Have you ever blown out a candle and made wish? Do you cross your fingers for good luck? Jamie Matthews and I are hosting a one-day Symposium at Queen Mary University of London to investigate the needs for rituals in contemporary life.22 April 2026 (Earth Day).Get your free ticket/Join the chat!

This has just been published in “Theory & Society” (formerly) considered THE top #sociology /theory journal, after Springer Nature redid the board, installing Steven Pinker among them. Shame shame shame

#ClimateActionWeek2026 continues at SSE today with the gardening club. Open to beginners & the plant-curious, the Gardening Club is a student- and staff-led initiative that reclaims unused space to grow flowers and herbs, and host plant-related workshops. More info 👇️ www.qmul.ac.uk/about/sustai...

🩷🌱🩷 bring more plants into your life

School of Society & Environment, Queen Mary University@qmulsse.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Queen Mary Gardening Club hosted an event at #CAW2026 to give staff and students the chance to discover ways of tackling sustainability by building relationships with plants and soil at the QMUL campus: www.qmul.ac.uk/society-and-...

I'll be talking about the Hope Botanic Gardens in Jamaica on 27th Jan, using records from the colonial archives at Kew Gardens 🌴 Signup here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/empires-pl...

Empires, Plants & Gardening: Kew in Jamaica

The second talk in our series exploring the influence of political and economic power on garden-making

eventbrite.co.uk

Flexible Grants for Small Groups competition (FG12) Deadline: 5pm GMT (6pm CET), Friday 13th March 2026 Offering flexible support for a period of (up to) one year for the activities of a small research group. isrf.org/competitions...

ISRF Flexible Grants for Small Groups (FG12)

isrf.org

Apply Now! Our 8th Mid-Career Fellowship competition aims to support independent-minded researchers to explore & present original research ideas which take new approaches, and suggest new solutions, to real world social problems. #SocialScience #Humanities #Arts More Info: isrf.org/competitions...

EcoMythology online winter symposium, Jan 17-18, 2026. From Nordic Summer University. "learn together more what the methods are to create an eco-mythology for your watershed, city, region, neighbourhood or your life." 40/70/100€. Register by Jan 11, 2026. woodwidewebstories.com/2025/12/06/e...

Open access article by @giuliacarabelli.bsky.social - Teaching with Plants as Liberatory Practice: Posthuman Pedagogies and The Sociological Imagination "...making intentional space for plants in our life can cultivate a different sensibility..." journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

I wrote an article reflecting on how i bring plants to the classroom for @sociologyjnl.bsky.social. “Teaching with Plants as Liberatory Practice: Posthuman Pedagogies and The Sociological Imagination” is now available free access journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... 🌱

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

Can’t wait to read this @sarahelton.bsky.social !

American Sociological Association@asanews.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Curious about how understanding plants can help us better understand society? Read Sarah Elton's piece in ASA’s Contexts @contexts.org. This and more are free to read until Nov 16! https://bit.ly/ContextsSummer25 @sarahelton.bsky.social @utoronto.ca @criticalqual.bsky.social @uoftdlsph.bsky.social

Out now! This paper discusses home-making practices with houseplants during the Civid-19 pandemic … when my current project ‘Care for plants’ started! The article is open access and part of fantastic collection of essays on place making with plants 🌱 if you read it, let me know what you think 💭!

The Plant Initiative@theplantinitiative.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Open source (free access) article by Giulia Carabelli @giuliacarabelli.bsky.social - Making Home with Plants: Pandemic Edition, in the Cambridge Journal of Anthropology "...discusses the roles of houseplants in making home and building worlds." www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journal...

“It’s a marathon and things take time. This was important for me in the pandemic where everything felt so urgent.” – Ava, houseplant carer @giuliacarabelli.bsky.social and Dawn Lyon @qmpoliticsir.bsky.social on how plants can alter our relationship to time. #OpenAccess buff.ly/JdCkrU4

Congratulations to Stella Maris, Rector of St Andrews, who has won her appeal against dismissal from the governing body: a vindication of her, and anyone's, right to condemn genocide and apartheid. www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/politics/...

St Andrews rector stripped of powers over Gaza row wins appeal

Stella Maris will resume her role as head of the university’s governing body after a successful appeal against the institution.

thecourier.co.uk

🇵🇸 PALESTINE: A Sociological Issue 🇵🇸 Join us for the second in our Conversations series as we put a sociological lens on the ongoing genocide in Palestine. 🍉 Thu 8 May 18.30-20.00 UTC+1 online 🍉 Ashjan Ajour, Yasmin Gunaratnam, Cairsti Russell & Rafeef Ziadah 🍉 Register: buff.ly/xE1NHos

"academia talks collaboration but builds systems (promotion, funding, community recognition) that often undervalue diversity, whether that’s diversity of discipline, publication type, or research approach"

LSE Impact@lseimpactblog.bsky.social · last yr.

💥New: In academia’s #race for outputs and achievement, Rachael Hains-Wesson & Nira Rahman @unilibrary.bsky.social call for a shift toward connection, mentorship, and belonging—arguing that true intellectual growth depends on inclusive, collaborative cultures. @RMIT @UniMelb ⬇️

How does caring for houseplants reshape the habits and rhythms of everyday life? @giuliacarabelli.bsky.social and Dawn Lyon @qmpoliticsir.bsky.social on human-plant relationships, forms of attentiveness and the COVID-19 pandemic. #OpenAccess buff.ly/JdCkrU4

📢March Issue of Area📢 The latest Issue of Area brings together a 'Thinking with Methods' Special Section - 'Inside the Notebook' - alongside 6 standard papers. 11 of the 15 papers are #OpenAccess and available to read here ⬇️ rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14754762... #geosky

What’s in a houseplant craze? Dawn Lyon and I wrote about how human-plant relations nurtured during lockdown unexpectedly reshaped people’s experiences of temporality and rhythm in everyday life.

a potted plant with a face painted on it

ALT: a potted plant with a face painted on it

media.tenor.com

Our Folklore Reimagined season begins. In this 10-Minute Talk, Professor Ronald Hutton FBA delves into England's witch trials and Matthew Hopkins, the self-proclaimed Witchfinder General. Watch the full video on YouTube: buff.ly/4W0OR4p

As our Folklore Reimagined season continues, Dr Cüneyt Çakırlar explores the postmillennial wave of djinn-themed horror in Turkish cinema –where Anatolian folklore, Turkic shamanism, and Islamic mythology collide in stories of black magic and demonic possession. buff.ly/OOZJk0E

So excited for @stoffelalex.bsky.social 's book launch for Eros and Empire. Sign up below! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/eros-and-e... Find the book here: www.sup.org/books/politi...

Eros and Empire: The Transnational Struggle for Sexual Freedom in the US

Join us for the inaugural UK book launch of Eros and Empire (Stanford University Press). This event is open to all.

eventbrite.co.uk

The call to abolish the family is back, sparking fierce debate on the left. As capitalism reshapes how we live and relate, Alex Stoffel asks if breaking free from the family’s grip can open the door to true liberation. revsoc21.uk/2024/12/22/w...

What’s left of the bourgeois family? On family abolition

rs21 - revolutionary socialism in the 21st century

revsoc21.uk

Find out about our new project, Base Women and Beyond. Inspired by Cynthia Enloe's pathbreaking work, we seek to revive and extend feminist approaches to the everyday politics of military and nuclear installations #AcademySky #PoliSky #IRSky #FeministSky centreforgender.substack.com/p/base-women...

Base Women and Beyond: a new project revives and extends feminist approaches to the everyday politics of military and nuclear installations

A collaboration led by Centre for Gender in Politics director, Dr Deiana and Dr Catherine Eschle, University of Strathclyde

centreforgender.substack.com

The recording of our “Environmental & Climate Justice Storytelling Thru Zines” event is up! Check it out for some fascinating and inspiring discussion! geoz.one/blog/storyte... #geosky @lbnaylor.bsky.social @jaredmargulies.bsky.social

This is happening tomorrow! Check out the poster with info & Zoom link below!

Ombre Tarragnat (they/she)@ombretarragnat.bsky.social · 2y ago

The poster for “Contact Zones: A Masterclass in Continental Philosophy” is out! We look forward to seeing you there! Zoom link: liu-se.zoom.us/j/7402234640...

can’t wait for this !!! ✨

Carolyn Chernoff@carolynchernoff.bsky.social · 2y ago

🚨Publication alert!🚨 March 25, 2025: edited by @gentlemanjane.bsky.social & Soma Chaudhuri (eds.), the Witch Studies Reader. 30% discount on advance orders. It’s a great book from @dukepress.bsky.social, & I don’t just say that because I have a chapter in it on internet witchcraft…

Meet the panelists for our upcoming "Environmental & Climate Justice Storytelling Through Zines" event (12/2 at 4pm Eastern)! Anne Pasek is a zine-maker who works on decarbonizing the uni and the internet! Register for free at bit.ly/4f40aRm @apasek.bsky.social #geosky

IMBRICATE! PRESS is the book imprint of the Society for the Study of Affect. Due Date: 31 December 2024 (abstracts: 10 December 2024). 100-1500 words. Published 20 January 2025. Every submission must use the words ‘capacities to’ (or some minor variation thereof) in its essay title.

Spent this morning reading both issues of the Victorian Vegan. Some fascinating insights into early veggie journals and culture in the first issue, even if it's a bit all over. Second issue is very good, more structured and some fascinating essays on the veggie communes and anarchist interactions.