Author | Lightnews

Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · 1d

Some internet questions are easier for me to answer than others...

Cover of a book: the company's sword: the East India Company and the Politics of Militarism, 1644-1858 by Christina Welsch. The cover is off white and red with an 18th century landscape featuring a bridge, an Indian soldier, and several other Indian people.

Reposted by Christina Welsch

Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · 2d

🗃️ Very pleased that my new article "‘Tippoo…Was Just Such a Man As I Am’: Protest, Rebellion and Military Labour in South India" is now available via early access in South Asia www.tandfonline.com/eprint/ZEFEU....

‘Tippoo…Was Just Such a Man As I Am’: Protest, Rebellion and Military Labour in South India

The East India Company’s expansion over South India profoundly disrupted economic networks. Scholarship on this ‘colonial transition’ has shown that colonial subjects challenged the Company’s rule ...

www.tandfonline.com

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Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · 2d

In it, I explore how sepoys in the Madras Army navigated the changing military landscape of eighteenth-century south India to launch various forms of collective protest against the Company, highlighting the creative ways they engaged with regional politics and colonial anxieties.

Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · 2d

🗃️ Very pleased that my new article "‘Tippoo…Was Just Such a Man As I Am’: Protest, Rebellion and Military Labour in South India" is now available via early access in South Asia www.tandfonline.com/eprint/ZEFEU....

‘Tippoo…Was Just Such a Man As I Am’: Protest, Rebellion and Military Labour in South India

The East India Company’s expansion over South India profoundly disrupted economic networks. Scholarship on this ‘colonial transition’ has shown that colonial subjects challenged the Company’s rule ...

www.tandfonline.com

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Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · 5d

This is incredible work and disheartening findings. Sorry to say my college is also a part of this trend.

Nimisha Barton @nimishabarton.bsky.social · 5d

Each year I update this table which surveys scholars programs at the top 10 colleges and unis. Were schools that cared so much about DEI in 2020 still committed 5 years later?

Here's what I found:

Following the infamous “Dear Colleague” letter sent out by the Department of Education in February 2025, many colleges and universities rushed to shutter diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices in the hopes of avoiding the fate of so many other institutions—namely, incurring the wrath of the Trump administration that views such programs as giving an unfair advantage to people of color and contributing to “the disenfranchisement of white men.” As of this writing, over 392 colleges and universities across 46 states including the District of Columbia have dismantled their DEI offices. Aggressive far-right government actors and their coordinated attacks on DEI efforts impact this study in a number of ways.

First, last year, many institutions were eager to participate in this study. By contrast, this year was marked by noticeable reticence. Johns Hopkins University opted not to participate in the study. Representatives from Stanford, Northwestern, and Yale did not reply to multiple email inquiries.

Second, information about scholars programs, or really anything related to DEI, is harder to come by on many university websites. This trend towards “disappearing” DEI information is most clearly reflected at Northwestern, which scrubbed their university website entirely earlier this year.

Third, even among those institutions that still offer scholars programs for students from historically marginalized backgrounds, there appears to be a subtle shift in language. As last year’s table demonstrates, many programs highlighted that their target student demographic came from first-generation and/or lower socioeconomic backgrounds. This year, that is less obviously the case.

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Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · 10d

Petition summarized in translation.

Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 10d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:

She burned their letters.

Natasha Simonova @philistella.bsky.social · 10d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:

New library catalogue website.

Reposted by Christina Welsch

John Holbein @johnholbein1.bsky.social · Aug 1

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Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · Jul 26

P. J. Marshall was one of the first scholars (who wasn't actually my teacher) to give me encouragement on my work. Forever grateful, and am sad to hear of his passing.

Peter Mandler @petermandler.bsky.social · Jul 26

Thanks to @eicathomefinn.bsky.social for notification of the death of Peter (P.J.) Marshall (1933-2025), a great historian of India and Empire, and a pioneering President of the Royal Historical Society. His last book is going to press so there is more of his work still to appreciate.

Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · Jun 20

Literal South Sea bubble farce

A printed list of absurd capital ventures in early eighteenth-century Britain. The highlighted text reads "17. For carrying on an undertaking of great advantage, but no-body to know what it is.”

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Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · Jun 19

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Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · Jun 9

This was literally me all day today, except for a reference article instead of an introduction...

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Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · May 25

You know, for someone with an anxiety disorder, this is a strangely comforting way to reframe the everyday...

It's not that I'm just going to be scared today. It's that I'm going to do stuff that scares me! (And also fail to do other stuff that also scares me, but that's for tomorrow's try...)

Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · May 15

Thanks! Daniel Tiger has been a good teeth-brushing role model so far. I'll make sure to ask the dentist about anything else, but this makes me worry less. Well, worry less about one thing...

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Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · May 15

@kavehmd.bsky.social Love the pod! I listened to the fluoride episode, and I wanted to know if you had any suggestions for parents who live in places that have already banned fluoride. Besides protesting the ban (and brushing), what else can I do to protect my kid's teeth?

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Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · May 2

Beautiful and urgent. Thank you.

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Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · Apr 21

My friend introduced my baby to this when he was about 1.5. Hilarious to see a little toddler head-banging. www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8cc...

I Can Only Count to FOUR - Psychostick Numbers Bodies Drowning Pool Parody

YouTube video by Psychostick

www.youtube.com

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Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · Apr 16

So @tressiemcphd.bsky.social's point would basically be valid in any context, but you should've seen my face when I opened the conversation to see someone insulting one of the best-looking plates of red beans I've ever seen...

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · Apr 16

No British person should ever, a single day on god’s green earth, disparage anybody’s food. Literally ever. Never seen a seasoning you wouldn’t steal for but never use. Please sit down with your peas and mash and chew silently.

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Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · Apr 14

Yet more evidence that administrators will do anything to avoid adding more tenure-track lines...

(This is a joke. Well done, Harvard! Keep fighting so that those of us at other, smaller colleges can follow suit.)

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Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · Apr 6

This is a great idea. First thing Monday morning, I'll try to reassign it to the snipping/screenshot tool...much more useful when prepping my lectures!

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Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · Apr 6

Got my newly issued work PC on Friday, and was horrified to discover that it includes a new key that by default opens up Microsoft Copilot.

LLMs just turned hate, greed, and ignorance into a tariff on penguins. Why in the world do I need a dedicated stupidity button on this machine?

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Reposted by Christina Welsch

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Apr 1

"I don't want a Disney vacation of our history! I don't a whitewashed history, I don't want a homogenized history. Tell me the wretched truth about America, because that speaks to our greatness" -- 20 hours into his speech, Cory Booker is spitting absolute 🔥

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Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · Mar 25

Ohio House and Senate just passed a bill that among many other things requires a course in "American civic literacy"...not exactly the same as Western Civ, but definitely in the pattern

Text of SB1 section 3345.382 (B): "Each state institution of higher education shall
develop a course with not fewer than three credit hours in the subject area of American civic literacy. The course shall
include a study of the American economic system and capitalism. The course shall comply with the criteria, policies, and
procedures established under section 3333.16 of the Revised Code. The course may be offered under the college credit plus program established under Chapter 3365. of the Revised Code. The course shall, at a minimum, require each student to read all the following:
(1) The entire Constitution of the United States;
(2) The entire Declaration of Independence;
(3) A minimum of five essays in their entirety from the Federalist Papers. The essays shall be selected by the
department chair.
(4) The entire Emancipation Proclamation;
(5) The entire Gettysburg Address;
(6) The entire Letter from Birmingham Jail written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr;
(7) The writings of Adam Smith, including a study of the principles written in the Wealth of Nations.

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Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · Mar 22

History prof here. You do outstanding popular history. I listen every week AND I've used the way you talk about the strengths and limits of various scholarly sources as a model for my students.

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Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · Mar 17

Just noticed the autocorrect "je cherche un trépas". Gah!

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Christina Welsch @christinawelsch.bsky.social · Mar 17

"Il y a un long temp monsieur le colonel que je churches un trips glorieux."

That's my guess. (I've sought a glorious death for a long time, monsieur colonel.)

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