2023 Reading Challenge: On Hope by Pope Francis

“Hope is the ability to go beyond human reasoning, wisdom, and prudence of the world, beyond what is normally considered common sense, to believe in the impossible. Hope opens new horizons, making us capable of dreaming what is not even imaginable. This hope invites us to enter the darkness of an uncertain future and to walk through and into the light. It is beautiful, the virtue of hope; it gives us great strength to walk in life.”

Everyday Utopia to be featured on Science Podcast →

In 1999, historian Londa Schiebinger summed up two decades of feminist analyses of science by asking Has Feminism Changed Science? (1). The answer was “yes, but…” there was still work to do. Indeed, the study of sex and gender continues to affect scientific thought, and in 2023, Science will explore some of these influences in a limited podcast series. The team behind the series—host Angela Saini; Science books and culture editor, Valerie Thompson; Science podcast producer, Sarah Crespi; and myself—found a wealth of new work to consider. The series, announced today to coincide with Science’s special issue on human reproduction, will begin on 25 May 2023 and continue monthly thereafter for 6 months. During each broadcast, an author will discuss their distinctive take on the relationships—past, present, and future—between sex, gender, and science.

Professor Mommy in Chinese →

One of my students from China just told me that the Chinese translation of my co-authored book with Rachel Connelly, Professor Mommy: Finding Work/Family Balance in Academia is being discussed in China right now and has created a bit of a male backlash. Although the book is now over 10 years old, I think it still offers a lot of advice for young scholars of all genders, whether or not they have kids.

Prototype of the Oxford Cartographers World History Timeline Map?

I was in New Lanark in Scotland a few weeks ago, and took many photos. Robert Owen had a school for his workers’ children, and in the beautiful schoolhouse hung these historical maps. I took a bunch of pictures of the maps, and it was only upon returning home to my study that I realized that they bore a striking similarity to the Oxford Cartographers World History Timeline Map that I have hanging on my office wall. This one is organized by territory at the top, to track the various imperial formations of the world at the time. I wonder if this is where the original idea came from?

Day trip to New Lanark in Scotland, a UNESCO world heritage site

I was so excited to finally visit New Lanark, the home of Robert Owen’s utopian socialist experiments in the early 19th century. This place could be seen as the birthplace of every social movement to improve the working conditions of industrial workers in the last 200 years.

Since it was early April, the place was very empty and we spent a few hours wandering around the exhibits and really reading everything. It was the perfect day trip from Glasgow.

2023 Reading Challenge: The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin

I have dipped in and out of this book for decades, but I finally sat down and read it cover-to-cover. There’s so much to process in this book, and so much that is still very relevant to the present day.

“A revolution is more than the destruction of a political system. It implies the awakening of human intelligence, the increasing of the inventive spirit tenfold, a hundredfold... It is a revolution in the minds of men, more than in their institutions”

2023 Reading Challenge: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

One of my favorite books of all time, I just reread it for my class on Anarchism and I can see the influence of Godwin, Goldman, Bakunin, and Kropotkin everywhere. So much to discuss with this book, and I am so excited for teaching my class today. There are days where I just really love my job.

My short but wonderful Bulgaria trip

I’ve just returned from a quick dash to Sofia to do some research in the National Library, celebrate my ex-mother-in-law’s 85th birthday, and write a little about how the country still celebrates 8 March as International Women’s Day. It was a very busy and over scheduled trip, with visits to three history museums, but I am always happy to be back in Bulgaria, even if only for such a short while.