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Monica L. Mercado

@monicalmercado.bsky.social

3.1K followers 1K following 370 posts

so-called lady scholar & scholar of ladies | associate professor of history @colgate.edu | usually thinking about Catholic girlhoods, feminist interventions in the museum, upstate utopias, and convent road trips 🎀 📚 👩🏻‍💻 🚗 | she/her

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Reposted by Monica L. Mercado

This Day (A History Podcast) @thisdaypod.com · 12d

Announcing a good ol’ fashioned Teach-In in Washington, DC on Sunday, October 26th.

We’ll convene for a series of lectures, stories, and conversations to celebrate and stand up for the work of history and museums.

Shoutout to @natedimeo.bsky.social for bringing this idea to us.

See you in DC!

A poster announcing a teach-in in washington DC.

Sunday, October 26th - Sunup to Sundown
Washington, DC - The National Mall
“AMERICA’S FRONT YARD”

FEATURING KELLIE CARTER JACKSON, NICOLE HEMMER, DEREK MUSGROVE, NATE DIMEO, TRESSIE MCMILLAN COTTOM, AMANDA SEALES, JODY AVIRGAN, JAMES FALLOWS, MARTHA JONES, MARCIA CHATELAIN, PAUL BUTLER, NATHAN CONNOLLY, AND MORE

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Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · 14d

ahhhhh - congrats!!

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Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · 14d

I am a Toad aspiring to be a Frog.

Frog and Toad Bot @frogandtoadbot.bsky.social · 14d

Toad knocked at the door. “Hello,” said Frog. “Look at my list of things to do,” said Toad. “Oh,” said Frog, “that is very nice.”

Toad stands at Frog's door, showing him his list.

From "A List"
In *Frog and Toad Together*

Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · 14d

🤞🤞

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 14d

I'm not sure what's going on, but this year's freshman class is giving me ... what was that word ... hope?

They're energized and excited, they're doing the reading and doing it well, they're asking great questions and offering smart answers too.

Is this just me or are others seeing it?

Reposted by Monica L. Mercado

Sarah Knott @sarahknott.bsky.social · 15d

NEW BOOK. Her first was dazzling. Impatient to read this and add to my MSt syllabus

Durba Mitra @durba.bsky.social · 16d

My book, The Future That Was, is about the extraordinary rise of global research on women.

It also about the attacks on & starvation of gender research today by universities who leave only the shell intact, dismantling entire fields of knowledge built by women

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

The Future That Was

How Third World women seized the means of knowledge production to fight against rising authoritarianism and imagine a future freer than our present

press.princeton.edu

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Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · 15d

Stunned by this news. I've long been an admirer of Durba Mitra's scholarship, her advocacy for the Schlesinger Library, and her vision for what WGSS history (and teaching!) can be. Harvard, of course, disagrees.

vijay iyer @vijayiyer.bsky.social · 16d

Everyone in academia should read this piece about our dear, brilliant colleague @durba.bsky.social

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

A Surprise Tenure Denial in Harvard’s Gender Studies Program Leaves Some Faculty Shaken | News | The Harvard Crimson

Durba Mitra’s colleagues thought she was a near-perfect tenure candidate. When her bid was shot down in June, they were left questioning the process.

www.thecrimson.com

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Reposted by Monica L. Mercado

Rachel Hope Cleves @rachelcleves.bsky.social · 19d

Any Philadelphia historians out there who can point me to good sources for understanding Philadelphia highlife culture in the immediate post-Civil War era? late 1860s and early 1870s? I'm particularly interested in any info on the Moyamensing Balls

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Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · Sep 8

I just…does the AHA need advertising money this bad?

Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · Sep 7

wow! I had no idea this was there 👀

Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · Sep 1

Extremely hype for this!

Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · Aug 31

Reposted by Monica L. Mercado

Megan Goodwin @mpgphd.bsky.social · Aug 18

I hope everybody is noticing that public and private universities all over the country are dismantling religious studies programs as white christian nationalists are ascendant in all levels of our government

Sasha Senderovich 🌻 @returnstosender.bsky.social · Aug 18

A massive attack on several humanities units (Arabic Studies, Judaic Studies, Holocaust Studies, Classics, Religion, German & Scandinavian, Russian/East European/Eurasian Studies) *and* tenure now unfolding at the University of Oregon (a blue state!). Closure of units and faculty layoffs threatened.

I've now been allowed and asked to share more details about what's going down at the University of Oregon, which involves imminent announcement of firings, among others, of tenure-track and tenured faculty. Given the units impacted (see below), please share this with your professional networks in related disciplines and start getting ready to put pressure (or begin putting pressure already) on the University of Oregon upper admin to abandon this alleged plan before they finalize it.

It appears that, with no prior consultations, the departments of Religion and Classics (two separate units), and the programs in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, German & Scandinavian, Judaic Studies, Arabic Studies, and Holocaust Studies (the latter five all parts of a previously-consolidated mega unit called the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages) are facing imminent announcement of elimination (expected the week of Sept 7), with layoffs of pre-tenure, tenured, and career faculty in these units. The reason given is "financial exigency" -- upper administrations of several universities across the country (and in blue states like Oregon also) appear to be giddy to use the context of Trump attacks on higher ed to dismantle the humanities.

Faculty at OU won a faculty union not long ago; this may be, in part, a retaliation for that, I've been told. The union is working with AAUP, etc.; my understanding is that the maximum spotlight is needed at this point.

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Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · Aug 13

Oooooooh 👀

Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · Jul 21

ICA is killing it - Mavis and then the gorgeous VITRA show on the Shakers following it in early 2026!

Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · Jul 19

Oh good I was going to ask!

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Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · Jul 11

well you know I am headed to the beach! sold!

Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · Jul 11

I can't wait to give your book to my college roommate, who arrived at orientation with her DQ dvd collection (and yes she called it DQ)

Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · Jul 11

make a strong plan and follow through - I have faith in you!

Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · Jul 11

less dumb than ikea on a Saturday morning!

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Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · Jul 11

okay, maybe I do need to read Maggie Doherty's The Equivalents one of these days...

Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · Jul 10

I'm sorry to see this, Justin! May her memory be a blessing.

Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · Jul 10

...someone's gonna make me make a diorama of the burning of the Charlestown convent I just know it

Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · Jul 10

Thrilled to see Aaron Robertson (whose Black Utopians is on my summer reading pile!) named the Commonweal Centennial fellow. He'll spend some of his time on a novel-in-progress, "which imagines a fictional Black Catholic priest leading a revolt against the closure of Detroit parishes in 1989."

Commonweal @commonweal.bsky.social · Jul 9

We're pleased to announce Aaron Robertson as recipient of the inaugural Commonweal Centennial Fellowship! During this fellowship, Robertson will explore Black Catholic life, along with alternative and secular Black spiritual traditions.

Welcome, Aaron!
www.commonwealmagazine.org/aaron-robert...

Aaron Robertson Receives Inaugural Commonweal Centennial Fellowship

Throughout the yearlong fellowship, Robertson will explore Black Catholic life, along with alternative and secular Black spiritual traditions.

www.commonwealmagazine.org

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Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · Jul 10

Incredible! Just saw the original post that those are your badges on the cover 🪡 -- so special.

Monica L. Mercado @monicalmercado.bsky.social · Jul 10

Some of my favorite topics! 📚