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Reposted by Kathleen Commons

Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 2d

Astonished at all the fab work scholars keep producing, despite all pressures & uncertainty.

Or because of? Good & bad: trying to save our job & knowing this matters so much that people try to stop us

@historyworkshop.org.uk podcast on #ScholarSunday: www.historyworkshop.org.uk/podcast/chan...

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Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social · 7d

Our next seminar will be with the wonderful Anne Irfan's paper on 'Structural displacement and enforced immobility: Palestinian refugee history in Gaza since 1948' on 28 October. Sign up here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... or join our mailing list: forms.gle/8JtLfYwH1MYL...

Structural displacement and enforced immobility: Palestinian refugee history in Gaza since 1948

www.history.ac.uk

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Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social · 7d

It was brilliant to kick off the Migration and Mobility Seminar with great papers from @profpanayi.bsky.social @endeeekay.bsky.social @bengidley.bsky.social @marcloureiro.bsky.social - a lot to think about in terms of how we do migration history, especially in the current moment

Panikos Panayi @profpanayi.bsky.social · 7d

This was a great first session. Looking forward to many more to follow.

Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 7d

Enjoyed first seminar of @ihr.bsky.social Migration + Mobility seminar series led by the fantastic @kabcommons.bsky.social, starring legend @profpanayi.bsky.social and great presentations by @endeeekay.bsky.social (see pic for book out soon w/ @punctumbooks.bsky.social) & @marcloureiro.bsky.social

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Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social · 8d

Such a privilege to be part of this amazing roundtable, organised by @onslies.bsky.social at @rshc.bsky.social. So pleased that the conversation can be shared more widely (less pleased about my wobbly voice)

History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 8d

How has paperwork served as a tool of empowerment for people who often find power elusive?

In our latest podcast, a group of historians, archivists, and activists met at the Raphael Samuel History Centre (@rshc.bsky.social) to discuss the hidden history of paperwork 🗃️🎙️

Changing The Record

How has paperwork served over time as a radical tool for empowerment and change?

www.historyworkshop.org.uk

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Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social · 8d

On a personal and slightly self-aggrandizing note, will be pleased to introduce this banging lineup for the first time officially as *Dr* Commons. Many thanks to @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social and Phil Withington for examining me with such care, and Anthony Milton for being a superlative supervisor

Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 8d

reminder we’re kicking off tomorrow
5:30- 7:30pm Hybrid/IHR

@profpanayi.bsky.social & @kabcommons.bsky.social will open, then I’ll will speak on history & social studies; @marcloureiro.bsky.social on history & law; and Natalya Din-Kariuki on history & literature.

www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

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Reposted by Kathleen Commons

Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 8d

reminder we’re kicking off tomorrow
5:30- 7:30pm Hybrid/IHR

@profpanayi.bsky.social & @kabcommons.bsky.social will open, then I’ll will speak on history & social studies; @marcloureiro.bsky.social on history & law; and Natalya Din-Kariuki on history & literature.

www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

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Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social · 14d

Call for Papers! @ihrhistorylab.bsky.social x @ihr.bsky.social Migration and Mobility Seminar special edition - we want papers on all types of migration and mobility history from ECRs and PGRs. Abstracts to kabcommons [@] gmail.com by 15th November. Pls spread the word & DM with any questions

Call for papers for a seminar for ECRs and PGRs on migration and mobility history

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Reposted by Kathleen Commons

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan @london.gov.uk · 16d

Thousands of Londoners have indefinite leave to remain.

They have legal rights and are our friends, neighbours and colleagues, contributing hugely to our city.

Threatening to deport people living and working here legally is unacceptable.

Farage vows to scrap indefinite leave to remain, placing thousands at risk of deportation

Reform UK plans to force non-citizens to apply for visas with high salary thresholds and no access to NHS services

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Kathleen Commons

Daniel Trilling @trillingual.bsky.social · 22d

If you want to know what the UK government's position is on its obligations under the Genocide Convention in relation to its support for Israel, here's what it argued in court this summer.

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Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social · 22d

Congratulations! (Belatedly) - and I do!

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Reposted by Kathleen Commons

Simon Cox @simonfrcox.bsky.social · 25d

A High Court Judge ruled that Home Office had no real oversight of their commercial agents who provide asylum-seeker accommodation. They have a tissue-thin layer of staff with no real idea what’s happening, scared that Ministers and the press will realise this.

Sonia L @sonial77.bsky.social · 25d

Interesting to see where the HO chooses its FOI battles. Contrast this with the ease of the far-right person who made a request and was given a list of charities working on asylum accommodation issues - resulting in online harassment and "credible death threats": www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Discovering the full extent of Britannia’s usage by the Home Office is a fiendishly difficult task. Over the course of the past year, my freedom of information requests on the matter — how many of its hotels are in use for asylum? How much has this cost the taxpayer? — have gone unanswered by a bureaucracy that seems especially disinclined to release information on matters of political sensitivity. Three such requests were rejected, most recently on grounds of “commercial confidentiality”, despite the fact that the Information Commissioner, which regulates FOI requests, overruled that argument some two years ago. The Home Office did not comment on either the rejected requests or its relationship with Britannia. Neither Langsam nor Britannia Hotels responded to requests for comment for this story.

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Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social · 27d

Suspending family reunion, one of the *only* safe routes into the UK, is barbaric www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Four dead, including two children, attempting to cross Channel to UK in last 24 hours

Number of attempts to cross Channel has been particularly high for several days, say French authorities

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Kathleen Commons

Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social · 29d

V pleased to have a new article in @huguenotsociety.bsky.social journal: tinyurl.com/e2zb9bfb. (A little🧵)

Contents | Huguenot Society Journal 38,

For several hundred years after the mid-sixteenth century, there were two exile or Stranger communities in Norwich, many of whose members were Calvinists who worked in the textile trade. This article investigates three aspects of the financial activities ...

tinyurl.com

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Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social · 29d

Feels a little bit on the nose in today's discourse, though I think the idea that stronger rights for subjects enables refugee protection is perhaps a (small) indication of a way to think about refugee protection as a net positive - for citizens and migrants

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Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social · 29d

While at the same time, those seeking to deny protection to Huguenots argued that to extend rights to migrants was a denigration of subjects' rights.

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Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social · 29d

Migrants' rights were and are enmeshed with subjects'/citizens' rights, but in complex ways. In late 17thC England, assertions of subjects' rights in some ways opened up the possibility of extending protection - and rights - to persecuted migrants

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Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social · 29d

Or, in the case of the Glorious Revolution, break allegiance and settle the crown on someone else?

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Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social · 29d

The 40 year debate over general naturalisation highlights the ways that extending 'refugee protection' was contingent upon differing views of 'natural allegiance': under what circumstances is it legitimate to break allegiance with a monarch and settle elsewhere

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Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social · 29d

Charles II's 1681 offer to bring general naturalisation to parliament seems to change all that - easy naturalisation specifically for those fleeing persecution. What changed? A civil war and restoration undermined the notion of 'natural allegiance' for subjects and migrants

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Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social · 29d

There was no special category of 'refugee' in 16thC and 17thC England: altho it was recognised that some migrants had fled persecution, they were treated in law like other migrants. 16thC settlements of Dutch 'refugees' in e.g. Norwich were not protection regimes

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Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social · 29d

Debates around general naturalisation for Huguenots in England c.1660-1709 have much tell us about pre-modern refugee protection; particularly how the extension of protection was contingent on wider understandings of allegiance, and therefore access to rights, for subjects *and* migrants

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Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social · 29d

V pleased to have a new article in @huguenotsociety.bsky.social journal: tinyurl.com/e2zb9bfb. (A little🧵)

Contents | Huguenot Society Journal 38,

For several hundred years after the mid-sixteenth century, there were two exile or Stranger communities in Norwich, many of whose members were Calvinists who worked in the textile trade. This article investigates three aspects of the financial activities ...

tinyurl.com

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Reposted by Kathleen Commons

University of Oxford @ox.ac.uk · Sep 4

NEW: An Oxford report warns that misleading media coverage is shaping public debate on immigration and human rights.

The study finds the ECHR is frequently misreported in deportation cases, fueling misconceptions that erode trust in the legal system.

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Silhouettes of three people in front of a weathered British flag, with the headline: Misrepresentations around human rights and immigration fuelling calls to quit ECHR, Oxford report finds

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Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social · Sep 5

Pls spread the word: we have exciting things planned across the whole year. If you want to be kept super up to date, sign up to our mailing list forms.gle/WbWkuLTezwsw... - and if you have any questions get in touch!

IHR Migration and Mobility Seminar mailing list

Sign up here to be kept informed about the IHR Migration and Mobility Seminar

forms.gle

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Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social · Sep 5

And in November we'll be hearing from Ben Braber on depictions of immigrants in British newspapers between 1841 and 2021, a longue duree approach to thinking about media and migrants in the UK

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