Group @baftsscolorfilmsig.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
The BAFTSS 2027 conference CFP is online. The conference will be held in Newcastle UK 12-14 April 2027. The deadline for abstracts, panel proposals and research practice submissions is 6th November 2026 More details: www.baftss.org/conference-2...
baftss.org
BAFTSS Conference 2027
The 2027 edition of the annual conference and awards ceremony of the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies will be held in Newcastle upon Tyne at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Monday...
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Sally Hayden @sallyhayd.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
For those who want more information on how we got to this point, please consider reading 'My Fourth Time, We Drowned', on the impact of EU policies in the Central Mediterranean: www.orwellfoundation.com/political-wr...
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Sally Hayden @sallyhayd.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
One of the most horrific stories I’ve ever reported was published this weekend. Please, everyone privileged in this world, read it and really think about what it means not to have freedom of travel. www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...
irishtimes.com
‘It was day 13 or 14 when people started dying’: More than 200 set sail for Europe. Only 36 survived
A harrowing story of death and survival on the Atlantic migration route from west Africa, ‘the deadliest in the world’
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Christina Riggs @christinajriggs.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Flowers for Gramsci, Piazza Carlina #Torino #Turin 🇮🇹
Stone plaque set in stone wall, inscribed in honour of Antonio Gramsci, and below a hook from which hang the desiccated remains of a large floral bouquet with faded red ribbons
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Thomas Cauvin @thomascauvin.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
"How can the histories of slavery and colonialism be mobilized not only for remembrance but also for healing, unity, and development?" Event anchored in the development of the Museum of Healing and Reconciliation in Northern Ghana www.deyaangamuseum.org/events.html
deyaangamuseum.org
Events — Museum of Healing and Reconciliation
Upcoming and past events hosted by the Museum of Healing and Reconciliation — convenings, symposia, and community dialogues on memory, healing, and the African diaspora.
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notes on sudan @notesonsudan.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Open call for Sudanese fine artists from around the world to participate in an art project. Each selected artist will receive €800 to produce an artwork. Details and link to apply here: www.instagram.com/gz_kampala/p...
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notes on sudan @notesonsudan.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Images of labour organisers associated with the 9to5 movement which inspired the film and Dolly Parton song. 📷 by Cagan and Bermack
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Christina Riggs @christinajriggs.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Samson and Fujiku, the resident #cats of the Ferramenta Savoia, #Torino #Turin #Italia #Italy 🇮🇹💙🐈🐈‍⬛ (and only €2 to get a key cut!)
Terrazzo floor in an ironmongers shop (hardware store), with a large black cat striding forward and a calico cat, long-haired, behind
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Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick @mrcwarwick.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Looking to find out more about coal mining archives at the MRC and elsewhere? Our handy guides to sources might be just what you need - warwick.ac.uk/services/lib... ⛏️
Photograph of a coal miner underground, about to hit a pit prop with a hammer. The titles 'Coal mining collections' and 'Research guides' are above and below the picture.
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Lauren Brown @laurencochrane.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
My first journal article is officially out today in @genderandhistory.bsky.social 🎉🎉🎉🎉 I discuss the visual representations of white settler women during the Kenya Emergency and their role in violence. Very pleased to see this out!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
‘Brave, Armed and Watchful’: Domestic Militarization and Contested Femininities During the Kenyan Emergency
This article examines the militarization of white settler women during the Kenya Emergency (1952–1960), analyzing how their armed participation disrupted and reconfigured colonial gender norms. Drawi...
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Christina Riggs @christinajriggs.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Opening PowerPoint for the first time in months is the same as having a conference paper all ready to go, right? Or do I need to put it in the oven for an hour?
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Visual Culture in Britain @vcib.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
“The significance of the ‘Handsworth Self Portrait’ project images as important historical documents for understanding the politicized field of photography and the local black community’s cultural forms of resistance” — Na’ama Klorman Eraqi’s article now is online www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
The ‘Handsworth Self Portrait‘ Project: Listening to Photographs, Resisting Racism, and the Rhythm of Black Handsworth
The Handsworth Self Portrait project (1979) was a makeshift outdoor studio that challenged the media’s criminalizing portrayals of Handsworth and its black community by inviting residents to take t...
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Marina Benjamin @marinabenjamin.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Starts tomorrow! A couple of places are left on my Faber Academy course. If you are someone, or know someone, who needs to get serious about writing personal essays please sign up or repost. 🙏
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Christina Riggs @christinajriggs.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
It’s #Caturday, and I think Mitzi expects me to be doing something a little more interesting with my time. And hers. 💙🐈🐈‍⬛ #cats
Long haired black and white cat sitting on top of a cat tree against a floor-length glass window, with sweet peas and view of hills outside.
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Malik Al Nasir @malikalnasir.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
I’m launching the £1m Connector Project for the International Slavery Museum. Overwriting-Underwriting our 1st community led research pilot is examining how underwriting slave ships facilitated the transatlantic trade. My segment comes in at 1h:19m into the show. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
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Dr Jennifer Howes @jhowesuk.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Identical sculptures of Robert Clive by John Tweed, early 20th Century. One is beside the old India Office in London and the other is in the Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata. A century later, how are they viewed? (1/2)
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Manel Ollé @manelolle.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
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Christina Riggs @christinajriggs.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
It’s been a tough week, tbh, but today I went to the Brough Agricultural Show - rain or shine! - and saw some truly superb Swaledales. Other sheep are available, too. Sheep and agricultural shows are officially Nice Things About Britain. 🐏🐑
Swaledale sheep looking at camera - black ‘mask’, white muzzle, and horns that curl around the ears. In a metal barred pen, standing on grass.
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Rachel Malik @rachelmalik.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
London People! Am teaching a five week course on Middlemarch, beginning 24 September. There are still a few places in the afternoon class
hlsi.org.uk
Autumn 2026: Middlemarch (afternoon class) – HLSI
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Nina Lager Vestberg @lagernina.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Fancy an excuse to come to Stockholm in September? Open seminar on PICTURE CULTURES with various folks involved in the project Selling Pictures: Pictorial Economy and Commoditization 1820–2020 (IFFS/VR). Speaker list in the comments!
A poster of various AI-generated cats accompanied by the following invitation to an
OPEN SEMINAR
PICTURE CULTURES

17 Sept. 09.30–16.00

Klockan Konferens

Olof Palmes gata 29-31

Welcome to a seminar where researchers as well as the advisory board involved in the project Selling Pictures: Pictorial Economy and Commoditization 1820–2020 (IFFS/Vetenskapsrådet) will present recent and ongoing research on various of aspects of how mass-produced and mass-reproduced pictures can be interpreted, datafied and studied.

Speakers:

Realism revisited. The persistence of photography in the age of AI 
–Estelle Blaschke

What Did the Victorians See? Using Multimodal AI to Analyze 72,000 News Illustrations
–Thomas Smits

What Are Artificial Intelligence Models Models Of?
–Fabian Offert

Picturing Baskerville’s Punches
–Caroline Archer Parré

Proto-photographic Reproductive Phantasmagoria
–Wolfgang Brückle

Pictorial Economy and Commoditization 1820–2020
–Nina Lager Vestberg & Anna Näslund
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History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 18/08/2026
During the Kenya Emergency, photography became a vital tool for psychological warfare. Lauren Brown explores how the colonial state used violent images to demonise African insurgents.
historyworkshop.org.uk
Colonial Kenya and the Politics of Visibility
During the Kenya Emergency, photography became a vital tool for psychological warfare. Lauren Brown explores how the colonial state used violent images to demonise African insurgents.
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Robert Bickers @bickers.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
We've just published a varied collection of 96 photographs of early 1890s Hong Kong including this hpcbristol.net/visual/Do01-87
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Michelle Henning @michellehenning.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
The first two opportunities for my new ERC project are now being advertised.  Both have an emphasis on critical AI studies, creative research practice and photography/ visual AI. Postdoc:  tinyurl.com/f8jnxynv PhD (UK/Irish applicants): www.liverpool.ac.uk/courses/ai-a...
tinyurl.com
Job Specification
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Timothy E. Kaldas @tekaldas.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Important piece by @halemhenish.bsky.social. He details challenges faced by Sudanese refugees in Egypt. Egypt has deported back to Sudan, a war zone, refugees registered with UNHCR while creating obstacles that make life in Egypt precarious for many more refugees pushing them consider risky options🧵
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