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James Harland

@jmharland.bsky.social

4.8K followers 1.4K following 1.2K posts

Asst. Prof. @dependencybonn.de (non-T-T, #ichbinhanna), Late Roman & Early Medieval History & Archaeology. Exploring what happens when empires die. Book available at http://t.ly/LfaV http://jmharland.hcommons.org/publications

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James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 7d

Although I haven't been told about it and have had to find out for myself via their website, at least one nice thing to come out of AUP's move to Taylor & Francis is that my book has now been made a paperback for the rather more affordable price of €40: www.routledge.com/Ethnic-Ident...

Ethnic Identity and the Archaeology of the aduentus Saxonum: A Modern Framework and its Problems

For centuries, archaeologists have excavated the soils of Britain to uncover finds from the early medieval past. These finds have been used to reconstruct the alleged communities, migration patterns, ...

www.routledge.com

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James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 18m

Fair enough. I still think the OP being quoted attacking the grant recipient is unmerited.

James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 19m

Important thread demonstrating the manipulation and false representation of 3D models.

Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 13h

NEW: Since October 2023, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit has released dozens of 3D animations illustrating alleged Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iranian sites

The style is now unmistakable: satellite zoom-ins, black & white wireframes, and red-textured houses - a new visual language of war

James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 22m

Ah yes, History of Science and the Epistemology of Knowledge. Famously disciplines aligned with the Trumpian right.

James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 30m

You mean the person in Israel who has more rigorously documented the ongoing genocide (and condemned it as such) than any other scholar in Israel? I think tis isn't making the point you want it to make. bearing-witness.com

Home - Witnessing the Gaza War

Bearing Witness Gaza Read Full Document Last updated: July 5, 2025 (v. 6.7.0) You can read the full document above (parts are updated to June 2024-July 2025), or focus on any of the chapters below to ...

bearing-witness.com

James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 33m

It would if it were an accurate representation of the scholar, the work, his beliefs, or the grant (the application for was submitted before Trump took office) and it is none of those things. Please have a read of the comments of other specialists in the field replying to this.

James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 1h

Fair enough. I’ve said my piece.

James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 1h

(And prepared long before the outcome of the US presidential election was even close to becoming clear, and with absolutely no indication of any of these conditions)

James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 1h

Without commenting further on what this implies for the expectations we should extend to other grant holders, if the deadline for the grant Eisenberg holds was the same last year as it was this year, I will just point out that the application will have been submitted before Trump took office.

James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 1h

My comment about “needing to look further” was simply to signal that I’m not yet going to comment on something I’m not informed about.

James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 1h

I don’t expect I will. As I’ve said, my objections to the OP were not based upon this.

James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 1h

I also know from personal experience that not everyone has the luxury of opting out of applying for the main available grants in the places where we live without it causing a serious risk to job security.

James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 1h

as it happens, I *am* qualified to comment on both the rigor of Merle’s academic work and its political valences as well as know the man well enough personally to know his own views and so couldn’t let the baseless attack, which thoroughly misrepresents him, and was quoted here go unremarked upon.

James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 1h

I’d need to look into the details of the part of the grant under discussion with respect to such politicised requirements to comment further on that side of things, *but*

James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 1h

Fair enough, but the quoted post was quite explicitly doing these things. No, I wasn’t aware of that list, which I will freely admit is really bad but formed no basis for the attack prompting this discussion.

James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 3h

And there have been comments in the quoted thread basically mocking this scholar for daring to have also written a book on popular culture (alongside his main work) and for being based at a state university in Oklahoma.

James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 3h

That doesn’t make the few recipients regime patsies or Covid deniers.

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James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 3h

Sure, I don’t think anyone here would dispute that.

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James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 10h

I also seem to have imagined the "10" number (it's the number we've offered in previous years, iirc) so discount that specific part.

James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 10h

I will have (to my knowledge) absolutely no role in the selection process (I will amend this if that turns out to alter) so will happily answer questions about the BCDSS from that standpoint.

James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 10h

Reposting because this ought to get more views.

James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 4d

At the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies we are offering 10 fellowships for scholars at any stage in their careers to stay with us for up to 6 months (PhD candidates and senior academics) or 12 months (postdocs) to complete a research project:

www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/images/pdf-f...

www.dependency.uni-bonn.de

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Reposted by James Harland

James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 4d

www.dependency.uni-bonn.de

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James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 13h

(As articulated excellently by @rachelbsinger.bsky.social, who is about as far from a Covid denialist as it is humanly possible to be)

James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 13h

The only thing I would add here is that more recent views on Edix Hill are available, which call for treating its implications in a more regionally-specific and contextualised fashion than the debate as framed by Sarris: academic.oup.com/ehr/article/...

Contextualising Edix Hill: First-Pandemic Plague and Britain*

Abstract:. The 2019 discovery of Yersinia pestis ancient DNA at Edix Hill in Cambridgeshire unquestionably confirms that plague was present in sixth-centur

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by James Harland

TAG 2025 @ York @tag2025york.bsky.social · 16h

Are you a student at a UK university and looking for support to come to TAG York? Did you know the Royal Archaeological Institute Cheney Bursary is available to support you?

You can find more details here: www.royalarchinst.org/grants/bursa...

@royalarchinst.bsky.social

Bursaries

Cheney Bursaries for StudentsAs a result of a bequest left by Frank Cheney, the Institute has a fund to enable students that attend a UK university to attend RAI Meetings and conferences. Individuals ...

www.royalarchinst.org

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James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 15h

(Which I then do in scholarly print, among other reasons because it gives the people whose work is dissected a chance to respond in the appropriate medium to do so, and in which some have!)