Sign in

Hannah Theaker

@htheaker.bsky.social
1.1K followers 572 following 171 posts

Lecturer in History and Politics, University of Plymouth, researching histories of Islam, rebellion and minoritization in China; documenting the contemporary sinicisation of Islam in China

PostsRepliesMedia
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I watched a student nearly drop out due to unmedicated ADHD, and then return following diagnosis and medication. She completed a fantastic, award-winning dissertation on her return - one of the best I have supervised at Plymouth. She always had the ability, just needed her ADHD under control.
28913
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
Leonardo Carella @leonardocarella.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
In other words, a 10 percent contraction in one of Britain’s most successful exports. If it were steel or fish or other infinitely less profitable sectors, people would be having a meltdown.
10517228
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Morning, Womble. I've had very little headspace to read lately, but I've just finished Letters from the Luminous Deep and am getting stuck into Isabel Kim's Sublimation.
021
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Am obvious security liability is the shrinkage of UK university teaching capacity and uptake of Chinese language and associated area studies expertise. The mooted new research security fund needs to address that (and not just re China) rather than only fixating on compliance.
ft.com
UK universities comb records for China links after MI5 warning
Security agency’s alert highlights rising compliance pressures in sensitive research areas
1184
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Once again, digital archives are just so very fragile, although this example is particularly idiotic (start-up went bust, taking Heritage England's online archive access with it, all over DRM). I remain convinced that the digital age is making paper archives more important, not less.
030
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
China Law Translate / Jeremy Daum @chinalawtranslate.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I belatedly compiled some of my notes on China's Ethnic Unity Law here. www.chinalawtranslate.com/a-few-notes-...
chinalawtranslate.com
A few notes on the Ethnic Unity Law
This is not an overview of the Ethnic Unity Law, because Articles, like that by NPC Observer, have already done an admirable job of explaining how the law
11711
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
Magnus Fiskesjö @magnusfiskesjoe.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Latest, on China's settler colonialism in Tibet journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
053
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
This is true of many places - higher education is not only a cultural good, it is a massive driver of economies in otherwise left behind places that politicians and journalists rarely visit. What will happen if/when the financial crisis in HE leads to closures?
14416
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
St Death's Daughter, CSE Cooney. Gorgeously lyrical, and comforting amid the darkness. Also Notes on a Regicide, as really that book deserves all the awards.
161
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I've spoken here largely of programmes I know - but the same applies to the rare combinations shuttered in other languages and other disciplines. Aren't we supposed to offer flexibility in order to tackle contemporary world?
020
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I could not have gone on to do what I do without the joint honours programme I did. This slashing of programmes saves nothing, but is willfully destructive to undergraduate choice and intellectual ambition.
120
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Sure, Chinese and Russian is a challenging combination. But continuing to offer it costs nothing while there are standalone Chinese and Russian programmes, and results in a graduate ready and able to research two of the world's most important authoritarian regimes (if that is what they wish to do).
120
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I wanted to study Chinese, but wanted a discipline I could see myself in to structure my language study. For me that was History. But other people on my programmes found themselves in other combinations - Chinese and French, or the now shuttered Chinese and Economics.
120
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
This kind of Nous-authored slashing of options saves nothing, all modules will run as part of other degree programmes. Scottish universities offer much greater choice of combinations through their structure, its one of their strengths - and plays exactly to students like myself.
120
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I was deep in a start-of-semester migraine when the Edinburgh news came out, but I read with trepidation to discover whether my own undergraduate degree (Chinese and History) was among those cut. Its not - but my sense of sadness at this slashing of choice remains.
182
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Just finished The Vanished Birds, which was lovely, although life meant it took me forever. Now started on Letters from the Luminous Deep, which is promising although I was trying to relax - was not expecting the slightly too-recognisable evil academic politics that are starting to show...
032
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This sounds amazing. Loved Senaar, but it didnt quite go far enough in terms of scratching the bit of my brain that wants satisfying translation puzzles that aren't quite as awkward as actually just translating things…
110
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I really thought that was illegal. Utterly brutal, I am so sorry.
110
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Obra Dinn is a masterpiece, the soundtrack is a fixture in my overly dramatic working music selection for times when I must finish writing things. Did you play Blue Prince, Adri? I would be interested in your thoughts on it. (Also really enjoyed the zine: good dogs, lovely review of Audition).
110
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Morning, Womble! After a couple of lighter reads (I've been ill), I'm embarking on Simon Jimenez's The Vanished Birds, for a bookclub with a couple of friends.
021
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
Jan Kooy @kooyjan.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
“Rather than ending its crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and bringing justice for hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs whose lives have been destroyed, the Chinese government persists in its atrocities and silences critical voices, even abroad.”
hrw.org
China: Decade of Impunity for Crimes Against Uyghurs
The Chinese government’s decade-long severe repression against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims amounting to crimes against humanity, deserves a stronger response from the international community.
196
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
'A Russell Group university will no longer use ubiquitous anti-cheating tools provided by Turnitin because of concerns that the company might use students’ work to train artificial intelligence.' Maybe time for UK universities to develop and commercialise their own tools?
timeshighereducation.com
Southampton dumps Turnitin over use of students’ work to train AI
Academic integrity giant denies accusations as university declines to renew contract in favour of ‘other options’
722593
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
ChinaFile @chinafile.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
A Shanghai bookstore was shut down by the Chinese state in 2018. Six years later, it reopened in Washington, D.C. Yangyang Cheng spent months reporting the full, complicated story of Jifeng —
chinafile.com
A World out of Words | ChinaFile
The opening of a bookstore rarely makes international headlines. But when JF Books, known in Chinese as “Jifeng” (seasonal winds), opened its doors in Washington, D.C. on September 1, 2024, the news was covered around the world, from The Washington Post and The Economist, to Der Spiegel in Germany and The Straits Times in Singapore. The stories spoke of repression and rebirth:
02313
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
I am hiring a Research Associate to join my team at Scholars at Risk: apply.interfolio.com/191007. Great way to get started in international human rights work, particularly if you have an interest in academic freedom
apply.interfolio.com
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
44958
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
'A prolonged fall in the number of international students applying to study in the UK means “the wheels are rapidly falling off” the student loan-funded higher education system in England, sector experts have warned.' The world's 2nd best university system being killed by malign neglect. 1/3
611270
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Hell's Heart, Alexis Hall. Queer Moby Dick in space - just so much fun.
012
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
will pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
does anyone know of any work that’s been done on career trajectories of (UK humanities) academics who have been made redundant? eg information about how many go into school teaching, early retirement, independent research? appreciate this is complex, sensitive and much data is too recent
108231
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
James Leibold @jleibold.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
New in @ForeignAffairs: @tendor and I argue that China’s new ethnic-unity law does not abolish minority autonomy on paper. It does something more insidious: it gives statutory force to assimilation while hollowing autonomy out in practice. www.foreignaffairs.com/china/next-p...?
foreignaffairs.com
The Next Phase of China’s Minority Crackdown
Forced assimilation is now the law.
1135
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Just finished the Buffalo Hunter Hunter, which was excellent - perhaps slightly overlong, but a very satisfying horror novel. Not quite decided what to read next for once - probably something a little lighter is needed by way of recovery.
071
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Jonathan Spence holds up well but my go-to recommendation is Harrison's Man Awoken From Dreams. It's lovely, and beautifully encapsulates what the end of empire felt like for a village diarist. For fiction - I really liked She Who Became the Sun, a gender flipped retelling of the rise of the Ming.
020
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
Plashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Congratulations to the government on saving 2700 jobs by nationalising British Steel. Now, about the 18,000 university jobs lost in the last 18 months, with more coming…
15996386
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
Ignyte Award-Nominated Writer/Editor LP Kindred @lpkindred.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Just a heads up! @khoreo.bsky.social is 5 days from the end of their kickstarter and the mag hasn't funded. L pointed out last month that if we want nice things, we have to communicate that via dollars. Let's retain this important magazine! khōréō Year 6 www.kickstarter.com/projects/kho...
kickstarter.com
khōréō: Year 6
Help us sustain and grow an award-winning magazine of speculative fiction and migration!
04269
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
Will Tattersdill @tattersdill.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
If I were the King of Universities (which, heaven forbid), I would place this finding at the exact centre of every single policy decision from teaching to research to estates to capital investment. At every level in every process, the question would be: are we as humane as education demands we be?
Screenshot from a Higher Education Policy Institute report. The key sentence is: "students are used to and want human teaching, human feedback, and human connection."
211848
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
Kathleen E. Kennedy @themedievaldrk.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Your morning Must-Read thread, history of the 1st national-level report on AI, in 1973. Remains utterly applicable and just as devastating today.
0126
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Morning Womble! I've just started the Buffalo Hunter Hunter. I'm not the greatest horror reader, but I've heard a lot about this one.
0141
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
#UKHE! You know how we're told that 'students want less choice' against what we know to be reality & against pedagogical & disciplinary needs? Finally found the Nous report that supposedly backs that up, & it's based on a survey that asks about the *choice of major* nousgroup.com/assets/docs/...
FIGURE 12 UNIVERSITY STUDENT PREFERENCES AROUND OPTIONS TO SELECT MAJOR(S)
13221
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
First they came for the languages. In the hope that no one would have the words to say what was happening. 1/9🧵
bbc.co.uk
University of Aberdeen's plans to cut modern language degrees were 'rushed' - review
The University of Aberdeen says it accepts there were "missteps" in its process in 2023.
7314198
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 02/07/2026
from Chapter 27 of Jin Ping Mei: "There are in this world three sorts of people who fear the heat, and three who do not."
burninghou.se
The Heat
Critical support for Comrade The Scoffing Scholar of Lanling
2217
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
The SW really could use a PM who recognises that we are most definitely not the SE and please, oh god please, can we have a trainline that isn't regularly swept away by the sea now?
220
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
It nevertheless remains chilling to see the state enshrine assimilation at the highest possible level.
021
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
As ever, @davidstroup.bsky.social says things more eloquently than I do. This is a great thread, but I would reiterate that this law simply institutionalises much that was already happening - the removal of non-Chinese education, the criminalisation of everyday ethnic and religious behaviours.
153
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
David Stroup @davidstroup.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
🧵: This new law, in keeping with previous ones lines the HK National Security Law, asserts that the PRC can extraterritorialize its jurisdiction over speech and actions related to its national unity. Essentially it’s stating that it can police how people abroad speak about ethnic policy. /1
11510
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Loved this one. Its beautiful and weird, and also I want more books set in sci-fi Koreas.
010
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
This petition needs as many signatories as the Exeter one. Please sign and share — don’t let Hertfordshire managers get away with this just because a Russell Group one took the spotlight. #UKHE
4105124
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
Dr Ellie Mackin Roberts @elliemackinroberts.net · 26/06/2026
Today I am feeling incandescent rage at the way successive governments have absolutely failed higher education in this country and are basically wilfully refusing to do anything about it even though universities are huge employers and economic drivers of so many cities across the country.
1229871
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
The National Bureau of Asian Research @nbr.org · 25/06/2026
PODCAST "A Hundred Years of CCP Borderlands Policies": How the notions of borderlands, nation-building, and ethnic policies have been intertwined throughout 100 years of #CCP existence with @rollandnadege.bsky.social, @bennoweiner.bsky.social, Robert Barnett, @jleibold.bsky.social: bit.ly/3QzsUdL
014
Hannah Theaker @htheaker.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Oh I missed this yesterday! Started Dead Country, Max Gladstone, last night. I was in the mood for pleasing prose and good atmosphere, and this very much does that. But Cold Window Newsletter is organising a bookclub on the internet horror novel 《桥头楼上》, and I got kinda sucked into reading that...
010
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
'It is hard to overstate the role that higher education needs to play. Three-quarters of people working in the creative industries have degrees, and the jobs the audits suggest will be in greatest demand – software developers, designers, advertising executives, architects – are highly skilled.'
timeshighereducation.com
If the UK’s universities wither, so will its creative industries
By neglecting to adequately fund university teaching, the UK government is undermining its own growth ambitions for the creative sector, say Goldsmiths’ interim vice-chancellor David Oswell and, separ...
0179
Reposted by Hannah Theaker
Anise K. Strong @anisekstrong.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
The Cheese and the Worms is triumphant as a pioneering book in microhistory and narrative history, but I have also especially loved it for Ginsburg’s willingness to remind us that history is _weird._
03510