B. Ricardo Brown, PhD
@node801.bsky.social
Professor of Social Science & Cultural Studies Dept. Social Science & Cultural Studies, Pratt Institute. https://sciences.social/@NODE801 #HistSTM #CriticalTheory #soundscapes -:- Simon's Rock College '78-'82
In sociology courses at Florida’s public colleges, classroom discussions of institutions that “oppress persons of color” and several other topics are now forbidden by the government.
Florida Implements Stronger Thought Policing - Daily Nous
With measures borrowed from history's totalitarian regimes, political leaders in Florida are taking unprecedented steps to indoctrinate students and prevent them from learning about the world in ways ...
dailynous.com
If you want to claim that gender, race, sexual and social norms in general are not in fact socially constructed - as authoritarians in UK, US & elsewhere do - then it is clear that you have to (effectively) eliminate sociology as a discipline. This is sickening news. It will happen elsewhere too.
Zachary Levenson@grundrza.bsky.social · 6mo agoYesterday, those who teach Intro to Sociology at Florida colleges (as opposed to universities) received a ready-made curriculum from the state and were ordered to teach it. Yes, you read that correctly. The *state* is enforcing a curriculum on college profs, complete w/ the following restrictions:
No paywall Read all the emails, here: archive.md/2026.02.20-2...
archive.md
Rima I Anabtawi@rimaanabtawi.bsky.social · 5mo agoJeffrey Epstein’s Playbook for Bard’s Botstein: Humiliate, Disparage, Reject, Repeat Tonight is a good night for Leon Botstein to resign as president of @bardcollege.bsky.social www.thedailycatch.org/articles/jef...
"Light pollution is yet another form of environmental injustice." - @sarabpritchard.bsky.social niche-canada.org/2026/01/26/u... #envhist #urbanhistory #night #light
Urban Nightscapes and the Anthropocene
Pritchard argues that nightscape is both a useful and important analytic category for environmental as well as urban historians.
niche-canada.org
Sarah Primate@langurlover.bsky.social · 6mo ago👍
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘The normal should be darkness’: why one Belgian national park is turning off ‘pointless’ streetlights
The radical project is an attempt to preserve wildlife in one of Europe’s most light-polluted countries, but can they persuade local people they will still feel safe?
theguardian.com
20-Feb: On this day in 1835, Charles Darwin witnessed a major earthquake in Valvidia, Southern Chile… #HistSci
20-Feb-1835: Darwin witnesses an earthquake
On 20th February 1835, while taking a rest in a wood in Valvidia, Southern Chile, Charles Darwin experienced a major earthquake.
friendsofdarwin.com
All BHL staff have been secured! 🧪 As we enter our next chapter, the team who steward BHL’s collections & infrastructure remain in place, led by Colleen Funkhouser in her new role of Managing Director. Meet the team guiding BHL forward: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2026/02/celebrating-bhl-team.html
Darwin, Slavery, the HMS Black Joke, and Seaman Morgan. In honor of the birthday of Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln. #HistSTM #HistSci #CharlesDarwin #DarwinDay #Slavery https://until-darwin.blogspot.com/2014/02/darwin-slavery-hms-black-joke-and.html
19th-century semi-colons have a lot to answer for?! worksinprogress.co/issue/the-lo... #writing #punctuation #sentences #English #novels #fiction #Literature
European Brotherhood is a fashion brand popular among European far-right and neo-Nazi scenes. We’ve previously documented how they’ve sold content with hateful messaging through major payment processors and wholesale manufacturers, with promotion on social media. www.bellingcat.com/news/2022/05...
Fascist Fashion: How Mainstream Businesses Enable the Sale of Far-Right Merchandise - bellingcat
Unravelling the thread of right-wing fashion brands and how hate spreads online.
bellingcat.com
When I think about measles I think about the number 1,000. Thats the number that epidemiologists use to explain harm from measles in children. With 1,000 cases, about 200 children will require hospitalization, 50 will develop pneumonia, and one to three will die. South Carolina is at 789.
Grew up with this Canadian icon as SCTV was a big part of our must watch tv. Thanks for all the laughs. Huge loss for 🍁. Rest Easy Catherine. 😢💔 people.com/catherine-oh...
Catherine O'Hara, 'Schitt’s Creek' Star and Comedy Legend, Dies at 71
Catherine O'Hara has died at the age of 71. O'Hara was known for her appearances in movies including 'Beetlejuice' and 'Home Alone', as well as her Emmy-winning role as Moira Rose on the TV sitcom 'Sc...
people.com
Here's how to identify some crowd control munitions, canisters of which federal agents have left on the ground after deploying them against people in Minnesota. bit.ly/3YWp1jE Graphic by Mark Boswell/The Minnesota Star Tribune
Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse was shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis, on January 24. DHS claims he died after an armed struggle, but videos of the incident appears to contradict that claim. Read our analysis here: www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/01...
Alex Pretti: Analysing Footage of Minneapolis CBP Shooting - bellingcat
Bellingcat has analysed video of the shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. The footage appears to contradict statements made by the Department of Homeland Security.
bellingcat.com
Holly Brewer, The King’s Slaves: The British Empire and the Origins of American Slavery – @princetonupress.bsky.social, September/November 2026 press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
The King's Slaves
A provocative account of how empire and absolutism institutionalized slavery in America
press.princeton.edu
I'm pleased to share that my review essay, 'Whiteness made visible: Recent Work in Premodern Critical Race Studies', has now been published in @postmedieval.bsky.social 👇 link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Whiteness made visible: Recent work in Premodern Critical Race Studies - postmedieval
postmedieval -
link.springer.com
Technology advances mean some scientists rarely leave the lab and have stopped doing field work. A feature in Nature reports how ecologists fear this loss could lead to error, bias and oversimplification of results. #Academicsky 🧪
‘I rarely get outside’: scientists ditch fieldwork in the age of AI
In the race to embrace new technologies, some ecologists fear their field is losing touch with nature.
go.nature.com
In the second book of his De motu animalium, Giovanni Alfonso Borelli provides a strong mechanization of plant life, as in chapter 13 he discusses "On Plant Generation and Vegetation", somehow reducing plants to hydraulic machines - or a thermometer raising sap/liquors #plantlife #histsci
This is just what we need. Michigan has three native elm species (Ulmus americana, rubra, and thomasii) and all are already suffering to varying degrees from the introduced Dutch elm disease. This sawfly will probably only make their plight worse. 🌍 www.sciencenews.org/article/elm-...
An all-female wasp is rapidly spreading across North America’s elms
The elm zigzag sawfly has spread to 15 states in five years. Now it's attacking the tree that cities planted to replace Dutch elm disease victims.
sciencenews.org
Davos World Economic Forum: "a visibly exhausted president of the United States of America rambled in angry free association in... a virulently racist, insulting, rambling speech... More than anything, though, the speech demonstrated his mental unfitness for his position" @hcrichardson.bsky.social
Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR)@hcrichardson.bsky.social · 7mo agoJanuary 21, 2026
Mamdani: "I am in support of abolishing ICE. What we see is an entity that has no interest in fulfilling its stated reason to exist. We're seeing a government agency that is supposed to be enforcing some kind of immigration law, but instead what it's doing is terrorizing people."
I have been invited to give the keynote speech on combatting authoritarianism at the Japanese-American National Museum's Echoes of History symposium on January 23rd in Los Angeles. You can buy tickets in person or to watch via the Livestream! www.janm.org/democracy/ev...
Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Building Democracy | Japanese American National Museum
Join the Democracy Center at JANM and meet the thinkers, artists, organizers, and civic leaders confronting authoritarianism today. Hear from keynote speakers Agnès Callamard of Amnesty International,...
janm.org
For @msnownews.bsky.social, I wrote an article about how ICE Watch is grounded in sociological theories of violence prevention. The reality is that most men will only commit public violence in extremely specific scenarios and ICE Watch disrupts the conditions necessary for escalation.
Opinion | I'm a Minneapolis sociologist who studies violence. Here's how ICE observers are helping.
Research into how violence occurs shows that disapproval from the people around you can help reduce it.
ms.now
Now the actual military has to dress like it’s not the military cuz federal law enforcement agencies dress too much like the military
From an optics perspective... the protesters being the ones waving the US flag while Bovino et al looks like every awful nazi inspired movie we've ever seen... hats off to Minnesotans.
Luca Migo@victinibcn.bsky.social · 7mo agoGreg Bovino was seen earlier today at the Minneapolis ICE facility dressed in a very nazi-inspired outfit. They don’t even hide anymore.
