Mitra Sharafi
LightNews LightNews
banner
mitrasharafi.bsky.social
Mitra Sharafi
@mitrasharafi.bsky.social
2K followers 920 following 220 posts
Legal historian of South Asia at the University of Wisconsin Law School & president of the American Society for Legal History. Also love dogs & travel. Views my own. On Instagram, I'm @mitrasharafi
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
mitrasharafi.bsky.social
Mitra Sharafi @mitrasharafi.bsky.social · Dec 2
I'm very excited to share my new book's cover design: www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501... It is bloodstain-inspired because species-of-origin bloodstain testing is a big part of the story. Out on 15 April 2026 & Open Access as part of the Corpus Juris book series @cornellupress.bsky.social
Fear of the False by Mitra Sharafi | Paperback | Cornell University Press
Fear of the False uncovers colonial South Asia's critical role in the development of forensic science. Around 1900, the government of British India created a web of institutions for the scientific det...
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
kfduggan.bsky.social
PLEASE REPOST 🥺🙏

The Canadian Letters & Images Project is an online digital archive of Canadians’ experience during wartime at home & in battle. It contains thousands of personal letters & photos that reveal people’s experience through their own words & eyes.
www.canadianletters.ca/content/abou...
The homepage for the Canadian letters and images project. It shows soldiers posing for a photograph and there is a search bar in the centre. In the about section below, which cannot be seen in this image, it provides this information: The Canadian Letters and Images Project, created in 2000, is an online digital archive of the Canadian war experience, both home front and battlefront, from any conflict in which Canadians have participated. The focus of the project is on the personal materials of participants, such as letters and photographs, which permit us to experience the war through their eyes and their words. These are very often the stories of ordinary Canadians, largely forgotten and overlooked. Our mission is to digitally preserve and continue to make freely accessible this important part of Canada’s heritage for this generation and future generations. The vision of the project is to continue to expand this repository of Canadian archival materials by collaborating with Canadians to preserve and share the individual and collective stories that have shaped our past Accessibility to the past is key to understanding who we are as a nation. We are committed to free access for everyone to the materials of the project.
February 9, 2026 at 5:36 PM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
latlong.shop
#30daymapchallenge | Day 26 Transport | Bike Map of Madison 🚲

Probably my most elaborate map to date, I launched my “Bike Map of Madison” as a print earlier this summer during @madisonbikes Bike Week. Now recently updated with the new @crono_madison location! ⭐
A framed map of Madison, Wisconsin focuses on the city’s bike network in shades of blue and orange. Solid blue lines mark bike trails and paths, dashed blue lines show bike-friendly streets, and orange segments highlight busier corridors with shared lane markings. Major lakes—Mendota, Monona, Wingra, and Waubesa—appear in light blue, with parks and green spaces shaded in green. The isthmus and downtown have a dense web of bike routes, with additional paths extending west toward the UW–Madison campus and east and south into surrounding neighborhoods. A legend in the upper left explains the symbology. The frame is a light wood, set against a pale blue wall. The bottom center text reads “LATLONG.SHOP” and notes the map was created for the 2025 #30DayMapChallenge, Day 26: Transportation.
November 26, 2025 at 1:09 PM
mitrasharafi.bsky.social
The CFP is now up for the 6th Asian Legal History Conference, which will be in Melaka, Malaysia (6-7 August 2026). Proposals are due by 1 April 2026 (Malaysia time): www.mmu.edu.my/fol/alhc2026/ #LegalHistory
6th Asian Legal History Conference 2026 – FOL
www.mmu.edu.my
February 9, 2026 at 1:06 AM
mitrasharafi.bsky.social
So sad that Himal Chuli is closing, after 35 years of wonderful Nepali cooking on State St here in Madison, WI (including during the Annual Conference on South Asia #ACSA). Great idea from @kalramnath.bsky.social: someone should do an oral history with the former owners. Restos are such social glue
February 8, 2026 at 11:10 PM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
rachelschine.bsky.social
So I heard we’re posting super bowls. Here’s a Fatimid lusterware bunny. Islamic lusterwares originate in Iraq to emulate the sheen of Chinese porcelain, but the combo with highly animated-looking Fatimid animal motifs is my favorite. He even has a little snack.

www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
Bowl Depicting a Running Hare - The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Bowl with Eagle (63.178.1) and Bowl with Hare (64.261)The tenth and eleventh centuries under the Fatimid caliphate were times of prosperity in Egypt and the neighboring lands, when a burgeoning class ...
www.metmuseum.org
February 8, 2026 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
thisismyglasgow.bsky.social
To mark the fact that today is apparently Superb Owl Sunday in the US, here's a collection of superb owls from Glasgow's architecture. Oh hang on, I might have mis-heard what day it is! 😀

#glasgow #architecture #archotecturephotography #owl #superbowlsunday
February 8, 2026 at 8:23 AM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
ericholthaus.com
Those are some superb owls.
snackeru.bsky.social snackerü @snackeru.bsky.social · Aug 7
Four of the over 225 owls carved, chiseled, and sculpted into the walls, doors, columns, light fixtures, and grates of Walter Library at the University of Minnesota.
Bronze owl in a door gate. Owl carved into stone. Owl carved into stone above a door in Walter Library. Owl sculpted into a heating grate.
February 8, 2026 at 5:56 PM
mitrasharafi.bsky.social
My most super bowl: distraught running figures with olives (from Art Fair on the Square, Madison, WI, 2020s)
February 8, 2026 at 7:31 PM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
adamrothman.bsky.social
Bad bunnies from long ago
www.bl.uk/stories/blog...
Rabbits capture, try and execute a hunter. The Smithfield Decretals, decorated in London, England, in the 1340s: Royal MS 10 E IV, f. 59v-61v
February 8, 2026 at 5:11 PM
mitrasharafi.bsky.social
As excellent as Superb Owls!
stephenniem.bsky.social Dr. Stephennie Mulder @stephenniem.bsky.social · 4d
oooh we are posting super bowls?

As a specialist in Islamic ceramics *cracks knuckles* I present this fabulous 11th c. lustre painted bowl from Fatimid Cairo depicting a Coptic priest. Its white glaze imitates Chinese porcelain and the lustre technique was invented in Iraq a century earlier.
February 8, 2026 at 7:08 PM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
tomlukejohnson.bsky.social
fortune cookie declares war on historians everywhere
A picture of a cookie fortune that reads "Don't let the past and useless details choke your existence"
September 22, 2023 at 5:55 AM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
calthalas.bsky.social
Sometimes working with manuscripts gets us really, really close to the people from the past allowing us to hear their voices. This is a story of a letter from a schoolgirl to her teacher, written probably sometime at the end of the 9th or the beginning of the 10th century. A thread 🧵 #medievalsky /1
A faint writing, the text is in Latin and it reads: Domina magistra felhin date mihi licenciam in hac nocte vigilare cum magistra adalu et ego vobis ambabus manibus confirmo atque iuro ut per totam noctem declinare volo aut legere aut pro seniore nostro cantare Valete et ut peto facite. (Abbreviations have been resolved in this transcription).
December 22, 2024 at 12:02 PM
mitrasharafi.bsky.social
Congratulations, @mcsweeney1693.bsky.social!
February 8, 2026 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
mcsweeney1693.bsky.social
Excited to see Maurits den Hollander’s Court, Credit, and Capital in print with Studies in Legal History at CUP. Court, Credit, and Capital uncovers how Amsterdam’s 17th-century insolvency court transformed insolvency law—from punishment to rehabilitation 1/3
October 16, 2025 at 12:49 PM
mitrasharafi.bsky.social
Congratulations to Matt Sommer and Alison LaCroix #LegalHistory, as well as my University of Wisconsin History colleague Gloria Whiting
historians.org American Historical Association @historians.org · Oct 15
The AHA is pleased to announce the winners of its 2025 prizes, which honor exceptional books, distinguished teaching and mentoring in the classroom, public history, and other historical projects. Congratulations to the 2025 awardees! #AHAPerspectives🗃️
American Historical Association Announces 2025 Prize Winners – AHA
The American Historical Association is pleased to announce the winners of its 2025 prizes.
www.historians.org
February 8, 2026 at 4:59 PM
mitrasharafi.bsky.social
Hot off the press 👇Congratulations, Fadzilah!
February 8, 2026 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
ericadams99.bsky.social
theconversation.com/canadas-exil...
Canada’s exile of Japanese Canadian citizens: A shameful 80-year anniversary few remember
Canada’s expulsion of thousands of Japanese Canadians 80 years ago offers lessons in a world of sharpening borders, insecurity and talk of who does and does not belong in a national community.
theconversation.com
December 17, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
elizfoxwell.bsky.social
Article by U-FL law prof @elizabethdkatz.bsky.social on often forgotten early female US judges—some obtaining their positions yrs before the 19th amendment. Image: suffragist & lawyer Catharine Waugh McCulloch, who was elected in 1907 as a justice of the peace in IL. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Illustration of suffragist and lawyer Catharine Waugh McCulloch
October 27, 2025 at 5:03 PM
mitrasharafi.bsky.social
Legal history people: the ASLH conference will be in the Canadian Rockies in Nov.2026! Panel proposals are due March 24, 2026. The Call links to google sheets where you can find co-panelists & chair-commentators 👇 You can @ me if you're looking for fellow panelists, too.
February 5, 2026 at 1:35 PM
mitrasharafi.bsky.social
Did you publish an article on regional, global, imperial, comparative, or transnational legal history in 2025? You should nominate it for the Burbank Prize--deadline June 1, 2026 👇
will-smiley.bsky.social Will Smiley @will-smiley.bsky.social · 20d
Historians and legal scholars: please submit your articles for the Burbank Global Legal History prize! Any article published in 2025 is eligible. The deadline is June 1.

I am chairing the committee this year so reach out with any questions!

aslh.net/award/jane-b...
Jane Burbank Global Legal History Article Prize | American Society for Legal History
The Jane Burbank Article Prize in global legal history will be awarded annually to the best article in regional, global, imperial, comparative, or transnational legal history published in the previous...
aslh.net
February 5, 2026 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
omarcheta.bsky.social
*How Commerce Became Legal* is finally out with @stanfordpress.bsky.social. Many thanks to all the friends and colleagues who helped along the way.

www.sup.org/books/middle...

(50% site-wide discount valid until September 8; 20% discount using code "CHETA20" after that)
September 4, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
icpetrie.bsky.social
🚨 PENN PRESS BLACK HISTORY MONTH SALE KLAXON 🚨

40% off a ton of great titles, including books by @melanienewport.bsky.social @randybrowne.bsky.social @johncraighammond.bsky.social and many more....

Kathleen Brown, Brandon Byrd, Kim Hall, Jessica Marie Johnson, Tessa Murphy, to name a few more!
Black History Month - University of Pennsylvania Press
February is Black History Month, which pays tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society. To mark this occasion, Penn......
www.pennpress.org
February 4, 2026 at 8:02 PM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
earlymodjustice.bsky.social
My forthcoming book—
For which I began research in 2006.
Is now posted on the website for Princeton University Press.

Cover will be added soon.

The King’s Slaves: The British Empire & the Origins of American Slavery
The King's Slaves
A provocative account of how empire and absolutism institutionalized slavery in America
press.princeton.edu
December 18, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
earlymodjustice.bsky.social
An open letter to @theguardian.com about their article last week about the Crown’s Silence, requesting that the Black scholar of Caribbean heritage who did the years of archival research behind this claim, and published it in 1979, Roger Norman Buckley, be acknowledged as the source of this reveal:
OPEN LETTER TO THE GUARDIAN Dear Editors, We write in reference to a recent article published in the UK online edition of The Guardian on Friday, 23 January 2026, which carried the following misleading headline: "British crown was world's largest buyer of enslaved people by 1807, book reveals." The article in question, by Chris Osuh, showcases a new book by Dr. Brooke Newman, The Crown's Silence: The Hidden History of Slavery and the British Monarchy (Harper Collins, 2026). But Newman's book is not the original source of that claim. That claim derives from earlier scholarship, the painstaking archival work of a Black historian of Caribbean heritage: the late Roger Norman Buckley. It is unfortunate that the silencing of his original scholarship appears in the profiling of a book advertised as uncovering silences. While it is great to see public attention brought to the history of the Crown's involvement in slavery through the new book and its profiling in The Guardian, the headline compromises The Guardian's efforts to address the legacies of slavery generally and its own institutional links when it extracts and reframes earlier work by a Black scholar as a revelation new to this book. The relevant passage in The Crown's Silence draws on original scholarship by Roger Norman Buckley in Slaves in Red Coats: The British West India Regiments, 1795-1815 (1979). Dr. Brooke Newman repeats Buckley's figures, which she cites (referencing page 55 of Buckley's book, see attached) while changing his "British government" to "Crown." She then converts his careful "perhaps the largest individual buyer" to a more conclusive claim, changing his "British government" to "king" but without citing Buckley for that claim which is on page 56 of his book (see attached) and which, uncited in Newman's book, is the Guardian headline. There is room for popular histories that rely largely on the secondary scholarship of other historians. But other historians have not been silent. Page from Buckley’s 1979 book 2nd page from Buckley’s 1979 book
January 29, 2026 at 7:04 PM
mitrasharafi.bsky.social
New book out soon by Ari Bryen #ASLH: www.cambridge.org/core/books/j...
The Judgment of the Provinces
Cambridge Core - Ancient History - The Judgment of the Provinces
www.cambridge.org
February 3, 2026 at 12:50 PM