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Erika Hanna

@erikahanna.bsky.social
2.4K followers 1.9K following 179 posts

Historian of Ireland, cities, folklore, photographs, bicycles, raindrops and other ephemera. Associate Prof Modern History at University of Bristol. I blog about weather and urbanization here: rainandtheirishcity.com

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Reposted by Erika Hanna
Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 11h
Archive of @britishacademy.bsky.social Fellow Stuart Hall is now live. Includes looking at his impact on the history of communication theory, culminating in the architecture of contemporary AI models www.theguardian.com/society/2026... Archive link: stuarthalldigital.bham.ac.uk/archival_mat...
theguardian.com
Thatcherism via the Walkman: Stuart Hall’s British cultural studies preserved online
Project lead says it celebrates ‘incredible contributions’ Jamaica-born sociologist made to Britain’s culture
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Rob Priest @rdpriest.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
_Oberammergau: The Passion Play and Its Audiences from the Enlightenment to the Nazis_ has won the German Studies Association's Barclay Book Prize for 2026. Thank you @thegsa.bsky.social and all who helped bring my book to life over many years. #überglücklich www.royalholloway.ac.uk/research-and...
royalholloway.ac.uk
Book Prize for Dr Robert Priest
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Dr Amy King @amycking.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Really enjoyed recording this New Books Network pod! We discussed grief as a response to Fascism's emotional regime after Matteotti's murder, commemoration as resistance, & Fratelli d'Italia's negotiation of this uncomfortable reminder Fascism's inherent violence newbooksnetwork.com/the-afterlif...
newbooksnetwork.com
The Afterlife of a Fascist Murder: Giacomo Matteotti in Myth and Memory, 1924-2024 with Amy King (Cambridge UP, 2026) - New Books Network
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I am not given to hyperbole when it comes to university industrial relations, but this feels like an existential event. The heart of the university is being torn out, with long-lasting consequences. These strikes are a last-ditch attempt to stop that. Will anyone listen?
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Dr Katie Twomey @k2mey.eurosky.social · 28/09/2026
This is quite cool. My university is the first organisation in the world to force Microsoft to allow us to turn off copilot summaries in Word 365, after a backlash against it from staff (including, very vocally, me). That cannot have been easy for our heroic IT people so hats very much off to them!
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Jay Roszman @jayroszman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
If you are a first-time author of a book published in 2026 in Irish Studies (broadly conceived) do consider submitting it to the Donald Murphy Prize for Distinguished First Books. acisweb.org/murphy-prize/ Happy to answer any questions. #IrishStudies 🗃️
acisweb.org
Donald Murphy Prize for Distinguished First Book | American Conference for Irish Studies – An Chomhdháil Mheiriceánach do Léann na hÉireann
Don Murphy, husband of ACIS Past President Maureen Murphy, was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, and died in New York on March 2, 1986. He received his Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and Bachelor of...
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Catherine Frieman @cjfrieman.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
10/10 would hate watch
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Alexander Fox @alexanderfox1.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Deleting apps cos I wanna meet someone the old fashioned way (form a homoerotic bond with a beautiful boy at Oxford, wheedle my way into his family, watch his descent into alcoholism, get rejected by his sister due to her faith, eventually convert to Catholicism with great metaphorical significance)
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Fixed that story about Sir Jim Ratcliffe on the BBC.
Picture of man smiling with tea-mug. Headline reads: "Non-Billionaire who actually lives in the UK and pays its taxes says he has lost confidence in the super-rich", with sub-header: 'One of Britain's taxpayers says he has lost confidence in billionaires, describing them as "on the take"".
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The programme I run - the MSc in Contemporary History - will be axed, amongst so many others. We've also been told our undergrad courses will need to have a minimum of 20 students over a 3 year period. The bonfire of the universities has truly come for Edinburgh.
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Sam Wetherell @samwetherell.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Some incredibly exciting news! My book about how Liverpool's history makes us think differently about Britain's past, present and future has been shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize!
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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Very nice to hear a sane voice from Piddington. Serious respect to this woman, who is apparently already being othered by more bigoted villagers.
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Erika Hanna @erikahanna.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/lectu...
thebritishacademy.ac.uk
Living with Rainfall: Fogs, Mists, Vapours in Irish History, 1800 – present
In the towns and cities of western seaboard of Ireland, it rains more than 250 days a year, a notable wetness of the air which shifts from swirling moisture to pounding rain as weather systems roll in...
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Kieran Connell @kieranconnell.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Important new piece in @mbhjournal.bsky.social by my colleague @jcrangle.bsky.social on the experiences of Black and mixed race Irish immigrants in Britain 👇 academic.oup.com/tcbh/article...
academic.oup.com
‘I felt like I just belonged’: urban multiculture and black Irish migrants in post-war Britain
Abstract. This article reevaluates historians’ understanding of the Irish in post-war Britain from the perspective of a previously unresearched population,
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The London Journal @thelondonjournal.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Call for chapters: Made Municipal: the LCC through its everyday objects. All reposts much appreciated. x
Made Municipal: the LCC through its everyday objects
Background
Following on from the Sixty Years on from the London County Council: Legacy, Impact, Learning film screening and conference in spring 2025, we are keen to capture and build on some of the histories and research that were represented, which highlighted the need for further and increasingly diverse scholarship about the London County Council.
The Council is often held in a certain degree of reverence regarding the achievements delivered across - and beyond - the boundaries of London from the time of its conception in 1889, and as being emblematic of a type of governance which may no longer be possible in a contemporary context. Since the publication of Andrew Saint’s edited book, Politics and People of London: London County Council, 1889-1965 in 1989, more research has emerged on the LCC, with the increasing availability of unofficial archives and the release of previously closed records revealing more nuanced narratives that have the potential to open up more diverse, representative histories.
We appreciate that talking comprehensively about the Council’s broad and interconnected operations is a monumental task, and thus we’re keen to find innovative ways to throw light on the panorama of its work, rather than focus on discrete, dislocated entities. To do so, we were inspired by Professor Andrew Saint, whose unusual contribution to the film screening night at The London Archives was a foot-long bar of LCC-branded soap. This sparked a wide-ranging discussion spanning issues of care, industry, and education in parentis, as undertaken by the LCC, and prompted us to consider that the operation of the LCC could perhaps be best understood through its material culture and its presence in residents’ day-to-day lives.Using a lens of material culture to explore the work of the LCC allows us to break out from the thematic silos which might otherwise be imposed upon its history, crossing between departments and people - whether LCC employees or those that used its services - that will result in some fascinating and revelatory perspectives.
We are particularly interested in how this might better contextualise some of the under-represented histories of the Council, to reveal their importance within the wider spectrum of its work. Unlike histories that focus on particular departments or typologies, this enables us to shift towards traversing siloed narratives to provide a richer, more rounded perspective on the LCC, which we feel is more authentic to its operation, whilst also challenging how objects are often documented in museums and archives.Call for chapters
Using a material culture approach, the collected volume will present a history of the LCC through a significant physical manifestation of objects that denote its municipal authority across the County of London. Each chapter will start with an image of the everyday LCC object, setting the scene for a more diverse re-telling of its history. It will be edited by the organisers of the Sixty Years on from the London County Council: Legacy, Impact, Learning film screening and conference held in March 2025, Dr Ruth Lang, Dr Dawn Pereira and Dr Rosamund Lily West.
We invite 4,000-5,000-word chapters which use an everyday LCC object as a starting point. We encourage a range of methodologies for approaching how the objects will be used as catalysts for storytelling. We are particularly interested in including those covering the early LCC period (1889-1914) and the interwar period, which is often underrepresented in LCC histories. Suggestions of types of objects include:
Objects; heraldry, uniforms, school awards, furniture, cutlery
Ephemera; pamphlets, tickets, brochures, phonebooks
Documents; official publications, maps, memoranda and minutes,
We see this approach as offering a more accessible way to delve into complex discussions on topics that may, at first glance, seem less engaging, such as regulation, commissioning, deindustrialisation plans, procurement, etc. We’re also keen to identify controversial objects that open untold/silenced stories and to consider whether there are global implications for the different themes and subjects discussed.This publication would build upon Andrew Saint’s 1989 edited book, Politics and People of London: the London County Council, 1889-1965, which was the last book on the LCC to offer a broad history, so this would be a timely and much-needed re-examination of the LCC and its legacy. The book will be academic and rigorous and will include good-quality images to complement the visual, object-based approach. The aim of this book is to be an academic/trade crossover, with an audience of both specialist academics and an interested public.
Please email LCC60yearson@gmail.com with your name, a 50-word bio and a 250-word abstract by 31st October 2026.
Please include a clear indication of the object your chapter intends to focus upon (including images and potential sources/locations of the object itself where possible), along with a summary of its purpose and relevance, and the outline of your intended scope of investigation.
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Olivia Wyatt @oliviawyatt1999.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
My article — “Black is Beautiful”: Gender, Pigmentation, and Political Blackness in Modern Britain — is now available to read! It reinserts the politics of complexion into our narratives of the Black Power and Black Women’s movements. #BlackBritishHistory academic.oup.com/histres/adva...
academic.oup.com
‘Black is beautiful’: gender, pigmentation and political blackness in modern Britain*
Abstract. By examining political literature, ephemera and oral histories, this article investigates the politics of pigmentation within the Black Power and
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Sadiah Qureshi 🦈 @sadiahqureshi.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Here briefly to provide the registration link to this super exciting inaugural from Professor Sumita Mukherjee. 28 October in Bristol, with an online option available. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/inaugural-...
eventbrite.co.uk
Inaugural Lecture of Professor Sumita Mukherjee (in person and online)
Please join the School of Humanities, University of Bristol, in celebrating Professor Sumita Mukherjee's inaugural lecture.
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Clodagh Tait @clodaghtait.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Delighted to see my and Judith Hurley's article on ceremonies of churching in Ireland live @womenshistoryrev.bsky.social. Thanks to Cara Delay, special issue editor, and all the journal team! doi.org/10.1080/0961...
doi.org
Mothering, matrescence and the changing meanings of ceremonies of churching after childbirth in Ireland, c.1800–2000
Ceremonies of churching tend to have a negative reputation, as rituals imposed by clerics on women in the vulnerable time after childbirth. Their perceived associations with ‘cleansing’ or ‘purific...
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Not. Even. Close.
Bev Craig wins Greater Manchester mayoral election with 66%, after second preference votes.
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Clive Lewis MP @labourlewis.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
1/4 A growing number of higher education institutions are using dirty tactics to undermine staff pension rights, pay and working conditions.
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Sam Wetherell @samwetherell.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
I wrote a book about how Liverpool’s modern history helps us think differently about Britain’s twentieth century - how it demands histories of wagelessness, environment ruin, obsolescence and new forms of resistance. It’s out in paperback today!
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Jim Clifford @jimclifford.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
It took me months to figure out how to extract 30,000 careers from the Colonial Office List; it took a little over a day to repeat the full process for the Indian Office List. The visualization now shows the very different global geography of these two bureaucracies in the British Empire.
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Erika Hanna @erikahanna.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Looking forward to finally getting my hands on a copy of Pivot Points, celebrating 50 years of the Irish Architectural Archive. I have a piece in it on Irish New Towns (featuring amazing IAA images): irisharchitecturalarchive.ie/pivot-points...
irisharchitecturalarchive.ie
Pivot Points 25 – Irish Architectural Archive
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Niamh NicGhabhann Coleman @niamhroisin.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Calling all curators, librarians, and archivists who work with religious objects or collections associated with prayer! The Prayticipate COST Action will hold a networking event in Limerick on the 1-2 October. Funding available! prayticipate.eu/activities/p...
prayticipate.eu
Prayer on Display – Limerick (IRE): 1-2 October 2026 – PRAYTICIPATE – COST Action CA23143
The Antrim Cross, 9th century AD, Copper alloy, bronze, glass enamel, Hunt Museum Collection, HCA 627 Call for expressions of interest. Meeting theme: Prayer on
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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 16/06/2024
Today's the anniversary of the Nazis executing Marc Bloch. Or, someone who could sit with uncertainty, champion inquiry & trying to understand, and recognise plurality & perplexity. And, in that knowledge, made the choice not to remain passive. Bloch, Historian’s Craft (MUP, 1992), pp. 64, 119, 160.
his comrades address him with a look of amazement. "extraordinary! You don't even seem to mind this awful uncertainty!" My friend could have answered that, despite the popular prejudice, the mental climate of research is not so unsympathetic to ready acceptance of the lottery of fate.Even in action, we are far too prone to judge. It is so easy to denounce. WE are never sufficiently understanding. Whoever differs form us -- a foreigner or a political adversary -- is almost inevitably considered evil. A little more understanding of people would be necessary merely for guidance, in the conflicts which are unavoidable; all the more to prevent them while there is yet time. If history would only renounce its false angelic airs, it would help us to cure this weakness. It includes a vast experience of human diversities, a continuous contact with men. Life, like science, has everything to gain from it, if only these contacts be friendly.This is in all honesty to acknowledge the subordination of the perspectiv to the peculiar angle of the inquiry. Moreover, lt us take care: in history, the fetish of single cause is all too often only the insidious form of search for the responsible person -- hence a value judgment. The judge expresses it as: 'who is right, and who is wrong?' The scholar is content to ask: 'why?' and he accepts the fact that the answer may not be simple. Whether as a prejudice of common sense, a postulate of logicians, or a habit of prosecuting attorneys, the monism of cause can be, for history, only an impediment. History seeks for causal wavetrains and is not afraid, since life shows them to be so, to find them multiple.
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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Andy Warhol's portrait of David Hockney, from the early 1970s.
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Des Fitzgerald @desfitzgerald.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Amol Rajan chucklingly refereeing to Elon Musk being "very outspoken" about events in Belfast is an actual fucking disgrace.
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Colm Murphy @colmpm.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
I have to say, listening to the Today programme dedicate an entire (context free) section about whether migrants are more likely to be convicted criminals *the morning after* hundreds of non-migrants of my own ethnicity committed a pogrom is blood boiling.
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Tom Hulme @tomhulme.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
I have an essay in the Irish Times this weekend reflecting on the intimate practice of writing about queer history in Belfast. Warning: contains pillow talk www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...
irishtimes.com
My search for the stories of gay Belfastmen has taken me to some surprising places
Writing a history of gay Belfast has been an intensely personal and emotional journey
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Will Clement @historywill.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
My first book, "Inspecting the home: Urban poverty and public health in nineteenth-century France", will be published by @manchesterup.bsky.social in February 2027 To find out more (or to add it to your wish lists...) see the link below: manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526183149/
A book cover showing a shaded pencil illustration of a well-dressed man with a cane who has stopped in the street, bent down and raised his hat to another man, whose head is visible at street-level in the window to a cellar of the nearby building.

Text on the cover reads 'Inspecting the home. Urban poverty and public health in nineteenth-century France' Will Clement
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Lauren Deschain @thatnerdchick.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Thanks, Vonnegut. 💜
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Institute of Historical Research @ihr.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Are you studying, researching or teaching in the histories of Britain or Ireland? Try using the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH), it contains 670,000+ resources from 55 BCE to today! Find out how to use BBIH buff.ly/yD11954 @brepols.net
history.ac.uk
Using BBIH online: a help pack for students and lecturers
For the academic year, we've a help pack offering guides to BBIH in undergraduate and graduate teaching and research. With embeddable content for VLEs.
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Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
All the "is Miliband popular/competent/acceptable after losing 11 years ago" is missing the most crucial point: that the most dramatically satisfying ending is that the guy who lost the election after which everything went wrong comes back and fixes it all. Ask Chekov. Ask Aristotle
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Dr Lucinda Hiam @lucindahiam.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
📉 Lots of discussion on @healthfoundation.bsky.social dn.bsky.social’s analysis of the latest UK healthy life expectancy figures. In our @bmj.com opinion, @martinmckee.bsky.social and I argue a key part of the story is still missing: austerity. �� www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj.s9s923 🧵
bmj.com
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Erika Hanna @erikahanna.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Pippa this exam question has been used too many times already
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Erika Hanna @erikahanna.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Who’s got “my father was a toolmaker” on their bingo card for the big speech?
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History at Queen's University Belfast @qubhistory.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Tom Hulme’s ‘Belfastmen’ launched tonight by @sophcocooper.bsky.social at No Alibis
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Erika Hanna @erikahanna.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Devastating news and furious at such a waste of talent and expertise
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Owen Davies @odavies9.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Aye. Heard today that my university is closing UG History, Philosophy, English Lit, Linguistics, and Creative Writing in one go.
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
The May Bank Holiday was traditionally a day of celebration for organised labour. This year, it also marks 100 years since the General Strike: the biggest industrial action in British history. So why not kick back with a podcast on the stunning events of 1926? www.ppfideas.com/episodes/now...
ppfideas.com
Now & Then with Robert Saunders: The General Strike @100
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Tom Hulme @tomhulme.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
“Belfastmen: An Intimate History of Life before Gay Liberation” @cornellupress.bsky.social featured in the Guardian! 🥹 www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
theguardian.com
‘Live and let live’: Northern Ireland historian uncovers surprising era of tolerance of gay men
Public records and private papers reveal compassion and tacit acceptance before ‘moral panic’ took hold in the 1950s and 1960s
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Melina Antonia Buns @melinabuns.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
May at the @greenhouseuis.net with our regular Monday book talks, Wednesday research talks and many special events featuring @mmendoza.bsky.social, Hauke Ohls, @erikahanna.bsky.social and others. #envhum 🌷
Overview of the events happening at the Greenhouse Center for Environmental Humanities during May 2026. For more information about the center, visit the website https://www.uis.no/en/greenhouse. For information about the book talk series, see also https://newnatures.org/greenhouse/
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Prof Ben Pohl @benpohl.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
GOOD NEWS: we've got some last-minute tickets available for next week's public lecture 'Food for Thought – The Bayeux Tapestry Revisited' in Bristol. Get yours before they're gone! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/public-lec...
eventbrite.co.uk
Public Lecture: Food for Thought – The Bayeux Tapestry Revisited
A public lecture by Professor Benjamin Pohl (Medieval History, University of Bristol) followed by a free drinks reception.
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Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick @mrcwarwick.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
In 1976-78, the Grunwick dispute became a UK labour movement cause célèbre Dubbed the 'strikers in saris', the largely female and South Asian workforce fought for union recognition Recordings with key participants (in 2007) are available at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib... #Archive30 #SoundAndVision
Still from recording of interview with Jayaben Desai, treasurer of the Grunwick strike committee in 1976-1978. The recording was made in 2007.
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Tom Hulme @tomhulme.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
final meeting with a dissertation student & I described the 2 weeks before submission as time for "thesismaxxing". student paused, then replied... "please do not ever say that again". have i just been... mogged?
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theriversideucc.bsky.social @theriversideucc.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Cork Lifelong Learning Festival is coming up and we are hosting several events in @ucclibrary.bsky.social including Tracing History and Legacy: The Helen Hooker O'Malley Photographic Archive at UCC Library - Lifelong Learning Festival 2026. Register at link below: libcal.ucc.ie/event/4507125
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Patrick walsh @speakerconolly.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Really beautiful expression of why fostering the Irish language is an ecological rather than a political issue in this old letter from the late poet Gabriel Rosenstock in today’s Irish Times.
Letter from Irish times on Irish language as ecological issue by Gabriel Rosenstock
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Erika Hanna @erikahanna.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
I go to Bishopston Library every Saturday, get out 20 books each week for my 3 kids, spend an hour doing the colouring sheets and browsing the cook books. All for free in a city where everything costs too much. I ❤️❤️❤️ it
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