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Thea Pitman

@theapitman.bsky.social
590 followers 356 following 15 posts

Professor of Latin American Studies, University of Leeds, UK. Co-chair, Arts and Humanities Alliance. Researching Latin American digital cultural production.

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Thea Pitman @theapitman.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Delighted to be publishing this with @uolpress.bsky.social and a big thank you to everyone involved in the project and the publication.
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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Excellent statement setting out the risk government is taking through its non-intervention in #UKHE spinning into oblivion. Could you make sure your MP reads it? With the change in leadership we can try to get some political momentum before it's too late. Here's a template if you'd like a hook.
docs.google.com
UKHE MP template
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Arts and Humanities Alliance @artsandhums.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
We look forward to a day of reflection and discussion examining the significant reshaping of the HE sector and research environment over the past year together. Thank you to all our member associations for their continued support and contribution. #SHAPE #Mythbusting
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Arts and Humanities Alliance @artsandhums.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
The Arts and Humanities Alliance is proud to sponsor the 2026 @britishacademy.bsky.social SHAPE conference. Our session is Myth busting for the public with @ritagardner.bsky.social @jennyrichards.bsky.social & @sebgordon1.bsky.social Chair @emmacayley.bsky.social www.eventbrite.com/e/shape-conf...
eventbrite.com
SHAPE Conference 2026
The British Academy's annual SHAPE conference will be held in London on 4 March 2026.
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Thea Pitman @theapitman.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Very happy to be publishing with @uolpress.bsky.social !
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Rob Townsend @rbtownsend.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
"The study concluded...investing in #humanities contributes to preparing generations that possess technical competence alongside cultural and ethical awareness, thereby strengthening the path of comprehensive and balanced development": bit.ly/4sMLLQV
bit.ly
Restore humanities in higher education: Study
MUSCAT: A recently-conducted study called for the restoration of humanities in the higher education system, being a fundamental pillar for a balanced...
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Thea Pitman @theapitman.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
blogs.lse.ac.uk/highereducat...
blogs.lse.ac.uk
We overlook music departments at our peril - LSE Higher Education
As more university music departments face the axe, Thomas Graves points out what we’re all missing when we fail to recognise the unique value of music education With UK higher education (HE) in financ...
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Joseph Ford @drjoeford.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
**New article** on The Conversation UK about languages and the government's national curriculum review - theconversation.com/englands-nat... - @uk.theconversation.com @ilcs.bsky.social @sas-news.bsky.social
theconversation.com
England’s national curriculum review misses opportunity to revitalise language learning
Capitalising on children’s existing multilingualism would be beneficial.
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Times Higher Education (THE) @timeshighered.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Opinion: “More than ever before, we need British diplomats, spies and soldiers to speak the language of our adversaries. We need universities like Nottingham to be pumping out Russian and Mandarin graduates each year, to work across Whitehall.” 🖊️ Ian Proud ow.ly/N6yw50XwM3X
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Rob Townsend @rbtownsend.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
"While other universities report that the humanities are shrinking, at Berkeley, the opposite is true. The music major is the fastest-growing major on campus. We are finding bigger classrooms because film is exploding. English is back to the numbers we saw 15 years ago. We are hiring" bit.ly/4ohKuOe
bit.ly
"The humanities really are a resource — a confidence for living in our times.” Dean Sara Guyer on the modern utility of humanities degrees
This interview originally appeared on the Division of Arts
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The Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland @hispanists-ahgbi.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
AHGBI, led by Professor Sarah Wright, opposes the University of Nottingham’s move to suspend—and effectively close—all Modern Languages degrees. SRUK/CERU, led by Dr Carlos Soler Montes, has also raised concerns. AHGBI urges immediate reconsideration. #SaveNottinghamLanguages
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Thea Pitman @theapitman.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
Delighted to see one of the images from the ORIGEM project showing Brendo Tupinambá and taken by photographer Laryssa Machada on the front cover of @lonelyplanetesp.bsky.social Brazil 2025. Original project funded by @universityofleeds.bsky.social more information at origem.hotglue.me.
Front cover of book showing Indigenous person (Brendo Tupinambá) against background of dark green leaves.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
'Nottingham will be the only Russell Group university not to teach modern foreign languages degrees if it approves plans to close a swath of courses including Spanish and French as well as music and dozens of others.' 1/3
theguardian.com
University of Nottingham considers axing language and music degrees
Total of 48 degrees could disappear from Russell Group institution, with falling revenues and rising costs blamed
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
'The prospect of hundreds of job cuts at Lancaster University could damage the city's economy, students have warned.' 'Could'? Surely 'will'.
bbc.co.uk
Fears Lancaster University job cuts would hit city's businesses
Lancaster University is seeking to cut 400 full-time posts as part of efforts to save £30m.
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Leverhulme Trust @leverhulme.ac.uk · 11/11/2025
@extinctionleeds.bsky.social is an interdisciplinary doctoral training programme focusing on topics relating to extinction and its meanings, histories and legacies. Watch the whole🎬👉 media.leverhulme.ac.uk/video/extinc... @katatrepsis.bsky.social @universityofleeds.bsky.social
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Thea Pitman @theapitman.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
University of Nottingham students fight 'insane' cull of courses
Traitors composer Sam Watts is among those against plans to cut University of Nottingham courses.
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Stephan Ehrig @herrehrig.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Please consider signing against this nonsensical absurdity! c.org/vGgNqmXhNx
c.org
Sign the Petition
Stop the removal of Modern Languages courses at the University of Nottingham!
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Thea Pitman @theapitman.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Kemi Badenoch wants to end ‘rip-off degrees’ – but I wouldn’t have created Horrid Henry without mine | Francesca Simon
I studied Old and Middle English. Although I didn’t know it, I couldn’t have chosen a better subject to train me to become a children’s author, says author Francesca Simon
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Rebecca Colesworthy @rcolesworthy.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Spread the word! #SaveUT!! UT Austin admin are working to eliminate vital departments and censor what profs can teach. If you haven’t yet written to UT Austin admin, please do do do. The more voices of protest and support the better. An attack on one is an attack on all!
UT AUSTIN WANTS TO EIMINATE ITS BLACK STUDIES, LA LENO STUDIES, & GENDER STUD
STUDIES
DEPARTMENTS
Tell them you non t stand for it!
President Jim Davis: president@utexas.edu
Provost William Inboden: provost@utexas.edu
Interim Liberal Arts Dean David Sosa:
david_sosa@austin.utexas.edu
@UTAustin
@UTAustinCOLA
#EducationalLiberty #SaveUT
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Higher Education Policy Institute @hepi-news.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
New Post: Think Like a Linguist: It’s time for a national conversation about the value of languages  www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/10/14/t...
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Simon McGarr @tupped.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Just to be clear, an English degree - learning to critically assess texts - is actually one of the most dangerous for people such as Badenoch. An educated population, able to bring hundreds of years of context to statements in a dawning age of AI slop and attention-seeking dishonesty is also vital.
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Rob Townsend @rbtownsend.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
“Prioritising a narrow set of disciplines could mean we lose talented arts, humanities and social sciences graduates who help drive innovation and tackle huge societal challenges. Student choice is vital.” bit.ly/3KAReIQ
bit.ly
Maintenance grants only for priority courses ‘deeply concerning’
Using financial incentives to influence student choice risk undermining Labour’s widening access goals, critics fear
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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 02/10/2025
This week the Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, announced the return of maintenance grants for students in greatest need. In a new blog post, RHS President Lucy Noakes considers the state of access to history and the humanities in UK HE bit.ly/3KP5WMe #Skystorians @artsandhums.bsky.social
Opening section and abstract of RHS blog post: 'The value and provision of history and the humanities: it’s time for a political response': "This week the government’s Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, announced the return of maintenance grants for students in greatest need. While we welcome recognition of the financial pressures and impediments many student face, it’s clear that this is a policy with nothing for the arts and humanities, including history. However, as Lucy Noakes, President of the Royal Historical Society, explains here, these pressures are equally acute for students in the arts and humanities. Moreover, as a new British Academy report on ‘Cold Spots’ shows, choice—in subjects including history—is being further eroded for many as the provision of higher education contorts to the financial crisis facing UK higher education. If the government is serious about choice, social mobility and access to education it needs to appreciate that provision of many degree subjects is now at considerable risk in a growing number of regions across the UK. For students to have greater choice and access we need the environments in which choices are made to be fair, balanced and accurate. For this we require political leadership to help us address structural failings and false narratives."
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Rob Townsend @rbtownsend.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
"The best way to get audiences to care about the humanities is by making humanities content they like. Early testing shows how engaging with videos that show the practice of the humanities can move some audiences to support the humanities." bit.ly/3KuZ32K
bit.ly
Harmony Labs - Humanities Unbound
Mapping public attitudes about the humanities in media culture
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Cecily Raynor @cecilyraynor.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
Friends, I'm currently writing up a methodology chapter and would love your help. Are there any recent projects that use AI or large language models (LLMs) as a direct entry point into Latin American literary texts? I'd be delighted to spotlight innovative work I may have missed. Feel free to share!
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Thea Pitman @theapitman.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
Anunciamos o programa “Descolonizando a Publicação Científica com Pesquisadores Afro-Brasileiros e Indígenas”. Uma serie workshops e mentoria para acadêmicos em início de carreira. Em breve, lançaremos uma chamada para participantes! Financiado pela @britishacademy.bsky.social.
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Modern Languages Open @modlangopen.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
'Warriors and Weavers: The Poetics and Politics of Indigenous Appropriations of New Media Technologies in Latin America' by @theapitman.bsky.social is popular this week. Read it #OpenAccess via MLO: bit.ly/Pitman-MLO
'Warriors and Weavers: The Poetics and Politics of Indigenous Appropriations of New Media Technologies in Latin America' by Thea Pitman on a purple background.
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Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage @apprecovery.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
#CFP for Debates in Digital Humanities edited by Gabriela Baeza Ventura, María E. Cotera, Annemarie Perez, and Carolina Villarroel. Deadline for 500-word abstracts, including proposed title and short bio: May 15, 2025. dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/page/debates... #digitalhumanities #usLdh
dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu
Debates in US Latinx DH | Debates in the Digital Humanities
Transforming scholarly publications into living digital works
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Thea Pitman @theapitman.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Wonderful to see this in print! Congratulations, Lou!
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Emma Cayley 谷曦 @emmacayley.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
A response: www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/mode...
timeshighereducation.com
Modern languages departments are neither colonial nor obsolete
Advanced linguistic and cultural skills remain essential for deep insight into how people see themselves in the world, say five modern languages academics
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Sarah Wright @sarahwright.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
'My university course made me who I am - now it's being cut'
Universities are cutting jobs to make financial savings, with students and staff bearing the brunt.
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Thea Pitman @theapitman.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
@extinctionleeds.bsky.social PGR Trina Flesher in action here.
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Leverhulme Extinction Studies DTP @extinctionleeds.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Congratulations to #Extinction Studies PhD student (now Dr) Jonathan Roberts on successfully defending his thesis yesterday on "Biological and Social aspects of human #hookworm #infection and eradication". Many thanks to @rohandroy.bsky.social for being a thorough and constructive external.
A photograph of Jonathan Roberts (second from left) with his supervisors, enjoying a glass of fizz and a cake.
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George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Jonathan's brilliant work has, like the rest of the @extinctionleeds.bsky.social projects, absolutely zero respect for the niceties of disciplinary boundaries. It's a wonderful exploration of the social, cultural and biological aspects of hookworm eradication. History, philosophy, epidemiology.
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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 05/02/2025
'The deep cultural cost of British university job cuts" bit.ly/4gnDCuE An excellent letter, in today's @theguardian.com, by the co-chairs of @artsandhums.bsky.social, a collective of subject specialist organisations representing and advocating for arts & humanities subjects in UK HE. #skystorians
bit.ly
The deep cultural cost of British university job cuts | Letters
Letters: Arts and humanities are being hit hardest by cuts in higher education, write Prof Thea Pitman and Prof Emma Cayley, and Dr Ronan McLaverty-Head and another letter writer comment on cuts at Ca...
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Arts and Humanities Alliance @artsandhums.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
The Arts and Humanities Alliance have written an open letter to Bridget Philippson, Secretary of State for Education, on the recently announced cuts across the sector. We are concerned that these measures disproportionately affect our disciplines and call for an urgent government review.
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Dr Russell Glasson @russellglasson.com · 01/02/2025
Quarter of leading UK universities cutting staff due to budget shortfalls Up to 10,000 redundancies or job losses feared as institutes undergo restructuring www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Quarter of leading UK universities cutting staff due to budget shortfalls
Up to 10,000 redundancies or job losses feared as institutes undergo restructuring
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Dr. Helle Strandgaard Jensen (she/her) @sesamescholar.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
💾 Working with born-digital collections? 💽 Seeking inspiration for ways to collect, preserve, analyse, and curate them? 💾 Want to hear @dorothyjberry.bsky.social's keynote? Join us online or in person at this fabulous conference www.sas.ac.uk/about-us/ins...
sas.ac.uk
Conference Registration
Registration information for Born-Digital Collections, Archives and Memory taking place 2-4 April 2025.
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Christie Margrave @christiesmbc.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Please help us to save Modern Languages at Cardiff University: chng.it/Hmtvvdtptg
chng.it
Sign the Petition
Save MLANG at Cardiff University!
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Cassie Ulph @crulph.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
#DH job! Maternity cover (for me!) until end of 2025 in @dcch-leeds.bsky.social. Based in Faculty of Arts Humanities & Cultures/Library w emph on interdisciplinary & cross-service working, to grow DH research & digital creativity. Deadline 24 Feb @ukiedh.bsky.social jobs.leeds.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...
jobs.leeds.ac.uk
Job Opportunity at University of Leeds: Digital Development Manager
Do you have an interest in promoting the use of digital tools and methodologies for research and partnership working? Do you have a track record of supporting researchers to engage with digital innova...
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John Gallagher @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
This is a national scandal. When will the government wake up and realise they are presiding over the rapid implosion of the UK's world-renowned university sector?
bbc.co.uk
Cardiff: University confirms plans to cut 400 jobs
Vice-chancellor Wendy Larner says
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Leverhulme Extinction Studies DTP @extinctionleeds.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Come and see some of the work we’ve been doing… SPIRIT: an exhibition of nature photography from the Scottish Small Isles. Parkinson Court, 4-6 Feb.
A poster for an exhibition. Features an animal skull on rocks with orange lichen.
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Prof. Owen Hodkinson (he/him) @owenhodkinson.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
This episode has been released today! Listen to me with host @k8lister.bsky.social on the history of love letters and erotic letters, primarily in antiquity but looking at modern developments too. The episode is titled "The Origins of Sexting": listener discretion is advised!
Title page for the Betwixt the Sheets history podcast
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Ernesto Semán @eseman.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...
jobbnorge.no
PhD Position in Latin American History connected to the DARKLAX project (271256) | University of Bergen
Job title: PhD Position in Latin American History connected to the DARKLAX project (271256), Employer: University of Bergen, Deadline: Sunday, January 12, 2025
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Prof Jasjit Singh @profjasjitsingh.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Three Leeds Opportunity Research Scholarships (LORS) @universityofleeds.bsky.social are available to prospective postgraduate researchers from Black, Asian and other minoritised ethnic groups for study in any Faculty in 2025/26. Details here. Please spread the word: phd.leeds.ac.uk/.../234-leed....
phd.leeds.ac.uk
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Carlos Azevedo @carlosazevedo.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
The University of Leeds in the UK is offering scholarships for Palestinians from Gaza who have been displaced and are living in a different country (outside of the UK). www.leeds.ac.uk/undergraduat...
leeds.ac.uk
Gazan Humanitarian Scholarship
We offer scholarships for citizens of Gaza who have been displaced as a result of the ongoing conflict in the region and are living in a different country (outside of the UK).
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Mez Breeze @mezbreeze.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
So I've just made this Starter Pack of #electronicliterature and digital narrative peeps: there's more of you out there that need adding, so please don't be shy in letting me know who you are [maybe you have suggestions @eliterature.bsky.social, @samplereality.bsky.social, @elikaortega.bsky.social]?
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Jorge N. Leal, Ph.D. @jorgenleal.bsky.social · 11/11/2024
Hello! I began a starter pack with some folks working on Latina/o/x Studies, it's broadly defined and a work in progress for sure. Please share and also send more recommendations of folks to include! go.bsky.app/Rmi3sGW
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Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies @ilcs.bsky.social · 08/11/2024
So here's a starter pack for languages, literatures, cultures and societies, very broadly defined. If you'd like to be added or removed, comment below or send a message go.bsky.app/TdEXaP2
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Thea Pitman @theapitman.bsky.social · 10/11/2024
Wonderful opening day of this new AIAI exhibition. It’s on at the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin till next Saturday for those in the area. Thanks to all involved in the original projects and in making this exhibition happen.
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