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Mikki Brock

@mikkibrock.bsky.social
5K followers 1.5K following 331 posts

historian of religion, the supernatural, & gender in early modern Scotland | professor | views mine | she/her.

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Reposted by Mikki Brock
Kate Manne @katemanne.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I wrote for @thecut.com about the Cornell case and what it says that, at my institution and many others like it, protesters are often punished more harshly than sexual assailants www.thecut.com/article/what...
thecut.com
What It Feels Like at Cornell Right Now
As a professor at the Ivy League school, Kate Manne has known many, many victims. There’s a palpable feeling on campus, she writes, that this is big.
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Jessica Valenti @jessicavalenti.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
In 2014, I interviewed a Columbia University student who went from class to class carrying the mattress she was raped on—a protest performance piece to remind college administrators what they put on her shoulders. Twelve years later, we still expect women on college campuses to carry that weight.
jessica.substack.com
Carrying That Weight—Again
I can’t stop thinking about the Cornell rape case
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Melissa Johnson, PhD @ladyhistorian.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I am tired of having to pretend that the value of studying my discipline solely rests on the "marketable skills" we teach. Sometimes things are just worth knowing and doing because they make your life bigger and richer.
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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
📢NEW MANY-HEADED MONSTER POST📢 There are many many reasons why rich and powerful people misrepresent evidence of all kinds. If only there were approaches and skills that could help us see through the lies ... 🗃️ #Humanities #Arts #SocialSciences manyheadedmonster.com/2026/09/22/a...
manyheadedmonster.com
A plea for critical thinking humans in our world of extremes
Laura Sangha A companion piece to: What is history for? Or: Doing history/thinking historically The train to Totnes this weekend was full of late holiday makers heading for Cornwall. They were grat…
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Professor Marion Gibson @witchesetc.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
This excellent book by Andrew Sneddon on witchcraft accusations and disability is free to view and download until 15th October - it’s in the CUP Elements in Magic series that I used to edit: eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
Magic and Disability in the Early Modern World
Cambridge Core - Religion: General Interest - Magic and Disability in the Early Modern World
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
NEW: @apnews.com confirms that ICE has begun electronically "disappearing" people in the agency's custody who have final orders of removal. As of last week, anyone jailed by ICE with a final order of removal will NOT appear in the ICE Online Detainee Locator System, making them effectively vanish.
apnews.com
AP Exclusive: ICE hides locations of thousands of detainees with final removal orders
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stopped publicly revealing where it is holding most detainees who are subject to final deportation orders, in a move that has made it harder for lawyers an...
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Mikki Brock @mikkibrock.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
good lord. this is ridiculous and so demoralizing for faculty and students alike. if you are unwilling or unable to write your own stuff--be it op-eds, articles, or emails--then you should not be working at a university, much less leading one.
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Mikki Brock @mikkibrock.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Deeply depressing, but not surprising, from my alma mater.
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Mikki Brock @mikkibrock.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
my god this is awful
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 15/09/2026
pleasant surprise. i would like to read whatever deranged dissent alito and thomas have written. i’m sure it will be some version of “MAIL FRAUD IS REAL AND I SAW IT IN THE CLOSET MAKING A BABY AND THE BABY LOOKED AT ME”
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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Ted Cruz is aggressively booed in Austin, Texas: “Ted, you suck!”
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Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 09/09/2026
Not to brag, but our product has been foldable since 1828.
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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 09/09/2026
Could the relentless demonization of the humanities as woke, useless, and esoteric; systemic underfunding of humanities disciplines; and the STEM & AP-ification of high school have anything to do with this?
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Mikki Brock @mikkibrock.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
So I’ve decided I have too many emails and not enough puppies. I have no room in my life to accommodate more of either, but I’ve decided the secret to happiness is surely having the right puppy to email ratio (kitties will also work!).
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I teach history. That's my profession. That's what I'm trained in, that's what I was hired to train students in. That's what all my experience and interest is in. I don't know a thing about AI and I don't want to. So if you want to teach AI, go teach AI in your own fucking classroom.
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Kathryn Joyce @kathrynajoyce.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
“I mean, what is a utopia?” Margaret Cerullo, a sociology professor from Hampshire, said to me. “It’s a place where you can imagine that the world could be different.” @hannahgais.bsky.social with a lovely, heartbreaking obit for Hampshire College thebaffler.com/latest/class...
thebaffler.com
Class Dismissed | Hannah Gais
Private liberal arts schools were never going to kickstart the revolution. But the closure of Hampshire College further narrows the political imaginary.
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Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
we genuinely need creative ways to punish corporations for this sort of low-stakes acquiescence
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Neil Mackay @neilmackay.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I can't believe this London-based landowner is putting the iconic Glenelg to Skye ferry at risk. Support the local community - not millionaire financiers - and save the world famous Glenelg to Skye ferry by joining me and signing the petition today: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/sa...
you.38degrees.org.uk
Save the Glenelg - Skye ferry!
This ten minute crossing is famous around the world - and is believed to be the last turntable style ferry anywhere. It's an iconic part of Skye's history, but it's under threat thanks to a wealthy la...
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Alexandra Petri @petridishes.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
the year is 2027. gas costs $83 and lettuce is at war with us. however every location on every map now says AMERICA
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I wrote about Dolly Parton in my latest @nytopinion.nytimes.com column. Thank you. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Greatest Story Dolly Parton Ever Wrote Was Herself (Gift Article)
She didn’t see herself as a saint; she identified as something we needed even more: a writer.
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Michael Erard @michaelerard.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Perhaps AI will be the grit that makes the pearl: making institutions articulate, for the first time in decades if not ever, what the hell they’re about and what an education is supposed to be for. (This from the MIT committee‘s report on AI)
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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Me, a US-based academic: I don’t care what any scholar believes, we all need to stand up publicly whenever someone’s academic freedom is threatened Me, continuing: also, the first time this has happened, motivating me to sign my first ever open letter, is in late 2026, to a race scientist, in Ghent
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Mo Torres @motorres.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
"Texas Tech is using A.I. to ferret out books and other materials that touch on topics like sexual orientation and gender identity. Professors describe the effort as a dystopian academic nightmare, in which ideologues are wielding technology to sideline subject-matter experts."
nytimes.com
A Texas University Becomes a Petri Dish for a Conservative Overhaul
Texas Tech is using A.I. to cut left-leaning content in its curriculum. Some say the effort to ferret out forbidden topics is a dystopian academic nightmare.
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A Jean Stevenson @amandajean.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Literally normalizing reproductive coercion out in public
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Rebecca Dean @rmdean.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
I’m absolutely baffled by this. Yes, cars, trains, scooters, and other motor-powered devices can go faster than people. And if you want a machine that can go faster than a person you wouldn’t build it to be person-shaped for a reason.
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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
seems like the real problem here is that education is predicated on a desire to learn but run like a toll booth for the job market that's not a tech issue
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Mikki Brock @mikkibrock.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
If an AI "clone" can do what you do, you are not in a serious discipline, and you should not teach at a university. And if you are an institution passing word-guessing simulations off as "educators" because you value profit over authentic learning, then you are not a university at all.
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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 22/08/2026
Reducing higher education to pure credentialism.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Sounds about right
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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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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 13/08/2026
Behind the statistics are the students. Those going on to History at university make an important choice. You'll gain perspective, insight and judgement - and how we need these now. You'll learn to analyse and articulate; you'll work with experts; and you'll likely thrive with subject you enjoy.
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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
One of the best parts of being a historian? Changing my mind. Sometimes one letter or one newspaper article sends me back to rethink everything I thought I knew. That's not failure. That's good history. 🗃️
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Mark Williams @mrfw17thc.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
It's real, and due out in March! 'Imaginative Pasts', which has been a joy to edit with Tracey Loughran, aims to reckon - and play - with the role of the imagination in historical research and writing. #skystorians #earlymodern manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526187154/
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KJ Charles @kjcharleswriter.com · 11/08/2026
Sweet baby Jesus. "Chat GPT can tell me what I read yesterday and interpret it for me, except sometimes it just makes shit up, but that's still great! Imagine how much time and effort I save by not having to comprehend words or meaning!"
article screengrab:     It promised to give me "a recap of what's happened so far and clarify anything confusing. ... I'll stick strictly to what you've read. No hints about what's coming."

🔖 That's now become part of my reading routine: Tell AI where you stopped and ask for a spoiler-free recap so far, which often surfaces details I'd missed or forgotten.

🤔 Reality check: AI is working from its training data, not the actual text. The vibes can be right while the details are wrong.
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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Many myths debunked in this paper. Paper finds that: -faculty partisanship has no effect on students -students ideologically sort into majors; majors don’t affect partisanship -faculty partisanship is uncorrelated with how left/rightwing course content is micah-baum.github.io/files/baum-e...
DO FACULTY AFFECT STUDENT PARTISANSHIP?*
Micah Y. Baum*
Joaquín Endara
Annaliese Paulson®
Abstract
We study whether Democratic college professors make their students more liberal. We link voter data to salary records from 33 state flagships and show that faculty skew Democratic, especially in the humanities and social sciences. We then use student transcripts from one flagship to estimate causal effects. Students become more liberal during college regardless of major and sort toward ideologically similar instructors. Exploiting plausibly random variation in when instructors teach courses, we find no effect of faculty partisanship on student partisanship. Text analysis shows exposure to liberal topics reflects student demand rather than instructor supply, leaving little room for indoctrination.
JEL Codes: 123, D72, H75
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 10/08/2026
On my blog, I wrote about how America's museums are falling apart. The US has 20k+ museums, and most have historic buildings with leaky roofs, failing HVAC units, and flooding basements. What they don't have is money for repairs. Please read/share! 🧵 johngmarks.beehiiv.com/p/america-s-...
johngmarks.beehiiv.com
America's Museums are Falling Apart
With
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Mikki Brock @mikkibrock.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Dear T.S Eliot: Sorry, but August is the cruelest month. Sincerely, educators everywhere
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Cate Denial @cjdenial.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Updated for the fall semester - my bibliography of readings, both academic and popular, about the many problems with and pitfalls in using Generative AI. catherinedenial.org/blog/uncateg...
catherinedenial.org
Against Generative AI – Cate Denial
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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Found the source article (a newsy summary Is making the rounds) “…this research explores how GenAI influences instructors’ emotional well-being, cognitive load…, and…job satisfaction. Findings include marked increases in cognitive and emotional labour resulting from factors such as moral injury…1/
journalhosting.ucalgary.ca
View of The Affective Impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence on Instructors of First-Year Writing Courses
Teaching & Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal
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Mikki Brock @mikkibrock.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Writing is head-in-hands hard, the stuff of sighs & self-doubt. But when it clicks—when you are unsure what you mean but then you write that meaning into existence (& maybe it isn't terrible!)—there is a real alchemy to it. Anyway: word guessing machines can’t write. We should stop saying they do.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
An achievement of western capitalism, folks.
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John Carter Brown Library @jcblibrary.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Call For Proposals: Conference on Families in Early American and Atlantic Worlds April 15-17, 2027 Hosted by the John Carter Brown Library (Co-chairs Julie Hardwick and Karin Wulf) Details at: forms.gle/QWcB23XGbwu6...
Conference poster for the Conference on Families in Early American and Atlantic Worlds featuring an image of birds and an image of a nest in a tree as well as the JCB logo and text.
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Puff the Magic Hater @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I've read most of the books on @tressiemcphd.bsky.social's proposed reading list and plan to read the rest. These are excellent recommendations. In fact, @gilduran.com (author of The Nerd Reich) will be a guest on Movement Memos soon.
nytimes.com
Opinion | Want to Fight Back Against Big Tech? Start Here. (Gift Article)
A.I. is a political theory. And it is gobbling up our democracy.
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Mikki Brock @mikkibrock.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
this is excellent--a must read on the relationship between gender and gAI.
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Mikki Brock @mikkibrock.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
My heart breaks for my talented colleagues at so many UK institutions (and many in the US, too, though the dismantling of the humanities has its own rhythm here). The state of higher ed is utterly infuriating, both because it’s a choice, and because we need the arts & humanities more than ever.
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Annette Yoshiko Reed @annetteyreed.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
August as an academic
Tabbycat in tie say he hopes he doesn’t have a lot of meetings… while in the background is a lots of meetings factory
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Mikki Brock @mikkibrock.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
1. Usually, 2-3; 1-2 now as Dept. Head 2. I try to set aside a full day (usually Friday); a few hours on the weekend; where I can. 3. Mornings preferred, but whenever works. 4. Dept. Head to-dos (sigh) 5. Highlight in your doc. where you left off last, with notes to self about what to do next.
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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 31/07/2026
"Details, in their singularity and idiosyncrasy, point to the capaciousness of human experience." New today in the Society's journal 'Transactions': Joe Moran 'On Detail in Historical Writing': bit.ly/44UMi8C Now available OA @joemoransblog.bsky.social @massobsarchive.bsky.social #Skystorians 1/2
Opening page of the Transactions article 'On Detail in Historical Writing' by Joe Moran. 

Full abstract: "This Comment considers the role of detail in historical writing, inflected through my own experience of writing ‘trade’ books for a general rather than specialist readership. I argue for the value of the detail that is slightly recalcitrant, that is more than just flesh on the bones of an argument or evidence marshalled to make a point. Detail is itself a kind of argument and thus, since beauty and elegance in writing derive from economy, a way of making a point without belabouring it. The gratuitous fact can be seductive, suggesting that the world has a randomness and overabundance that can't easily be rounded up into a dataset. Details, in their singularity and idiosyncrasy, point to the capaciousness of human experience. They correct our tendency to fixate on one story, to focus on the eventful at the expense of the marginal, and to invent a false unity of experience that erases social differences. With their obdurate specificity, they can shatter our presumptions about the past. I explore these ideas with reference to modern literature (Flaubert, Chekhov), the Mass-Observation archive and examples from my own work in contemporary cultural history and family history."
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Elizabeth (Liz) Lehfeldt (she/her/hers) @lizlehfeldt.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Giving this cfp a boost: please consider submitting something. Our Forum feature is a great home for shorter pieces. #earlymodern
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