Ben Mechen
@benmechen.bsky.social
Historian of 20thC Britain, London: liberalism, capitalism, media and sexuality, 1960s-90s / new thing on late 20thC political ecologies.
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/history/people/academic-staff/dr-ben-mechen
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/history/people/academic-staff/dr-ben-mechen
Pinned
Ben Mechen
@benmechen.bsky.social
· Sep 26
New on advance access: "Bodies, Tides, Timber, and the Global History of London’s Docks, 1860–1928"
by Simeon Koole (@uobrishistory.bsky.social) and @benmechen.bsky.social (@uclhistory.bsky.social)
#OpenAccess
doi.org/10.1093/past...
by Simeon Koole (@uobrishistory.bsky.social) and @benmechen.bsky.social (@uclhistory.bsky.social)
#OpenAccess
doi.org/10.1093/past...
Bodies, Tides, Timber, and the Global History of London’s Docks, 1860–1928*
Abstract. This article examines changes in the bodies and environment of labourers carrying timber imported into London’s docks in the 1860s to the 1920s t
doi.org
V happy to share a new OA article in @pastpresentsoc.bsky.social written with Sim Koole. It’s about dock work, dockside life and the changing river in turn of the century Rotherhithe.
A little while ago, info was circulating on here about (I think) a remote/online fellowship opportunity for independent/precarious scholars, that would provide useful things like an email address and access to digital resources. Can anyone remember the details? It might have been based in Canada..?
January 21, 2026 at 12:17 PM
A little while ago, info was circulating on here about (I think) a remote/online fellowship opportunity for independent/precarious scholars, that would provide useful things like an email address and access to digital resources. Can anyone remember the details? It might have been based in Canada..?
Reposted by Ben Mechen
The programme+reg for this term's IHR @cont-brit-hist.bsky.social seminar is now up:
▪️Socialist feminism & work
▪️Vivienne Westwood & punk
▪️'Mixed' relationships & everyday multiculturalism
▪️The history of History Months
▪️The Beaumont Society and the trans internet
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
▪️Socialist feminism & work
▪️Vivienne Westwood & punk
▪️'Mixed' relationships & everyday multiculturalism
▪️The history of History Months
▪️The Beaumont Society and the trans internet
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Contemporary British History
The Contemporary British History seminar seeks to explore all aspects the recent past of the British Isles from a historical point of view.
www.history.ac.uk
January 19, 2026 at 2:47 PM
The programme+reg for this term's IHR @cont-brit-hist.bsky.social seminar is now up:
▪️Socialist feminism & work
▪️Vivienne Westwood & punk
▪️'Mixed' relationships & everyday multiculturalism
▪️The history of History Months
▪️The Beaumont Society and the trans internet
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
▪️Socialist feminism & work
▪️Vivienne Westwood & punk
▪️'Mixed' relationships & everyday multiculturalism
▪️The history of History Months
▪️The Beaumont Society and the trans internet
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
The programme+reg for this term's IHR @cont-brit-hist.bsky.social seminar is now up:
▪️Socialist feminism & work
▪️Vivienne Westwood & punk
▪️'Mixed' relationships & everyday multiculturalism
▪️The history of History Months
▪️The Beaumont Society and the trans internet
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
▪️Socialist feminism & work
▪️Vivienne Westwood & punk
▪️'Mixed' relationships & everyday multiculturalism
▪️The history of History Months
▪️The Beaumont Society and the trans internet
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Contemporary British History
The Contemporary British History seminar seeks to explore all aspects the recent past of the British Isles from a historical point of view.
www.history.ac.uk
January 19, 2026 at 2:47 PM
The programme+reg for this term's IHR @cont-brit-hist.bsky.social seminar is now up:
▪️Socialist feminism & work
▪️Vivienne Westwood & punk
▪️'Mixed' relationships & everyday multiculturalism
▪️The history of History Months
▪️The Beaumont Society and the trans internet
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
▪️Socialist feminism & work
▪️Vivienne Westwood & punk
▪️'Mixed' relationships & everyday multiculturalism
▪️The history of History Months
▪️The Beaumont Society and the trans internet
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Reposted by Ben Mechen
Our programme for this term's @cont-brit-hist.bsky.social seminars at @ihr.bsky.social is now available! Please do join us in-person or online.
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Contemporary British History
The Contemporary British History seminar seeks to explore all aspects the recent past of the British Isles from a historical point of view.
www.history.ac.uk
January 16, 2026 at 11:14 AM
Our programme for this term's @cont-brit-hist.bsky.social seminars at @ihr.bsky.social is now available! Please do join us in-person or online.
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Reposted by Ben Mechen
Brilliant new article by @malcolmrussell73.bsky.social on glue-sniffing panics, youth boredom and deindustrialising towns c. 1970s-80s, published in @mbhjournal.bsky.social
This began life as an exceptional MA dissertation at @uclhistory.bsky.social
Congrats Malcolm!
doi.org/10.1093/tcbh...
This began life as an exceptional MA dissertation at @uclhistory.bsky.social
Congrats Malcolm!
doi.org/10.1093/tcbh...
‘All the Kids Wanna Sniff Some Glue’: glue-sniffing, deindustrialization, and moral panic in 1980s Britain
Abstract. This article analyses anxieties surrounding glue-sniffing in 1980s Britain and their entanglement with the era’s accelerated deindustrialization.
doi.org
January 12, 2026 at 7:04 PM
Brilliant new article by @malcolmrussell73.bsky.social on glue-sniffing panics, youth boredom and deindustrialising towns c. 1970s-80s, published in @mbhjournal.bsky.social
This began life as an exceptional MA dissertation at @uclhistory.bsky.social
Congrats Malcolm!
doi.org/10.1093/tcbh...
This began life as an exceptional MA dissertation at @uclhistory.bsky.social
Congrats Malcolm!
doi.org/10.1093/tcbh...
Brilliant new article by @malcolmrussell73.bsky.social on glue-sniffing panics, youth boredom and deindustrialising towns c. 1970s-80s, published in @mbhjournal.bsky.social
This began life as an exceptional MA dissertation at @uclhistory.bsky.social
Congrats Malcolm!
doi.org/10.1093/tcbh...
This began life as an exceptional MA dissertation at @uclhistory.bsky.social
Congrats Malcolm!
doi.org/10.1093/tcbh...
‘All the Kids Wanna Sniff Some Glue’: glue-sniffing, deindustrialization, and moral panic in 1980s Britain
Abstract. This article analyses anxieties surrounding glue-sniffing in 1980s Britain and their entanglement with the era’s accelerated deindustrialization.
doi.org
January 12, 2026 at 7:04 PM
Brilliant new article by @malcolmrussell73.bsky.social on glue-sniffing panics, youth boredom and deindustrialising towns c. 1970s-80s, published in @mbhjournal.bsky.social
This began life as an exceptional MA dissertation at @uclhistory.bsky.social
Congrats Malcolm!
doi.org/10.1093/tcbh...
This began life as an exceptional MA dissertation at @uclhistory.bsky.social
Congrats Malcolm!
doi.org/10.1093/tcbh...
Does anyone have any good advice on writing a reference for a prospective PhD student, who you’ve taught at MA level?
I’ve written lots of student references before, but not for a UK PhD programme.
Is there anything I should be talking about that I probably wouldn’t be in an MA reference?
🙏🙏🙏
I’ve written lots of student references before, but not for a UK PhD programme.
Is there anything I should be talking about that I probably wouldn’t be in an MA reference?
🙏🙏🙏
December 8, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Does anyone have any good advice on writing a reference for a prospective PhD student, who you’ve taught at MA level?
I’ve written lots of student references before, but not for a UK PhD programme.
Is there anything I should be talking about that I probably wouldn’t be in an MA reference?
🙏🙏🙏
I’ve written lots of student references before, but not for a UK PhD programme.
Is there anything I should be talking about that I probably wouldn’t be in an MA reference?
🙏🙏🙏
It will be interesting to see how its leadership by Peter Fonagy - a garlanded but undoubtedly “serious” psychoanalyst - will shape this major review, its terms of reference and epistemological frames
British analysis hasn’t been in this position much since the 1950s
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
British analysis hasn’t been in this position much since the 1950s
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Streeting orders review into mental health and ADHD diagnoses
The health secretary said the aim was to tackle a rising demand for services and the increased pressure on the NHS.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 4, 2025 at 9:52 AM
It will be interesting to see how its leadership by Peter Fonagy - a garlanded but undoubtedly “serious” psychoanalyst - will shape this major review, its terms of reference and epistemological frames
British analysis hasn’t been in this position much since the 1950s
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
British analysis hasn’t been in this position much since the 1950s
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Ben Mechen
I regret to inform you that I am going to start promoting my book on here. I do not regret to inform you that the press has given it a stunning cover.
The Hobo: A History of America's First Climate Migrants -- out next summer with Princeton University Press.
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
The Hobo: A History of America's First Climate Migrants -- out next summer with Princeton University Press.
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
The Hobo
A panoramic history of America’s first climate migrants
press.princeton.edu
November 28, 2025 at 10:33 PM
I regret to inform you that I am going to start promoting my book on here. I do not regret to inform you that the press has given it a stunning cover.
The Hobo: A History of America's First Climate Migrants -- out next summer with Princeton University Press.
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
The Hobo: A History of America's First Climate Migrants -- out next summer with Princeton University Press.
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Reposted by Ben Mechen
But I think it can only really work if you come to those sources with an approach shaped by creative history / storytelling - the thing that lets you fill in the gaps and join the dots.
Which is a long-winded way of saying: thank you.
Which is a long-winded way of saying: thank you.
November 17, 2025 at 12:18 PM
But I think it can only really work if you come to those sources with an approach shaped by creative history / storytelling - the thing that lets you fill in the gaps and join the dots.
Which is a long-winded way of saying: thank you.
Which is a long-winded way of saying: thank you.
Reposted by Ben Mechen
At the same time, adding names and snapshots of lives lived makes a real difference.
It presses against quantitative and mass tendencies of earlier generation of scholarship.
And it's only possible because of keyword genealogical and newspaper databases.
It presses against quantitative and mass tendencies of earlier generation of scholarship.
And it's only possible because of keyword genealogical and newspaper databases.
November 17, 2025 at 12:15 PM
At the same time, adding names and snapshots of lives lived makes a real difference.
It presses against quantitative and mass tendencies of earlier generation of scholarship.
And it's only possible because of keyword genealogical and newspaper databases.
It presses against quantitative and mass tendencies of earlier generation of scholarship.
And it's only possible because of keyword genealogical and newspaper databases.
Reposted by Ben Mechen
I've been thinking about those microbiographies in relation to older traditions of social history.
They reflect that enduring & important ethical emphasis on recovering experience and listening to voices of ordinary people.
They reflect that enduring & important ethical emphasis on recovering experience and listening to voices of ordinary people.
November 17, 2025 at 12:14 PM
I've been thinking about those microbiographies in relation to older traditions of social history.
They reflect that enduring & important ethical emphasis on recovering experience and listening to voices of ordinary people.
They reflect that enduring & important ethical emphasis on recovering experience and listening to voices of ordinary people.
Disagree w/ quite a lot of this overview of Agamben’s work, which (jokily) positions him as a poet, mystic + hyperbolist.
Yes, there are elements of all of this in GA
But to me, in 2025, his claims in Homo Sacer about bare life and the the camp as a biopolitical paradigm seem as relevant as ever?
Yes, there are elements of all of this in GA
But to me, in 2025, his claims in Homo Sacer about bare life and the the camp as a biopolitical paradigm seem as relevant as ever?
November 17, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Disagree w/ quite a lot of this overview of Agamben’s work, which (jokily) positions him as a poet, mystic + hyperbolist.
Yes, there are elements of all of this in GA
But to me, in 2025, his claims in Homo Sacer about bare life and the the camp as a biopolitical paradigm seem as relevant as ever?
Yes, there are elements of all of this in GA
But to me, in 2025, his claims in Homo Sacer about bare life and the the camp as a biopolitical paradigm seem as relevant as ever?
Reposted by Ben Mechen
‘Could this unknown white session musician in fancy dress actually be an authentic Louisiana hoodoo man, a root doctor, a gris-gris man? Is the whole thing so fake it’s real?’
Francis Gooding on Dr John’s ‘musico-magical palimpsest of New Orleans history’.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Francis Gooding on Dr John’s ‘musico-magical palimpsest of New Orleans history’.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Francis Gooding · Hoodoo Man: Dr John and ‘Gris-Gris’
Beyond or beneath the theatrics there is a disconcerting sense that something much more serious is going on, that all...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 5, 2025 at 5:42 PM
‘Could this unknown white session musician in fancy dress actually be an authentic Louisiana hoodoo man, a root doctor, a gris-gris man? Is the whole thing so fake it’s real?’
Francis Gooding on Dr John’s ‘musico-magical palimpsest of New Orleans history’.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Francis Gooding on Dr John’s ‘musico-magical palimpsest of New Orleans history’.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Highly recommend this gripping, beautifully written article on Valerie Solanas, the ownership of ideas, art, madness, and feminist praxis + memory in @historyworkshop.org.uk
By @marybethhamilton13.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/hwj/advance-...
By @marybethhamilton13.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/hwj/advance-...
Feminism, Artistry, Madness, and the Ghost of Valerie Solanas
Abstract. Valerie Solanas holds an unsettled place in feminist history, notorious for both her incendiary 1967 diatribe the SCUM Manifesto and her near-fat
academic.oup.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Highly recommend this gripping, beautifully written article on Valerie Solanas, the ownership of ideas, art, madness, and feminist praxis + memory in @historyworkshop.org.uk
By @marybethhamilton13.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/hwj/advance-...
By @marybethhamilton13.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/hwj/advance-...
Looking fwd to teaching with Tom Harrisson’s 1938 essay on jazz dancing in “Worktown” tmrw—“Whistle While You Work”. (Sub)cultural studies before the fact…captures well that tension in youth culture btw escape from work, expectation, into *fun*, social life—and subsumption by the DISNEY DEATHMACHINE
October 27, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Looking fwd to teaching with Tom Harrisson’s 1938 essay on jazz dancing in “Worktown” tmrw—“Whistle While You Work”. (Sub)cultural studies before the fact…captures well that tension in youth culture btw escape from work, expectation, into *fun*, social life—and subsumption by the DISNEY DEATHMACHINE
Nice big loud PCS picket line at the BL this morning. Info on the strike here: www.pcs.org.uk/news-events/...
Support the British Library strikers
More than 300 PCS members at the British Library in London are striking over their poverty wages for two weeks from Monday (27) to Sunday, 9 November and need your support in person and online.
www.pcs.org.uk
October 27, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Nice big loud PCS picket line at the BL this morning. Info on the strike here: www.pcs.org.uk/news-events/...
Reposted by Ben Mechen
New on advance access: "Bodies, Tides, Timber, and the Global History of London’s Docks, 1860–1928"
by Simeon Koole (@uobrishistory.bsky.social) and @benmechen.bsky.social (@uclhistory.bsky.social)
#OpenAccess
doi.org/10.1093/past...
by Simeon Koole (@uobrishistory.bsky.social) and @benmechen.bsky.social (@uclhistory.bsky.social)
#OpenAccess
doi.org/10.1093/past...
Bodies, Tides, Timber, and the Global History of London’s Docks, 1860–1928*
Abstract. This article examines changes in the bodies and environment of labourers carrying timber imported into London’s docks in the 1860s to the 1920s t
doi.org
September 26, 2025 at 8:10 AM
New on advance access: "Bodies, Tides, Timber, and the Global History of London’s Docks, 1860–1928"
by Simeon Koole (@uobrishistory.bsky.social) and @benmechen.bsky.social (@uclhistory.bsky.social)
#OpenAccess
doi.org/10.1093/past...
by Simeon Koole (@uobrishistory.bsky.social) and @benmechen.bsky.social (@uclhistory.bsky.social)
#OpenAccess
doi.org/10.1093/past...
This paper is tonight! Teresa Doherty (RCN) on “The Fragility of Feminist Futures in Digital Collections”
Registration link below. It’s at the IHR at 5.30pm.
Registration link below. It’s at the IHR at 5.30pm.
Thank you to @katrinanavickas.bsky.social for a brilliant start to our seminar series last night!
Next session is 22 Oct, 5.30pm UK time, online/in-person when @dohertyta.bsky.social will speak on The Fragility of Feminist Futures in Digital Collections.
Sign up: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Next session is 22 Oct, 5.30pm UK time, online/in-person when @dohertyta.bsky.social will speak on The Fragility of Feminist Futures in Digital Collections.
Sign up: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
The Fragility of Feminist Futures in Digital Collections
www.history.ac.uk
October 22, 2025 at 9:11 AM
This paper is tonight! Teresa Doherty (RCN) on “The Fragility of Feminist Futures in Digital Collections”
Registration link below. It’s at the IHR at 5.30pm.
Registration link below. It’s at the IHR at 5.30pm.
Reposted by Ben Mechen
There's just a day to go until @manchesterup.bsky.social publish my latest book Songs of Seven Dials: An intimate history of 1920s and 1930s London.
I thought I should explain a bit about where the book came from.
1/15
I thought I should explain a bit about where the book came from.
1/15
October 20, 2025 at 9:37 AM
There's just a day to go until @manchesterup.bsky.social publish my latest book Songs of Seven Dials: An intimate history of 1920s and 1930s London.
I thought I should explain a bit about where the book came from.
1/15
I thought I should explain a bit about where the book came from.
1/15
Reposted by Ben Mechen
We're excited to announce the call for papers for #MBS26, the next Modern British Studies conference, at Birmingham in June 2026. We'll be launching the #MBS Association at this event, to support further regular conferences in Modern British Studies.
www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/moder...
www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/moder...
Modern British Studies Conference 2026 - University of Birmingham
Conference information
www.birmingham.ac.uk
October 16, 2025 at 8:47 PM
We're excited to announce the call for papers for #MBS26, the next Modern British Studies conference, at Birmingham in June 2026. We'll be launching the #MBS Association at this event, to support further regular conferences in Modern British Studies.
www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/moder...
www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/moder...
Reposted by Ben Mechen
I wrote a review of Rosanna McLaughlin’s Against Morality for @burlingtoncontemp.bsky.social
contemporary.burlington.org.uk/reviews/revi...
contemporary.burlington.org.uk/reviews/revi...
Burlington Contemporary - Reviews - Against Morality
Rosanna McLaughlin’s Against Morality is the eighth title in Floating Opera Press’s Critic’s Essay Series, which, according to the publisher, ‘gives voice to critics who offer thought-provoking ways i...
contemporary.burlington.org.uk
October 15, 2025 at 12:36 PM
I wrote a review of Rosanna McLaughlin’s Against Morality for @burlingtoncontemp.bsky.social
contemporary.burlington.org.uk/reviews/revi...
contemporary.burlington.org.uk/reviews/revi...
On Weds we welcome @katrinanavickas.bsky.social to IHR @cont-brit-hist.bsky.social seminar
Katrina will talk abt "Public space + popular protest in 20thC England: enclosure, resistance + commoning"
In-person/hybrid. All welcome, register here!
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
@ihr.bsky.social
Katrina will talk abt "Public space + popular protest in 20thC England: enclosure, resistance + commoning"
In-person/hybrid. All welcome, register here!
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
@ihr.bsky.social
Public space and popular protest in 20th century England: enclosure, resistance and commoning
This session draws from the book, Contested Commons: a History of Protest and Public Space in England
www.history.ac.uk
October 6, 2025 at 8:11 AM
On Weds we welcome @katrinanavickas.bsky.social to IHR @cont-brit-hist.bsky.social seminar
Katrina will talk abt "Public space + popular protest in 20thC England: enclosure, resistance + commoning"
In-person/hybrid. All welcome, register here!
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
@ihr.bsky.social
Katrina will talk abt "Public space + popular protest in 20thC England: enclosure, resistance + commoning"
In-person/hybrid. All welcome, register here!
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
@ihr.bsky.social
Reposted by Ben Mechen
How do we teach public history today? Pleasure to join @julialaite.bsky.social, @ktrcarpenter.bsky.social & Anna Maguire in this roundtable for @historyworkshop.org.uk. Image from @qmul.bsky.social qHeritage project with @museumofthehome.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/hwj/advance-...
academic.oup.com/hwj/advance-...
Teaching Public History in Britain Today: A Roundtable Discussion
Abstract. ‘What is Public History Now?’ This was the question posed by the 2022 AHRC Network led by Julia Laite. The network culminated in a conference of
academic.oup.com
September 29, 2025 at 7:29 AM
How do we teach public history today? Pleasure to join @julialaite.bsky.social, @ktrcarpenter.bsky.social & Anna Maguire in this roundtable for @historyworkshop.org.uk. Image from @qmul.bsky.social qHeritage project with @museumofthehome.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/hwj/advance-...
academic.oup.com/hwj/advance-...
Reposted by Ben Mechen
V happy to share a new OA article in @pastpresentsoc.bsky.social written with Sim Koole. It’s about dock work, dockside life and the changing river in turn of the century Rotherhithe.
New on advance access: "Bodies, Tides, Timber, and the Global History of London’s Docks, 1860–1928"
by Simeon Koole (@uobrishistory.bsky.social) and @benmechen.bsky.social (@uclhistory.bsky.social)
#OpenAccess
doi.org/10.1093/past...
by Simeon Koole (@uobrishistory.bsky.social) and @benmechen.bsky.social (@uclhistory.bsky.social)
#OpenAccess
doi.org/10.1093/past...
Bodies, Tides, Timber, and the Global History of London’s Docks, 1860–1928*
Abstract. This article examines changes in the bodies and environment of labourers carrying timber imported into London’s docks in the 1860s to the 1920s t
doi.org
September 26, 2025 at 8:21 AM
V happy to share a new OA article in @pastpresentsoc.bsky.social written with Sim Koole. It’s about dock work, dockside life and the changing river in turn of the century Rotherhithe.