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Ben Fried

@benfried.bsky.social

63 followers 42 following 58 posts

SSHRC and Killam Postdoctoral Fellow at Dalhousie University. Deep into editing, publishing, and the readers who bring books into the world. Previously at the Institute of English Studies, British Academy, and Cornell

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · Dec 6

A last reminder about this free @ies-sas.bsky.social symposium on a topic that could not be more timely. The schedule is jam-packed with terrific, ranging papers. Register and join us at Senate House on Monday (Dec. 9)!

ies.sas.ac.uk/events/migra...

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Jeremy Braddock @jbraddock.bsky.social · Apr 30

I had a blast talking with @leev.bsky.social on his great STS Peoples & Things podcast. Topics discussed: Firesign Theatre, the history of recording, Trevor Pinch, obscure robot statues. @ucpress.bsky.social @firesigntheatre.bsky.social
newbooksnetwork.com/firesign

Jeremy Braddock on "Firesign: The Electromagnetic History of Everything as Told on Nine Comedy Albums" - New Books Network

newbooksnetwork.com

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Apr 25

One last tempo session with the lovely #AdidasRunners bunch yesterday and… I am marathon ready!
I am so excited to run the @manchestermarathon.bsky.social for #TeamMND @mndassoc.bsky.social. Here is the link to my fundraiser: www.justgiving.com/page/benedet...
Please help us reach the goal ❤️

Photo of the Adidas Runners London group’s tempo session at Lincoln’s Inn Fields on 24 April 2025

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

A wonderful conference comes to an end. We laughed, we learned, we ranged across media, languages, periods. It was such a pleasure to listen to our participants and their groundbreaking research. Deep thanks to them, to our audience, to @durhamuniversity.bsky.social and @durhamhistory.bsky.social!

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

And the last speaker of our conference on “Laughter as a Political Coping Mechanism”: Aidan Jones! Aidan is presenting on “The Death Penalty, Humour, and the United States.”

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

A. Austin Garvey deepens our focus on Ukraine, comparing wartime Punch cartoons and contemporary Ukrainian memes in “Visual Humour in European Home Fronts: Britain and Ukraine.”

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

Zlata Osipova speaks first, on “We Against Them: Humor as a Unifying Force in Ukraine’s Resistance.” How does humour build solidarity and a collective opposition?

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

The final panel begins! “Humour in Extremis” will go from Ukraine to the United States, with presentations from A. Austin Garey, Zlata Osipova, and Aidan Jones.

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

Such an engaging, illuminating panel! (And we’re all still laughing.)

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

Simbarashe bringing the house down with popular Zimbabwean jokes from Whatsapp and Facebook (social media a release for so much pent-up expression)

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

Rounding off our panel, and taking us into the world of social media, Simbarashe Marowa and Ushe Kufakurinani present on “Social Media and Playful Engagements on the Political Economy: The Case of Zimbabwe”!

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

Radio comedy gave listeners a way to address the past and negotiate the transition to the postwar world, Katharina argues in her terrific paper.

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

Katharina Friege picks up the baton and brings us to radio comedy (and the postwar scene): “Broadcasting Humour: Rubble, Reconstruction, and the Radio in Great Britain and Western Germany, 1945-1960.” Humour on the airwaves brought people into the society after the war

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

Sophie Dubillot kicks things off with “Visual Humour by Returning French Prisoners of War and Forces Workers in Liberation France.” A complex history of return, disappointment, and critical humour

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

Lunch over, coffee cups refilled, we begin again with our panel on Postfascism. Our featured speakers are Sophie Dubillot, Katharina Friege Simbarashe Marowa and Ushe Kufakurinani (sadly, Xiaofei Tu withdrew because of illness). From France to Zimbabwe, visual humour to radio!

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

The panel sums up!

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

Paolo and Raquel take us from the Civil War to Franco’s regime and onward to the return of democracy, tracing the fate of the Catalan avant-garde through Brossa’s life and work

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

Finally, direct from Barcelona, Paolo Scotton and Raquel Cercós speak about the Catalan writer Joan Brossa and “When Poetry Turns Into Revolt”!

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

Our third speaker is Natalie Schwabl, presenting on “Coping with Fascism through Humour: Anticlerical Caricatures in Post-War Croatia (1945-1946).” Another fascinating paper, another era and area illuminated

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

Oeser’s remarkable presentation explores the varieties of laughter, from mockery that can be turned against other victims to mockery that targets the powerful

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

Alexandra Oeser speaks next, tackling one of the most difficult subjects: laughter in concentration camps. Through the life and work of Nina Jirsikova, Oeser delves into laughter as a weapon of oppression as well as laughter as resistance

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

As Jessica says, the conference is now exploring cinema as well cartoons, magazines, graphic novels, and radio!

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

Introduced by Jessica Wardhaugh, Francesco Saccà begins with comic writing and satire in Marc’Aurelio, an Italian anti-fascist magazine. A fascinating examination of Fellini’s early career in its pages (and other film directors too)

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

And now the first panel of the day! “Fascism and Dictatorship,” with Francesco Saccà, Alexandra Oeser, Natalie Schwab, and Paolo Scotton and Raquel Cercós. Their talks will range from Fellini’s antifascist writing to caricatures in Croatia, from poetry to laughter in the camps.

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · Mar 29

We started day 2 of the ‘Laughter as a Political Coping Mechanism’ conference with Alya Aglan’s wonderful keynote, translated in English by @benfried.bsky.social. Alya tells us that wartime humor changes the unbearable reality. Without words, humor captures the essential @durhamhistory.bsky.social

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · Mar 28

A great day done (apart from the conference supper!). Another fascinating series of papers -- and another thread -- tomorrow. @durhamuniversity.bsky.social @durhamhistory.bsky.social