Shahmima Akhtar
@shahmimaakhtar.bsky.social
Historian. Exhibiting Irishness: Empire, race and nation, c. 1850-1970 out now with @ManchesterUP Studies in Imperialism Series. 30% discount code: EVENT30
Pinned
'Exhibiting Irishness: Empire, race and nation, c. 1850-1970' by @shahmimaakhtar.bsky.social has won the Michael J. Durkan Prize for Books on Language & Culture, awarded by #ACIS2025 🎉
'Exhibiting Irishness is a groundbreaking work' @rise-open-journal.bsky.social
Out now! #Irishness #IrishStudies
'Exhibiting Irishness is a groundbreaking work' @rise-open-journal.bsky.social
Out now! #Irishness #IrishStudies
Thank you ACIS for awarding me the Michael J Durkan Prize for Books on Language & Culture and an Honourable Mention for the Donald Murphy Prize for Best First Book for Exhibiting Irishness: Empire, race and nation, c.1850-1970
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
I wrote something about #StopDeKindermoord
Mobility Justice and the Big Ride for Palestine
With a focus on how anticolonial social movements can pose solutions to multiple contemporary problems, this essay takes up the Big Ride for Palestine. The principal argument – that the Big Ride co...
www.tandfonline.com
October 18, 2025 at 4:46 PM
I wrote something about #StopDeKindermoord
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
We are delighted to announce that MBS2026 will be held at the University of Birmingham, 3-5 June 2026!
Papers may consider the opening day's theme of 'Polycrisis', but we also welcome all submissions related to modern British studies.
For any questions please contact [email protected]
Papers may consider the opening day's theme of 'Polycrisis', but we also welcome all submissions related to modern British studies.
For any questions please contact [email protected]
Modern British Studies Conference 2026 - University of Birmingham
Conference information
www.birmingham.ac.uk
October 17, 2025 at 9:12 AM
We are delighted to announce that MBS2026 will be held at the University of Birmingham, 3-5 June 2026!
Papers may consider the opening day's theme of 'Polycrisis', but we also welcome all submissions related to modern British studies.
For any questions please contact [email protected]
Papers may consider the opening day's theme of 'Polycrisis', but we also welcome all submissions related to modern British studies.
For any questions please contact [email protected]
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
Kicking off our fantastic line up with a showcase of new research! Get in touch if you are a postgraduate or early career researcher who would like to introduce their work to the field.
📍 Hybrid: N304, IHR, Senate House, WC1E 7HU and Online
📅 Thursday 16th October, 2025
⏰ 17:30
🔗 bit.ly/3INwCfO
📍 Hybrid: N304, IHR, Senate House, WC1E 7HU and Online
📅 Thursday 16th October, 2025
⏰ 17:30
🔗 bit.ly/3INwCfO
September 30, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Kicking off our fantastic line up with a showcase of new research! Get in touch if you are a postgraduate or early career researcher who would like to introduce their work to the field.
📍 Hybrid: N304, IHR, Senate House, WC1E 7HU and Online
📅 Thursday 16th October, 2025
⏰ 17:30
🔗 bit.ly/3INwCfO
📍 Hybrid: N304, IHR, Senate House, WC1E 7HU and Online
📅 Thursday 16th October, 2025
⏰ 17:30
🔗 bit.ly/3INwCfO
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
The IHR Black British History seminar series is now on BlueSky!
Follow us for updates and keep your eyes peeled for information about our upcoming seminars 👀
@ihr.bsky.social #BlackBritishHistory #historians #academia
Follow us for updates and keep your eyes peeled for information about our upcoming seminars 👀
@ihr.bsky.social #BlackBritishHistory #historians #academia
September 25, 2025 at 10:07 AM
The IHR Black British History seminar series is now on BlueSky!
Follow us for updates and keep your eyes peeled for information about our upcoming seminars 👀
@ihr.bsky.social #BlackBritishHistory #historians #academia
Follow us for updates and keep your eyes peeled for information about our upcoming seminars 👀
@ihr.bsky.social #BlackBritishHistory #historians #academia
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
The IHR Black British History Seminar is now on Bluesky, thanks to @oliviawyatt1999.bsky.social! Give a follow for updates:
The IHR Black British History seminar series is now on BlueSky!
Follow us for updates and keep your eyes peeled for information about our upcoming seminars 👀
@ihr.bsky.social #BlackBritishHistory #historians #academia
Follow us for updates and keep your eyes peeled for information about our upcoming seminars 👀
@ihr.bsky.social #BlackBritishHistory #historians #academia
September 25, 2025 at 10:35 AM
The IHR Black British History Seminar is now on Bluesky, thanks to @oliviawyatt1999.bsky.social! Give a follow for updates:
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
A new academic year is here, and so is our autumn term programme! A thread of our speakers follows.
Sign-up links available soon but note dates in diaries now! 📆
Sign-up links available soon but note dates in diaries now! 📆
September 24, 2025 at 1:46 PM
A new academic year is here, and so is our autumn term programme! A thread of our speakers follows.
Sign-up links available soon but note dates in diaries now! 📆
Sign-up links available soon but note dates in diaries now! 📆
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
If you're starting a postgraduate course in History this autumn, please do consider joining the Royal Historical Society bit.ly/41mTuck
Postgraduate Membership brings access to research funding, events, publications and networks. You'll join an international community of more than 6500 historians.
Postgraduate Membership brings access to research funding, events, publications and networks. You'll join an international community of more than 6500 historians.
September 24, 2025 at 12:03 PM
If you're starting a postgraduate course in History this autumn, please do consider joining the Royal Historical Society bit.ly/41mTuck
Postgraduate Membership brings access to research funding, events, publications and networks. You'll join an international community of more than 6500 historians.
Postgraduate Membership brings access to research funding, events, publications and networks. You'll join an international community of more than 6500 historians.
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
Adding some joy to the timeline!
I’m pleased to announce my first publication, exploring how associations between sex work and drug use deepened in 1980s Britain in the context of the AIDS epidemic.
Read it here in Modern British History’s latest issue:
academic.oup.com/tcbh/article...
I’m pleased to announce my first publication, exploring how associations between sex work and drug use deepened in 1980s Britain in the context of the AIDS epidemic.
Read it here in Modern British History’s latest issue:
academic.oup.com/tcbh/article...
Vice versa: sex work and drug use during the HIV epidemic in Thatcher’s Britain
Abstract. This article traces the origins of the present-day association of prostitution and drug addiction in Britain. Through an examination of a variety
https://academic.oup.com/tcbh/article/36/1/hwaf003/8090288?login=true#no-access-message#no-access-message
March 22, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Adding some joy to the timeline!
I’m pleased to announce my first publication, exploring how associations between sex work and drug use deepened in 1980s Britain in the context of the AIDS epidemic.
Read it here in Modern British History’s latest issue:
academic.oup.com/tcbh/article...
I’m pleased to announce my first publication, exploring how associations between sex work and drug use deepened in 1980s Britain in the context of the AIDS epidemic.
Read it here in Modern British History’s latest issue:
academic.oup.com/tcbh/article...
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
I wrote a book once on the history of debates over free speech, protest and academic freedom at universities, looking at how fascists used the language of free speech to promote themselves on campus and those who argued that fascists should be denied this platform.
www.routledge.com/No-Platform-...
www.routledge.com/No-Platform-...
No Platform: A History of Anti-Fascism, Universities and the Limits of Free Speech
This book is the first to outline the history of the tactic of ‘no platforming’ at British universities since the 1970s, looking at more than four decades of student protest against racist and fascist...
www.routledge.com
September 17, 2025 at 1:50 AM
I wrote a book once on the history of debates over free speech, protest and academic freedom at universities, looking at how fascists used the language of free speech to promote themselves on campus and those who argued that fascists should be denied this platform.
www.routledge.com/No-Platform-...
www.routledge.com/No-Platform-...
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
Some big news: the University of Birmingham is launching a new MA in Gender & Sexuality. It's interdisciplinary, with a focus on combining theory & practice. It's going to be amazing. I'm convening it: message or email with questions. www.birmingham.ac.uk/study/postgr... @unibirmingham.bsky.social
Gender and Sexuality MA - University of Birmingham
Course information for prospective postgraduate students on our MA History taught masters degree programme at the University of Birmingham.
www.birmingham.ac.uk
September 15, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Some big news: the University of Birmingham is launching a new MA in Gender & Sexuality. It's interdisciplinary, with a focus on combining theory & practice. It's going to be amazing. I'm convening it: message or email with questions. www.birmingham.ac.uk/study/postgr... @unibirmingham.bsky.social
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
And you can now read the (just published) book for free on the @uolpress.bsky.social website uolpress.co.uk/book/democra... !
August 8, 2025 at 3:19 PM
And you can now read the (just published) book for free on the @uolpress.bsky.social website uolpress.co.uk/book/democra... !
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
JOB ALERT: amazing 4-year post in postwar British history and refugee studies at @uniofreading.bsky.social Humanities!
A post perfectly suited for someone working on political and social histories of race and migration in late 20c. Deadline 5 September.
jobs.reading.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
A post perfectly suited for someone working on political and social histories of race and migration in late 20c. Deadline 5 September.
jobs.reading.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA):Whiteknights Reading UK
Postdoctoral Research Associate(4 years, full time) in public history project ‘Nation of Refuge’.
jobs.reading.ac.uk
August 11, 2025 at 8:47 AM
JOB ALERT: amazing 4-year post in postwar British history and refugee studies at @uniofreading.bsky.social Humanities!
A post perfectly suited for someone working on political and social histories of race and migration in late 20c. Deadline 5 September.
jobs.reading.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
A post perfectly suited for someone working on political and social histories of race and migration in late 20c. Deadline 5 September.
jobs.reading.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
Studying, researching or teaching in the histories of Britain or Ireland? Try using the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH), it contains 650,000+ resources from 55 BCE to today! Find out how to use BBIH
Using BBIH online: a help pack for students and lecturers
For the academic year, we've a help pack offering guides to BBIH in undergraduate and graduate teaching and research. With embeddable content for VLEs.
bit.ly
July 9, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Studying, researching or teaching in the histories of Britain or Ireland? Try using the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH), it contains 650,000+ resources from 55 BCE to today! Find out how to use BBIH
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
The Summer Sale starts now ☀️
Get 50% off EVERYTHING until the 7th July. Yep, we said everything.
Unlock with code: Sun50
Had your eye on any of our newest hardbacks, or Academic New in Paperbacks? Now's your chance 👇
Browse by subject at the link in bio 🔗
#booksky #academicsky
Get 50% off EVERYTHING until the 7th July. Yep, we said everything.
Unlock with code: Sun50
Had your eye on any of our newest hardbacks, or Academic New in Paperbacks? Now's your chance 👇
Browse by subject at the link in bio 🔗
#booksky #academicsky
June 27, 2025 at 11:02 AM
The Summer Sale starts now ☀️
Get 50% off EVERYTHING until the 7th July. Yep, we said everything.
Unlock with code: Sun50
Had your eye on any of our newest hardbacks, or Academic New in Paperbacks? Now's your chance 👇
Browse by subject at the link in bio 🔗
#booksky #academicsky
Get 50% off EVERYTHING until the 7th July. Yep, we said everything.
Unlock with code: Sun50
Had your eye on any of our newest hardbacks, or Academic New in Paperbacks? Now's your chance 👇
Browse by subject at the link in bio 🔗
#booksky #academicsky
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
Pleased to see that my article 'A new phase of activism: women’s occupational organisations and married women’s paid work after the Second World War in Britain' is now in the current issue of @womenshistoryrev.bsky.social.
Open access so free for all to read.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Open access so free for all to read.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
A new phase of activism: women’s occupational organisations and married women’s paid work after the Second World War in Britain
Focusing on the National Union of Women Teachers (NUWT) and the National Association of Women Civil Servants (NAWCS), this article looks at activism and campaigning for married women workers after ...
www.tandfonline.com
June 24, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Pleased to see that my article 'A new phase of activism: women’s occupational organisations and married women’s paid work after the Second World War in Britain' is now in the current issue of @womenshistoryrev.bsky.social.
Open access so free for all to read.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Open access so free for all to read.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
Love’s Labour Launches with a roar! Thanks to many roarsome people I’ve gone from peasant to PhD, to Professor, and Penguin author with Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction out today. 🐅
Pls share, read, and help create a worthwhile world.
#WorldEnvironmentDay
#BookSky #HPS #Skystorians 🗃️
Pls share, read, and help create a worthwhile world.
#WorldEnvironmentDay
#BookSky #HPS #Skystorians 🗃️
June 4, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Love’s Labour Launches with a roar! Thanks to many roarsome people I’ve gone from peasant to PhD, to Professor, and Penguin author with Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction out today. 🐅
Pls share, read, and help create a worthwhile world.
#WorldEnvironmentDay
#BookSky #HPS #Skystorians 🗃️
Pls share, read, and help create a worthwhile world.
#WorldEnvironmentDay
#BookSky #HPS #Skystorians 🗃️
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
If you’d like to know more about extinction and empire, some upcoming book events:
18 June, with Gary Younge, KCL
www.kcl.ac.uk/events/vanis...
26 June, Linnean Society, London
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-unnatu...
9 July, with Helen Macdonald, Cambridge
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/vanished-a...
18 June, with Gary Younge, KCL
www.kcl.ac.uk/events/vanis...
26 June, Linnean Society, London
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-unnatu...
9 July, with Helen Macdonald, Cambridge
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/vanished-a...
A huge thanks to the brilliant Maya Goodfellow who recently interviewed me for @theguardian.com about my book, and the entangled histories of extinction and empire more broadly.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘A billionaire will pay a lot of money to shoot a recreated being’: historian Sadiah Qureshi on extinction and empire
In her new book, Vanished, the history professor picks apart the political and philosophical dimensions of species loss
www.theguardian.com
June 12, 2025 at 4:01 PM
If you’d like to know more about extinction and empire, some upcoming book events:
18 June, with Gary Younge, KCL
www.kcl.ac.uk/events/vanis...
26 June, Linnean Society, London
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-unnatu...
9 July, with Helen Macdonald, Cambridge
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/vanished-a...
18 June, with Gary Younge, KCL
www.kcl.ac.uk/events/vanis...
26 June, Linnean Society, London
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-unnatu...
9 July, with Helen Macdonald, Cambridge
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/vanished-a...
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
My latest article with Jinal Parekh: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/.... In this we look at how the British state shifted its focus from worrying about young South Asian men as a source of immigration fraud to South Asian women, and the consequences of this.
South Asian Bodies at British Borders in the 1970s: From the Ugandan Asian ‘Stateless Husbands’ to ‘Virginity Testing’
This article looks at two critical moments in British immigration – the case of the ‘stateless’ Ugandan Asian husbands, whose wives successfully argued for their entry in Britain in 1973 and the ‘vir...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
May 10, 2025 at 6:31 AM
My latest article with Jinal Parekh: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/.... In this we look at how the British state shifted its focus from worrying about young South Asian men as a source of immigration fraud to South Asian women, and the consequences of this.
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
Support for historians at mid-career: the Society invites applications for its 'Funded Book Workshop' programme bit.ly/4fYQcRC
Workshops enable authors of a 2nd or 3rd monograph to hold a day-long discussion of a book MS with 6 readers of their choosing.
Closing date: Friday 11 July #Skystorians
Workshops enable authors of a 2nd or 3rd monograph to hold a day-long discussion of a book MS with 6 readers of their choosing.
Closing date: Friday 11 July #Skystorians
May 7, 2025 at 7:36 AM
Support for historians at mid-career: the Society invites applications for its 'Funded Book Workshop' programme bit.ly/4fYQcRC
Workshops enable authors of a 2nd or 3rd monograph to hold a day-long discussion of a book MS with 6 readers of their choosing.
Closing date: Friday 11 July #Skystorians
Workshops enable authors of a 2nd or 3rd monograph to hold a day-long discussion of a book MS with 6 readers of their choosing.
Closing date: Friday 11 July #Skystorians
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
OPEN LETTER: HISTORIANS FOR TRANS RIGHTS
Are you a historian in the UK or working on UK history fed up at seeing the history of LGBTQIA+ discrimination repeat itself? Sign this open letter to MPs demanding they stand up for trans rights now!
Letter: tinyurl.com/879vuver
Sign: tinyurl.com/4p7wktrn
Are you a historian in the UK or working on UK history fed up at seeing the history of LGBTQIA+ discrimination repeat itself? Sign this open letter to MPs demanding they stand up for trans rights now!
Letter: tinyurl.com/879vuver
Sign: tinyurl.com/4p7wktrn
Historians for Trans Rights - Open Letter to MPs
In light of the recent and incessant attacks on the trans community in the UK by the UK government and legal system, a group of UK-based historians have drafted the letter linked below. Our aim is to ...
tinyurl.com
May 1, 2025 at 10:17 AM
OPEN LETTER: HISTORIANS FOR TRANS RIGHTS
Are you a historian in the UK or working on UK history fed up at seeing the history of LGBTQIA+ discrimination repeat itself? Sign this open letter to MPs demanding they stand up for trans rights now!
Letter: tinyurl.com/879vuver
Sign: tinyurl.com/4p7wktrn
Are you a historian in the UK or working on UK history fed up at seeing the history of LGBTQIA+ discrimination repeat itself? Sign this open letter to MPs demanding they stand up for trans rights now!
Letter: tinyurl.com/879vuver
Sign: tinyurl.com/4p7wktrn
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
Thank you ACIS for awarding me the Michael J Durkan Prize for Books on Language & Culture and an Honourable Mention for the Donald Murphy Prize for Best First Book for Exhibiting Irishness: Empire, race and nation, c.1850-1970
'Exhibiting Irishness: Empire, race and nation, c. 1850-1970' by @shahmimaakhtar.bsky.social has won the Michael J. Durkan Prize for Books on Language & Culture, awarded by #ACIS2025 🎉
'Exhibiting Irishness is a groundbreaking work' @rise-open-journal.bsky.social
Out now! #Irishness #IrishStudies
'Exhibiting Irishness is a groundbreaking work' @rise-open-journal.bsky.social
Out now! #Irishness #IrishStudies
March 3, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Thank you ACIS for awarding me the Michael J Durkan Prize for Books on Language & Culture and an Honourable Mention for the Donald Murphy Prize for Best First Book for Exhibiting Irishness: Empire, race and nation, c.1850-1970
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
🚨Applications for our Dissertation Fellowship are due this week on May 1!
The NACBS Dissertation Fellowship supports dissertation research in the British Isles on any topic of British (including Scottish, Irish and Imperial) Studies.
Get those applications in soon!
www.nacbs.org/grants-datab...
The NACBS Dissertation Fellowship supports dissertation research in the British Isles on any topic of British (including Scottish, Irish and Imperial) Studies.
Get those applications in soon!
www.nacbs.org/grants-datab...
April 28, 2025 at 6:59 PM
🚨Applications for our Dissertation Fellowship are due this week on May 1!
The NACBS Dissertation Fellowship supports dissertation research in the British Isles on any topic of British (including Scottish, Irish and Imperial) Studies.
Get those applications in soon!
www.nacbs.org/grants-datab...
The NACBS Dissertation Fellowship supports dissertation research in the British Isles on any topic of British (including Scottish, Irish and Imperial) Studies.
Get those applications in soon!
www.nacbs.org/grants-datab...
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
If you're an archivist, librarian, local or family historian, researcher or student of British and/or British & colonial/imperial history (from the Roman era to the present) this introduction to BBIH is worth a look. Google searches are degrading and hallucinating with generative AI; BBIH is not.
Expert guidance on using, and getting the most from, the 'Bibliography of British and Irish History', from @ihr.bsky.social. Booking now available. #skystorians
Join us and @brepols.bsky.social for a webinar introducing the new Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) interface.
Date: Monday 28 April 2025
Time: 17:00 (Brussels) / 11:00 (Eastern Time, USA) / 16:00 (London, UK)
Duration: 15 minutes, followed by a Q&A
More info: bit.ly/BBIHwebinar
Date: Monday 28 April 2025
Time: 17:00 (Brussels) / 11:00 (Eastern Time, USA) / 16:00 (London, UK)
Duration: 15 minutes, followed by a Q&A
More info: bit.ly/BBIHwebinar
April 25, 2025 at 12:09 PM
If you're an archivist, librarian, local or family historian, researcher or student of British and/or British & colonial/imperial history (from the Roman era to the present) this introduction to BBIH is worth a look. Google searches are degrading and hallucinating with generative AI; BBIH is not.
Reposted by Shahmima Akhtar
Book launch tickets on sale today at 10! Absolutely delighted to be in conversation with David Olusoga at Manchester Museum on 6 June, 6-8:30pm. Join us for a launch celebration among amazing ways of being!
Free, but limited places so register here. Pls share.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sadiah-qur...
Free, but limited places so register here. Pls share.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sadiah-qur...
Sadiah Qureshi in conversation with David Olusoga about extinction
Manchester Histories presents an 'In Conversation' event marking the launch of 'Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction' (Penguin 2025)
www.eventbrite.co.uk
April 14, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Book launch tickets on sale today at 10! Absolutely delighted to be in conversation with David Olusoga at Manchester Museum on 6 June, 6-8:30pm. Join us for a launch celebration among amazing ways of being!
Free, but limited places so register here. Pls share.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sadiah-qur...
Free, but limited places so register here. Pls share.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sadiah-qur...