Dr Edwin Coomasaru

It occurs to me that if the government did force UK writers to hand over their work to the big AI companies, that would now among other things mean contributing to the development of US advanced weapon systems.

How to transition from capitalism’s scarcity to radical abundance - LSE Review of Books Kai Heron, Keir Milburn & Bertie Russell's Radical Abundance calls for a transition from capitalism to a “radical abundance” that benefits people & the planet.

How can we protect democracy from capital, not the other way around?

Radical Abundance: How to Win a Green Democratic Future @kaiheron.bsky.social @kmilb.bsky.social @bertrussell.bsky.social @abundance-org.bsky.social @plutopress.bsky.social reviewed by Ivan Radanović @lsereviewofbooks.bsky.social

I've an article in @thenation.com today. It critiques the analysis of bureaucracy that underpins @ezraklein.bsky.social and @dkthomp.bsky.social's book Abundance, while suggesting that building of popular protagonism can be the project that can orient the Left.
www.thenation.com/article/econ...

Great thread. It’s worth highlighting that reducing people to objects and elevating objects to the status of people is a sleight of hand used throughout the history of capitalist consumerism and technology. I wrote about this strategy for LARB recently: lareviewofbooks.org/article/lite...

Smears and Lies Glue Together Starmer’s Government The Labour Together spying scandal shows how Britain’s mainstream press looked the other way when dirty tricks were deployed against the Left — allowing a culture of surveillance and paranoia to take ...

The Labour Together spying scandal shows how Britain’s mainstream press looked the other way when dirty tricks were deployed against the Left — allowing a culture of surveillance and paranoia to take political power.

Talk: Michelle Henning on Photography's Dirty History Rethink photography as a ma

I have a few book launches/ talks coming up:
26 March, London The Photographers'​ Gallery - talk, thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/tal...
28 April, Liverpool, Open Eye Gallery - in conversation with Prof. Sarah E. James. openeye.org.uk/whatson/book...
…

Studies in Imperialism: marking the 200th volume

On 26 May @ihr.bsky.social is hosting a special panel discussion to celebrate the publication of the 200th volume in the @manchesterup.bsky.social series ‘Studies in Imperialism’. Register below to join us either in person or online. www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Global Politics and Anti-Trans Moral Panics: Transfeminist Perspectives Academic Editor(s): Charlotte Galpin (University of Birmingham), Gina Gwenffrewi (University of Edinburgh), and Ash Stokoe (University of Birmingham) Submission of Abstracts: 1-15 March 2026 Submission of Full Papers: 15-31 August 2026 Publication of the Issue: January/June 2027

CFP for a special issue on the global politics of anti-trans moral panics from transfeminist perspectives. Timely and necessary. www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandg...

Thanks so much for sharing! Hope you enjoyed the piece

Burlington Contemporary - Articles - Strange evidence and surreal visions: contemporary Sri Lankan art in Britain On 13th September 2025, the day of the biggest far-right rally in London for decades, nineteen members of the Sri Lankan diaspora, including the present author, gathered at the National Archives. The ...

By @ecoomasaru.bsky.social, in @burlingtoncontemp.bsky.social
contemporary.burlington.org.uk/articles/art...

Visual Culture in Britain Essay Prize Explore the article collection: Visual Culture in Britain Essay Prize. Published in Visual Culture in Britain.

To celebrate the recent relaunch of Visual Culture in Britain, we are delighted to announce an ESSAY PRIZE for original research articles @vcib.bsky.social For more information please visit: www.tandfonline.com/journals/rvc... Thank you for sharing!

RHS Workshop Grants, 2026 - call now open to fund day events on historical projects - RHS The Royal Historical Society is pleased to announce the next call for its RHS Workshop Grants for projects to take place in 2026. This scheme provides funding of £1,000 per Grant to enable historians ...

The Society now invites applications for its Workshop Grants programme 2026: bit.ly/4oPyUdZ

Grants provide funding for groups of historians to come together for a day event to work collaboratively on a shared project.

Closing date for applications: Friday 23 January 2026 #Skystorians

Introducing our editors: @saradominici.bsky.social, Gary Bratchford, Victoria Horne, and @ecoomasaru.bsky.social. Interested in publishing with us? Please do get in touch!

We are delighted to share the Call for Papers for our Spring Seminar Series 2026:

Our upcoming seminar in the Global Histories of Knowledge series. The link to the meeting will be on the website: www.staff.universiteitleiden.nl/events/2025/...

Join the launch of, ‘Spirits of Extraction: Christianity, Settler Colonialism and the Geology of Race’. By Claire Blencowe

Discussants: Goldie Osuri, Hannah Jones & Martin Savransky.

Date: Thursday, 9 October
Time: 4:00–5:30 pm
Location: Ramphal Building, R1.15

Email Olivia.Wyatt@ed.ac.uk or Meleisa.Ono-George@history.ox.ac.uk to present online or in-person

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

Stuart Hall Essay Prize reopens to submissions - Stuart Hall Foundation The second Stuart Hall Essay Prize is reopening to submissions. The new submission window is open from now until Monday 3 November. Open to submissions from UK-based entrants aged 18 to 30 inclusive, ...

Stuart Hall Essay Prize. Please disseminate:

www.stuarthallfoundation.org/foundation/s...

Sri Lankan research trip to Amsterdam: Vasantha Yogananthan’s ‘A Myth of Two Souls’ (2013-21, detail) at @rijksmuseum.bsky.social; Chathuri Nissansala studio visit at @rijksakademie.bsky.social (‘Saudade V’, 2024, detail).

Imperial Heritage on Trial: Keith Piper’s Viva Voce at Tate Britain Published in Visual Culture in Britain (Ahead of Print, 2025)

Elisabetta Garletti examines "the power imbalance that endures in curatorial reframings where the hosting museum retains the authority over alleged decolonizing narratives, which ultimately reveal themselves to be mere attempts to safeguard institutional survival" www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Slavery, Decoloniality, and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh Rachael Scally draws out the legacies of slavery of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, and what it means for the decolonisation of Scotland's healthcare institutions.

Tomorrow Edinburgh Festival Fringe begins, a month long celebration of the arts.

Rachael Scally's article reveals the legacies of slavery in one of the festival's key venues, the Royal Infirmary (now the Edinburgh Futures Institute).

www.historyworkshop....

Thank you! 😄

I am beyond thrilled to announce I have been awarded a Mid-Career Fellowship from @paulmelloncentr.bsky.social and a Visiting Fellowship at @ucl-ias.bsky.social to write a book on ‘Queer Ecologies and Abundant Aesthetics in Sri Lankan Art, 1926-2024’. Pictured: Chathuri Nissansala, ‘Saudade’, 2024.

Visual Politics of Pro-Palestine Protests: Youth Demand at the National Gallery Published in Visual Culture in Britain (Ahead of Print, 2025)

Esme Garlake reviews @youth-demand.bsky.social's recent protest at the National Gallery, to reflect on the visual politics of pro-Palestine activism: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Reimagining Wedgwood and the Politics of Pottery: Iris Moon’s Melancholy Wedgwood Published in Visual Culture in Britain (Vol. 23, No. 1, 2025)

Caterina Franciosi reviews Iris Moon’s recent book 'Melancholy Wedgwood' (2024, @mitpress.bsky.social) as "a provocative and original contribution to the intertwined histories of capitalism and decorative arts" www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Notes on the Emergency Published in Visual Culture in Britain (Vol. 22, No. 1-3, 2024)

Nicholas Mirzoeff examines the politics of contemporary Palestinian visual culture and solidarity movements resisting settler colonialism, to critically interrogate British complicity in the region's past and present: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) studentship – ‘Convinced ambassadors of Empire’?: exploring the visual record of Black Caribbean men and women serving in the UK during the Second World War

I am very excited to announce a new fully funded PhD opportunity with Imperial War Museums:

"'Convinced ambassadors of Empire’?: exploring the visual record of Black Caribbean men and women serving in the UK during the Second World War"

Thank you for sharing! www.westminster.ac.uk/study/postgr...

Visual Culture in Britain cover with image by Hardeep Dhindsa titled "Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius (digital illustration, 2021)

So pleased to announce that the relaunch issue of @vcib.bsky.social is OUT! Huge thanks to all the contributors for helping us create this. Our cover features @hardeepdhindsa.bsky.social's work and you can read more about it and so much more here: www.tandfonline.com/toc/rvcb20/2...

Confronting the White Classical Body Published in Visual Culture in Britain (Vol. 22, No. 1-3, 2024)

Hardeep Singh Dhindsa considers how 18th-century classical studies constructed modern ideas of racial whiteness, using contemporary illustration to challenge the worldviews such sculptures came to represent (we are delighted to feature on our latest cover) www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

You are invited to the Photoecologies Study Group, a new space for exploring photography as an environmental, elemental and energetic assemblage. To find out more about and register to attend our upcoming events, see our eventbrite page: www.eventbrite.com/o/photoecolo... .