Dr Mirjam S. Brusius

It’s an immense problem that only institutions with massive collections derived from colonialism get to ‘decolonise’ them.

🗃️📜

Vast scale of overseas human remains held in UK museums decried by MPs and experts Exclusive: Guardian study finds UK museums hold more than 260,000 items of remains, often in sacrilegious ways

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Zum feministischen Kampftag diese leider immer noch aktuelle Diskussion darüber wie schädlich und moralisch verwerflich diese Ausstellung ist, die Doro Bär jetzt stolz im Ministerium präsentiert. Also in diesem Ministerium für …. Raumfahrt.

A grimly familiar liberation cycle - it will repeat. We mourn the Golestan as the people’s heritage, but that grief always includes their schools, hospitals, political prisons, and sites of struggle. Let's hope this time the heritage sector cares as much for the people as they do for the monuments.

'Terror was needed to make Arabs leave': What Israel's army did in '48, revealed Thousands of Newly Discovered Documents Now Make It Possible to Tell the True Story of Israel's Expulsion of Palestinians in 1948 – and to Begin to Grasp Its Bitter Implications, post-October 7

Newly uncovered archival evidence that Israel committed dozens of massacres of Palestinians in 1948 to clear them from Palestine.

Ilan Pappé in 2006 argued that there was a violent and strategically planned "ethnic cleansing of Palestine" by Israel's founders.

"I can't find any reason to celebrate the assassination of the Iranian supreme leader because I think it's part of a package ... It's also part of the killing of Iranian innocent people," says Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, a longtime critic of the Iranian government.

Text on an academic article about "Moving Things: Moving Cartloads of Treasures from Venice to Ethiopia, ca. 1400" pasted into Grammarly in a Browser. It offers to invoke the digital ghosts of David Abulafia, Barry Flood and Chris Wickham to give me "expert feedback".

Using Grammarly for the first time in forever ... WHAT?

As a non-native speaker writing primarily in English, I used to use it to check prepositions, point out too long/convoluted sentences etc.

It now offers to summon colleagues both living and dead to "expert review" the piece???

What?

#nowreading

AI is eugenics is antihuman

Surplus Fascism: Reflections on Current Tendencies of Abandonment in Germany and Beyond Given the current rise of right-wing authoritarian and fascist movements and political parties all around the world, not to mention the recent success of the AfD in Germany, there is a renewed debate ...

@danielloick.bsky.social and I wrote a thing: "Surplus Fascism: Reflections on Current Tendencies of Abandonment in Germany and Beyond", for a SI in New German Critique. @robin-c.bsky.social and H. Kundnani also contributed some really good pieces, among others! read.dukeupress.edu/new-german-c...

A Festival Tried to Focus on Film. Politics Stole the Spotlight.

I talked to the New York Times about the political debate at #Berlinale www.nytimes.com/2026/02/19/m...

Open call: two five-day residencies for writers experiencing displacement to the UK - News & Events - English PEN English PEN open call: two five-day residencies for writers experiencing displacement to the UK

Apply & share! @englishpen.bsky.social writing residencies for "writers currently based in England who identify as experiencing displacement – including (but not only) refugee writers, writers seeking asylum, and writers in exile."

www.englishpen.org/posts/campai...

Sharepic: Ein schwarz-weiß-Foto von Blanka Zmigrod mit schwarzen Rahmen. Text: Wir gedenken Blanka Zmigrod.

Heute gedenken wir Blanka Zmigrod.

Vor 34 Jahren, am 23. Februar 1992, wurde die Shoa-Überlebende auf dem Nachhauseweg in Frankfurt von einem schwedischen Rechtsterroristen ermordet.
#KeinVergessen

Wichtiger Text zu Blanka Zmigrod: www.fr.de/frankfurt/fr...

.. alongside a gallery of victims, and that was seemingly for leverage, rather than classification. Now that catalogue, the instrument of bureaucratic power, is turning against power itself. “

From handsome prince to a ghost behind glass, Andrew’s face tells the story of his decline | Fay Bound-Alberti Royals have always prized their images as ways to assert their lineage and authority. Now this pathetic photo will define the former prince, says historian Fay Bound-Alberti

“It is perhaps ironic that it is Epstein’s endless cataloguing that has brought us here. Epstein built a Victorian-style archive of surveillance of the rich, …https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/20/andrew-mountbatten-windsor-prince-face-car-window?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

‘Everything needs to align’: how striking picture of Andrew leaving police custody was captured Reuters photojournalist Phil Noble staked out police station for hours, just catching ex-prince as he sped off

The image that ended an era?

Step inside the high-stakes scramble to capture Prince Andrew’s walk of shame from police custody. No filters, no spin, just the shot that changed everything. 🗃️

Six years ago, on February 19, 2020, a far-right extremist killed nine people predominantly of Muslim background out of racist motives in #Hanau, Germany.

Today also marks six years of denied justice for Hanau victims & families, as the German government keeps failing to address systemic racism⬇️

16.02.-22.02.2026 17.02. Hamburg, 18:30 Uhr, 3001 Kino, Schanzenstraße 75 (Film und Diskussion: To a land unknown) 18.02. Darmstadt, 19:00 — 21:00 Uhr, Oetinger Villa, Kranichsteiner Straße 81 (Schnupperabend der Seebrücke & Schilder malen für Hanau) Paderborn, 19:00 Uhr, Infoladen Paderborn, Leostraße 75 (Plenum)

16.02.-22.02.2026 19.02. 6 Jahre nach HANAU Aachen, 19:00 Uhr, Elsassplatz Brühl, 18:00 — 19:00 Uhr, Rathausplatz, Uhlstraße 3 Dresden, 18:00 — 19:00 Uhr, Jorge-Gomondai-Platz Karlsruhe, 18:00 Uhr, Marktplatz Kiel, 19:00 Uhr, Asmus-Bremer-Platz Marburg, 17:00 Uhr, Friedrichsplatz Reutlingen, 12:00 Uhr, Marktplatz Passau, 18:00 Uhr, Ludwigsplatz Potsdam, 18:00 — 20:00 Uhr, Brandenburger Tor, Brandenburger Straße Würzburg, 17:00 Uhr, Marktplatz 20.02. Koblenz, 18:00 Uhr, Geflüchtetenunterkunft, Schlachthofstraße 34-44 (Karneval mit Seebrücke Koblenz) Stuttgart, 18:00 — 21:00 Uhr, Stadtteilzentrum Mitte,, Christophstraße 34 (Frauen und Minderheiten in Afghanistan unter der Taliban)

16.02.-22.02.2026 21.02. Berlin, 14:00 — 16:00 Uhr, Oranienplatz (Mahnwache) Detmold, 12:00 — 12:15 Uhr, Unter der Wehme (Flashmob: Grenzen auf! Zu Wasser, zu Land und im Kopf!) Hamburg, 14:00 Uhr, Harburger Rathausplatz (Demo zum gemeinsamen Gedenken: Sechs Jahre nach Hanau) Stuttgart, 13:00 Uhr, Schlossplatz (Demo: Schluss mit rassistischer Sozialpolitik!) 22.02. Aschaffenburg, 10:00 Uhr, Casino, Ohmbachsgasse 2 (Film + Gespräch: Kein Land für Niemand) Graz, 15:00 — 17:00 Uhr, Spektral, Lendkai 45 (Get together)

Weekly event overview, including the 6th anniversary of the racist attack in Hanau.

For a daily updated overview and more information, please visit our website. Photo: Boris Roessler/dpa

#Hanau, #HanauWasNotAnIsolatedIncident, #SayTheirNames #February19

How historical research informs policy practice in home heating #Skystorians

Did they at least get the costs of their visa applications reimbursed, Frau Bleis?

#Berlinale

Detailed watercolour illustration of the Sultanahmet Mosque in Istanbul. The building has a large central blue dome, multiple smaller domes, and tall minarets topped with crescents. Trees and smaller architectural structures appear in the foreground.

Two illuminated manuscript pages in Arabic script. Each page shows black calligraphy arranged in neat lines within a gold and coloured frame. Small circular gold medallions mark verse divisions. The pages are decorated with fine floral and geometric details in blue and gold on cream paper.

Watercolour illustration of four barefoot men walking in a line. They wear simple robes and tall white hats, and carry musical instruments including a tambourine and a drum. The figures are lightly coloured in muted tones against a plain background.

Watercolour illustration of a bearded man wearing a turban and simple garments, holding a walking staff. He leads a domesticated stag with large antlers on a rope. The stag wears a small bell around its neck. The background is plain and uncoloured.

Ramadan Mubarak 🌙

Wishing a peaceful month to our Muslim students, colleagues and Readers.

Ramadan and pilgrimage in our collections:
🕌 Sultanahmet Mosque (Bodl. Or. 430, fol 57r)
📖 Sūrat al-Baqarah, Tīpū’s Qurʾān (Bodl. Or. 793, fols 24a–24b)
🧳 Pilgrims to Mecca (Bodl. Or. 430, fols 145r & 148r)

During Black History Month, Monticello reflects on America’s founding Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello commemorated Black History Month with a series of events centered around sharing the history of Monticello's enslaved community.

“Jefferson’s life and legacies cannot be fully understood without understanding American chattel slavery, nor can it be understood without understanding the lives of the hundreds of enslaved individuals that lived and labored at Monticello,” ~Andrew Davenport www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2026...

The cover of the forthcoming book Colonial Negatives: Picturing History and Identity in Morocco by Patricia Goldsworthy. Bottom half of the image has an image of an oil seller in Fez surrounded by Muslim and Jewish Moroccans. The image highlights the religious diversity of the crowd, and demonstrates the dynamic nature of the Jewish district

I just got a copy of my cover for my forthcoming book! It features a postcard from Fez by the Moroccan Jewish photographer Joseph Bouhsira. Bouhsira was the first Moroccan to establish his own commercial photography studio, and many of his images featured the Jewish community in Fez.

Five great resources for archives in the thread introduced by the post below. 📜🗃️

Map of the British empire in the 20th century, prior to decolonisation. Canada, significant portions of Africa, India, Australia, NZ etc in red, with areas not then (20th c.) colonised by British depicted in white, with blue oceanic background.

The 20th-century globe, as 'colonised by immigrants'.

Judge orders Trump administration to restore Philadelphia slavery exhibit

Judge orders Trump administration to restore Philadelphia slavery exhibit https://aje.news/8nioa5