Mitra Sharafi
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mitrasharafi.bsky.social
Mitra Sharafi
@mitrasharafi.bsky.social
2K followers 930 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
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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
elisewang.bsky.social
I propose to make universal the old policy of the Blackfriars conference at the American Shakespeare Center:

If you do not end your paper on time, you will be forced to exit, pursued by a bear. Literally, a bear will come take your paper from you.
The organizer, introducing the bear on stage A tardy speaker, trying to fend off the bear as he/she leans forward patiently.
February 16, 2026 at 1:14 AM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
drimogenjones.bsky.social
New blog alert! I explore how post mortem medicine is understood, by those working within it and by the wider public. I reflect on the history of the modern autopsy, whether it's fair to call invasive autopsies barbaric, and how compassion can shape what respectful death investigation looks like.
February 16, 2026 at 1:31 PM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
mcsweeney1693.bsky.social
Really excited for @zacharyherz.bsky.social's new book, The God and the Bureaucrat: Roman Law, Imperial Sovereignty, and Other Stories, out now with Studies in Legal History at CUP. 1/6
August 1, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
mcsweeney1693.bsky.social
Court, Credit, and Capital, A brilliant blend of legal, economic, and cultural history that reveals how credit and trust sustained commerce during the Dutch Golden Age 2/3
October 16, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
srober30.bsky.social
Back from presenting an early prototype of a new project mapping early 20th century undercover investigations at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Legal History - including this poster.
November 20, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
srober30.bsky.social
Grateful for two recent prizes for Harlem in Disorder:
- 2025 Ángel David Nieves Book Award for Best Monograph, American Studies Association Digital Humanities Caucus
- Honorable Mention, 2025 Mary L. Dudziak Digital Legal History Prize, American Society for Legal History
November 24, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
erinbartram.bsky.social
When we say "no, everything hasn't been digitized," I need you to understand that we really mean is that virtually nothing has been digitized. This is because the realm of primary sources that historians use is incomprehensibly large.
December 22, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
vcdgf555.bsky.social
Overheard at work: "feeds two birds with one scone."

I like that one better.
January 29, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
iehs.bsky.social
***Know Your Rights Information on the IEHS Website***

The IEHS website now has a “Know Your Rights” page with several resources to navigate the current immigration landscape: iehs.org/resources/ad...
Know Your Rights
Visit the post for more.
urldefense.com
February 11, 2026 at 8:40 PM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
kevinmkruse.bsky.social
Propaganda during WWI and WWII in fact
Americans All! poster for WWI with a list of names that signal various ehtnicities WWII United We Win poster with a black and white worker
February 15, 2026 at 4:23 PM
Reposted by Mitra Sharafi
soashistory.bsky.social
We're excited to announce the launch of the MA Race and Empire at @soasuni.bsky.social convened by our very own
Samia Khatun & Henny Ziai. The MA is enriched by the Histories of Capitalism and Race seminar series, running since 2022. For more info see:
www.soas.ac.uk/study/find-c...
MA Race and Empire
MA Race and Empire at SOAS University of London
www.soas.ac.uk
February 14, 2026 at 10:06 AM
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 · 8d
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