Nicola Palmer
@nicolapalmer.bsky.social
Legal academic at the University of Cape Town - an ethnographer at heart, writing on international criminal law, borders, refugees & migration in central Africa.
Pinned
What an incredible 2 days @uctlaw.bsky.social with Tendayi Achiume discussing corporate borders & decolonial migration with Noura Erakat, Fatima Khan, John Reynolds @catbriddick.bsky.social, @mfbosworth.bsky.social, Lufuno Sadiki, Nomfundo Ramalekana & @htuhairwe.bsky.social @bordercrim.bsky.social
Reposted by Nicola Palmer
‘The sections of “Restoring Order and Control” that mention children are chilling, suggesting that many asylum seekers bring their children not because they love and care for them but as a “fact” to “exploit ... in order to thwart removal”.’
Christopher Bertram:
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/no...
Christopher Bertram:
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/no...
Christopher Bertram | ‘Core Protection’
Refugeehood is not supposed to be like this. The ideal envisaged by the Refugee Convention is that refugee status should...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 21, 2025 at 12:10 PM
‘The sections of “Restoring Order and Control” that mention children are chilling, suggesting that many asylum seekers bring their children not because they love and care for them but as a “fact” to “exploit ... in order to thwart removal”.’
Christopher Bertram:
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/no...
Christopher Bertram:
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/no...
Pushing for positive change in the selection of South African #RhodesScholars. One open letter at a time…
www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025...
@dailymaverick.co.za @rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk @uctlaw.bsky.social
www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025...
@dailymaverick.co.za @rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk @uctlaw.bsky.social
The imperative to expand access to Rhodes Scholarships in South Africa
Multi-year efforts to expand access to the Rhodes Scholarships in South Africa have culminated in proposed settlements that could widen the eligibility pools for the four ‘Schools Scholarships’, which...
www.dailymaverick.co.za
November 19, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Pushing for positive change in the selection of South African #RhodesScholars. One open letter at a time…
www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025...
@dailymaverick.co.za @rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk @uctlaw.bsky.social
www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025...
@dailymaverick.co.za @rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk @uctlaw.bsky.social
Reposted by Nicola Palmer
I’m on @thedigradio.bsky.social. We talk about the intertwined histories of capitalism and extraction; the origins of OPEC & new geopolitics of supply chains; what I think about degrowth; green development in the Global South; green economic populism in US; Chinese industrial policy & much more
November 16, 2025 at 7:06 PM
I’m on @thedigradio.bsky.social. We talk about the intertwined histories of capitalism and extraction; the origins of OPEC & new geopolitics of supply chains; what I think about degrowth; green development in the Global South; green economic populism in US; Chinese industrial policy & much more
Reposted by Nicola Palmer
Reposted by Nicola Palmer
PUBLIC LAW CONFERENCE 2026 - Call for Papers deadline extended to 8 December 2025! @nicolapalmer.bsky.social
The Public Law Conference @uctlaw.bsky.social 1-4 July 2026.
With Justice Steven Majiedt & Dr Nomfundo Ramalekana on the organising committee race, reparation & resistance to authoritarianism are firmly on the agenda.
law.uct.ac.za/publiclawcon...
@madlingozi.bsky.social @pashukanist.bsky.social
With Justice Steven Majiedt & Dr Nomfundo Ramalekana on the organising committee race, reparation & resistance to authoritarianism are firmly on the agenda.
law.uct.ac.za/publiclawcon...
@madlingozi.bsky.social @pashukanist.bsky.social
November 12, 2025 at 9:04 AM
PUBLIC LAW CONFERENCE 2026 - Call for Papers deadline extended to 8 December 2025! @nicolapalmer.bsky.social
Happening today 13:00-14:30 (UCT +2) @uctlaw.bsky.social
Register in-person or online:
law.uct.ac.za/criminology/...
Register in-person or online:
law.uct.ac.za/criminology/...
Next up at @uctlaw.bsky.social, Prof Justin Deystone (University of Colorado) will be discussing his recent co-edited collection 'Race, Racism, and International Law’ (Stanford University Press).
12 November from 13:00-14:30 (UCT +2)
Register in-person or online:
law.uct.ac.za/criminology/...
12 November from 13:00-14:30 (UCT +2)
Register in-person or online:
law.uct.ac.za/criminology/...
November 12, 2025 at 7:38 AM
Happening today 13:00-14:30 (UCT +2) @uctlaw.bsky.social
Register in-person or online:
law.uct.ac.za/criminology/...
Register in-person or online:
law.uct.ac.za/criminology/...
Reposted by Nicola Palmer
Podcast (from @palfest.bsky.social) featuring @lalehkhalili.bsky.social interviewing Adam Hanieh, @rafeefz.bsky.social and me ou our @versobooks.bsky.social pamphlet Resisting Erasure.
Some fantastic interviewing from Laleh, and I think(/hope?) a good conversation.
www.podbean.com/media/share/...
Some fantastic interviewing from Laleh, and I think(/hope?) a good conversation.
www.podbean.com/media/share/...
Laleh Khalili talks to Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox and Rafeef Ziadeh about Resisting Erasure: Capital, Imperialism and Race in Palestine
In the third instalment of The PalFest Podcast we are excited to bring you Laleh Khalili, the esteemed professor and writer in conversation with the authors of Resisting Erasure: Capital, Imperialism ...
www.podbean.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Podcast (from @palfest.bsky.social) featuring @lalehkhalili.bsky.social interviewing Adam Hanieh, @rafeefz.bsky.social and me ou our @versobooks.bsky.social pamphlet Resisting Erasure.
Some fantastic interviewing from Laleh, and I think(/hope?) a good conversation.
www.podbean.com/media/share/...
Some fantastic interviewing from Laleh, and I think(/hope?) a good conversation.
www.podbean.com/media/share/...
Reposted by Nicola Palmer
In May 2025, the UK Labour government published a new immigration white paper. Ananya Kumar-Banerjee discusses how it uses the spectre of illegal migrants to obscure the systematic exploitation of those on the move.
Read the full post here ⤵️
lnkd.in/eVTzY62M
Read the full post here ⤵️
lnkd.in/eVTzY62M
November 10, 2025 at 5:52 PM
In May 2025, the UK Labour government published a new immigration white paper. Ananya Kumar-Banerjee discusses how it uses the spectre of illegal migrants to obscure the systematic exploitation of those on the move.
Read the full post here ⤵️
lnkd.in/eVTzY62M
Read the full post here ⤵️
lnkd.in/eVTzY62M
Reposted by Nicola Palmer
If you haven't seen this incredible historical data project yet, make it a priority! Mapping Deportations: Unmasking the History of Racism in U.S. Immigration Enforcement.
mappingdeportations.com
mappingdeportations.com
Mapping Deportations – U.S. Immigration Control since 1790
Mapping deportations invites you to see the history of U.S. immigration enforcement not as a series of disconnected events, but as a pattern. For more than two centuries, U.S. immigration enforcement…
mappingdeportations.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:57 AM
If you haven't seen this incredible historical data project yet, make it a priority! Mapping Deportations: Unmasking the History of Racism in U.S. Immigration Enforcement.
mappingdeportations.com
mappingdeportations.com
Reposted by Nicola Palmer
Next year's Public Law Conference is hosted by UCT Law on the theme ‘Public Law & the Future of Constitutional Democracy’ in July 2026. Call for papers closes 14 Nov. Have you submitted yet? Details at law.uct.ac.za/publiclawcon... #PublicLaw #ConstitutionalDemocracy @nicolapalmer.bsky.social
Public Law and the Future of Constitutional Democracy - Conference | University of Cape Town
The 2026 Public Law Conference will be held in July 2026 at the Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town, on the theme ‘Public Law and the Future of Constitutional Democracy’.
law.uct.ac.za
November 5, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Next year's Public Law Conference is hosted by UCT Law on the theme ‘Public Law & the Future of Constitutional Democracy’ in July 2026. Call for papers closes 14 Nov. Have you submitted yet? Details at law.uct.ac.za/publiclawcon... #PublicLaw #ConstitutionalDemocracy @nicolapalmer.bsky.social
Reposted by Nicola Palmer
Mamdani: "New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight, led by an immigrant."
November 5, 2025 at 4:40 AM
Mamdani: "New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight, led by an immigrant."
“so much of what is so diffcult for so many people at this moment is the feeling that they are merely subjects”
In one line Zohran channels the whole corpus of his father’s pathbreaking post-colonial work into a grassroots political campaign in NYC.
In one line Zohran channels the whole corpus of his father’s pathbreaking post-colonial work into a grassroots political campaign in NYC.
Today is only the beginning.
Our time has come, New York. Our time is now.
Our time has come, New York. Our time is now.
Today is only the beginning.
YouTube video by Zohran Mamdani for NYC
www.youtube.com
November 4, 2025 at 3:30 PM
“so much of what is so diffcult for so many people at this moment is the feeling that they are merely subjects”
In one line Zohran channels the whole corpus of his father’s pathbreaking post-colonial work into a grassroots political campaign in NYC.
In one line Zohran channels the whole corpus of his father’s pathbreaking post-colonial work into a grassroots political campaign in NYC.
Reposted by Nicola Palmer
📣 Only a few tickets left! Join us this Wed (5:15pm, St Anne’s College, Oxford) for the Annual Harrell-Bond Lecture. Lea Ypi will read from her book Indignity: A Life Reimagined and reflect on the enduring legacies of migration, displacement, and forced removal.
🎟️ Register now: bit.ly/lea-ypi-rsc
🎟️ Register now: bit.ly/lea-ypi-rsc
November 3, 2025 at 1:49 PM
📣 Only a few tickets left! Join us this Wed (5:15pm, St Anne’s College, Oxford) for the Annual Harrell-Bond Lecture. Lea Ypi will read from her book Indignity: A Life Reimagined and reflect on the enduring legacies of migration, displacement, and forced removal.
🎟️ Register now: bit.ly/lea-ypi-rsc
🎟️ Register now: bit.ly/lea-ypi-rsc
Next up at @uctlaw.bsky.social, Prof Justin Deystone (University of Colorado) will be discussing his recent co-edited collection 'Race, Racism, and International Law’ (Stanford University Press).
12 November from 13:00-14:30 (UCT +2)
Register in-person or online:
law.uct.ac.za/criminology/...
12 November from 13:00-14:30 (UCT +2)
Register in-person or online:
law.uct.ac.za/criminology/...
October 20, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Next up at @uctlaw.bsky.social, Prof Justin Deystone (University of Colorado) will be discussing his recent co-edited collection 'Race, Racism, and International Law’ (Stanford University Press).
12 November from 13:00-14:30 (UCT +2)
Register in-person or online:
law.uct.ac.za/criminology/...
12 November from 13:00-14:30 (UCT +2)
Register in-person or online:
law.uct.ac.za/criminology/...
Reposted by Nicola Palmer
Even having read (and reviewed!) @melindacooper.bsky.social book, I found this hugely illuminating, especially on the confusions and fantasies of class identities that underpin reactionary populist movements podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
Counterrevolution w/ Melinda Cooper
Podcast Episode · The Dig · 30/09/2025 · 1h 54m
podcasts.apple.com
October 3, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Even having read (and reviewed!) @melindacooper.bsky.social book, I found this hugely illuminating, especially on the confusions and fantasies of class identities that underpin reactionary populist movements podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
Reposted by Nicola Palmer
Searing truths about Israel, the West and complicity in genocide from @nesrinemalik.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
While the perpetrators of Gaza’s genocide pose as its saviours, survivors return home – to a wasteland | Nesrine Malik
Western leaders attending the Sharm el-Sheikh summit have enabled and sponsored this slaughter. They are in no position to build a Palestinian future, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik
www.theguardian.com
October 13, 2025 at 7:05 AM
Searing truths about Israel, the West and complicity in genocide from @nesrinemalik.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Nicola Palmer
I was lucky enough to sit down with Ardi Imseis and discuss the law, politics and history of the recent Western recognitions of the State of Palestine for Called to the Bar: soundcloud.com/calledtotheb...
54. Recognition, the United Nations and the Question of Palestine
In this episode, host Dr Ntina Tzouvala is joined by Professor Ardi Imseis (Queen’s Law School, Canada) for a timely conversation about international law, the United Nations, and the long struggle for
soundcloud.com
October 5, 2025 at 10:11 PM
I was lucky enough to sit down with Ardi Imseis and discuss the law, politics and history of the recent Western recognitions of the State of Palestine for Called to the Bar: soundcloud.com/calledtotheb...
Reposted by Nicola Palmer
🔥 These things got us talking at our annual workshop: creatively disrupting hostile border systems; navigating abolition; borderless empires vs bordered reparations.
Watch to find out more! 👇
@juliawinkler.bsky.social @mfbosworth.bsky.social @smilivojevic.bsky.social
@cambridgelaw.bsky.social
Watch to find out more! 👇
@juliawinkler.bsky.social @mfbosworth.bsky.social @smilivojevic.bsky.social
@cambridgelaw.bsky.social
October 6, 2025 at 12:35 PM
🔥 These things got us talking at our annual workshop: creatively disrupting hostile border systems; navigating abolition; borderless empires vs bordered reparations.
Watch to find out more! 👇
@juliawinkler.bsky.social @mfbosworth.bsky.social @smilivojevic.bsky.social
@cambridgelaw.bsky.social
Watch to find out more! 👇
@juliawinkler.bsky.social @mfbosworth.bsky.social @smilivojevic.bsky.social
@cambridgelaw.bsky.social
Reposted by Nicola Palmer
My essay on stupidology (originally published in N+1) is in today's Guardian www.theguardian.com/news/2025/oc...
A critique of pure stupidity: understanding Trump 2.0
If the first term of Donald Trump provoked anxiety over the fate of objective knowledge, the second has led to claims we live in a world-historical age of stupid, accelerated by big tech. But might th...
www.theguardian.com
October 2, 2025 at 6:08 AM
My essay on stupidology (originally published in N+1) is in today's Guardian www.theguardian.com/news/2025/oc...
Ziyanda Stuurman & Irvin Kinnes in conversation with Justice Edwin Cameron, Rebecca Gore & Sohela Surajpal discussing reform and abolitionist possibilities in South African prisons @uctlaw.bsky.social
October 3, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Ziyanda Stuurman & Irvin Kinnes in conversation with Justice Edwin Cameron, Rebecca Gore & Sohela Surajpal discussing reform and abolitionist possibilities in South African prisons @uctlaw.bsky.social
The best of @uctlaw.bsky.social with @pierredevos.bsky.social & Nomfundo Ramalekana hosting Chriscy Blouws and Khuliso Managa from the Women’s Legal Centre talking about their role in making the decriminalisation of sex work in South Africa a real political & legal possibility.
wlce.co.za
wlce.co.za
September 29, 2025 at 8:47 AM
The best of @uctlaw.bsky.social with @pierredevos.bsky.social & Nomfundo Ramalekana hosting Chriscy Blouws and Khuliso Managa from the Women’s Legal Centre talking about their role in making the decriminalisation of sex work in South Africa a real political & legal possibility.
wlce.co.za
wlce.co.za
The Public Law Conference @uctlaw.bsky.social 1-4 July 2026.
With Justice Steven Majiedt & Dr Nomfundo Ramalekana on the organising committee race, reparation & resistance to authoritarianism are firmly on the agenda.
law.uct.ac.za/publiclawcon...
@madlingozi.bsky.social @pashukanist.bsky.social
With Justice Steven Majiedt & Dr Nomfundo Ramalekana on the organising committee race, reparation & resistance to authoritarianism are firmly on the agenda.
law.uct.ac.za/publiclawcon...
@madlingozi.bsky.social @pashukanist.bsky.social
September 29, 2025 at 8:33 AM
The Public Law Conference @uctlaw.bsky.social 1-4 July 2026.
With Justice Steven Majiedt & Dr Nomfundo Ramalekana on the organising committee race, reparation & resistance to authoritarianism are firmly on the agenda.
law.uct.ac.za/publiclawcon...
@madlingozi.bsky.social @pashukanist.bsky.social
With Justice Steven Majiedt & Dr Nomfundo Ramalekana on the organising committee race, reparation & resistance to authoritarianism are firmly on the agenda.
law.uct.ac.za/publiclawcon...
@madlingozi.bsky.social @pashukanist.bsky.social
Reposted by Nicola Palmer
There's going to be attention to whether there are/were issues with Roberts's visa and imo it's important to not let that stuff matter. The fight shouldn't be 'only deportations where the paperwork is correct!' it should be against deportations and ICE per se
www.iowapublicradio.org/ipr-news/202...
www.iowapublicradio.org/ipr-news/202...
Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts detained by ICE agents
The superintendent of the largest school district in Iowa has been detained by federal immigration officials. Superintendent Ian Roberts of Des Moines Public Schools was arrested Friday after fleeing ...
www.iowapublicradio.org
September 26, 2025 at 11:34 PM
There's going to be attention to whether there are/were issues with Roberts's visa and imo it's important to not let that stuff matter. The fight shouldn't be 'only deportations where the paperwork is correct!' it should be against deportations and ICE per se
www.iowapublicradio.org/ipr-news/202...
www.iowapublicradio.org/ipr-news/202...
Reposted by Nicola Palmer
‘A distinctive set of proto-Trumpian sentiments began to seep into the American public sphere no sooner than the rubble of the Berlin Wall had been tidied away.’
@will-davies.bsky.social on how the political scene in the 1990s sowed the seeds for Trumpism: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@will-davies.bsky.social on how the political scene in the 1990s sowed the seeds for Trumpism: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
William Davies · Repeal the 20th Century: Pre-MAGA
To understand the intellectual coordinates of Trumpism requires us to look in less conventional places and to pay more...
www.lrb.co.uk
September 26, 2025 at 7:30 PM
‘A distinctive set of proto-Trumpian sentiments began to seep into the American public sphere no sooner than the rubble of the Berlin Wall had been tidied away.’
@will-davies.bsky.social on how the political scene in the 1990s sowed the seeds for Trumpism: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@will-davies.bsky.social on how the political scene in the 1990s sowed the seeds for Trumpism: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Nicola Palmer
Dr. Nomfundo Ramalekana on racial redress in post-apartheid South Africa:
"Whether from looking at reparations, remedial measures, or redistributive justice, the exclusion of the (noncitizen) 'black African other' is illegitimate, and we need to decolonise this form of remedy"
#BorderCrim2025
"Whether from looking at reparations, remedial measures, or redistributive justice, the exclusion of the (noncitizen) 'black African other' is illegitimate, and we need to decolonise this form of remedy"
#BorderCrim2025
September 18, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Dr. Nomfundo Ramalekana on racial redress in post-apartheid South Africa:
"Whether from looking at reparations, remedial measures, or redistributive justice, the exclusion of the (noncitizen) 'black African other' is illegitimate, and we need to decolonise this form of remedy"
#BorderCrim2025
"Whether from looking at reparations, remedial measures, or redistributive justice, the exclusion of the (noncitizen) 'black African other' is illegitimate, and we need to decolonise this form of remedy"
#BorderCrim2025