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Sonali Dhanpal

@sonalidhanpal.bsky.social
1.5K followers 664 following 162 posts

Card carrying historian of modern architecture and urbanism teaching at a public university in Upstate New York

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Reposted by Sonali Dhanpal
Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 20h
"Scholars of colour described overpreparing for presentations, ruthlessly analysing their own results before exposing them to scrutiny, softening their conclusions or avoiding research on race altogether." The level of checks I go through often astounds some colleagues
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kate wehwalt @katewagner.wehwalt.net · 29/09/2026
new mcmansion hell about whatever the hell is going on with ceiling fans right now mcmansionhell.com/post/8291279...
mcmansionhell.com
what is going on with ceiling fans
Sometimes new design phenomena slip past even those of us who are most in tune with the happenings of the built environment. Such is the case with whatever the hell is going on with commercial ceiling...
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Ewan Gibbs @ewangibbs.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Tonight I’ll be recording the first interview about my new book, An Injury to All: The Unmaking of the British Working Class. Wish me luck!
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Sonali Dhanpal @sonalidhanpal.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Just tragic to witness
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Sonali Dhanpal @sonalidhanpal.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
The university I did my PhD in has just awarded a billionaires son who is running a nature preserve with illegally gotten animals from with a “professorship of sustainability” - shameless does not cut it. www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articl...
ncl.ac.uk
Sustainability leader honoured by Newcastle University
An international leader in sustainability and clean-energy transition has been recognised by the University with a Professorship of Practice
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Sonali Dhanpal @sonalidhanpal.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Tragic how UKHE is being decimated from inside out
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Dissent Magazine @dissentmag.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
“End Times Fascism” by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor serves as a bleak sequel to “The Shock Doctrine.” Since then, the United States has gone through a recession and a pandemic, unleashed unlimited corporate cash on our electoral system, and minted our first trillionaire (if only briefly, for now).
dissentmagazine.org
Exit Strategy - Dissent Magazine
In End Times Fascism, Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor make the case that the ruling class is not lording over our future, but trying to escape it. How should the left resist doing the same?
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Quinn Slobodian @quinnslobodian.com · 10/09/2026
What happens when you use an overly flat and reductive definition of neoliberalism: the Centre for Policy Studies ends up denying that Thatcher was one.
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Dissent Magazine @dissentmag.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Anthropic recently agreed to a $1.5 billion copyright settlement—the largest in U.S. history. For half a million authors, the $3,000 payout per book might look like a victory, but for Anthropic, it was simply the cost of doing business.
dissentmagazine.org
AI Is Theft - Dissent Magazine
If capital is rewriting the rules of work with AI, then workers must rewrite the terms of resistance.
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Adrienne Buller @adriennebuller.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Plus an editorial from me and @johnmerrick.bsky.social introducing the issue "To understand what is to come, we must try to see the country as it actually is, in all of its messiness and apparent contradiction—not how we would wish it was or want it to be" www.break-down.org/introducing-...
break-down.org
Introducing Issue #4: CHINA
A note from the editors
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Sam Wetherell @samwetherell.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
My latest post: On the deindustrialisation of the university. And on being "in defence of history" at a time of extinction. thehistoryfactory.substack.com/p/the-histor...
thehistoryfactory.substack.com
The History Factory 2: The Deindustrialisation of the University
A few years ago, my employer, the University of York, commissioned a civil engineering firm named Tilbury Douglas to build a new nursery for the children of its employees and students.
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Exeter UCU @exeterucu.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
The University of Exeter has confirmed that it won’t proceed with compulsory redundancies “at this time”. This means colleagues do not need to complete the pro forma, and there will be no selection process.
NO COMPULSORY REDUNDANCIES photo of Nicole Kidman looking incredibly joyful and free after her divorce from Tom Cruise was finalised
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Quinn Slobodian @quinnslobodian.com · 30/08/2026
If you're interested in the politics of Silicon Valley, read this about procurement and "patriotic tech warriors" (meant complimentarily) by former Apple VP and head of Defense Innovation Unit instead of ten more pieces about Thiel's musings on the Antichrist. www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
foreignaffairs.com
America’s Missing Military Revolution
Why Washington still risks losing the tech race.
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Harsha Walia @harshawalia.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Breaking: US has announced sanctions & terror designations on Palestine Action. UK previously banned Palestine ​Action, and there is ongoing legal challenge. Solidarity must be unequivocal esp as Pal Action is one of the most effective & inspiring organizations.
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Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 22/08/2026
Friends, have you seen the investigation on UK students hiring Kenyans to write their papers & dissertations? I assume it wasn't cross Atlantic news as the media only seems to be interested in laundering eugenics to the mainstream. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Inside the world of Kenya’s ‘shadow scholars’ paid to write essays for UK students
Highly educated Kenyans working for essay mills ghostwrite academic work that students pass off as their own
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Noreen Masud @noreenmasud.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
I've been thinking about the sheer number of white men I've seen in academia, who'd published nothing or almost nothing, but their vibes of P O T E N T I A L got them prestigious fellowships & jobs. They continued to publish nothing or almost nothing. Public outrage in media: 0
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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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Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Applications are due by end-of-day ET this Friday, August 7! Please join us — and please share!
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Nisrin Elamin @nisrinelamin.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Want to support mutual aid groups and unions at the forefront of relief efforts in Sudan and learn from the brilliant Robin DG Kelley? Here is your chance: Secure your spot now. August 20th, 6 pm. Sliding scale. Zoom. See link below. chuffed.org/project/work...
Image of Robin Kelley (a Black person with a beard) facing the camera wearing a blue paisley shirt. A tree trunk is in the background. In yellow and green, the text reads Robin DG Kelley how to fight fascism: lessons from Chicago.

In yellow and green, the text reads Robin DG Kelley how to fight fascism: lessons from Chicago. Description of the workshop. Thursday August 20th 6pm. Zoom.
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Billy Fleming @joobilly.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
My brilliant book designer, Cristian Ordonez, just did a photoshoot for my beautiful child. I'm going to share one a day on here and remind you all to Preorder it soon! CUP: cup.columbia.edu/book/buildin... Indie Bookshops: bookshop.org/beta-search?... Ama*on: a.co/d/0hnib2jU
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
'Academics fear they are being “set up to fail” after several institutions finished the academic year by announcing fresh job cuts, casting doubt over who will return after the summer break, and what courses they will be teaching.' 1/3
timeshighereducation.com
Summer of ‘chaos’ predicted as mass job cuts close academic year
‘Impossible to plan’ for research and teaching, say staff, as threat of redundancy looms large over summer breaks
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Ryan Boyd @ryanboyd.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
We (faculty at USC) took on an institutional behemoth with all the money and clout on earth, and we WON. We won our union. We're the biggest private-university faculty union in US history. Trying to make people care about this, challenge level IMPOSSIBLE
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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 03/07/2026
Another way to put this: most institutions, including most research universities, believe that research support in the way of time is something that faculty must largely buy extramurally based on merit, even if research quality is their most important metric in assessing faculty performance.
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Patrick Cosmos @veryimportant.lawyer · 16/07/2026
every time trump is president you gotta wash your groceries
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Sonali Dhanpal @sonalidhanpal.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
What is happening to UKHE is a wanton decimation of a sector that was both thriving to one in an existential decline. Solidarity with all faculty especially early career staff navigating this awful landscape
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
We’ve crunched the data and it shows teaching only staff in social science, humanities and arts went from 34% in 2012/13 to 42% by 24/25 and that this has been concentrated at early and mid career level www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/policy-and-r...
The British Academy
Mapping SHAPE academic staff briefing:
Rise of teaching only contracts has reshaped the UK's academic workforce
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
‘Thousands of university job cuts in humanities and social sciences are creating widespread cold spots for languages, classics and theology degrees, the British Academy has warned’ www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Humanities among degrees being ‘extinguished’ by hard-up universities
Exclusive: Experts fear rise in education ‘cold spots’ and social immobility as 4,000 academic posts lost in one year
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Sonali Dhanpal @sonalidhanpal.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
*Runs to nearest library*
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Sam Wetherell @samwetherell.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
The police having to constantly remind everyone that the suspect is white so that vast sections of the population, the media and more the political establishment, don't immediately initiate and condone a deranged pogrom is a depressing new stage.
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dubravka @dubravka.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
looking forward to returning to my favourite millennials are killing capitalism‘s imperial ‘80s tomorrow to discuss ‘who framed roger rabbit’ www.patreon.com/imperial80s/...
patreon.com
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? | Dubravka Sekulić & Samantha Youssef | The Imperial '80s Episode 48 | The Imperial 80s
Monday at 10 AM EDT As you've already seen throughout this series, the 1980s were a weird time to be a kid. But we haven't talked about the
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
"Pizza is mid." - Karl Marx, Capital Vol 1., chapter 6
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Sonali Dhanpal @sonalidhanpal.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
@gfearn.bsky.social on the bus man and Manchesterism tribunemag.co.uk/2026/07/the-...
tribunemag.co.uk
Towards the Productive State
Andy Burnham’s plans for economic reform will undoubtedly face resistance from entrenched interests. The politician must act defiantly, and rebuild relations with the constituencies Starmer ostracised...
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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 30/06/2026
“Universities are incentivized by the promise of better credit scores to not only suppress labor wages but also labor power. From the vantage of credit rating agencies, tenure systems, strong labor protections, and legislative control of tuition are not democratic treasures but red-flag liabilities”
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Sonali Dhanpal @sonalidhanpal.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Historian pals- can I get some help? :))) Will treat you to a beer :)
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Sonali Dhanpal @sonalidhanpal.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Hi! Can I please ask for some pdfs? "Towards a History of the Present: Southern Perspectives on the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries" David Washbrook, 2007 in an edited volume, From the Colonial to the Postcolonial: India and Pakistan in Transition
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Mickaël Wilmart @mickaelwilmart.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Carlo Ginzburg est mort, annonce la presse italienne. Immense historien, il a su construire une oeuvre originale entre micro-histoire et anthropologie historique qui a considérablement renouvelé la discipline. www.repubblica.it/cultura/2026...
repubblica.it
Carlo Ginzburg è morto, addio al grande storico italiano
Aveva 87 anni. Era famoso in tutto il mondo per le sue ricerche sulla stregoneria e le credenze popolari
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Quinn Slobodian @quinnslobodian.com · 12/06/2026
@edwardluce.bsky.social on Musk's race-baiting archive.is/6ovkH
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Nisrin Elamin @nisrinelamin.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
I wrote a piece a few years ago as a sort of primer that tries to historicize and contextualize the current counterrevolutionary war in Sudan. It’s basic and is meant to give folks who haven’t been following closely a sense of what and why it is happening.
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Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
wow, just…wow This reminds me of that scene in The Big Short when Steve Eisman asks, “Why are they confessing?” and Vinny Daniel says, “They’re not. They’re bragging.”
chronicle.com
Is a New Report About the Humanities ‘Diabolically Evil’? We Questioned Its Authors.
K. Anthony Appiah, Paul Boghossian, Katherine Fleming, and Sean Wilentz on what’s gone wrong in the humanities.
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Mitra Sharafi @mitrasharafi.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Q for scholars of the Dutch empire & decolonization: a friend's father spent the 1950s in Papua New Guinea where he recorded the last stages of Dutch rule. Would any institutions or scholars be interested in several hours of film footage, once digitized? Looking for a good home for these materials.
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Dr Kush Patel @kshpatel.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
On June 11, 2:30pm AEST // 10am IST, @specksofthings.bsky.social and I are hosting an Online Office Hour during #IAW2026, the theme of which is #ArchivesForJustice. Access the meeting link here (thejustarchivescollaboratory.hcommons.org) and join us to learn about the project or say hi over a cuppa.
A portrait mode poster in blue tinting that depicts a table in the foreground on top of which are images of print and handwritten archival materials held at QAMRA (Queer Archive for Memory, Reflection and Activism) Bengaluru, India. Towards the background is a monitor on which appears a frame image from a video in the archive. On the wall in the background of the image are various printed papers pinned to the wall. The text on the poster reads as follows: Online Office Hours, Thursday, June 11, 2026, 2:30 pm AEST and 10 am IST for the Dialogue Series CFP. The project title is The Just Archives Collaboratory and the subtitle is queer and trans archives, care, ethics, and histories.
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Sam Wetherell @samwetherell.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Cannot wait to read the latest by Jonas - this will set off a nuclear bomb beneath a discourse on class in Britain that has been desperately provincial, nakedly partial and unimaginative for too long.
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Brett Christophers @brettchristophers.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
meanwhile (and also from the FT), it's hard to see this as anything other than catastrophic:
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Rose Schmits @roseschmits.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
So with some pretty fucking extreme racism in the mainstream now in UK politics im sure nothing untoward will come from the fact the EHRC just opened the door to “being uncomfortable with sharing a space with certain people” being a fine reason to segregate people
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Matthew Hodson @matthewhodson.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Durham County Council, run by Reform, pulled £2,500 from Durham Pride. But the Durham Miners Association, mindful of the support from LGBT communities during the miners strike, stepped in and, along with other Unions made contributions to make this year’s Durham Pride bigger than ever before. 🏳️‍🌈💪❤️
theguardian.com
‘Bigger and better than ever’: how Durham Pride beat Reform’s funding axe with help from the miners
Solidarity between LGBTQ+ people and unions has saved an event denied ‘a single penny’ of council money
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Sian Berry MP @sianberry.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Regressive policies aimed at discouraging international students from choosing the UK have led to a funding crisis for universities, and devastating job losses are now in prospect. Our world-class institutions should not be losing world-class staff like this. Govt must welcome students again.
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
That well known socialist rag, <checks notes> the @economist.com makes the case for partial nationalisation of AI companies 👀 economist.com/leaders/2026...
Hence a last set of radical ideas, such as the partial nationalisation of Al firms.
This week a South Korean presidential adviser floated a citizens "dividend" from AI businesses, sending the local stockmarket down by 5%, before backtracking. In America politicians murmur about giving citizens shares in AI companies via "Trump accounts". In economic terms there is little difference between a well-designed tax system and a government stake in the private sector
—and countries without AI giants will have to rely on taxes rather than seizing shares in foreign companies. But America may find that some public ownership is the best way to make the social upside from the technology transparent.
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Quinn Slobodian @quinnslobodian.com · 27/05/2026
hell freezes over, the FT opens the door to nationalization
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dr joshua phillips @woolfianjosh.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
In other news, Manchester economy in chaos after being forced to accommodate 40,000 interns with zero forward planning
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