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Florian Wieser

@florianwieser95.bsky.social
146 followers 213 following 109 posts

history PhD grad and Honorary Fellow University of Edinburgh, c16&17 colonial, queer, global history - opinionated, gay, and nerdy --- 🇪🇺🏳️‍🌈📖 edinburgh.academia.edu/FlorianWieser empirespastdotblog.wordpress.com

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Reposted by Florian Wieser
Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Fascinating world of ancient #glass: A Roman glass model of a #boat, dating 2nd c. AD. It was found in St. Aldegund in a 4th-century woman's grave. Six of such boats are known. We don't know their function: Were they used as women's urinals, as components of water clocks and sundials, as...🧵1/2 🏺
A translucent blue glass vessel shaped like a boat, with a curved hull, upturned ends, and small protruding feet for support. The surface has visible cracks. A soft shadow is cast beneath the object on a neutral background.
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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Saturday night Juke joint, outside Clarksdale, Mississippi, 1939 by US photographer Marion Post Wolcott #WomensArt
Monochrome photograph featuring a group of Black people in an interior, with a man and woman dancing side by side smiling, the man wears a suit and hat, the woman wears a white top and jodhpur type pants and boots
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Karen Gregory @karengregory.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Protect African Studies @ Edinburgh docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com
Protect African Studies @ Edinburgh
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Andrea Reyes E (she/her) @altibel.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
#BookHistory
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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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Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Superb exposition from William Pettigrew of how slave trading (let alone the whole plantation complex that depended on it) was “enmeshed in the processes that produced the nation we know today”. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/comm...
theguardian.com
Freedom-loving Britain was at the heart of the 18th century slave trade – and this register proves it | William Pettigrew
Register of British Slave Traders reveals how deeply the trafficking of Africans was embedded in the country’s politics, economy, institutions and culture
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Le Quotidien de la Généalogie @quotidien-genealogie.fr · 14/09/2026
Les Archives Nationales indexent les procès-verbaux des greffiers des bâtiments de Paris
quotidien-genealogie.fr
Les Archives Nationales indexent les procès-verbaux des greffiers des bâtiments de Paris
Les Archives nationales viennent de lancer un nouveau chantier d'indexation sur leur plateforme collaborative Girophares : celui des procès-verbaux
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John McCafferty @jdmccafferty.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Coconut-Shell Cup for Chocolate [Coco chocolatero] Mexico, 17th-18th century. Though few of these chocolate cups survive given the fragility of the material, many feature in colonial Mexican household inventories. (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
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Annalisa Nicholson @apuddleofmuddle.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
It's just weird isn't it when the British Museum is running a sold-out exhibition, when The Odyssey reports $1billion at the box office, when the V&A has just opened the most innovative and accessible museum model in Europe....and this is what our minister for research comes out with.
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
When asked in the Q&A about arts and humanities he says he personally values them (seems very genuine) but that he is the Science Minister, and it’s for the DCMS Minister to make the case for those. He’s perhaps not yet clocked he is responsible for all R&D. Would Wissenschaft Minister work better?
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Lukas Koster @lukask.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
This is cool. For my PhD on repurposing of urban convents/monasteries in Holland during the Reformation, I was searching for info on Germany and then I stumbled upon the Database of Monasteries in the Holy Roman Empire (adw-goe.de/en/germania-...).
adw-goe.de
Database of Monasteries: Niedersächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen (NAWG)
Darstellung der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen und ihrer Langzeitprojekte im Akademienprogramm sowie Zugang zur digitalen Bibliothek der geisteswissenschaftlichen Forschungsvorhaben.
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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Happy 72nd Birthday to Ruby Bridges, who at the age of 6 desegregated the New Orleans public schools. She’s younger than 30 senators and our last two presidents—and only 7 years older than Barack Obama. The past isn’t past.
Ruby Bridges, age 6Ruby Bridges flanked by three U.S. Marshals on the steps of her schoolNorman Rockwell’s painting depicting the event, “The Problem We All Live With,” originally published as a centerfold in the January 14, 1964 issue of Look magazine. Ruby Bridges talking with President Obama as they look at Rockwell’s painting while it was temporarily displayed at the White House in 2011.
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PT Klein @ptklein.com · 08/09/2026
Resistance to so-called artificial intelligence is, in part, precisely this: a forceful claim to the true value of one’s labor. The dream of AI is guiltless slavery: a world in which real wages race to the bottom against threats of unemployment while a select class pockets excess profits.
A spread from a 1950s issue of Mechanics Illustrated titled “You’ll Own ‘Slaves’ by 1965.” On one page, an illustration of a mechanical robot dressing a white man, while another robot attends with a breakfast platter. In the next, a still of a humanoid robot from the sci-fi movie “Zombies of the Stratosphere” (1952, Fred C. Bannon)
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Catherine E. de Vries @catherinedevries.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
AfD’s huge gains in Saxony-Anhalt are the latest in a series of far-right electoral gains across Europe, while mainstream parties are struggling. 2027 brings major elections in 🇫🇷 🇮🇹 🇪🇸🇵🇱 Europe is heading towards a political stress test. How does this matter for the EU’s ability to act? 🧵 1/10
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Heike Klüver @heikekluever.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
📣 New op-ed in Süddeutsche Zeitung: What the data say about the “Brandmauer” I summarize key findings from a study with @anninahermes.bsky.social across 57 democracies ➡️ Far-right parties don’t get weaker in government, they get stronger (~6 points by the next election) tinyurl.com/4j6jaud2
sueddeutsche.de
Demokratie: Wenn die Rechte mitregiert, wird sie nicht geschwächt – im Gegenteil
Eine Untersuchung von 57 Ländern zeigt: Wenn die Rechte in Verantwortung kommt, gewinnt sie dazu. Daraus lässt sich für Deutschland lernen.
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Florian Wieser @florianwieser95.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Absolutely horrified at the way the election in #Saxony-Anhalt (Germany) has turned out. At over 80% voter turn-out, people have chosen the far-right, anti-EU, anti-constitution, anti-queer, racist, ableist, pro-Russian AfD at 44.5%. I genuinely thought we as Germans were better than this.
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The Fake History Hunter @fakehistoryhunter.net · 06/09/2026
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Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia) @animal-aspects.bsky.social · 08/09/2024
For #InternationalVultureAwarenessDay: Bernard Willem Wierink (Dutch, 1856-1939) Gieren ( #Vultures ), 1919 platecut print, 40.2 h × 21.5 cm w Rijksmuseum RP-P-1924-380: www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collectio... #birdsinart
color platecut print, illustration of a group of four vultures
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Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
gotta bring this classic over here
a tweet from my old twitter account reading “[historian voice] it has always sucked ass to be alive”
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 04/09/2026
Let me say as loudly as I can to all the Europeans on here who have been rightly appalled watching the Trump regime’s third-country removals: Your government has been watching, too, and they like what they see.
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Manon C Williams @manoncwilliams.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Please circulate! Calling all PhDs and ECRs working on themes related to health, welfare, and community in the early modern maritime world: submit abstracts by 30 September to join this one-day workshop at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich on 14 January 2027. www.rmg.co.uk/collections/...
rmg.co.uk
Call for Papers: Health, Welfare, and Mutual Support in Maritime Communities, 1550 – 1850
A one-day workshop/symposium on 14 January 2027 at the National Maritime Museum, focusing on the disciplinary crossroads between medical, social, and maritime history
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AMEND - eArly Modern European NeuroDivergence @amendproject.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
AMEND's PI Laura has written a great new article published on The Conversation, ‘What Early Modern Literature Can Teach Us About Neurodivergence’🤩 Read it here!: theconversation.com/what-early-m...
theconversation.com
What early modern literature can teach us about neurodivergence
Long before autism or ADHD were diagnoses, people were navigating lives outside social norms.
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James Talarico @jamestalarico.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
BREAKING: Liam Tadeo was just deported by ICE.
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Thomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
I started my PhD program with an eight week old at home, sole income being my doctoral stipend, in a history program, in Knoxville, TN. And every month we got a new book to read to my son, free, mailed to us, so my kid, my kids, grew up in rooms full of books even when I had no money. That's Dolly.
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Joseph Fasano @josephfasano.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
One night, after trying to write about this troubled world, after crossing out pages and pages of what I'd written, I fell asleep, dreamt of being visited by the great poet Rumi, and woke with this poem.
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Sarah-Maria Schober @smschober.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Conference: Global Histories of Hair, c. 1500-2026 in Lucerne, Switzerland, 8-10 October 2026. There will be a hybrid possibilty to attend, please register. #skystorians #earlymodern
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Florian Wieser @florianwieser95.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
For those curious, I've got a new book review out in IJMH. Read my thoughts on Justin Roberts' FRAGILE EMPIRE, an excellent addition to debates around the history of slavery, English colonialism, tropical disease, and more. Thanks to @wadehistory.bsky.social for editing this. doi.org/10.1177/0843...
doi.org
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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Natalia (娜塔莉) @wrycritic.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Even X the Everything App had to correct this revisionist drivel. Successful decade-long vilification of East European migrants led to Brexit. Which cost UK roughly 8% of GDP, or £180 billion. And derailed higher education and small businesses. Xenophobia has gotten worse since ✌️
Readers added context they thought people might want to know

The claim that there was no backlash against Polish immigrants is inaccurate. Polish immigration was a central issue in UK political discourse, featuring extensively in tabloid headlines and serving as a major factor during the
Brexit referendum.
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Florian Wieser @florianwieser95.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Bizarre claims from obvious ethnonationalists there. I lived in the UK during the first half of the 2020s, and you could feel the anti-Polish and generally anti-European sentiment even then.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
' evidence has come to light [e.g. Malik Al Nasir's book] that Sandbach, Tinne and Company – a corporation closely linked to the merchants who got the biggest taxpayer-funded compensation payouts – continued to traffic enslaved Africans illegally after abolition to Guyana, in South America.' 1/3
theguardian.com
British corporation continued trafficking of enslaved Africans to Guyana 40 years after abolition
Letter written in 1847 to Sandbach, Tinne and Company’s Liverpool office reveals it engaged in practice after receiving taxpayer-funded compensation, book says
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Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies @acmrs.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
We're thrilled to be supporting Across Two Seas, a symposium put together by Denva Gallant at Rice University. This lineup is incredible, and there is travel funding for folks in the @folger.edu Institute consortium! Don't sleep on this one: acrosstwoseas.com #RaceB4Race
acrosstwoseas.com
Across Two Seas
A Symposium at Rice University
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Anna Cusack @annacusack.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
If anyone needs an early modernist for lecturing, consultation, copy editing, or freelance work. I have a lot of experience and would appreciate any work sent my way for the next academic year! #EarlyModern Things are looking a little grim!
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Holly Brewer @earlymodjustice.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
It’s a different kind of censorship— But still hides race. Distorts the history and the ability to analyze—
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Yaroslav Barsukov #NoToWar #НетВойне @barsukov.com · 17/08/2026
AI RANT Following the cancellation of three major debut book deals over AI suspicions, I decided to put my own (needless to say, 100% human-written) prose to the test. My detector of choice was Originality AI, and the results proved to be jarring, to say the least. 🧵1/5
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Kate Littler @palaeoclimate.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
To hell with LLMs. It is fundamentally breaking the uni staff - student relationship, based on mutual trust & respect. Students, I want to be your instructor, your mentor, & a friendly presence. I don’t want to be locked in a perpetual arms-race where you try to cheat and I try to catch you 😞
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Economic History Society @echistsoc.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
ehs.org.uk/award/resear...
ehs.org.uk
Research Fund for Graduate Students - Economic History Society
The Economic History Society will consider applications for grants – normally of up to £1,000 – to assist postgraduate students (Master’s Degree and PhD) in United Kingdom colleges and universities wi...
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David Wearing @davidwearing.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Until very recently, the word “woke” conveyed something beautiful: political awakening in the context of the African-American liberation struggle. The way it has been forcibly stripped from that context and transformed into a ubiquitous term of derision is shockingly cruel & inherently anti-black 1/
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Darcie Little Badger @littlebadger.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
I get a lot of people asking for sources about the Lipan Apache in Texas and our history; the Texas State Historical Society just published a thorough, peer-reviewed article on the subject! www.tshaonline.org/handbook/ent...
tshaonline.org
History and Legacy of the Lipan Apache Tribe in Texas and Mexico
Explore the rich history, cultural heritage, and continuous presence of the Lipan Apache tribe across Texas, northern Mexico, and the Southern Great Plains. Learn about their origins, alliances, resis...
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Leigh Walton @leighwalton.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Maybe when we learn about a new movie from the exact same feed where we learn about a new global atrocity, we are gradually training ourselves to treat movies like global atrocities and treat global atrocities like movies
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Plenty to reflect about re: the Arday affair, but I'm going to repeat this one thing. The playbook the right used here is effective even though it's not especially sophisticated, as it relies on the audience to do the dirty work. I've been calling it "Trojan horse propaganda", let's go with that. 1/
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Martin D.B. Brown @martindbbrown.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
So updating our 'guide' for history students, predominately for undergrads and have added: F. James, ‘The Wild Essay, Or, the Essayist Responds to the University Policy on Generative Artificial Intelligence in Learning, Teaching and Assessment’, New Writing (2026): 1–6, doi.org/10.1080/1479...
doi.org
The Wild Essay, Or, the Essayist responds to the University Policy on Generative Artificial Intelligence in Learning, Teaching and Assessment
This is a guide to the essay in the age of AI, when we need it more than ever. How should we encourage our students to read when co-pilot is on hand to read for them? Beset on all sides by summary ...
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Lewis Wade 🗃️ @wadehistory.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I think a lot of Europeans will agree this has been a summer of extraordinary intensity. It fills me with dread to think this could just be the first of many like it
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Lewis Wade 🗃️ @wadehistory.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
So… I just found out that a YouTube channel that’s publishing AI-generated antisemitic "history" videos “cites” an article of mine (one that doesn’t even mention Jewish people) alongside several others as a way of trying to intellectualise their antisemitism, and I’m feeling rather sick. Ooooof
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Wole Talabi | Preorder THE FIST OF MEMORY @wtalabi.com · 07/08/2026
Eugenia has already said here everything I was going to say about this. One thing I will add is that the lasting thing I gained following this project was a deep hatred for AI slop and LLMs as anyone who has heard me speak on ths subject since knows. I saw how the sausage was made and rejected it.
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Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
#Academia has an empathy problem. #LongRant We train people to be rigorous thinkers, and productive researchers (or at least claim to). But we do far less to train ourselves to listen, uplift others, and be good members of an intellectual community. We should actively practice empathy too. 🧵
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John McCafferty @jdmccafferty.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Costume design by Daniel Rabel for the Entry of Music in the Ballet des Fées de la Forest de Saint Germain, performed by the Ballet de Cour of Louis XIII, 1625 (V&A, London)
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John McCafferty @jdmccafferty.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
This little bird was embroidered in Peru sometime between 100CE and 600CE. (V&A, London)
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Daniel Bellingradt @dbellingradt.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
In the 1560s, the volcanic tropical island located in the South Atlantic Ocean, Saint Helena (left on the image), was in big trouble, when a sea monster with an experimental hairdo and twice as big as the island (right on the image), met spontaneously in the wide open sea. #skystorians
A detail from an old map of the 1560s, and you see an island named "S. Helena" and a big, big, sea monster appearing from the right. This is a printed scene from this map: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b550049478
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