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Dr Emma Merkling

@emmamerkling.bsky.social

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Dr Emma Merkling @emmamerkling.bsky.social · Nov 10

Hi all! I’m an historian of c19 British art & science focusing mostly on bodies/embodiment, occultism/spiritualism, “women artists”, queerness, & physics / psychical research / maths / ecology. My banner is “Phosphorus & Hesperus” by Evelyn De Morgan (1881), on whom I’m currently writing a book…

The oil painting “Phosphorus and Hesperus” by Evelyn De Morgan (1881). On a seashore, surrounded by shells, the nude bodies of two male youths interlock, one resting his arm on the other’s. The kneeling figure holds a torch aloft; the seated figure an upturned torch, not yet extinguished

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Reposted by Dr Emma Merkling

Ben Jackson @benltjackson.bsky.social · 9d

We're putting on an exciting range of research events this year at @manchester.ac.uk on 'Queer Bodies' in 18 & 19C Britain. Colleagues in English, Art History (@emmamerkling.bsky.social), & History are exploring queer approaches to bodies and embodiment and their cultures. See poster for more!

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Reposted by Dr Emma Merkling

Citizen.Coping @propcazhpm.bsky.social · Jun 28

"Something ineffable happens when you write down a thought: You think something you did not know you could or would think and it leads you to another thought… the process of writing itself leads to previously unthought thoughts [and] crystallizes half-formulated or unformulated thoughts"
- Lynn Hunt

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will o’the wisp pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · Sep 7

everything in this thread.

Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · Sep 6

Academic authors, here's a peek into the black box of journal publishing from an journal editor if you can bear it:

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Reposted by Dr Emma Merkling

will o’the wisp pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · Sep 2

somebody speak to a single historian challenge!

“Religiosity tends to decline across generations.”

what an extraordinary untethered statement to make based on recent polling data. and yes i know i know its Nature *again* but (1/2)

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🗃️

The three stages of religious decline around the world - Nature Communications

Religious decline is happening around the world. Here, the authors show that countries are at different stages of a common global sequence of decline in religious participation, personal importance of...

www.nature.com

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Dr Emma Merkling @emmamerkling.bsky.social · Aug 22

Ekphrasis! Intense and detailed visual description. Not sure of context — could be pre-recorded, could be “live”. If it’s a student trip, you can get the other students to do this quite naturally (“what are we standing in front of now? How big is it? What is happening? What is the mood?” &c)

Reposted by Dr Emma Merkling

Dr Sam Hirst @romgothsam.bsky.social · Aug 20

I saw a job posting for a heritage project focused on Romany history. I wasn't sure how visible it would be so wanted to share so that the job gets seen by the people whose history it is focusing on.

Give it a share, perhaps?

museum-services-jobs.le.ac.uk/job/learning...

Learning Co-ordinator (Project) | Museum Studies | University of Leicester

museum-services-jobs.le.ac.uk

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Dr Emma Merkling @emmamerkling.bsky.social · Aug 12

I ended up emailing with the lovely Ane Grum Schwensen who helped out! (She thinks the answer is no and what I found is a typo… which was sort of what I expected, despite the fact that he did have mystical and probably Swedenborgian interests.)

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Dr Emma Merkling @emmamerkling.bsky.social · Aug 12

#c19 #victorianart #occultism #histsci

Dr Emma Merkling @emmamerkling.bsky.social · Aug 12

The recording of my @gothicauob.bsky.social talk on nature, horror, occultism, beauty, gender and Victorian art has been uploaded to YouTube! youtu.be/cRWhEOjMfMc?... watch along for more on these themes and for my recent work on Annie Swynnerton’s magnum opus “Oreads” (1907)

Occult Art Gothic with Dr Emma Merkling.

YouTube video by Gothica UoB

youtu.be

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Dr Emma Merkling @emmamerkling.bsky.social · Jul 14

Thank you so much for this! I will check it out :)

Dr Emma Merkling @emmamerkling.bsky.social · Jul 11

Amazing!! Will keep an eye out.

Dr Emma Merkling @emmamerkling.bsky.social · Jul 11

what was your dissertation about? Sounds up my alley :)

Dr Emma Merkling @emmamerkling.bsky.social · Jul 11

This looks amazing!

Dr Emma Merkling @emmamerkling.bsky.social · Jul 11

This one already elsewhere in the syllabus! But thank you so much for your other suggestions, they look perfect!

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Dr Emma Merkling @emmamerkling.bsky.social · Jul 11

Help! Seeking readings for a 'British art and the environment in the c19' course that bring together botany, classification, colonial collecting, and visual culture for undergrads. Ideally linking this to museums / collections like Kew. Nothing I've found quite seems to bring all three together...!

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Dr Emily Vincent @dremilyvincent.bsky.social · Jun 16

🏛️Today - guided tour of @morethanadodo.bsky.social with John Holmes & Birmingham’s 19CC
🦠Weds - Disease and Narrative workshop I’m hosting @unibirmingham.bsky.social with @mediaandepidemics.bsky.social & the 19CC
🎨Thurs - Occult Art @gothicauob.bsky.social with @emmamerkling.bsky.social

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Dr Emma Merkling @emmamerkling.bsky.social · Jun 5

Any Hans Christian Andersen experts following me? Came across an issue of The Spiritualist for which he seems to have written as a correspondent... including on William Crookes and the psychic force. Was this really him? iapsop.com/archive/mate...

iapsop.com

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Reposted by Dr Emma Merkling

Katrina Jan @katrinajan.bsky.social · May 23

Don't miss 'Occult Art Gothic' with @emmamerkling.bsky.social next month!

As an art historian, Emma will be focusing on Gothic British art 🖼️🖤 DM @gothicauob.bsky.social to join 👇
📅Thurs 19th June
🕐6pm - 7.30pm
📍Zoom

GOTHICA 🦇 @gothicauob.bsky.social · May 23

Don't miss our last session before the un-Gothic summer approaches‼️

🗣 Dr Emma Merkling
🖼️Occult Art Gothic 👁️
📅Thurs 19th June
🕐6pm - 7.30pm
📍Zoom

Emma will look at Gothic British art, the ‘artist-as-witch’, (un)gendering & occultural approaches to art history.
Dm to join!

A gothic art picture of an occult symbol, below this, two skulls on a red tablecloth with candles behind them, creating a mysterious atmosphere.
Text:
Gothica
Occult Art Gothic
Guest speaker Dr Emma Merkling
Zoom
Thursday 19th June
6.00pm - 7.30pm (BST).
Email or tweet for link
uobgothica@gmail.com
@Gothica_UoB

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Dr Emma Merkling @emmamerkling.bsky.social · Apr 11

I have preordered this incredible book and I suggest you do too!

Christine Slobogin @slobogin.bsky.social · Mar 6

My book _Putting Plastic Surgery on Paper_ is available for pre-order!

You can snag the paperback for $37/£25, and there's 40% off if you sign up for the @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social newsletter.

Am so proud of this weird little interdisciplinary book!

boydellandbrewer.com/978164825120...

Putting Plastic Surgery on Paper - Boydell and Brewer

An interdisciplinary approach to medical history that shows the key role that drawings and photographs had in shaping the material, professional, emotional a...

boydellandbrewer.com

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Christine Slobogin @slobogin.bsky.social · Mar 6

Putting Plastic Surgery on Paper - Boydell and Brewer

An interdisciplinary approach to medical history that shows the key role that drawings and photographs had in shaping the material, professional, emotional a...

boydellandbrewer.com

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Dr Emma Merkling @emmamerkling.bsky.social · Apr 9

Ohhh yes please! I’ll dm you

Dr Emma Merkling @emmamerkling.bsky.social · Apr 9

Is anyone still doing Zoom writing groups these days (UK or EU time zone)? Have a lot to do this summer and would love the accountability

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Dr Emma Merkling @emmamerkling.bsky.social · Apr 9

NO and I spent six months there last year so I’m devastated to have missed it! Do you know exactly where it is?

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will o’the wisp pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · Apr 7

There are still tickets for this online talk I’m giving next Tuesday.

As I like to say, ‘come for the #Tarot, stay for the cartomancy’.

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tarot-and-...?

Tarot and Cartomancy in France from the French Revolution to the 20th C

The surprising history of how playing cards, including Tarot, came to be one of the most common forms of divination in France after 1789.

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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Dr Emma Merkling @emmamerkling.bsky.social · Apr 7

An incredible resource!

B. Ricardo Brown, PhD @node801.bsky.social · Apr 7

"Caricatures of Evolution"
700-page catalogue of over 1,400 caricatures and satirical illustrations regarding Darwin and evolution transforms our knowledge of the surprisingly vast extent of Darwin's impact on visual culture from 1860-1939 #HistSTM #HistSci
darwin-online.org.uk/EditorialInt...

1899 "THE LAST STAND — SCIENCE VERSUS SUPERSTITION." Puck (19 July). Forces of 'science' are arrayed against those of 'superstition' with respective banners "THINK OR BE DAMNED" and "BELIEVE OR BE DAMNED". On of the barrels of the Gatling gun is "EVOLUTION".

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