iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Heather Ray Milligan

Samuel Miller McDonald @smillermcdonald.bsky.social · 8h

Had a great chat about my book PROGRESS with social anthropologist Philip McKenzie on his excellent podcast Deep Dive. We covered some fascinating topics around the meaning of progress and its political and cultural impacts through time, please have a listen (links following)

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International Gothic Association @igagoths.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Join the @gothicstudies.bsky.social editorial team! Gothic Studies is pleased to announce a number of editorial positions: 2 associate editors and 1 North American reviews editor. Click here for more information and to apply: www.globalgoth.org/blog/join-th...

globalgoth.org

Join the Gothic Studies editorial team - Gothic Association

Gothic Studies is pleased to announce a number of editorial positions.

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Reposted by Heather Ray Milligan

Martin Paul Eve @eve.gd · 05/10/2026

This is the political economic trade-off in our space: politics (time devoted to critiquing AI, developing policies for handling it) vs. pleasure (reading and teaching literature). And that’s what AI, along with every other bureaucratic incursion, ends up taking away from us. eve.gd/2026/10/05/m...

eve.gd

My View on AI and University-Level English Literature

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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

September reads: an exceptional run of classics, hit after hit (except for M&M... sorry Steinbeck)

Book pile in foreground against brown armchair. From top to bottom: James Baldwin, Giovanni's Room; John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men; Knut Hamsun, Hunger; Daphne Du Maurier, Rebecca; Herman Melville, Moby-Dick

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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

proud of this latest article in MFS - sharing for my friday scrollers, petroculture & env hums scholars, and yanagihara stans

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C21 Literature: Journal of 21st-Century Writings @c21literature.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Really looking forward to our event later this evening! We'll be live posting so do follow along...

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James Kneale @jameskneale.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

'Gothic Anthropocene' workshop series at UCL, free to attend, running throughout October. Organised by Yichun Zhang and Qin Wu (both UCL)

A poster for a series of workshops. Text reads:

GOTHIC ANTHROPOCENE: NONHUMAN ENTANGLEMENT IN MULTICULTURES

What happens when the Gothic meets the Anthropocene?
Through four interactive workshops combining talks and creative activities, we rethink the boundaries between humans, non-humans, and the environments we inhabit.

WORKSHOP ONE • Seafood, Pollution and Colonial Waterscapes
9 OCT, 5-7PM
Speaker: Dr. Niranjana Ramesh (QMUL) & Yichun Zhang (UCL)
Creative activity: Mapping Your Own Waters, Yichun Zhang (UCL)

WORKSHOP TWO • Flesh and Bone: Gothic Animals as Cultures and Materiality
15 OCT, 3.30-5PM
Speaker: Maria Dragoi (UCL)
Creative Activity: Gothic Animals Show-and-Tell, Qin Wu (UCL)

WORKSHOP THREE • Gothic Sounds in the Anthropocene
23 OCT, 5-7PM
Speaker: Dr. Gavin Williams (KCL)
Creative activity: TBD, Francesca Balestro (UCL)

WORKSHOP FOUR • Gothic Objects: Dolls in the Cinema
30 OCT, 5-7PM
Speaker: Dr. Joana Jacob Ramalho (UCL)
Creative activity: TBD

All Welcome
Workshop One, Three and Four: Engineering Front Building, Executive Suite 104, UCL main campus
Workshop Two: Object-based Learning Lab, Old Refectory, Wilkins Building, UCL main campus
Food and drink provided
Enquiries: yichun.zhang.21@ucl.ac.uk and qin.wu.22@ucl.ac.uk
Generously supported by The University Council of Languages (UCFL) and SELCS-CMII, UCL

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National Trust @nationaltrust.org.uk · 28/09/2026

Today marks three years since the iconic Sycamore Gap tree was illegally felled. We're pleased to bring you new images which reveal how the stump is growing, a sure sign that the tree is in recovery.

The stump is hidden by a thick ring of green shoots

Showing tall shoots, growing above the stump

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Becca Harrison @beccaeharrison.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

If I were running a university where staff spent weeks and weeks of time putting grant proposals together only for UKRI to feed them into LLMs without informed consent—effectively theft of the time and work—I’d be taking serious action to defend those staff. But I’m not running a university, so

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Samuel Miller McDonald @smillermcdonald.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

New podcast out at Across the Margin. Michael Shields and I discuss my book PROGRESS and topics like the origins of capitalism and the root causes of current crises, to the challenges of finding meaning beyond progress. Please have a listen! shows.acast.com/across-the-m...

shows.acast.com

Episode 241: Progress with Samuel Miller McDonald | Across the Margin: The Podcast

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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

delighted to share my latest article is published (open access) in Modern Fiction Studies! @hopkinspress.bsky.social I give Hanya Yanagihara's first novel, The People in the Trees, the petroculture studies treatment and conclude that the times, they are exhausted doi.org/10.1353/mfs....

Beige cover of Modern Fiction Studies issue 72:3 (Fall 2026) featuring painting 'Sahara (Desert)' by Jan Ciagliński with turquoise figure in bottom right

Abstract for 'Contemporary Oil Fiction: From Exuberance to Exhaustion' by Heather Ray Milligan

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Samuel Miller McDonald @smillermcdonald.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

This excellent new article puts forward an important framework for understanding the difference between periods of collective exhaustion and those of exuberance. Have a guess which we are in now... Give it a read, OPEN ACCESSS!

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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

These cuts disproportionately target the arts & humanities: the Business School loses only three courses; the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures loses 48 – many of these are joint degrees, removing the optional breadth of study which has always been one of the appeals of a Scottish degree

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The Centre of African Studies is the only academic institute in Scotland of its kind - with its own budget, space, and leadership - and has produced, and brought to Edinburgh, generations of scholars. The proposal to close ('restructure') it diminishes the university, and Edinburgh, as a whole.

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

This is utterly horrendous for everyone working and studying at University of Brighton, & the community more widely. It also feels like Brighton is the canary in the mine – their unjustifiable 2023 cuts have since been emulated across the sector. Will this removal of workers' rights come for us all?

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British Association for Romantic Studies @bars.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Conference Announcement: The Last Man at 200: Imagining the Future after Environmental Disaster The Keats-Shelley Association of America (@ksaacomm.bsky.social) and the University of Notre Dame invite you to a hybrid conference next month! More on the blog: www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6578

Cover for The Last Man at 200: Mary Shelley, Postapocalyptic Politics and the Environmental Humanities, edited by Eileen M. Hunt.

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Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

I don't think the official launch has happened yet, but it appears the new Hopkins Guide is up & running on ProjectMUSE. The editors have been working on this since at least 2020 (that's when they queried me). It has (by my count) 84 new entries. IMHO... muse.jhu.edu/resource/8

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Loughborough English @lboroenglish.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

We are delighted to be ranked FIRST in the UK for both English Literature and Creative Writing in the latest Daily Mail university rankings! 🎉

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Samuel Miller McDonald @smillermcdonald.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Shatters the ideological foundation of liberalism and capitalism.—Prof Thea Riofrancos There is an idealism to this book that refreshes readers jaded by the claims of 'techno-futurism' and the aspirations of oligarchs.—Kirkus Reviews The paperback version of PROGRESS is published in the UK today

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Xavier Aldana Reyes @xaldanareyes.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Body Horror is out today in the UK (and I believe already out in the US and other countries)! The code CUP20 gets you 20% off when purchasing the book directly from @ColumbiaUP. I’d be really grateful for any reposts or help with promotion! 🪰🧪🩸 #horror #bodyhorror cup.columbia.edu/book/body-ho...

Cover for Body Horror: Biology, Biopower, Biotechnology, by Xavier Aldana Reyes. It includes a still from the film, featuring Jeff Goldblum. His face shows visible signs that his body is beginning to change.

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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

it takes a long time and money runs out fast so apply for alt-ac jobs in e.g. professional services/ academic publishing (or literally any job) to tide you over while applying for postdocs ! good luck!

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Samuel Miller McDonald @smillermcdonald.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Had a fantastic chat with Yasha Levine about all sorts of topics substack.com/home/post/p-...

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hannah @hannahkateboast.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Some of @shannonmattern.bsky.social's remarks on this have stuck with me, and helped explain my own exhaustion in ways I couldn't otherwise have put my finger upon: wordsinspace.net/2024/12/13/t...

wordsinspace.net

The Limits of Refusal

Words in Space is the work of Shannon Mattern.

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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

aha I think the marketing did him dirty in their bid for airport-dad readers...

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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

narrated by handsome author himself, 5,000-year big history with environmental/degrowth slant: www.audible.co.uk/pd/Progress-...

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British Association for Modernist Studies (BAMS) @modernistudies.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

A gentle #CFP reminder 🕰️📣 Our Special Issue for the #WeirdModernisms conference invites speakers to publish a shortened version of their paper, an extract, or a summary. Deadline 31st July! 🗓️ Email tmr@bams.ac.uk with proposals, doubts, and/or submissions! 📨 @moderniststudies.bsky.social

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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

thank you Sarah! :) might have to get tickets to the Cure for pure goth revelry

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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

thank you Jen! your work will be super informative for the book :)

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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

very pleased to have signed the advance contract for my first monograph, Ecogothic America and the Twenty-First-Century Novel, with @edinburghup.bsky.social !

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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

this was a delightful panel: reincarnation & sexology, gothic spectres of femme-phobia, and queer domestic life glimpsed from a feline perspective – glorious

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Loughborough University UCU @lboroucu.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Please sign & share the open letter to save modern languages at the Uni of Nottingham, this is part of a much wider national crisis & this letter is a chance for the sector to speak with one voice: forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/respon... #SaveLanguagesAtUoN #HigherEducation @uonucu.bsky.social

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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

after 4 days of #WeirdModernisms, seen off by esteemed conference cat

A tabby cat sits on a path leading to Holywell Conference Centre in Loughborough, surrounded by greenery

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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

it was an honour to introduce Ali Sperling's excellent final keynote of the conference, which drew on traditions of Afro-pessimism and queer negativity to advocate for Weird "unworldings"

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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

this was a wonderful keynote – still thinking about those red rocks of Sedona and the fusion of Gothic and Western genres

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Something deeply troubling & shocking is happening at Exeter University*, where a mass cull of staff is planned, even though it's in surplus. No good justifications given. @jamesgdyke.info provides the details: www.technosphere.earth/the-bonfire-... *Disclosure: I have a Visiting Fellowship here. +🧵

technosphere.earth

The bonfire of the humanities

150 academic posts at the University of Exeter are to be cut, most in the humanities but also in social sciences, engineering and environmental sciences

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Reposted by Heather Ray Milligan

Dr. Niall Allsopp @niallallsopp.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Please sign & share @exeterucu.bsky.social petition on wholly unjustified, hugely damaging cuts to humanities staff at uni of Exeter (including, potentially, mine). Help us defend the humanities! And stick up for higher ed in the South West! c.org/RFqMvrKb6z

'EXETER UCU: OUR SIX KEY MESSAGES

1. EXETER UNI'S FINANCES ARE STRONG. WE'VE LARGE CASH RESERVES (£200M IN 24/25). NEVER HAD A BUDGET DEFICIT. THIS 'CRISIS' IS MANUFACTURED.
2. EXECUTIVE PAY AT EXETER IS OUT OF CONTROL. IF JUST THE 16 HIGHEST-PAID EXECS CAPPED THEIR SALARY AT £120K, WE'D SAVE MORE MONEY THAN ALL THE CUTS TO ARCHAEOLOGY & HISTORY!
3. NO MEANINGFUL CONSULTATION, BUT A CONFUSED MESS: FAULTY AND INSUFFICIENT DATA, NO REAL DISCUSSION, AND AN IMPOSSIBLE, INSULTING AND UNREASONABLE TIMETABLE TO PUSH THIS THROUGH OVER THE SUMMER.
4. AN ALL-STAFF MEETING OF 600 STAFF RESOUNDINGLY VOTED NO CONFIDENCE IN VICE CHANCELLOR LISA ROBERTS (WHOSE PAY IS PUSHING £400K). WE BELIEVE THIS IS THE BIGGEST SINGLE VOTE BY ANY UNI STAFF IN THE HISTORY OF UK HE.
5. REDUNDANCIES ARE A MANAGEMENT CHOICE, NOT A FINANCIAL NECESSITY. THEY EVEN HAVE ALTERNATIVE COSTED PLANS WITH NO CUTS, BUT THINK IT'S EASIER TO GO FOR JOB LOSSES.
6. EXETER IS A FANTASTIC UNI, WITH WORLD CLASS RESEARCH, CREATIVE AND INSPIRING TEACHING, THOUGHTFUL AND IMAGINATIVE COMMUNITY OF STAFF AND STUDENTS. LET'S KEEP IT THAT WAY.'

At the bottom of the poster:
#DefendExeterUni
Instagram handle @uniexeterucu
QR link to sign the petition

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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

hastily assembling my paper '(Meta-)Modernism's Mad Dogs' on canines, contagion, and race & species discourses AND my chair's introduction for one of our fantastic keynotes excited to welcome many wonderful colleagues to that ultimate weird space: the midlands campus #ModWrite

Copies of Djuna Barnes's Nightwood, Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Helena María Viramontes's Their Dogs Came With Them on a dark background with green and red tile coasters.

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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

"Hiring of college grads is down across the board. But certain majors are able to access opportunities in a wider array of industries, new LinkedIn data shows." ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH 69% VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS 68% www.forbes.com/sites/courtn...

The Most Versatile Majors Chart, TOPPED BY ENGLISH and VISUAL&PERFORMING ARTS

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João Florêncio @noisybits.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Just heard about the 200 redundancies announced by my previous employer, the University of Exeter. 170 of those are in Humanities and Social Sciences. This is what happens in a country with the collapsing HE funding system with VCs-cum-CEOs on £300k salaries+bonuses and corporate governing bodies.

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Katherine Ibbett @eparpillee.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Deeply enticing CFP: Feminanimals: women as/and animals - April 2027 in Oxford, with the fabulous Fanny Clemente and Greta Colombani organising and Kaori Nagai and Chloe Taylor as keynotes - www.mod-langs.ox.ac.uk/events/2027/...

mod-langs.ox.ac.uk

FEMINANIMALS: Representations of Women and/as Animals in Literature, Arts, and Other Media

FEMINANIMALS is a three-day international conference investigating representations of women as non-human animals and of the relationship between women and non-human animals in literature, arts, and ot...

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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

indeed – if it's a strategic move to promote the economics while avoiding a thorny term then fine, but it seems wrong to explicitly disavow the intellectual & political traditions from which these ideas emerged. (and odd to then end on a quote from leading degrowth scholar Jason Hickel!)

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Heather Ray Milligan @hrmilligan.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

this seems like a sensible plan, though it's curious of the Guardian to distance this vision from 'traditional leftist parties' and 'economic degrowth', when the strategy is grounded in classic leftist policies like wealth taxes and degrowth proposals like shorter working hours

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