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Dr. Jessica van Horssen

@historiamagoria.bsky.social
2.2K followers 689 following 251 posts

Associate Professor in History at McMaster University specialising in histories of environmental health and contamination. She/her

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Dr. Jessica van Horssen @historiamagoria.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Exploring options for my Digital Humanities students 3D artefact printing assignment on Thingiverse and came across this necklace charm, which I assume is all Ada wanted her legacy to be. #histSTM #histSci #WTAF
A photo of an orange 3D printed necklace charm with the silhouette of a 1920s era woman's head on it and Ada Lovelace #GirlPower written in blue
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Benjamin Tausig @burrata.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
“Universities must stop falling in love with every new piece of software … that the tech industry pitches as essential. Administrators spend on software as if it is a durable investment, when all of the evidence shows that it … makes bloat worse.” globecollegetown.substack.com/p/higher-ed-...
globecollegetown.substack.com
College campuses need to be liberated from their administrators
Higher ed is being strangled by absurd and costly rules. What message is that sending to students?
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Dr Hannah J. Elizabeth @sexhistorian.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
There's still plenty of time to apply for this fantastic funded #PhD studentship on the history of unorthodox health activism in Britain after 1948! Interested? Know someone great who should apply? Get in touch! #AcademicSky www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSR502/p...
jobs.ac.uk
PhD Studentship: Unorthodox health activism in Britain after 1948 at University of Strathclyde
Explore a PhD Studentship: Unorthodox health activism in Britain after 1948 on jobs.ac.uk. Discover more PhD opportunities and apply today!
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Daniella M. @farsouthhistory.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
If anyone is interested in #Antarctic History #envhist #histsci #exploration, you should check out the new (mostly digitized) collection at UT-Arlington! mavmatrix.uta.edu/specialcolle...
mavmatrix.uta.edu
Antarctica Maps & Prints | Cartography Collection | University of Texas at Arlington
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University of Washington Press @uwapress.uw.edu · 05/10/2026
Who owns the night—and what do we lose as we flood it with light? In TRANSFORMING NIGHT, @sarabpritchard.bsky.social explores changing nights from local parks to planetary vistas, offering a new history of how modern light has transformed the darkness. Available now: uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295...
Transforming Night: The History and Science of Light Pollution by Sara B. Pritchard, foreword by Paul S. Sutter"Transforming Night is an exemplary interdisciplinary study of light pollution and the nocturnal landscape. Sara Pritchard explains how researchers in astronomy, satellite-based remote sensing, conservation science, and ecology, for different reasons, all reconceived the night as an environment. Her innovative perspective raises urgent issues of environmental justice." —David E. Nye, author of Electrifying America and American Illuminations
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 06/10/2026
Simon Stålenhag is the best www.instagram.com/p/C3j9F6kq6p5/
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simon_stalenhag
The way ai is marketed is just a new version of the old promise of perpetual motion. It cannot produce any new information about the world that hasn’t already been discovered by humans. A generated video of an ant tells us nothing new about ants that wasn’t already in the original data. I always considered the creative process as a form of discovery. The promise of a perpetual motion machine of creativity rests on very muddy assumptions of how new ideas are generated. Knowledge and creativity is not a library of data, but a continuous, dynamic process that requires interaction with the real world.

Just as with perpetual motion machines, artificial content might look like free energy for a while, but eventually it will grind to a halt unless real humans makes the effort to go out there and wind it up again.
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Elizabeth Anne, PhD @lacksauthority.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
never the wrong time for this classic
Screenshot of a tweet by @RobbtKraft reading “scientist: "does everyone here know what Watson and Crick discovered?" 
me from back of room: "Rosalind Franklin's notes"”
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NiCHE Canada @nichecanada.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
"Asbestos, Quebec, was given its name in 1884 when a post office was established beside what was then the small Jeffrey-Webb mine, simply because that’s what was there..." - @historiamagoria.bsky.social Read more here: niche-canada.org/2020/10/29/t... #envhist #cdnhist #mininghistory #quebec
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Q. Pheevr @q.pheevr.ca · 30/09/2026
For reconciliation to be possible, it’s not enough to acknowledge past harms; we have to stop committing present harms.
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Sara Pritchard @sarabpritchard.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
🌌🌃Still waiting for your copy of #TransformingNight? Here's an interview* from late last month on @greenhouseuis.net Big thanks to @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social and @finnarne.me for inviting me! (*EEEEK, please be nice, I HATE being interviewed and refuse to listen to myself)
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Dr. Jessica van Horssen @historiamagoria.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Looking towards decolonizing faculty merit schemes and looking for suggestions for alternative approaches to this sort of thing. Does anyone have any suggestions or advice?
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NiCHE Canada @nichecanada.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The Fifth World Congress of Environmental History is Coming to Toronto in 2030! We are excited to welcome @iceho.bsky.social and environmental historians from around the world to Canada! niche-canada.org/2026/09/18/t... #envhist #envhum
niche-canada.org
The Fifth World Congress of Environmental History is Coming to Toronto in 2030!
York University in Toronto will host the 2030 Fifth World Congress of Environmental History, marking its North American debut.
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Teiowí:sonte Thomas Deer @teyowisonte.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
36 years ago today. The attempted invasion of Kahnawà:ke. www.youtube.com/watch?v=11xD...
youtube.com
kahnawake island
YouTube video by Andy Kader
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Dr. Jessica van Horssen @historiamagoria.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
New #publication alert! I started do-editing the final volume of this series with Bloomberg in 2018. Cue editorial changes, a global pandemic, a baby, a transatlantic move, a new job, and here it is! Can’t wait to dig into the other volumes as well! #EnvHist
Front cover of the new publication with the title A Cultural History of the Environment: In the Age of Acceleration at the top and a space radar image of Salt Lake City, UtahPhoto of the spinal all six books in the Cultural History of the Environment series published by Bloomberg.
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NiCHE Canada @nichecanada.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
"Before 'Lake America,' There Was 'Lake Frontenac'" by Scott Berthelette is part of our Tracking the Effects: Environmental History and the Current United States Federal Administration series, published in collaboration with @activehist.bsky.social niche-canada.org/2026/09/14/b... #envhist
niche-canada.org
Before “Lake America,” There Was “Lake Frontenac”
Lake Ontario's history shows political renaming attempts often fail, as Indigenous-derived names endure despite official decrees or vanity.
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 11/09/2026
OpenAI did not "lose control", the agents did not go "rogue" and there is no "swarm" that "escaped". all control and responsibility remains firmly in the hands of these "frontier" labs. most importantly this "rogue" narrative is an intentional and strategic marketing PR
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Preeti Chhibber @runwithskizzers.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
i love that this has had literally no impact on my day lol
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Patrick Lacroix @querythepast.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
🚨 Nouvelle publication 🚨 « L’enjeu culturel dans le parcours politique franco-américain » Loin d’être une fausse piste, l’action politique des communautés franco-américaines a été une dimension essentielle de leur affirmation collective. #francophonie #immigration www.erudit.org/en/journals/...
erudit.org
Number 60, Fall 2025 – Francophonies d'Amérique
Read this issue of the journal Francophonies d'Amérique on Érudit. Discipline: Humanities and Social Sciences.
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Dr Hannah J. Elizabeth @sexhistorian.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Come & do a funded PhD with me & Prof Matt Smith at Strathclyde! We are looking for a historian with an interest in activism who wants to design a cool project on unorthodox health movements in Britain after 1948. #histmed #AcademicSky www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSR502/p...
jobs.ac.uk
PhD Studentship: Unorthodox health activism in Britain after 1948 at University of Strathclyde
jobs.ac.uk now advertising a PhD Studentship: Unorthodox health activism in Britain after 1948 Visit jobs.ac.uk to apply and to browse more PhD opportunities.
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Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
These two pieces cover wide and long established problems within academia around staff and student support, safety, welfare and inclusion. Well worth your time to read. By @corinnefowler.bsky.social and Christine Horvath respectively www.hackedoff.org/blog-posts/w... wonkhe.com/blogs/what-j...
wonkhe.com
What Jason Arday’s tragic death reveals about the spectacularisation of racism and crisis of UK higher education
Christina Horvath reflects on Jason Arday's death and asks the sector to confront some uncomfortable questions
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THE NERVE @thenerve.news · 19/07/2026
NEW: Who funds Nigel Farage? And why has it taken till now for any journalistic scrutiny? @carolecadwalla.bsky.social who has tracked him for a decade exposes how the UK press & regulators looked the other way 🧵👇
Farage the money launderer and me: a decade of denial
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Dr. Jessica van Horssen @historiamagoria.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Not one person has ever asked us why we left #UNHE for a Canadian institution. Everyone can spot that dumpster fire from an ocean away. It’s horrific to see how this case has unfolded, and the media absolutely should be held accountable.
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NiCHE Canada @nichecanada.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
"The Bay du Nord Oil Project Fails the Climate Crisis Test" by Obasanjo Joseph Oyedele is the latest post from the Cursed: How the Resource Curse Manifests in Newfoundland and Labrador project, led by @drlorileeoates.bsky.social niche-canada.org/2026/08/11/t... #envhist #energy #fossilfuels
niche-canada.org
The Bay du Nord Oil Project Fails the Climate Crisis Test
Equinor's Bay du Nord offshore project faces criticism over climate risks, outdated economic viability, and undeveloped equity and diversity plans.
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🌈 Dr Ross Brooks @rossbrooks.co.uk · 11/08/2026
DARWIN AND THE QUEER ORIGINS OF LIFE is published in the UK today! To mark the occasion, I've written a blog about the natural wonder of sexual polymorphism—and why Richard Dawkins' view of Darwin needs some clarification. 🌈📚🗃️ yalebooks.co.uk/blog/darwins... #booksky #histsci #histsex #queerhistory
yalebooks.co.uk
Darwin’s Queer Inheritance - Yale University Press London
Darwin is significantly queerer than we’ve been led to believe. While his writings are sometimes invoked to insist that sex should be understood in binary
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Dr. Jessica van Horssen @historiamagoria.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Teaching a new course on Digital Humanities, launching our new Applied History Hive. Looking for suggested readings, assignments, activities to help make this a fun and engaging experience for all! #DigiHum
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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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Dr. Jessica van Horssen @historiamagoria.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Camping: like real life, but harder.
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Lucy Jane Santos @lucyjanesantos.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
It’s officially one month to publication day for Nobody’s Perfect: The Making of Some Like It Hot. If this sounds like something you would enjoy (or you know anyone who loves this movie) please do consider pre ordering from all the normal places!
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Jon Agar @jonagar.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
As a historian of Jodrell Bank, I agree! And the reason it is important is that it has been made to mean different things to different people at different times. Who's up for a mega thread on how and why? (I'm off for lunch now, but I'll do it after. I'll need the energy...)
Cover of my book Science and Spectacle: the Work of Jodrell Bank in Post-war British Culture
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Dr. Jessica van Horssen @historiamagoria.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Just got an email from my grade 1 teacher that ended with “Keep dreaming. Keep believing! Keep a rainbow in your heart” and I can’t stop crying 🥹
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Daniel Rück @danrueck.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
L’Institut de recherche et d’études autochtones de l’Université d’Ottawa est à la recherche d’une personne qualifiée pour enseigner le cours EAS 2510 – Thèmes choisis en études autochtones I cet automne. Le cours peut porter sur le thème de votre choix. uottawa.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/uOttawa_Exte...
uottawa.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com
APTPUO - Automne 2026 - EAS2510-A00
Posting Reason: New Position Location: Main Campus Academic Period: 2026 Fall Semester Faculty: Faculté des arts / Faculty of Arts Academic Unit: Institut de recherche et d’études autochtones \\ Insti...
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Caitlin Moran @mscaitlinmoran.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
She's been onto Nigel Farage and "Posh George" for years - until she was sued. @carolecadwalla.bsky.social's brilliant long-read here, on her decades of following the story everyone's writing about now. She's a HERO: www.thenerve.news/p/nigel-fara...
thenerve.news
Farage, the money launderer and me: a decade of denial
The Reform leader’s relationship with the UK media has enabled him to operate with impunity for years. This past fortnight, that impunity finally appeared to be coming to an end. Carole Cadwalladr, wh...
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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Thinking about why women might not want to use a product that has forced itself into every software interface to confidently shout things that are wrong
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ESEH – European Society for Environmental History @eseh.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
The call for ESEH 2027 is out! Submit your proposal by 15 October. We offer standard formats like panel sessions, individual papers, book presentations, and posters, but also repeat our creative Different World Sessions! Read more here: eseh.org/cfp-14th-bie... #EnvHist #EnvHum
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Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 18/07/2026
Let's do some Canadian pipeline-wildfire math. The Canadian Energy Center says growing oil exports by 1.5M barrels/day **could** boost GDP by ~31B annually. Meanwhile, wildfire smoke health costs alone - just the health costs, nothing else - averaged 23B/year, past tense. And they're growing fast.
nowtoronto.com
Ontario hardest hit as wildfires cost Canada billions | NOW Toronto
A new report estimates wildfire smoke has cost Canada $231 billion since 2014. See how much each province has spent.
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Canadian Historical Association | Société historique du Canada @cndhistassoc.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
The Wilson Institute for Canadian History is pleased to announce its Visiting Scholars Program. #cdnhist #history
cha-shc.ca
Wilson Institute Visiting Scholars Program | Canadian Historical Association | Société historique du Canada
The Wilson Institute for Canadian History is pleased to announce its Visiting Scholars Program. Need a place to write while finishing those final book chapters? Looking for an academic home while cond...
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Rebekah Higgitt @rhiggitt.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
There are several meteorology and weather-related panels at #eshs-hss, which I've had to miss because of other duties. I'll use this chance to flag our call for contributions for a Sourcebook on histories of weather and weathering teleskopos.wordpress.com/2026/02/05/c...
teleskopos.wordpress.com
Call for Contributions: Histories of Weather & Weathering
Call for Contributions: A Sourcebook for Histories of Weather and Weathering (working title) Editors: Rebekah Higgitt, Tamara Caulkins and Lotta Leiwo We invite contributions to this planned open a…
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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I dunno, y’all, I just really feel like we should go back to paying attention to omens from nature to let us know when we’re on the wrong track.
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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 13/07/2026
‘Once you acknowledge that most of the Americas were inhabited long before 1492, everything changes, starting with the idea that nature in its ideal state is what they used to call virgin wilderness, in which people don’t belong.’ @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
lrb.co.uk
Rebecca Solnit · Before 1776
In 1848, the US seized the northern half of Mexico, from California to New Mexico, and imposed American law and the...
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Simone Gingrich @simonegingrich.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
The next European environmental history conference @eseh.bsky.social will be in Salzburg, Sept. 2027! Focusing on inter- and transdisciplinarity, it explicitly invites contributions from neighbouring fields 👉 eseh.org/cfp-14th-bie... #envhist @zug-wien.bsky.social @bokusec.bsky.social
eseh.org
CfP: 14th Biennial European Society for Environmental History (ESEH) Conference – European Society for Environmental History
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NiCHE Canada @nichecanada.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Today we have "Fire Truck Nationalism: How to Stay a Hero When You Lose to a Fire" by Gillian Der 謝美華 "Fire Truck Nationalism" merges heroic masculinity with Canadian settler myths, protecting the credibility of firefighters facing catastrophic wildfire losses. niche-canada.org/2026/07/09/f...
niche-canada.org
Fire Truck Nationalism: How to Stay a Hero When You Lose to a Fire
"Fire Truck Nationalism" merges heroic masculinity with Canadian settler myths, protecting the credibility of firefighters facing catastrophic wildfire losses.
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Dr. Jessica van Horssen @historiamagoria.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Beautiful photographs of a tragic reality. Canada is planning for more oil extraction and pipelines as the nation burns and melts around us. @mark-carney.bsky.social this is not okay. #FutureOverF150s
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Elephant Mastodon @emath.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
“What they saw was the rapid extraction of wealth in land from their territory with almost no benefits returning to them,” said Black. “The bigger question that the exhibit asks is, ‘Where do you, the person viewing this exhibit, where do you stand now that you’ve learned some things about it?’”
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Rachel Hope Cleves @rachelcleves.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
An open letter, to readers, about Charity and Sylvia. I am very pained to feel the need to write this. #queerhistory #pride
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Sean Carleton @seancarleton.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Being "proud" of your country does not mean burying your head in the sand about its fundamental problems. In fact, Canadians support reconciliation precisely because they want to resolve - not inflame - those tensions to create a better future.
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Sean Carleton @seancarleton.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Proofs ✅ Truth Before Reconciliation: Confronting Residential School Denialism will be available wherever you buy books, September 9. You can pre-order now: uofmpress.ca/books/truth-.... Royalties going to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society.
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Natalia Cecire @ncecire.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Redundancies at a post-92 are just as catastrophic--if not more--as redundancies at the institutions that are members of a group specifically set up to structurally advantage themselves at the expense of post-92s. Solidarity with everyone at risk. We are all very much needed.
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Prof Friederike Otto @frediotto.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Europe's worst heatwave so far, in terms of heat stress measures and temperatures - brought to you by fossil fuels. New @wwattribution.bsky.social study showing how such deadly heat became possible in only a few decades. www.worldweatherattribution.org/fossil-fuel-...
A map of Europes with dots for all 854 cities analysed, pink dots for the cities that broke humid heat records, grey dots elsewhere. Pink dots conentrated over Southern UK, Germany, Poland and Benelux.
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