Paul Nugent
@nugybaby.bsky.social
38 followers 24 following 15 posts
Professor of Comparative African History, prone to obsession with borderlands and wine. Proudly internationalist: from Cape Town, living in Edinburgh, worked a lot in West Africa (especially Ghana/Togo) and now creeping towards the Mediterranean.
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Reposted by Paul Nugent
wineecon.bsky.social
Global Per Capita Wine, Beer and Spirits Consumption, 1961-2022
Reposted by Paul Nugent
theferret.scot
As staff at Edinburgh Uni strike over job cuts, the principal is under pressure to reveal whether he’s being paid for a second job at a company with historic ties to the university.

Our latest: theferret.scot/mathi...
Edinburgh uni boss pressured over outside earnings as job losses mount
The boss of the University of Edinburgh is facing calls to “come clean” over earnings from a second job, amid staff strikes and mounting redundancies.
theferret.scot
Reposted by Paul Nugent
wineecon.bsky.social
Call for Papers
18th Annual AAWE Wine Economics Conference
Perth, Australia — July 8–13, 2026. In cooperation with the University of Western Australia.
More at www.wine-economics.org
Reposted by Paul Nugent
mininghistory.bsky.social
One unexpected detail in the revelations about Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein is they were involved in a mining deal in Congo-Brazzaville:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09...
Screenshot of an email.
Email reads:
"FWD From: STALEY, Jes
To: EPSTEIN, Jeffery
Sent: 7 October 2010

From: MANDELSON, Peter
In Congo Brazzaville last week, I talked at length with President Sassou N'Guesso, including about the above new mine. Exploration, he told me, has been undertaken by a consortium of investors backed by JP Morgan. The government is reaching a final decision on whether to issue a full mining licence. I spoke to the Minister of Mines about this, who is favourable to the licence, but the President wanted to discuss it further with me. No obligation but if there is anyone in JPM who might want to talk to me privately about this, please shout. I would be grateful for no approaches to other third parties about this in meantime. Hope you are well. Sorry not to see you in London this week."
nugybaby.bsky.social
One for Boland Coetzee RIP!
nugybaby.bsky.social
Spare a thought for the poor citizens of Roseburn/Murrayfield who are about to be besieged and then subjected to an assault on the senses one more time today 😕
nugybaby.bsky.social
Journals are just waking up to how much of it there is out there
Reposted by Paul Nugent
richardckeller.bsky.social
AI will never locate a new archive. It will never uncover a new source. It will never find a small, privately held collection of papers that can upend what we think we know about the past. It can never work with undigitized sources. It can never do real oral history or ethnography.
jokenty.bsky.social
AI can only replace historians in the sense that it can spit out mediocre, plagiarized narrative that vaguely resembles history. It will never replace *good* historians. Unfortunately, many university presidents and CEOs don’t seem to care about the quality of work being done, only the quantity- 1/2
disabilitystor1.bsky.social
Just a reminder this list is drawn from a piece written by four researchers for MICROSOFT (data scientists, CS people, economists) who have never stepped foot in an archive/never taken an oral history/studied material culture, by their CVs.
Unlike them, I do my research, and don't talk out my ass.
Reposted by Paul Nugent
justinpearce.bsky.social
Wow, apparently I'm part of a trend, I'm an AI vegan! (To the point where I was shocked to learn that this Guardian columnist for whom I have some respect admits that AI has become part of her daily routine.)
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Meet the AI vegans | Arwa Mahdawi
They are choosing to abstain from using artificial intelligence for environmental, ethical and personal reasons. Maybe they have a point, writes Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi
www.theguardian.com
nugybaby.bsky.social
Me too. I have zero need to use AI for anything
Reposted by Paul Nugent
roapejournal.bsky.social
The editorial from the latest issue of ROAPE journal, including links to freely access all the listed articles:

Caught in the fishers’ net? The colonial plunder of Western Sahara’s natural resources, by Blanca Camps-Febrer & Enrique Bengochea Tirado

roape.net/2025/07/30/c...
nugybaby.bsky.social
Strongly-worded, but effectively hand-wringing unless it is backed up with sanctions
Reposted by Paul Nugent
gillianmathys.bsky.social
And now the book is officially out!
gillianmathys.bsky.social
My book Fractured Pasts in Lake Kivu's Borderlands can now be pre-ordered with a 20% discount

www.cambridge.org/be/universit...
nugybaby.bsky.social
Highlight of Sardinia trip for wine/climate project was bringing South Africa's esteemed viticulturist, Rosa Kruger, to Mamoiada. Luca Gungui gave tour and answered questions. Cannonau's different flavour profile to Grenache underlines how cultivars adapt to environment www.lucagungui.it/en/home-2/
nugybaby.bsky.social
Why am I not surprised?
Reposted by Paul Nugent
wineecon.bsky.social
New data for 2024 are in.
A long-term view on the meteoric rise and unabated dramatic fall of China's wine consumption and production. China's wine consumption peaked in 2017 and fell by 71%. China's wine production peaked in 2012 (!) and fell by 84%