Mary Laven
@marylaven.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.1K following 22 posts
Historian of Italy, religion and material culture. Thinking about a more diverse Renaissance.
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marylaven.bsky.social
An important piece taking stock of EDI @camhistory.bsky.social
camhistory.bsky.social
Rewriting the narrative: the case for diversity and inclusion

The Faculty of History is steadily building a more inclusive and representative academic environment. But, as staff acknowledge, the journey is a marathon, not a sprint.

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Image: Denzil Forrester, Jah Shaka, 1983, oil on canvas, 214 x 274 cm. Collection Shane Akeroyd, London © Denzil Forrester. Courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York. Photo by Mike Newman.
Reposted by Mary Laven
marcboc83.bsky.social
Last week, I published a piece in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) critically assessing current attempts by political and scientific actors to counter the rise of right-wing parties in East Germany through new ‘lighthouse’ projects. Will this really help after years of neglect?
Reposted by Mary Laven
camhistory.bsky.social
Congratulations to Professor Lucy Delap, appointed new Chair of Cambridge's History Faculty, to succeed Professor Mary Laven on 1 October 2025.

Lucy is Professor of Modern British & Gender History at @cam.ac.uk and a Fellow of Murray Edwards College.

@lucydelap.bsky.social @marylaven.bsky.social
Lucy Delap appointed new Chair of the Faculty | Faculty of History University of Cambridge
www.hist.cam.ac.uk
Reposted by Mary Laven
royalhistsoc.org
The shortlist for the Society's 2025 First Book Prize for early career historians is now available bit.ly/4kkm4lW

Eight titles have been selected, following an open call for submissions of books published in 2024. Two winners of the 2025 prize will be announced in July.

#Skystorians
Image of the eight titles shortlisted for the Royal Historical Society's First Book Prize for early career historians, 2025.

Royal Justice and the Making of the Tudor Commonwealth, 1485-1547, by Laura Flannigan (Cambridge University Press)

Intimate Subjects: Touch and Tangibility in Britain’s Cerebral Age, by Simeon Koole (University of Chicago Press)

Female Servants in Early Modern England, by Charmian Mansell (British Academy / Oxford University Press)

The Capital Market of Manila and the Pacific Trade, 1668-1838: Institutions and Trade during the First Globalization, by Juan Jose Rivas Moreno (Palgrave MacMillan)

Segregated Species: Pests, Knowledge, and Boundaries in South Africa, 1910–1948, by Jules Skotnes-Brown (Johns Hopkins University Press)

The Quislings. The Trials of Norwegian Wartime Collaborators, 1941–1964, by Anika Seemann (Cambridge University Press)

Pistols in St Paul’s: Science, Music, and Architecture in the Twentieth Century, by Fiona Smyth (Manchester University Press)

Desire and Disunity: Christian Communities and Sexual Norms in the Late Antique West, by Ulriika Vihervalli (Liverpool University Press)
Reposted by Mary Laven
abigaildombey.bsky.social
Summer likely to be hottest ever in UK
Guardian front page:
 Summer likely to be hottest ever in UK
By Helena Horton Sarah Butler
This summer is expected to be the warmest on record for the UK, the Met Office said yesterday after four heatwaves in the country since June.
The mean temperature for summer is tracking at 16.13C (61.03F), which is significantly above the record of
15.76C set in 2018.
Many remember 1976 as being a scorching summer with a record heatwave, but this data would relegate that year out of the top five warmest summers since records began in 1884. It would mean all five of the warmest summers on record had occurred since 2000.
The Met Office scientist Emily Carlisle said: "Provisional Met Office statistics show that summer 2025 will almost certainly be the warmest summer on record ... Unless temperatures are around four degrees below average for the rest of August, which the forecast does not not suggest. Bart Simpson: This is the hottest summer of my life
Homer Simpson: This is the coldest summer of the rest of your life
Reposted by Mary Laven
earlymodernjohn.bsky.social
British "debate" on migration is in the gutter, but we should still be shocked that Labour's response yesterday was to criticise Farage for being insufficiently detailed in his plan for mass detention camps.
trillingual.bsky.social
Regardless of whether Reform's deportation plan "works", if they get a chance to try it - like the Tories' Rwanda policy, or Trump's deportations - it will ostentatiously torment thousands of people and further engrain racism in British politics. It must be opposed on that basis.
Reposted by Mary Laven
camhistory.bsky.social
🔎 New research identifies 19th-century welfare cuts as a major cause of rise in early-childhood mortality.

The findings - from researchers incl. @camhistory.bsky.social's Prof Simon Szreter - reveal a politically-induced cause of the irregular drop in survival rates during this period.

Read more⬇️
marylaven.bsky.social
In hope and trepidation ...
jes1003.bsky.social
In the booth to vote Booth.
Reposted by Mary Laven
georgemonbiot.bsky.social
Just received news that 27 people have been arrested in Parliament Square under the Terrorism Act 2000 for holding signs saying "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action".
This is real police state behaviour.
Reposted by Mary Laven
ericholthaus.com
The rainstorm that caused the Texas flooding disaster was of a severity that would occur just once in 1,000 years in a stable climate.

This was a complex, compound tragedy of a type that climate warming is making more frequent.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Texas floods reveal limitations of disaster forecasting under climate crisis
Texas’s ‘flash flood alley’ could bring even more floods in near future as Trump cuts compound with warming climate
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Mary Laven
jes1003.bsky.social
Some welcome publicity (in yesterday's Times) for our open letter opposing Lord Browne of Madingley's bid for the Chancellorship of the University of Cambridge -- the letter is at chancellorletter.wordpress.com
Reposted by Mary Laven
jes1003.bsky.social
My letter in today’s Guardian.
Reposted by Mary Laven
camhistory.bsky.social
'Global Histories of the Portuguese Revolution' - co-edited by @camhistory.bsky.social's @pramospinto.bsky.social - goes beyond the limits of national history to locate the revolution at the intersection of transnational historical phenomena.

A new global approach to this still understudied event ⬇️
bloomsburyhist.bsky.social
Global Histories of the Portuguese Revolution edited by Luís Trindade, Rita Lucas Narra, Ricardo Noronha & Pedro Ramos Pinto locates the revolution at the intersection of transnational historical phenomena.

Out now! 📚 bit.ly/435Ym5m
Global Histories of the Portuguese Revolution edited by Luís Trindade, Rita Lucas Narra, Ricardo Noronha & Pedro Ramos Pinto locates the revolution at the intersection of transnational historical phenomena.

Out now!
Reposted by Mary Laven
tonybooth1.bsky.social
Campaigning for Cam Uni Chancellor to be an ethical force. Focusing on its core purposes, education, research, and caring for all its staff and students. Severing all connections with oil and arms. @mikescialom.bsky.social @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social @owenjones.bsky.social @georgemonbiot.bsky.social
Reposted by Mary Laven
matildasidel.bsky.social
The sea is now the only available conduit to bring essential aid to Palestinians. If Israel attacks these aid flotillas, as it has threatened, it will also set a dangerous long-term precedent of unlawful policing in international waters, which will further entrench its unlawful occupation on land.
freedomflotilla.bsky.social
Take one minute: go to bit.ly/IsraelOnNotice and send a letter to the Israeli government, UN officials, and diplomatic missions demanding that Israel abide by international law and refrain from attacking, sabotaging or otherwise interfering with the #Madleen and her mission.
marylaven.bsky.social
Many thanks to Emily Betz for a great conversation.
eccleshistsoc.bsky.social
We are thrilled to speak with Prof Mary Laven @marylaven.bsky.social about her research on the Italian #Renaissance (can we call it Italian? 🤔) and what it means to work closely with #museums as an historian. Check out our latest podcast episode ⬇️

open.spotify.com/episode/0QWb... #Skystorians
marylaven.bsky.social
A lovely piece about our wonderful colleague Peter Mandler.
camhistory.bsky.social
Prof Peter Mandler’s (@petermandler.bsky.social) insatiable curiosity has fuelled an extraordinary career over more than two decades at Cambridge.

As he steps back from formal teaching, the acclaimed historian reflects on a life of intellectual breadth, public advocacy—and no plans to slow down ⬇️⬇️
Professor Peter Mandler, Deputy Chair of the History Faculty, Professor of Modern Cultural History, Bailey Lecturer in History, Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge.
Reposted by Mary Laven
andrewseaton.bsky.social
Did you know the UK has the worst record on homelessness in the OECD? Some reflections on both the numbers and the people who lay behind them
handle.invalid
I grew up without a stable home. The thousands of families living like that today deserve better from a Labour government.

🖊️ Andrew Seaton: The shame of Britain’s hidden homeless
The shame of Britain’s hidden homeless
I grew up without a stable home. The thousands of families living like that today deserve better from a Labour government.
www.newstatesman.com