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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 3h

"Little men in lofty places... throw long shadows, because our sun is setting" – Andrew Marvell in Imagined Conversations (1846) by Walter Savage Landor

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Proofs – The first of my articles on J.G.A. Pocock. This one is 30 pages and forthcoming open access in the "Australian Journal of Biography and History". It introduces and analyses systemically unknown or unpublished material (and WWII Pocock). Lots of historiography. More soon!

The first page of proofs entitled "Before the godwit and the owl: John Pocock's kiwi history"

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I look forward to visiting Macau and Hong Kong next month for a week to meet colleagues and present a talk on "Edo Japan and Interregnum England" at the University of Macau (16 Nov). I will discuss MSS material on English-Japanese relations from the regicide to the collapse of the republic.

A pianting of late twentieth-century Hong Kong

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Ross Carroll @rosscarroll.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

My article on Edmund Burke, slavery, and plantation governance is finally out in Political Theory. I can’t recall how long I’ve worked on it at this stage. Definitely feeling more wearily relieved than jubilant. I hope some readers find it useful. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

journals.sagepub.com

The Perils of Improvement: Burke, Slavery, and Colonial Governance in the West Indies - Ross Carroll, 2026

Edmund Burke’s thoughts on plantation slavery have long been the subject of scholarly attention. Too often, however, discerning Burke’s long-term intention in r...

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Next week I will deliver a seminar talk at the University of Tokyo entitled "Slaves to Venus: Love and Longing in Algernon Sidney’s Political Thought" on Thursday 8 October, 17:00-18:30 JST, Hongo campus – more details to follow! (45 minutes talk, 45 minutes discussion)

"Beata Beatrix" by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This weekend I served as a mikoshi carrier at a quadrennial festival – a phenomenal experience with the local community!

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

"At the ende of somere, when wynter began, / And trees, herbes, and flowres dyd fade, / Blosteryng and blowyng, the gret wyndes than / Threw doune the frutes with whyche they were lade, / Levyng theym sone bare of that whyche they hade" - Ad sustinendum pacienciam in adversis

An image of the manuscript source of the said quotation, the opening of a poem visibly entitled Prohemiu[m] unius prisonarii

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I am incredibly grateful to Jamie Wheeler Cessna @princeton.edu for this generous review (and lucid summary) of my work on the philosophy of erotic love, (in)dependence, and a civic republicanism inclusive of women in Algernon Sidney's early "Of Love" jcessnalatin.wordpress.com/2026/09/07/e...

A seventeenth-century painting of two lovers

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Among the permanent artworks here in Tokyo – yes, that's a Dante Gabriel Rossetti

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

1/2 Tomorrow, 10 Sept, 17:00-18:30, @egasmb.bsky.social (Tohoku) will give a talk for us at PoETS @utokyoofficial.bsky.social on "Making sense of world politics through constitutions in nineteenth-century China" - abstract below. If you would like to join us in person or online, you are welcome!

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Midnight moon, morning light – today I am back to editing, putting my eyes to reading and commenting upon two historiographical essays on approaches to ntellectual history, conceptual change, and the global turn

A photo of a bright full moon over spires

The Bridge of Sighs in Oxford backgrounded by morning light

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

This is amusing – en route to Oxford via Lille

A book entitled Microcosmographia Academica, being a Guide for the Young Academic Politician

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Very early in my doctorate I did a six-month exchange @leidenhumanities.bsky.social. Great to be back in Leiden! Obligatory bitterballen

A view over a canal with a church and cityscape in background and boat and cafe and foreground

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I found another uncited letter by Algernon Sidney today – a dense, political one at a key moment in his life too!

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

I had a wonderful lunch with one of my old advisors, Quentin Skinner, and then later went for a post-archive walk and strayed into a very summery Gillian Anderson – not on my bingo card

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

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Rose Byfleet @medicifangirl.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Calling for Expressions of interest for a one day conference in Florence in November on Breath, Air, Spirit as part of the #culturesofair network. DM me if you'd like to be involved

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Jennifer Ashby @jenniferashby.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Delighted to share that my article on Mina Loy's conversion to Christian Science in Florence around 1909 has been published in Feminist Modernist Studies! Thanks to @euilibrary.bsky.social, the article is Open Access so is free to read & download (see below): doi.org/10.1080/2469...

doi.org

The making of Mina Loy’s Christian Science in Florence, Italy

The poet and painter Mina Loy (1882–1966) maintained a life-long, idiosyncratic belief in Christian Science. However, little is known of her formative introduction to the faith in Florence, Italy, ...

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Last weekend I had a great time at the 20th Conference of the Japanese Society for Locke Studies at Chuo University. Fantastic talks by Kiyoshi Shimokawa on resistance, Shigeyuki Aoki on translations, and Jessica Gordon-Roth (keynote) on misreading Berkeley. Discussion resumed at the izakaya!

The cover of a prominent Japanese translation of Locke

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Stuart Elden @stuartelden.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

David Armitage, Teresa M. Bejan, and Felix Waldmann eds. The Political Thought of John Locke: New Perspectives – Oxford University Press, July 2026 global.oup.com/academic/pro... @academic.oup.com @tmbejan.bsky.social

cover of book, black background with text in white, and painting of John Locke (old and thin, with long grey hair)

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ISECS/SIEDS @isecs-sieds.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Enlightenment and (In)equality 17th International Congress for Eighteenth-Century Studies Zaragoza, Spain 12-16 July 2027 The submission period for for thematic sessions and roundtables is now open! All the information is available on the Congress website: www.isecs-zaragoza2027.net/en/

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Professorship! The European University Institute (my PhD alma mater) in Florence, Italy, is seeking a new Chair in Intellectual History, 1500–Present. Deadline: 10 September www.eui.eu/Documents/Se...

An cloistered courtyard with a tree centre and a tower to the right

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

This afternoon I gave a talk on Ming/Qing China within English republicanism @tobunken.bsky.social as part of a workshop on sources and methods. It was great to hear about various new projects and historiographical innovations – and to meet so many people. Appreciate the invite!

My title slide "Ming-Qing China and the English Republic"

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

1/2 On Thursday, 2 July, 17:00-18:30 (JST) we at PoETS @utokyoofficial.bsky.social will host a talk by Nana Someya (Keio University, Graduate School of Law) on "What is Sovereignty? Meiji Japan's Engagement with J.C. Bluntschli's Theory of the State (Staatswissenschaft)" - in person and online!

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

"[If] Blair destroyed the historic Labour Party... Thatcher had destroyed the historic Conservative Party... Thatcher and Blair can be presented as part of a process whereby British politics lose all historical meaning" -J.G.A. Pocock, Tōdai Lecture, 2005 (I am editing for print)

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Chloe Ireton @chloeireton.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Thank you @tomaashby.bsky.social for visualizing this whole issue and for being such a wonderful editor and curator for this, and for shepherding us through to publication. I really enjoyed working with you ! Cc: @uclhistory.bsky.social

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Global Intellectual History @global-ih.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Now out! We've heard of Pan-Asianism, but what about Pan-Farmerism? In this article, Toma-Jin Morikawa-Fouquet (University of Oxford) proposes a “transwar nonstate approach” to uncover alternative global intellectual histories. Read the open-access article here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

A photo of two sitting men in traditional Japanese attire

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

I am delighted that an issue I edited on @chloeireton.bsky.social's "Slavery and Freedom in Black Thought in the Early Spanish Atlantic" is now online at GIH. Reading this pioneering work and editing these thoughtful papers was valuable, revelatory, and provoking www.tandfonline.com/journals/rgi...

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

I just returned from a phenomenal week in Shanghai – I saw and did so much, spoke to many, and learned an inestimable amount. Our conference @gpolthought.bsky.social was also a great success! I am grateful for all the comments, conversations, and the immense generosity of my hosts.

Historic buildings in Shanghai lit up at night

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Ben Mueser @benwlm.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Please join for my talk today at University of Tokyo on zoom, 9:30-11 JST! For US East Coasters, thats 830pm on June 10. Registration link below.

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Tragic news about Gordon Wood, a towering historian of the American revolution and republic. RIP.

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

1/2 On 11 June, @benwlm.bsky.social (Harvard University) will give a talk for us at PoETS, UTokyo, "On the Foundations of Modern Territory", introducing his forthcoming book; see abstract attached. This month we convene fully online, 09:30-11:00 JST. If you would like to join us, you are welcome.

On the Foundations of Modern Territory

Benjamin Mueser (Harvard University)

This talk is on my forthcoming book, The Foundations of Modern Territory: Building Statehood in the Early Modern Law of Nations (OUP, 2027). The talk discusses the larger themes and arguments of the book, pointing to its interventions in the history of modern political thought. How did we come into possession of the notion that the earth was necessarily divided into discrete coherent territories, each of which was the theater of a people’s self-determination? The book takes account of the intellectual foundations of this fundamental shift in the early modern law of nations literature, drawing attention to importance of territory in the architecture of modern political thought. The territory of the state constitutes the basis for the distinction between the inside and outside of the state, the domestic and the international, the citizen and the foreigner, and the limits of raison d’état. Despite its centrality, debates in political theory on territorial rights have reached an impasse, in which it is unclear how to address the territorial wrongs of settler colonialism without defaulting to nationalist assumptions of territorial rights. This book seeks to move past this impasse by re-examining the debates and stakes of territory in the period in which territorial statehood first emerged.

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

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Chloe Ireton @chloeireton.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

This was a dreamy opportunity to engage w/ incredible scholars Pedro Cardim, Adriana Chira, Nelson Fernando González Martínez, Karen Graubart, Lisa Kattenberg & Clifton Sorrell III & their rich & incisive responses. Thanks to @tomaashby.bsky.social for curating www.tandfonline.com/journals/rgi...

tandfonline.com

Special Issue on Chloe L. Ireton's <i>Slavery and Freedom in Black Thought in the Early Spanish Atlantic</i>

Explore the article collection: Special Issue on Chloe L. Ireton's Slavery and Freedom in Black Thought in the Early Spanish Atlantic. Published in Global Intellectual History.

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

The latest by @sylvana-tomaselli.bsky.social - at a minimum do read this elegant and introspective prefatory paragraph (and let it hook you)

The first paragraph and the first lines of the second paragraph

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

My lecture at Keio went well (pic, the fit). Last weekend I also had a great time at the annual Japanese Conference for the Study of Political Thought (JCSPT; 政治思想学会) at Seikei University in Kichijōji, Tokyo. Many talks (Japanese; practice!), many meetings, much learnt!

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Matsumoto today – this is one of the oldest castles in Japan, with the wooden keep dating from the mid-1590s

A photo of a historic Japanese castle on a sunny day foregrounded by water

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Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー @tomaashby.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

On the 21st I will visit Keio Faculty of Law where I have been invited to give a one-hour lecture (my longest yet), "On the Life and Death of Republics: The Political Thought of Algernon Sidney and Some Reflections on the 250th Anniversary of the United States". I look forward to it!

A photo of a portrait painting of a younger Sidney (1659)

Detail from Trumbull's painting of the signing of the US Declaration of Independence

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Tom Ashbyトム アシュビー

Tom Ashbyトムアシュビー