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Dave Addison

@daveaddison.bsky.social

720 followers 410 following 110 posts

Historian of Late Antiquity. British Academy Postdoc at University of Liverpool. Hispanophile, Leodensian. https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/people/david-addison

www.liverpool.ac.uk

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Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · Nov 18

Very happy to see my new article on Paschasius of Dumium and the Iberian translation of the Apophthegmata patrum published (open access) in Al-Masaq. Features Atlantic-Mediterranean connectivity, Evagrius Ponticus, and a crocodile. doi.org/10.1080/0950...

Visions of the Desert in Atlantic Iberia: The Enigmas of Paschasius of Dumium’s Liber geronticon

The apophthegmata patrum or “sayings of the desert fathers” were an essential resource for Late Antique monastics. Compiled in Greek, they quickly circulated in an array of languages, including Cop...

doi.org

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Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 5d

On interdisciplinary work with environmental science and plague aDNA, Kristina Sessa's article is great: muse.jhu.edu/article/725298

Project MUSE - The New Environmental Fall of Rome: A Methodological Consideration

muse.jhu.edu

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Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 6d

Yes, I agree. I wasn't arguing against you in particular. We might well have no disagreement.

Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 6d

I sense, however, some unspoken assumptions in the comments in this thread - specifically that DH was worthy of greater funding than other forms of intellectual labour. If I was over interpreting, that's on me, but I haven't been convinced that I was.

Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 6d

Given the political situation, I have an enormous amount of sympathy with those who have lost funding. I have no sympathy for the manner in which the cuts have been made or the rationale behind them, which I can only see as anti-intellectual and anti-scientific.

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Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 6d

(I have no views on the particular expenses of this grant, about which I know nothing, but I do wonder about the intellectual consequences of the apparently prevalent assumption that DH projects are the natural recipients of such prestigious grants).

Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 6d

All of which is to say that I am less alarmed than some commenters on this thread when grants go to people without DH outcomes. I worry about the intellectual effects of prioritising expensive work.

Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 6d

I get that, and I think the exclusion of DH from NEH grants is ridiculous. But I also know that hiring decisions in cash-poor universities are often informed by the size of previous grants, and I worry about the consequences of certain sub-fields systematically drawing more money than others.

Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 6d

Is the idea here that digital humanities deserves, as a matter of course, all the biggest and most prestigious grants?

Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 7d

I think you might benefit from googling Lee Mordechai

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Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 8d

Well people can read the pieces and make their mind up. I've said my piece. You have a good day, too!

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Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 8d

Fwiw I'm don't even follow the Eisenberg-Mordechai in my own work, but the idea that they are anti science is just false. They accept the aDNA evidence for Y. Pestis, but contest the way a relatively small number of cases are generalized. I have different views, but they made an imp point.

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Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 8d

From what I know of Merle's politics I would be amazed if the intention was to lessen the severity of the Covid pandemic, but I don't have any insider info and I can't read the tea leaves. He's on here; I imagine he'll make his case.

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Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 8d

I don't think that's the message your (now deleted) skeet sent. Glad you thought twice about it.

Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 8d

Yeah, it's interesting work! Great to teach with

Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 8d

See also this from his faculty page

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Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 8d

2019, I think, unless we're thinking of different work - but yes, this is exactly the point!

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Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 18d

I wonder about the value-add of university research on certain bits of pop culture, when journalism/blog/fans are doing an equally good if not better job already. Whereas some culture (e.g. that from very different times/places) might require university exposition in order to be accessible.

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Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 18d

Agreed, and have no beef with Taylor Swift studies. But I suppose my slight hesitation with poptimism in a university setting is that certain cultural entities would die without the infrastructure of universities and arts schools and conservatoires around them, and others wouldn't.

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Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 20d

Which journal?

Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 21d

From this great piece, which I am late to: www.ft.com/content/3f49...

The shadow economy behind the international student boom

A lucrative revenue stream for universities has led to an industry of unregulated agents now under scrutiny for making lofty promises

www.ft.com

Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 21d

Wild stat in the FT: Coventry University spend 12% of *all* annual expenditure paying fees to middle-men who recruit international students 🤯

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Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 26d

Ah, that's the model? I'm out of touch

Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 26d

I agree entirely. I wonder how much of this is downstream of output-based metrics in wider university cultures. It seems hard for people at the moment to talk with a straight face about the development people and minds and practices as a goal of education or research.

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Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 27d

Do you have a sense of who the target for this kind of messaging is? I've heard these views from plenty of self-declared iconoclasts in university policy, but I struggle to see who the wider constituency is ... But presumably there is *some* method here?!

Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 27d

I genuinely don't understand who this kind of messaging from Kyle is for. Do red wall voters dream of Silicon valley in the fens? Are Economist subscribers a major voting bloc? Or does he just spend too much time talking fifteen or so guys from a handful of think tanks?

Dylan Difford @dylandifford.bsky.social · 27d

Lol. How well did the last govt insulting load-bearing parts of their electoral coalition work out for them? Like they watched what the Lib Dems did to the home counties and wondered what it'd be like if the Greens did that to the two dozen largest university towns.

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 27d

Right. My students working two part time jobs and/or having an hour and a half commute to uni because they have to live at home due to the cost of student accommodation lack drive and vigour. Sure thing, Peter. The UK Govt still haven't a clue about the realities of universities today.