Christian Drury
@cjdrury.bsky.social
4.3K followers 1.6K following 700 posts
Historian of empire, travel and modernity in the Arctic. DurhamARCTIC PhD. He could never help reading about cricket. He/him. Personal academic website: https://www.christiandrury.co.uk/
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cjdrury.bsky.social
Excited to see this chapter in print - it's about British travellers in Jotunheimen, travel infrastructure and the idea of remoteness: books.radbouduniversitypress.nl/index.php/ru...
Escaping Modernity, Accessing the Past:  The Transnational Construction of the Remote  in Late-Nineteenth-Century Norway

Christian Drury

Introduction
In his retrospective account of three decades of climbing in Norway, the British mountaineer William Cecil Slingsby reflected on his ignorance of the places he visited in the 1870s. This was something that he believed, by the first decade of the twentieth century, no mountaineer reaching Norway would experience again. Slingsby wrote that his lack of knowledge “cannot easily be appreciated by the tourists of to-day who find a comfortable hut wherever one is needed, guides who can at least lead them to the foot of any mountain which they may wish to climb, and last, but not least, improved maps and most excellent guide-books.” Slingsby was commenting on a
Reposted by Christian Drury
alpineclub.bsky.social
We're thrilled to be taking part in Norsk Tinde Klubbe's Slingsby Week next July.

The event celebrates British climber W C Slingsby's contributions to Norwegian mountaineering & coincides with the 150th anniversary of his ascent of Storen.

Members can register here ➡️ alpineclub.org/event/slings...
cjdrury.bsky.social
Nice to see this in actual print as well!
The cover of TRANSNATIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE REGION, 1840-1940
Reposted by Christian Drury
marta-zboralska.bsky.social
I feel like I post about this every year, but it would be useful if the media explained that it is not, in fact, easy to immigrate to this country, to get a national insurance number, to get indefinite leave to remain, to get citizenship. It is, in fact, already very difficult.
Reposted by Christian Drury
katherineschof8.bsky.social
Most humanities research — including the best, most world leading research by people we’ve all heard of — is unfunded, by which they mean produced as part of one’s routine job as a university lecturer, just “not funded by a big competitive external grant”.

This would mean the death of research.
Reposted by Christian Drury
clmorgan.bsky.social
Bluesky historians - I have a student that has made a transcription of 'The Arctic Moon' a short-lived hand-written polar newspaper from 1881 housed in the National Archive. She'd like to share it or to archive it. Any suggestions?
Hand drawn masthead of 'The Arctic Moon' that features a drawing of a fort in a landscape with the words "Fort Conger Grinnell Land Nov 24.81.' There are authors names and the words "semi-monthly price 25 cts"
cjdrury.bsky.social
My dad had to abandon his attempt to read Dark Matter on his own in a campervan in Northern Norway...
cjdrury.bsky.social
Historians of Scandinavia might find this chapter by Tim van Gerven on the reception of J.A. Friis's Lajla and tourism in Sápmi particularly interesting: books.radbouduniversitypress.nl/index.php/ru...
books.radbouduniversitypress.nl
cjdrury.bsky.social
It's from this edited collection, "Transnational Representations of the Region, 1840-1940", which is full of really interesting work on transnational culture in the period: books.radbouduniversitypress.nl/index.php/ru...
Transnational Representations of the Region, 1840-1940 | Radboud University Press
books.radbouduniversitypress.nl
cjdrury.bsky.social
Excited to see this chapter in print - it's about British travellers in Jotunheimen, travel infrastructure and the idea of remoteness: books.radbouduniversitypress.nl/index.php/ru...
Escaping Modernity, Accessing the Past:  The Transnational Construction of the Remote  in Late-Nineteenth-Century Norway

Christian Drury

Introduction
In his retrospective account of three decades of climbing in Norway, the British mountaineer William Cecil Slingsby reflected on his ignorance of the places he visited in the 1870s. This was something that he believed, by the first decade of the twentieth century, no mountaineer reaching Norway would experience again. Slingsby wrote that his lack of knowledge “cannot easily be appreciated by the tourists of to-day who find a comfortable hut wherever one is needed, guides who can at least lead them to the foot of any mountain which they may wish to climb, and last, but not least, improved maps and most excellent guide-books.” Slingsby was commenting on a
Reposted by Christian Drury
katrinanavickas.bsky.social
Absolutely astounded that the UCU and Unison branches at Kent and Greenwich were not consulted, and that staff only found out about the merger this morning via BBC news and Kent Online. Solidarity to all colleagues.
Reposted by Christian Drury
hopesteffen.bsky.social
The centre-left bloc has won the Norwegian parliamentary election. I am temporarily relieved. We have a lot of work to do in the years ahead, but this could have gone so, so much worse.
Reposted by Christian Drury
drdiongeorgiou.bsky.social
Having decided I want my public scholarship to be properly public, rather than behind a paywall, I've decided to make everything I've written for my newsletter - going back over two years - free to read for the foreseeable future.
The Academic Bubble | Dion Georgiou | Substack
Politics and culture from a contemporary historian‘s perspective. Click to read The Academic Bubble, by Dion Georgiou, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.
academicbubble.substack.com
Reposted by Christian Drury
earlymodernjohn.bsky.social
A huge moment -- Melvyn Bragg steps down from In Our Time after over a quarter of a century. What a programme and what a legacy! Just a model for how to make great, clever, engaging radio, and a twenty-seven-year experiment that proves there's a huge global audience for smart, scholarly programming.
Melvyn Bragg decides to step down from presenting In Our Time
After 26 years on the programme, the legendary presenter bids farewell to the series
www.bbc.co.uk
Reposted by Christian Drury
andersriel.bsky.social
Check out this guest lecture at U. of Stavanger this Friday with Professor Mathias Danbolt from Copenhagen U. "Monumental Expectations: Notes on Queer, Feminist, and Antiracist Public Memoralization in Norway."
@sebmergence.bsky.social and I will have a podcast interview with him soon as well.
cjdrury.bsky.social
Peter Wessel Zapffe bouldering near Tromsø in 1927

📷: Nasjonalbiblioteket
A man in a hooded jacket and sunglasses climbing on a rocky outcrop above snowy ground
Reposted by Christian Drury
valerenga.bsky.social
Vi står sammen i kampen mot rasisme! 🌻
cjdrury.bsky.social
The mosaics are from the 1980s, but the station building is from 1910
cjdrury.bsky.social
Seaside mosaics in Whitley Bay Metro station 🚇
Three mosaic installations in archways, showing families playing on a beach and the coast by moonlight
Reposted by Christian Drury
historyworkshop.org.uk
From traders to magicians and allies, the Saami appear across medieval Nordic sagas.

Solveig Marie Wang explores how these stories reveal an Indigenous presence at the centre of the Middle Ages — and why remembering it matters today.
Reclaiming the Medieval Saami Past
Explore Saami history and its representation in medieval sources, challenging the myth of a purely White Middle Ages.
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
Reposted by Christian Drury
melinabuns.bsky.social
excited to share the call for the workshop

EXTRACTIVE NATURES / NATURES OF EXTRACTION

happening at @uobrisceh.bsky.social on 6-7 Nov 2025,

made possible by the @britishacademy.bsky.social

deadline: 10 September!

full call below ⤵

#envhist #envhum
URL and ALT text to follow.
Reposted by Christian Drury
drlauravarnam.bsky.social
I want to write a new blogpost, academic pals! What’s your best advice for sustaining your motivation as an early career scholar, post PhD, without institutional affiliation? How can you feel supported in carrying on with your work? And what can those of us lucky enough to have jobs do to help?