Not sure anyone will see this but just to say I’m thrilled to start my Lectureship with
@MuseumsBirkbeck
(and have an office that overlooks Bloomsbury’s decaying grandeur). I’ll be teaching a module I’ve designed - Museums, Memory and National identity - and I’m very excited!
Just submitted my PhD thesis (!!) I was meant to celebrate by running as far away as possible, but due to Covid, instead I’m going to drink champs and catch up on four and a half years worth of reading for pleasure 🌟
Firstly, the interpretation in the Tropenmuseum was so good it made me want to cry. We NEED and DESERVE this level of frankness in our ethnographic museums.
Sorry this is all I post about - but being a Historian is basically just a title, there are literally no jobs. Working on
@CursedObjectsUK
w
@danhancox
has been a light during a v dark time. And look! People like it! It’s in the Guardian Guide this weekend!! 😭
The new
@I_W_M
galleries open today, and you’ll probably find more ‘people’ stories than before - something I wrote about last year (my first ever published thing!!)
They also had spaces where people could just sit down (I was tired) - this is so important for museums as public spaces where people should be able to just sit, and think without having to *buy* anything
THIS! The anti-intellectual strand in the UK by mainstream political commentators is at best them being negligent and awful at their jobs, at worst cynical deception
Please note that panels explaining the violent exploitation of colonised people appear consistently. It’s not just a one off. Almost every panel is reflexive and considered.
THERE GOES THE NEIGHBOURHOOD (to property developers). When did we start wearing I love Kentish Town/Hackney/Peckham T-shirts? This week on
@CursedObjectsUK
we examine hyper local branding with icon
@AcademicDiary
Very sad that The Professor, the best and weirdest lil man I ever knew, has moved on to emulate ruined artworks in the spiritual feline realm. Sleep well my amazing-eared guy 🧡
After 3 years (!!) today is my last shift at the best coffee shop in the world. This place got me through my PhD, and taught me a lot about community and friendship. So if you’re ever in gospel oak go say hello
🚨🌱Brixton Botanical Map 🌱🚨 we are thrilled to launch a map of green spaces in
#Brixton
which addresses the legacies of the British empire and celebrates local
#botanicaleducation
&
#communitygardening
initiatives. Download your free copy:
FAV DISPLAY: this might not look like much, but here we go. 1. There is a touch object for access needs 2. An interactive for engagement 3. Old-style mannequin for contrast and 4. LOOK AT THE WOKENESS OF THIS PANEL...
This time last week was the debut of our
@CursedObjectsUK
inspired workshops - with 33 masters students from UAL who were so creative and inspiring I almost cried. Thanks
@glwulff
for collaborating w us 🥰
I wish I was feeling myself as much as the guy on
@BBCr4today
who called the description of new fighter planes read out to him ‘a very good’ one, only to be informed that was in fact his own description
They had temp exhibitions on afrofuturism, the afterlives of slavery, and African fashion. It felt so cohesive and not just an afterthought. I learnt so much.
So, I got told I need to stop speaking at conferences and write my PhD. Tomorrow is my last conference - and I’m presenting to 140 people. Guess I gotta go out with a bang!
@CDPConference18
Shout out to all of my
#twitterstorians
this xmas. A couple years ago I got wild drunk and had a huge argument about the legacies of Churchill and now my family troll me whenever I need a fiver. Seasons greetings!
FAV OBJECT: as a PhD nerd I think this bookcase is one of the best things I have seen in a while. All the books are made of a wood-type. But they also are representative of deeper power relations beyond their form. It makes me want to cryy
I went for a walk to clear my head only to find this where my laptop should be. Mirabelles and 95% spirit to make my own flavoured vodka. I think this is how Polish parents show you they.. love you?
Wholesome monday content 🌟 I moved back in w/ my elderly parents pre-lockdown, so asked my cousin to look after my plants. Shes turned our living room into a school, and my plants are now in ‘Forest Corner’. The little ones water the forest weekly and even have a chart
After MONTHS of planning and editing, we are finally here!! The fist episode of Season 1 drops this Wednesday but until then pls go follow
@CursedObjectsUK
💖💖💖
Hello and welcome to Cursed Objects! A brand new podcast from
@KasiaTee
and
@danhancox
. Here's a trailer. First episode is Wednesday - on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google, Stitcher. Please go and subscribe now!
Cursed Objects listeners will know Dan and I are obsessed with supermarkets - so this piece by
@rubytandoh
for
@vittlesmagazine
speaks to my soul. Essential reading for anyone interested in postwar design and social history
Last week I began my journey as a new educator for
@HolocaustUK
. It just so happened to coincide with the 200th session to help to educate young people about the Holocaust by taking students to Auschwitz
#LFA200
Today will go down as the best Monday since records began. My supervisors said very nice things about my 30,000 words, my friend surprised me with this tshirt, and Love island begins at 9
#MuseumsAreNotNeutral
‘No one in our phone obsessed age will, aged 45, leave their wife for an 18 year old, and when the wife protests try to have her institutionalised - also, for some reason the wife’s sister will stay to raise the children’
....Like imagine if in our museums we simply reflected on the structures of power/oppression that made the work of Charles Darwin for example possible. IMAGINE UTOPIA
@ShirinHirsch
I’m so sorry to hear this, academic work is encouraged to have more impact but it’s hard when you have very little control over other aspects i.e promotion
our legacy colonial model of what a national museum should be is broken
at present only 62% of the
@britishmuseum
’s estimated 8m objects are on the public database
time for transparency, and a root and branch ‘excavation’ of the collections to produce a comprehensive database
@JosephineCumbo
GOD can you imagine the pretend hand-wringing over this decision ‘I’m afraid tough decisions need to be made in unprecedented times 😔🥺’ with the massive elephant in the room being VC bonuses - so embarrassing!!
When I tell people who don’t have twitter about twitter (they usually ask about how awful it can be) I tell them about
#museumhour
as an example of how you can feel part of, learn so much about and stay up to date with debates within a community
Dive in - no experience required for
#museumhour
discussions - we share ideas, tips and ask those questions! Don't forget the all important hashtag so everyone can follow the discussion
#museumhour
Cursed Objects is back baby!!! And now released every Monday to beat post weekend sadness. In this ep we discuss probably our most cursed object to date - enjoy ✨
In this first of 10 new episodes - launching every Monday -
@KasiaTee
and
@danhancox
discuss leadership cults, Cold Wars and the ironic veneration of dictators. Get involved! 🎣
Anyway, I’m sorry for the rubbish pics. All I know is that for its honesty, and consistency this is probably the best museum I have ever been to. If it were a poltician I would vote, and campaign for it
We are really looking forward to welcoming
@KasiaTee
to the department this week. She will be delivering a paper titled 'A Pleasure Culture of War' on Wednesday at 4pm. All welcome!
Also I can finally put up my v v earnest thesis acknowledgments! Not mentioned are my examiners
@DrClaireWintle
@CPenistonBird
- thank you for reading my work and your thoughtful critiques during my viva 💖💖💖
Catch me in a distopia, utopia, allegory for purgatory, and literally anywhere this collection of books will take me that isnt the room I have lived in for the last 9 mnths with my thesis
Tbh I was really moved by
@MigrationUK
‘Room to Breathe’ exhibition, and I am so gutted that I only discovered it on its last day. I would have shouted about it from the rooftops !
@MigrationUK
More food stories: not only are you reminded about Spanish colonisation of the Philippines but also you can see the cooking instructions of how to make Puto. Also if anyone knows where to find Puto in London u need to help this guy out
#foodhist
Had my hopes raised and then cruelly dashed seeing the film The Lighthouse on iplayer isn’t about the iconic
@ukgranddesigns
ep. Raises the question, if it was, who would play Kevin?
A weird little Easter Egg in this picture I only just noticed is that (because I had no appropriate headshots) I had to use the colourised version of this picture I took after my last academic rejection for my staff card picture hahaha
spending this rainy afternoon on my sofa with my cat and hes making lil squeaking noises because he’s so happy im not working and surely thats enough to dismantle capitalism
@MigrationUK
They provided amazing spaces for visitors to share experiences. Like this ‘classroom’ where you have to sit on tiny chairs. The notebooks were full of stories of dealing w/ racism, class and friendship and the weirdness of new places
Approx one week to go until my students give me their freshers illnesses, so what better way to spend Sunday than listening to this podcast on the Spanish flu with my babes
@HannahMawdsley
If you’d like to hear more about one of the deadliest pandemics in human history (and who wouldn’t?!) our podcast ‘Going Viral: The Mother of all Pandemics’ is now LIVE! New episode each Friday:
Thanks to
@wellcometrust
for support!
#GoingViral
#1918flu