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Les Back

@academicdiary.bsky.social

1.6K followers 1.8K following 320 posts

I teach sociology at the University of Glasgow and my interests are learning, teaching, books, ideas, culture and music.

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Les Back is a professor of sociology at the University of Glasgow and former Director of the Centre for Urban and Community Research at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is a researcher and author of books and academic studies on topics including racism, music and urban cultures. .. more

Political science 44%

Sociology 38%

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Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 6d

Lovey piece from Stephanie and George on filming as sociological practice. thesociologicalreview.org/image-maker-...

Image-Maker in Residence: Verbatim Filmmaking for Social Justice: An abolitionist approach to where, how and why Black men live where they live

Stephanie Guirand, our autumn 2025 Image-Maker in Residence and activist, sociologist and co-founder of The Black Response, shares her film and research on the housing injustice that Black men face.

thesociologicalreview.org

Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 6d

Great sociological listening - thesociologicalreview.org/magazine/sep...

You heard it here first: Uncommon Sense podcasters share some home truths

Podcast Uncommon Sense reveals sociological surprises on burnout, fat, Europeans, anxiety, performativity and TV’s Fleabag. By producer Alice Bloch.

thesociologicalreview.org

Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 6d

The province of tyrants” - paramilitary policing of black and brown Us communities as America turns on itself.

Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 7d

youtu.be/vOXOWAhFz0A

‘F--- them kids’: ICE agents drag children out of bed, ransack Chicago building

YouTube video by MSNBC

youtu.be

Reposted by Les Back

Times Higher Education (THE) @timeshighered.bsky.social · 7d

‘Life-saving’ Gaza student evacuations need ‘collective effort’: Gazan students due to begin studies in Ireland and Italy but efforts in other countries remain blocked
https://ow.ly/zzqE50X5Inu

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Reposted by Les Back, Sanford F. Schram

Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 7d

youtu.be/vOXOWAhFz0A

‘F--- them kids’: ICE agents drag children out of bed, ransack Chicago building

YouTube video by MSNBC

youtu.be

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Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 7d

Tragic scenes at Heaton Park Synagogue and loss of life there, and the need in our time for vigilance against all forms of racism and violence www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Manchester synagogue attack: What we know so far

Two Jewish people died in a car and stabbing attack at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue on the holiest day in the Jewish religious calendar.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 7d

Just about to record a conversation with Tom Spare about this extraordinary programme. Stuart Hall was 47 when he made it in 1979 with Maggie Steed It Ain’t Half Racist Mum for Open Door www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Open Door - It Ain't Half Racist Mum

In a programme from 1979, Stuart Hall and Maggie Steed of the Campaign Against Racism in the Media examine their charge of bias on television against black and Asian communities.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 7d

Will send x

Reposted by Les Back

Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power @identitiesjournal.bsky.social · 7d

Our latest #Identities issue is now published!

Vol 32 No 5, including a #Symposium on Michèle Lamont's 'Seeing Others'

Explore the issue:
www.tandfonline.com/...

@nasarmeer.bsky.social @aaronwinter.bsky.social @mlamont.bsky.social @tandfresearch.bsky.social @uofgsps.bsky.social

#LatestIssue

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Reposted by Les Back, Matthew Waites

British Sociological Association @britsoci.bsky.social · 7d

Don’t miss out! Abstract submissions invited for the BSA’s 75th anniversary conference, 8-10 April 2026, University of Edinburgh – a fixture in the sociological calendar unlike any other.

Submission deadline: TOMORROW, Friday 3 October 2025 tinyurl.com/23sjk4nh #sociology

Image text: Don’t miss out! Abstract submissions invited for the BSA’s 75th anniversary conference, 8-10 April 2026, University of Edinburgh – a fixture in the sociological calendar unlike any other. Submission deadline: THIS FRIDAY, 3 October 2025 tinyurl.com/23sjk4nh #sociology

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Reposted by Les Back

Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power @identitiesjournal.bsky.social · 7d

Have you read our latest symposium?

'The Asian Gang Revisited: Changing Muslim Masculinities' by Claire Alexander, with contributions from Natasha Warikoo, Shamim Miah & Marcus Anthony Hunter

Published in issue 32.4:
www.tandfonline.com/...

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Reposted by Les Back, Brooke Harrington

Dr Robert Bohan @robertbohan.bsky.social · 8d

This woman is on fire in the EU parliament.

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Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 8d

I never really thought I had the literary chops for writing fiction, but @awtsn.bsky.social persuaded me to do this for her SO-Fi magazine for the Glasgow special.

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Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 8d

Wonderful essay from Karolina Benghellab on the haunted borders of Europe. www.gla.ac.uk/schools/soci... @uofglasgow.bsky.social

Tracing migration journeys in empty squats along the Balkan Route.

Karolina Benghellab discusses the real consequences of Europe's increasingly militarised border regimes.

www.gla.ac.uk

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Reposted by Les Back, Matthew Waites

Sociological and Cultural Studies, University of Glasgow @uofgsociology.bsky.social · 8d

Our latest Sociological & Cultural Studies blog has just been posted. In it Karolina Benghellab discusses the hidden forms of violence and detention that are a deliberate consequence of Europe's increasingly militarised, and hugely costly, border regimes. Please read and share...

Tracing migration journeys in empty squats along the Balkan Route.

Karolina Benghellab discusses the real consequences of Europe's increasingly militarised border regimes.

www.gla.ac.uk

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Reposted by Les Back

The Sociological Review Foundation @thesociologicalreview.org · 9d

JOIN US: The Sociological Review journal is recruiting 15 new Editorial Board members who will take up post in February 2026.

Our aim is to recruit a cohort of globally minded scholars reflective of the richness and diversity of the sociological community.

➡️ Deadline 5 December buff.ly/wQQwoHU

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Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 9d

Thanks Ben, will read with great interest. Would be lovely to catch up x

Reposted by Les Back

The Sociological Review Foundation @thesociologicalreview.org · 10d

“The backbone of our academic community”: in the September issue of the Magazine, journal editors @carinrunciman.bsky.social Sweta Rajan-Rankin @silkeroth.bsky.social and Maud Perrier celebrate the institution of #peerreview and demystify the editorial decision-making process.

buff.ly/fekw1xq

Collage featuring a person in a red dress with gears, lightbulb, book, and laptop — representing knowledge sharing and peer review – and held aloft on a paper airplane by a giant hand.

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Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 13d

Thank you, interesting to make
an inventory of those changes. I wanted to do a second edition but the publisher wanted an entirely new book. I have written my first bit of scan if fiction for Ash Watson’s So Fi magazine… it’s a horror story and was cathartic. Have a good weekend, Liz.

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Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 13d

Thank you Liz, really kind.

Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 13d

That’s so generous, Liz. Lots has happened in that last ten years. Have tried to stay vocal about HE. I was at Goldsmiths this week and the press officer told me they used to use the book in welcome week to promote the Uni… not anymore. Something new: thesociologicalreview.org/magazine/jun...

Lives of the mind: Is it a trap to see sociology as a job?

How can sociology flourish amid university redundancies and the focus on metrics such as citations and research grants asks Les Back?

thesociologicalreview.org

Reposted by Les Back

Prof. Liz Oakley-Brown @earlymodlancs.bsky.social · 13d

First published in 2016, and read by me since then on a regular basis, I feel it's time for @academicdiary.bsky.social important #AcademicDiary again

Academic Diary - Les Back | Goldsmiths Press share.google/GDd3fj4SL2rN...

Academic Diary - Les Back

Les Back has chronicled three decades of his academic career, turning his sharp and often satirical eye to the everyday aspects of life on campus and the larger forces that are reshaping it.

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Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 13d

As Stuart Hall once said “the blues takes you to a dark place but it doesn’t leave you there”.

Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 13d

“You know The Blues is hard to get acquainted with like death… the Blues will dwell with you every day and everywhere.” Lightnin Hopkins … glad to have written this piece. Feels like so true today. www.everythingjazz.com/story/john-l...

John Lee Hooker and Lightnin' Hopkins - The Blues Roots of Jazz - Everything Jazz

John Lee Hooker’s “It Serves You Right to Suffer” and Lightnin’ Hopkins’ “Lightnin’ Strikes” demonstrated the umbilical connection between blues and jazz. Read & buy on Everything Jazz

www.everythingjazz.com

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Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 13d

With my dear friend Michael Keith this week in Wapping. When we worked together at Goldsmiths I always thought we were like the academic Odd Couple! He was Jack Lemon though, the good looking one. Still the sharpest of minds. He almost smiles too 😘

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Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 13d

No secrets from you, Brenda. Kirkdale Bookshop in Sydenham. They have a lovely preloved section too. I picked up an ancient copy of Izaak Walton’s The Compleat Angler for my brother’s 70th birthday. Couple of old cockney geezers!

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Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 13d

Found this in my favourite independent book shop in South London congratulations, Alice. 👏👏👏 @uofgsociology.bsky.social

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Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 13d

So pleased to speak at this celebration of Michael Bull’s work in Lewes this week. Suitably it was in a local jazz venue with Bird and Monk blasting out. Michael mention a teacher had described him as an “academic dabbler” the highest possible form of praise in my mind.

Reposted by Les Back

Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power @identitiesjournal.bsky.social · 13d

'Good Muslims, good citizens? An #intersectional approach to Muslims’ everyday (hidden) resistance tactics in Belgium'

From #Identities' latest Special Issue, by Samira Azabar

Read with #OpenAccess:
doi.org/10.1080/1070...

@nasarmeer.bsky.social @aaronwinter.bsky.social #PoliticalParticipation

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