Les Back
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academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back
@academicdiary.bsky.social
1.7K followers 1.8K following 350 posts

I teach sociology at the University of Glasgow and my interests are learning, teaching, books, ideas, culture and music.

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Les Back is a professor of sociology at the University of Glasgow and former Director of the Centre for Urban and Community Research at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is a researcher and author of books and academic studies on topics including racism, music and urban cultures. .. more

Political science 44%
Sociology 38%
Posts Replies Media Videos

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 6d
Oooh I want to read that Rob, sounds fabulous!

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 6d
It was my birthday last week… this wonderful record was the best of gifts marking BB King’s centenary. Derek Trucks says in the liner notes that BB was a ‘real life Santa Claus’.

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 10d
It was so lovely to meet, Yang, last week. I will read this with great interest very much in the key of our talk last week.

Reposted by Les Back

theguardian.com
The Guardian @theguardian.com · 10d
What is ‘home’ now? A woman’s two-year search for safety in the ruins of Gaza
What is ‘home’ now? A woman’s two-year search for safety in the ruins of Gaza
Nour AbuShammala has returned to her partly destroyed apartment in Gaza City. This is her story of multiple displacements, injury and devastation over the last two years
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Les Back

msamrc.bsky.social
Anupama Ranawana @msamrc.bsky.social · 12d
Update on this. A friend who does anti fascist work found this posted on social media. The SS flag is clearly visible and they also seem to claim affiliation with @raithroversfc.bsky.social

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 12d
No, but very scary xxx

Reposted by Alison Phipps

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 20d
This is an extraordinary film - weaponising water in Gaza. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfpx...
How Israel is weaponising water in Gaza | People & Power Documentary
YouTube video by Al Jazeera English
www.youtube.com

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 21d
Here’s the details off Ben Carrington’s talk next week. Ben gave our Frisby Lecture at the University of Glasgow a couple of years ago. His award is really well deserved.

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 21d
The inaugural Stuart Hall Award lecture is next week December 10th 2025, 6pm UK time and given Dr. Ben Carrington (University of Southern California), the first winner of the award. Please register and attend the meeting via this zoom link: emory.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Stuart Hall Prize Lecture. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.
The Culture Section of the ASA is pleased to announce the inaugural Stuart Hall Award lecture on Wednesday, December 10 (10 AM Pacific Time) by Dr. Ben Carrington (University of Southern California), ...
emory.zoom.us

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 22d
Yes, so true, Jason. Stax was right in the heart of Black South Memphis and not far from where Martin Luther King was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel. Steve Cropper used to rent rooms there to write songs with Eddie Floyd and Otis Redding. Amazing

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 22d
Sad to hear of Steve Cropper’s passing today. He made such a contribution to the music of the civil rights era. I interviewed him for this piece in 1999. Rest in soul…

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 24d
Something new on ‘The Unloved Curriculum’ and teaching research methods with Michaela Benson and Maisie Tomlinson journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 24d
Enjoyed writing this for Everything Jazz - my album of the year Jon Batiste’s Big Money www.everythingjazz.com/the-14-best-...
The 14 Best Jazz Albums of 2025 - Everything Jazz
Our experts have decided: whether brand new recordings or lovingly remastered, reissued and rediscovered treasures – these are our 14 jazz albums of the year. Go directly to each write-up by clicking ...
www.everythingjazz.com

Reposted by Silke Roth

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · Nov 17
Sorry about that, Jillian, I hope you got to Jimmy Reid quickly… I think he’s fantastic - he even makes stupid questions interesting. They are both a bit sheepish next to Lauren Bacall!

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · Nov 17
This is wonderful, Jimmy Reid and Billy Connolly on Parkinson in 1979. I have finished my first piece of writing set in Glasgow called ‘In the Big Yin’s Footsteps’, which retraces Glasgow’s social history through Billy’s favourite streets today. youtu.be/KApI5kksOuM?...
Classic Parkinson: 1979 - Union Leader Jimmy Reid, Billy Connolly, and Lauren Bacall
YouTube video by George Fairbrother - DEC4 Podcast
youtu.be

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · Nov 13
Definitely, I’ll be in London for the week before. Have been working on this paper for a long time hoping that giving the lecture will help me finish it x

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · Nov 11
Really looking forward to this too Katherine, working hard to finish this essay something I’ve been working on for a few years. Coming and doing your talk is giving me the focus to get it submitted.

Reposted by Les Back

uclsociology.bsky.social
UCL Sociology Network @uclsociology.bsky.social · Nov 10
Annual Lecture: The Paradox of Home by Les Back (11.12.25)
Home is a knife-edge word. Competing forces balance on its edge that either control or open the terms of belonging. It is why home is paradoxical tinyurl.com/3493r8e6

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · Nov 8
Beautiful night in South London looking north x

Reposted by Les Back

uofgjmsphd.bsky.social
UofG JMS PhD Programme @uofgjmsphd.bsky.social · Nov 7
We’re excited to launch the 5th round of applications for the JMS Scholarship. 12 scholarships are available in any research area which can be supervised at the University.

Register your interest here: forms.office.com/e/k2bkPz4ekB

#PhDScholarship #Scholarships2026 #UKScholarships
Image shows JMS Scholar Michelle Amoah in front of a tiling feature wall of white lockers in the Glasgow University’s Advanced Research Centre (ARC) and she wears a bright red dress over a white collared shirt. To Michelle’s right, the University of Glasgow logo appears at the top left of the image and there is a graphic banner at the bottom left of the image which reads: Join Our World Changers.

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · Nov 7
This is a beautiful story that will warm your heart. Congrats to Paul, and Montel is already doing important work. Wonderful people and meaningful change www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/2556955...
Father and son make history through shared academic journey
A father and son are making history through a shared academic journey
www.glasgowtimes.co.uk

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · Nov 6
@jenniewren.bsky.social I love you profile picture Jennie

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · Nov 6
Oh that’s great Mike, it’s great that it Ain’t Half Racist Mum is available on BBC iPlayer now. Let me know what you thought of it.

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · Nov 4
I really loved being interviewed for this edition, Spare a Thought on Stuart Hall and the historic Open Door episode It Ain’t Half Racist Mum spareathought.podbean.com/e/it-aint-ha...
It Ain't Half Racist Mum | Spare a Thought
In today’s episode Tom speaks to Professor Les Back, a lecturer of Sociology at the University of Glasgow about 1979 TV episode of Open Door called It Aint Half Racist Mum. Together Tom and Les discus...
spareathought.podbean.com

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · Nov 2
In the Taybridge Bar, Dundee watching the old firm game and making a little musical pilgrimage for the late great Michael Marra… 💔

Reposted by Dave O’Brien, Les Back, Fabián Muniesa , and 2 more

lsesociology.bsky.social
LSE Sociology @lsesociology.bsky.social · Oct 24
We're hiring an outstanding Assistant Professor whose core research is in the field of cultural sociology with demonstrable expertise in the sociology of #culture and #technology.

📅 Applications close Sunday 30 November 2025.

➡️ jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...

Reposted by Les Back

glasgow.ac.uk
University of Glasgow @glasgow.ac.uk · Oct 24
Paul Gordon has just joined his son Montel as a UofG PhD scholar. Both are part of the James McCune Smith PhD Scholarship programme, pursuing research shaped by lived experience and cultural insight.

More: gla.ac/4hzMvne

Photo: Martin Shields
Father and son students hoping to build a legacy of Black scholarship and storytelling
Montel Gordon, one of the James McCune Smith PhD programme’s inaugural 2022 scholars, is being joined by his father, Paul, in a family journey of academic exploration.
gla.ac

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · Oct 24
I’ll tell her Kath, Gargi is one of the most creative thinkers I know.

academicdiary.bsky.social
Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · Oct 24
With dear friend Professor Lez Henry (aka Lesley Lyrics) at the farewell for Dj and world builder June Reid.