Author | Lightnews

Mirela Ivanova @mirela.bsky.social · 2d

People of Oslo! Come about my book on the invention of the Slavonic alphabet next Wednesday at 4.15pm.

Details here: www.hf.uio.no/iakh/english...

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Mirela Ivanova @mirela.bsky.social · 2d

nearly thirty years ago Bill Readings published this prophetic book The University in Ruins. Essential reading today as the sector is on the brink of collapse.

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Mirela Ivanova @mirela.bsky.social · 14d

"LLMs don’t learn except by going through a whole new training process. ChatGPT doesn’t learn from any of the millions of exchanges it has with human users. It can’t afford to [...] it is frozen to prevent it being contaminated by any new knowledge.."
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

James Meek · Computers that want things

For all the fluency and synthetic friendliness of public-facing AI chatbots like ChatGPT, it seems important to remember...

www.lrb.co.uk

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Mirela Ivanova @mirela.bsky.social · 16d

Loved this review of Lea Ypi's new book Indignity by @lilylynch.bsky.social - on class, communism, and family in Albania's twentieth century

jacobin.com/2025/10/lea-...

Lea Ypi’s Reckoning With Family and the Legacy of Revolution

In her new book, Indignity, Albanian political scientist Lea Ypi discovers that online trolls are accusing her grandmother of having been a communist spy during World War II. To find the truth, she di...

jacobin.com

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Mirela Ivanova @mirela.bsky.social · Aug 20

For a full timetable, titles and (free!) registration: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/legacies-o...

With thanks to the @britishacademy.bsky.social Small Grant scheme for the funding!

Legacies of Muslim Rule in Southeastern Europe Managing Pasts

This workshop explores how states in southeastern Europe sharing a complex history of Christian and Muslim rule manage layered heritages.

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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Mirela Ivanova @mirela.bsky.social · Aug 20

Istanbul folk - @drvukovich.bsky.social and I will be hosting a workshop on the Byzantine and Ottoman heritage of the Balkans in a few weeks at the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul! Come join us and our amazing speakers!

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Reposted by Mirela Ivanova

John Gallagher @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social · Aug 20

"To generate knowledge in the context of hunger is to think through pain. To teach students who have not eaten and still tell them their voices matter. To insist, against all odds, that Gaza still thinks, still questions, still creates."

‘Too hungry to think, too weak to sit upright. Concentration slips away’: the struggle to stay focused as an academic in Gaza

It is hard to keep the mind sharp when the body is thin and dehydrated, but solidarity is teaching starving students their thoughts still matter

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Mirela Ivanova

Jenni Hyde @wallyberry.bsky.social · Jul 30

Hello UK friends - please, please could you sign this petition against the job cuts at my place of work - 1 in 4 us will be out of a job by August next year if we don't stop the cuts. And once you've signed it, please share. We need your help! www.change.org/p/stop-mass-...

Sign the Petition

Stop Mass Redundancies at Lancaster University – Hold Senior Management Accountable

www.change.org

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Mirela Ivanova @mirela.bsky.social · Jun 26

Excited on route to York for a workshop entitled Multilingual Lives and organised by @emiliekmmurphy.bsky.social and Purba Hossain!

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Reposted by Mirela Ivanova

Howard Amos @howardamos.bsky.social · May 30

For BBC Future, I wrote a piece for about the Soviet plan (it never happened) to reverse some of the country's great rivers, diverting them south to Central Asia:
www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

The Soviet plan to reverse Siberia's rivers with 'peaceful nuclear explosions'

In the 1970s, the USSR used nuclear devices to try to send water from Siberia's rivers flowing south, instead of its natural route north.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Mirela Ivanova

el1234.bsky.social @el1234.bsky.social · May 7

Intimidating bunting is back at JW! @sheffielducu.bsky.social

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Mirela Ivanova @mirela.bsky.social · Apr 1

"the funding freeze has had a devastating effect on civil society in Central and Eastern Europe"

Excellent on the various agencies and media organisations fighting for civil liberties and rights in Eastern Europe which have been shut down by the USAID cuts.

briefeasterneurope.eu/p/march-31-2...

📩 A world without grants

Plus: Cattle crisis

briefeasterneurope.eu

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Mirela Ivanova @mirela.bsky.social · Mar 28

Fascinating YouGov poll shows over half of americans 'dislike' the Middle Ages; they like the Renaissance, even more than the Englightenment. Medieval things they do love: castles and chivalry! 16% love the Inquisition. today.yougov.com/entertainmen...

Violent, dark, and dirty: What Americans think about the Middle Ages | YouGov

Americans have favorable views of chivalry and castles, but not the Crusades or the Inquisition

today.yougov.com

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Mirela Ivanova @mirela.bsky.social · Mar 13

"The flavour of crisis we are experiencing in UK higher education is far less about malice, and far more about political indifference."

www.historyworkshop.org.uk/education/a-...

A Decade of Crisis

The UK's universities are in crisis. Dave Hitchcock on how the sector became 'broken' and why it must be understood as an interdependent system.

www.historyworkshop.org.uk

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Mirela Ivanova @mirela.bsky.social · Mar 11

"Increasingly desperate, universities have made things even worse by taking the one-size-fits-all advice of a handful of consultancies to cut services in each department and centralise everything from recruitment to IT."

www.ft.com/content/0ec7...

The UK’s academic recession is in full swing

This university crisis is a grim scrabble for numbers

www.ft.com

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Mirela Ivanova @mirela.bsky.social · Mar 10

neweasterneurope.eu/2025/02/28/s...

Seeing the present in the past: Byzantium and the Balkans - New Eastern Europe

The legacy of the Byzantine Empire in the Balkans stretches back for centuries. Today’s politics should remember that the idea of Balkan states as homogenous entities is not natural. This is a relativ...

neweasterneurope.eu

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Mirela Ivanova @mirela.bsky.social · Mar 10

I published a piece in @neweasterneurope.eu on how the history of multiculturalism in the Balkans has been sidelined thanks to nationalism, population exchanges and war.

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Mirela Ivanova @mirela.bsky.social · Feb 10

Essenial reading for historians of nationalism, byzantium and the theory of territory!

Nik Matheou 🇵🇸 @historyastheory.bsky.social · Feb 10

Very excited that this article is finally out! I hope it'll be of interest to anyone who: 1) is interested in the history of #nationhood & #nationalism; 2) is into the debate over Romanness in "#Byzantium"; & 3) wants to develop critical #Marxist frameworks before & after capitalism. A short 🧵/1

Past and Present @pastpresentsoc.bsky.social · Feb 10

New on advance access: "Nationcraft and the Origins of Territory: Experiencing Romanía in the Medieval Empire of New Rome"

by Nicholas S M Matheou (@edinburgh-uni.bsky.social)

#OpenAccess

doi.org/10.1093/past...

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Mirela Ivanova @mirela.bsky.social · Jan 31

Just discovered that @bunyaminanderson.bsky.social and I's open access article on the Politics of Byzantine studies has made it onto the Wiki page for the 'Byzantine Empire'! Thanks to the anonymous editor!

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Mirela Ivanova @mirela.bsky.social · Jan 27

I second this - actually my favourite of the three!

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Mirela Ivanova @mirela.bsky.social · Jan 27

Kalyan Minaret (12c.) in Bukhara. The oldest still standing in Central Asia, it was apparently (acc. to local man) spared by Genghis Khan because his hat fell off when he looked up at it. Also apparently (acc. to British spy) it was used for public executions in the late 19th/early 20thc.

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Mirela Ivanova @mirela.bsky.social · Jan 10

excited to see that @bunyaminanderson.bsky.social and I's aritcle is now in physical print! what is byzantine studies all about?? find out now, open access!

The English Historical Review @enghistrev.bsky.social · Dec 23

Reflections Article in our 600th Issue: Mirela Ivanova @mirela.bsky.social and Benjamin Anderson @bunyaminanderson.bsky.social on 'The Politics of Byzantine Studies: Between Nations and Empires'

academic.oup.com/ehr/article/...

The Politics of Byzantine Studies: Between Nations and Empires

Byzantine studies is neither the oldest nor the largest of the historical disciplines, but it is among the oddest. Its peculiarities, however, are rarely d

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by Mirela Ivanova

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · Jan 7

A reminder about the EME/BSR fellowship: a month's stay in Rome for someone doing/recently finished a PhD on early medieval European history. Deadline 31st January.
bsr.ac.uk/second-bsr-e...

Second BSR/Early Medieval Europe Fellowship - bsr.ac.uk

In partnership with the journal Early Medieval Europe, the British School at Rome is pleased to announce the second BSR/EME Fellowship. Aimed at early career researchers (defined as current PhD stu...

bsr.ac.uk

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Reposted by Mirela Ivanova

The English Historical Review @enghistrev.bsky.social · Dec 23

Reflections Article in our 600th Issue: Mirela Ivanova @mirela.bsky.social and Benjamin Anderson @bunyaminanderson.bsky.social on 'The Politics of Byzantine Studies: Between Nations and Empires'

academic.oup.com/ehr/article/...

The Politics of Byzantine Studies: Between Nations and Empires

Byzantine studies is neither the oldest nor the largest of the historical disciplines, but it is among the oddest. Its peculiarities, however, are rarely d

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by Mirela Ivanova

The BookishType @thebookishtype.bsky.social · Dec 17

Sorry to say we're closed today (Tuesday) 😔
Someone has bricked our window, robbed the cash drawer and, bizarrely, the Bluetooth speaker 🎶

All the books are safe! Turns out robbers dont read. If you wanna help out this struggling queer bookshop our website is still open

Merry bloody Christmas 😥

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