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Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)

@drsurekhadavies.bsky.social

17K followers 2.7K following 7.5K posts

Historian. Monster consultant (documentaries, etc.). Words in LA Times, TLS, Aeon, Nature, Science. Buy HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY now: https://www.surekhadavies.org/humans-a-monstrous-history Newsletter: https://buttondown.com/surekhadavies?tag=bluesky

www.surekhadavies.org

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Dr Surekha Davies (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · Feb 4

Launch day for HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY! So relieved to make it this far.
💙📚 🧪 🗃 #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thC #HAMH
buttondown.com/surekhadavie...

Launch Day for HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY!

Welcome back, and hallo, new readers! This is it! The US launch day for HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY is February 4th. I’m amazed and relieved to get to this...

buttondown.com

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Dr Surekha Davies (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · 3h

I recognize this tactic from the academic job market I abandoned years ago:
Book not done? Problem.
Book in production? Problem.
Book published? Problem.
Book won prizes? We didn't think your brand new project was sufficiently developed.
#academicsky

mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · Nov 24

If grocery prices had gone down or voters started saying they trusted Harris on grocery prices, the result would not be Harris walking away with the election but the media choosing in a different bad-for-Harris economic issue as the number one issue of the campaign.

Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)

Neal Romanek @nromanek.bsky.social · 9h

Tremendous

Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 1d

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

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Dr Surekha Davies (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · 3h

Looking forward!

Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)

Neal Romanek @nromanek.bsky.social · 21d

Our new monster event at ¡AU!, which kicks off Oct. 18. It's going to be a mix of fun and deep monster study. Still working out what the frequency will be, but we'll be doing Monster Lab regularly. Ticket prices are absurdly low for this first outing. Join us.

¡AU! @auworks.bsky.social · 21d

¡AU! has launched a new event series, MONSTER LAB, where creatives of all types (from painters to brain surgeons) gather to talk monsters & see what we can learn.

First MONSTER LAB is Oct. 18, 2-4pm UK time, online. Get your ticket now!

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/monster-la...

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Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)

Cats of Yore @catsofyore.bsky.social · 11h

Thank you to everyone who has loved him with us over the years. He was so special.

Photo of my glorious brown tuxedo tabby Fergus sitting up with sunlight illuminating his white ruff.

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Dr Surekha Davies (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · 3h

So very sorry!

Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)

Cats of Yore @catsofyore.bsky.social · 11h

So, this week has been hard. Very hard. On Monday we found out that my kind, gentle, perfect little man Fergus had diffuse, fast-moving cancer throughout his body. So we had to make the awful decision to say goodbye to him yesterday.

Closeup portrait of my handsome brown tuxedo tabby Fergus looking upward.

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The Green Party of England & Wales @greenparty.org.uk · 12h

We can't keep up...

Yesterday we reached 90,000 members. Today we're at 95,000.

Be part of the Green surge. Join the Green Party today ⤵️

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Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)

Prof Anna Watts @profannawatts.bsky.social · 9h

Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.

Headline from an article in Nature this week that states "Prizes must recognize machine contributions to discovery. The future of science will be written by humans and machines together. Awards should reflect that reality."

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Dr Surekha Davies (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · 10h

A fantastic piece of news. Congrats, @ievajusionyte.bsky.social!

University of California Press @ucpress.bsky.social · 1d

Congratulations to anthropologist and UC Press author @ievajusionyte.bsky.social on being named a 2025 #MacArthurGenius Fellow! A brilliant recognition of her vital work. www.macfound.org/fellows/clas...

Ieva Jusionyte

Exploring the political and moral ambiguities of border regions and historically shifting distinctions between legal and illegal practices.

www.macfound.org

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Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)

David Berri @wagesofwins.bsky.social · 10h

Just spent an hour working on my next book. Wrote about a sentence.

I would rather spend my time making so little progress than asking an AI program for help.

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Dr Surekha Davies (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · 10h

100%.

Dr Surekha Davies (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · 11h

Hoping you make it out today!

Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)

David Gilbert @davidgilbert.bsky.social · 12h

“I’ll kill you in front of your students.”

This is just one of the death threats that has driven @mark-bray.bsky.social to try and flee the US.

But at the airport last night, after checking in and clearing security, his booking mysteriously disappeared

www.wired.com/story/mark-b...

He Wrote a Book About Antifa. Death Threats Are Driving Him Out of the US

Rutgers historian Mark Bray is trying to flee to Spain after after an online campaign from far-right influencers was followed by death threats. He was turned back at the airport on his first attempt.

www.wired.com

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Dr Surekha Davies (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · 11h

WTAF. How many people have to die or be imprisoned in concentration camps before people like that (dunno who the quotation is from) wake up?

Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)

Kath Barbadoro @kathbarbadoro.bsky.social · 11h

Similarly describing him as an "expert on antifa" rather than an "antifascism researcher" further legitimates antifa as a proper noun in a way that makes zero sense

Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 14h

you'd think a prominent news outlet like the New York Times might mention that "antifa" isn't an actual organization in a long story about antifa, but nope!

and the subhead helps props up a false claim this professor was up to something seedy as something up for debate

NYT headline: "Rutgers Expert on Antifa Tries to Flee to Spain After Death Threats"

subheadline: "Mark Bray was teaching courses on antifascism. Turning Point USA accused him of belonging to antifa, which he denies. His flight to Spain was canceled abruptly on Wednesday night."

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Dr Surekha Davies (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · 11h

Also very much a newsletter for #maps #cartography #geography folks!

Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)

Dr Surekha Davies (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · 16h

What's the naughtiest thing you could do in a research library besides writing in one of the books? Read my newsletter to find out & to learn what's special about this 1599 Latin edition of Walter Ralegh's "Discoverie of Guiana".
💙📚 🗃 #medieval #earlymodern #histsci
buttondown.com/surekhadavie...

A book title-page with copious amounts of writing in different fonts, some italics, and some all-caps. The bottom third is a scene with three scantily dressed standing figures. The left-hand and centre, male figures have no heads; the left-hand one has their face in their chest; the centre figure, viewed from the back, has long, curly hair. The right-hand, female figure faces forwards. All three carry bows and arrows.

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Dr Surekha Davies (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · 11h

Good question - I have a whole chapter on that in Renaissance Ethnography and the Invention of the Human: New Worlds, Maps and Monsters!

www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...

Renaissance Ethnography and the Invention of the Human | Cambridge University Press & Assessment

www.cambridge.org

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404 Media @404media.co · 13h

BREAKING: A catastrophic breach has impacted Discord user data including selfies and identity documents uploaded as part of the app’s verification process, email addresses, phone numbers, approximately where the user lives, and much more.

🔗 www.404media.co/the-discord-...

The Discord Hack is Every Users’ Worst Nightmare

A hack impacting Discord’s age verification process shows in stark terms the risk of tech companies collecting users’ ID documents. Now the hackers are posting peoples’ IDs and other sensitive informa...

www.404media.co

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Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)

Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 1d

Canadians: The federal government is seeking public input on how AI should be developed and used in business, research, and the military.

If this scares the shit out of you, please let them know:

Help define the next chapter of Canada's AI leadership

Current status: Open from October 1 to October 31, 2025 Canada helped invent modern AI. To stay a leader—and protect our digital sovereignty—we're running a 30-day national sprint to shape a renewed...

ised-isde.canada.ca

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Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)

Miriam Forster @miriamforster.bsky.social · Sep 28

Your periodic reminder that I wrote a book about shark evolution AND another one about bug evolution!

They are BIG and GORGEOUS and illustrated by the exceptional @gordywright.bsky.social

A hand holding two oversized picture books. The back one is blue and called Sharks, a Mighty Bitey History, and the front one is green and titled Bugs, a Skittery Jittery History.

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Dr Surekha Davies (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · 13h

😂

Dr Surekha Davies (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · 14h

seeing...

Dr Surekha Davies (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · 15h

Extraordinary clarity and presence of mind under the horrors you're facing as you wait to get on the plane. Wishing *all* the best to you and your family, and a safe landing in Spain.

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