Briony Neilson
@brionyneilson.bsky.social
Historian of 19th-century France—juvenile incarceration, prisons, settler/penal colonies (esp New Caledonia)
Book: "Dangers of Youth" www.mqup.ca/dangers-of-youth-products-9780228024330.php
Based in Sydney, Australia
Book: "Dangers of Youth" www.mqup.ca/dangers-of-youth-products-9780228024330.php
Based in Sydney, Australia
Pinned
It's out! This new article by me and my wonderful collaborator Charlotte Ann Legg looks at race, labour and affinities of whiteness in New Caledonia and Australia around the time of the White Australia policy. Part of our special issue on Connected Histories of Empire: France, Britain & the Pacific🗃️
Reposted by Briony Neilson
is it normal for encyclopedias to include “skin tone” or just when they’re generated by a white nationalist’s ai?
January 16, 2026 at 12:53 AM
is it normal for encyclopedias to include “skin tone” or just when they’re generated by a white nationalist’s ai?
Reposted by Briony Neilson
I'm looking for a Paris apartment to rent for 3-4 weeks in late March - early April (preferably 2 bedrooms, although a bedroom plus a sofa bed would work). Two adults and a kid. Does anyone have any leads? Thanks!
January 15, 2026 at 8:29 PM
I'm looking for a Paris apartment to rent for 3-4 weeks in late March - early April (preferably 2 bedrooms, although a bedroom plus a sofa bed would work). Two adults and a kid. Does anyone have any leads? Thanks!
Not to make light of the alarming situation but this language does make it sound like Macron’s referring to teams hopping on buses to take part in an inter-school sports carnival
January 15, 2026 at 2:06 AM
Not to make light of the alarming situation but this language does make it sound like Macron’s referring to teams hopping on buses to take part in an inter-school sports carnival
You can contribute to the fundraiser to support Randa Abdel-Fattah's legal fees here
January 15, 2026 at 1:35 AM
You can contribute to the fundraiser to support Randa Abdel-Fattah's legal fees here
Reposted by Briony Neilson
From the Adelaide Festival Board, in relation to what it did to Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah
January 15, 2026 at 12:59 AM
From the Adelaide Festival Board, in relation to what it did to Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah
"While Adelaide Writers’ Week will not proceed in 2026, Dr Abdel-Fattah has been invited to speak at the next festival in 2027." What a farce.
Adelaide Festival reverses decision on Writers’ Week exclusion, invites Dr Abdel-Fattah to speak in 2027
Image credit: Macquarie University The Adelaide Festival Corporation has issued a further statement addressing the fallout surrounding Adelaide Writers’ Week, confirming a reversal of its earlier posi...
glamadelaide.com.au
January 15, 2026 at 12:34 AM
"While Adelaide Writers’ Week will not proceed in 2026, Dr Abdel-Fattah has been invited to speak at the next festival in 2027." What a farce.
In 1994 David Bowie and Brian Eno spent a day with ‘outsider’ artists at Maria Gugging psychiatric clinic on the outskirts of Vienna. Photos, currently on show in Western Australia, reveal the effect the experience had on Bowie.
A Day with David Bowie: how a visit to a psychiatric clinic changed him – and his music
In 1994 the singer and Brian Eno spent a day with ‘outsider’ artists. Intimate photographs, showing in Australia for the first time, reveal the effect it had
www.theguardian.com
January 14, 2026 at 10:20 PM
In 1994 David Bowie and Brian Eno spent a day with ‘outsider’ artists at Maria Gugging psychiatric clinic on the outskirts of Vienna. Photos, currently on show in Western Australia, reveal the effect the experience had on Bowie.
Reposted by Briony Neilson
Today is publication day! The Open Access version is now online so you can read for free on @manifoldscholar.bsky.social With huge thanks to @uncpress.bsky.social @ecds-emory.bsky.social and @foxcenteremory.bsky.social Go to jimcrowintheasylum.com
Jim Crow in the Asylum | Emory Center for Digital Scholarship - Manifold Scholarship
<h3>Untangling the relationship between race and psychiatry in the American South</h3>
There is a complicated history of racism and psychiatric healthcare in the Deep South states of Georgia, Alabama...
jimcrowintheasylum.com
January 13, 2026 at 12:30 PM
Today is publication day! The Open Access version is now online so you can read for free on @manifoldscholar.bsky.social With huge thanks to @uncpress.bsky.social @ecds-emory.bsky.social and @foxcenteremory.bsky.social Go to jimcrowintheasylum.com
Reposted by Briony Neilson
It's out! This new article by me and my wonderful collaborator Charlotte Ann Legg looks at race, labour and affinities of whiteness in New Caledonia and Australia around the time of the White Australia policy. Part of our special issue on Connected Histories of Empire: France, Britain & the Pacific🗃️
January 13, 2026 at 1:24 AM
It's out! This new article by me and my wonderful collaborator Charlotte Ann Legg looks at race, labour and affinities of whiteness in New Caledonia and Australia around the time of the White Australia policy. Part of our special issue on Connected Histories of Empire: France, Britain & the Pacific🗃️
Reposted by Briony Neilson
It's "culturally unsafe" to have a Palestinian Aus author advocate against the systematic slaughter of hundreds of thousands of her people, but it's
"a good thing" for the president of apartheid Israel, which has committed daily massacres and mass starvation for 2yrs, to visit us. Unbearably racist.
"a good thing" for the president of apartheid Israel, which has committed daily massacres and mass starvation for 2yrs, to visit us. Unbearably racist.
January 13, 2026 at 6:04 AM
It's "culturally unsafe" to have a Palestinian Aus author advocate against the systematic slaughter of hundreds of thousands of her people, but it's
"a good thing" for the president of apartheid Israel, which has committed daily massacres and mass starvation for 2yrs, to visit us. Unbearably racist.
"a good thing" for the president of apartheid Israel, which has committed daily massacres and mass starvation for 2yrs, to visit us. Unbearably racist.
It's out! This new article by me and my wonderful collaborator Charlotte Ann Legg looks at race, labour and affinities of whiteness in New Caledonia and Australia around the time of the White Australia policy. Part of our special issue on Connected Histories of Empire: France, Britain & the Pacific🗃️
January 13, 2026 at 1:24 AM
It's out! This new article by me and my wonderful collaborator Charlotte Ann Legg looks at race, labour and affinities of whiteness in New Caledonia and Australia around the time of the White Australia policy. Part of our special issue on Connected Histories of Empire: France, Britain & the Pacific🗃️
Reposted by Briony Neilson
This is a huge loss for Australian arts. Louise Adler has resigned, after years of racist campaigning from Murdoch’s hate machine for her continued audacity to have 1-2 Palestinian writers in her festivals. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
I cannot be party to silencing writers, which is why I am resigning as director of Adelaide Writers’ Week | Louise Adler
Cancelling the Australian Palestinian author Randa Abdel-Fattah weakens freedom of speech and is the harbinger of a less free nation
www.theguardian.com
January 12, 2026 at 10:38 PM
This is a huge loss for Australian arts. Louise Adler has resigned, after years of racist campaigning from Murdoch’s hate machine for her continued audacity to have 1-2 Palestinian writers in her festivals. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Briony Neilson
The historian Vincent Lemire, who has lived in Israel, worked with numerous Israeli colleagues, held an ERC on the history of Jerusalem and has published extensively on this topic has been barred from entry to Israel for alleged Anti-Zionist views.
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Israel bars entry to French historian over alleged 'anti-Zionist' views
Prof. Vincent Lemire, a French Historian of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Who Previously Lived in Israel, Was Notified Days Before His Arrival in Tel Aviv That His Visa Had Been Revoked. French Off...
www.haaretz.com
January 12, 2026 at 9:02 AM
The historian Vincent Lemire, who has lived in Israel, worked with numerous Israeli colleagues, held an ERC on the history of Jerusalem and has published extensively on this topic has been barred from entry to Israel for alleged Anti-Zionist views.
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
I'd been wondering if time would be made to just stand still following the departure of Melvyn. Happy to know that things will tick on.
In Our Time returns this week. Thanks for waiting patiently and/or impatiently www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
In Our Time - Welcoming Misha Glenny to the In Our Time studio - BBC Sounds
Misha Glenny introduces himself to you as he prepares for his first episode of In Our Time
www.bbc.co.uk
January 12, 2026 at 7:24 AM
I'd been wondering if time would be made to just stand still following the departure of Melvyn. Happy to know that things will tick on.
Just imagine the thrills if they could manage to throw Alan Jones and Mark Latham into this moribund festival mix.
January 12, 2026 at 6:05 AM
Just imagine the thrills if they could manage to throw Alan Jones and Mark Latham into this moribund festival mix.
Massive bushfire, tiny fire truck.
(Also that single gum tree resolutely standing)
(Also that single gum tree resolutely standing)
I saw this incredible photo on the Merton Community Page. I saw it yesterday and I just can’t stop thinking about it, and I think it deserves sharing. That little fire trunk fighting the front
Taken by Tom who works for FFMVic in aircraft, of the Merton CFA Tanker.
#VicFires
Taken by Tom who works for FFMVic in aircraft, of the Merton CFA Tanker.
#VicFires
January 12, 2026 at 1:41 AM
Massive bushfire, tiny fire truck.
(Also that single gum tree resolutely standing)
(Also that single gum tree resolutely standing)
Reposted by Briony Neilson
BREAKING: 3 members of the Adelaide Festival Board have resigned after it refused to reverse its decision to rescind Dr Abdel-Fattah's invitation. No statement has been issued but their names have been quietly removed from the website.
Four people are now responsible for the ongoing crisis.
Four people are now responsible for the ongoing crisis.
January 11, 2026 at 3:49 AM
BREAKING: 3 members of the Adelaide Festival Board have resigned after it refused to reverse its decision to rescind Dr Abdel-Fattah's invitation. No statement has been issued but their names have been quietly removed from the website.
Four people are now responsible for the ongoing crisis.
Four people are now responsible for the ongoing crisis.
A mobile radiological unit developed by Marie Curie, November 1914 (BnF)
With X-ray machines then only available in city hospitals far from the warfront, Curie equipped standard motor cars with X-ray machines that were powered by the car's engine. Curie herself drove one of these to the front. 🗃️
With X-ray machines then only available in city hospitals far from the warfront, Curie equipped standard motor cars with X-ray machines that were powered by the car's engine. Curie herself drove one of these to the front. 🗃️
January 11, 2026 at 1:18 AM
A mobile radiological unit developed by Marie Curie, November 1914 (BnF)
With X-ray machines then only available in city hospitals far from the warfront, Curie equipped standard motor cars with X-ray machines that were powered by the car's engine. Curie herself drove one of these to the front. 🗃️
With X-ray machines then only available in city hospitals far from the warfront, Curie equipped standard motor cars with X-ray machines that were powered by the car's engine. Curie herself drove one of these to the front. 🗃️
Reposted by Briony Neilson
‘And, whatever the Board’s protestations that the two are not linked, how telling, how grim, is the dog whistle connecting Dr Abdel-Fattah’s name with the Bondi massacre.’
January 10, 2026 at 9:53 AM
‘And, whatever the Board’s protestations that the two are not linked, how telling, how grim, is the dog whistle connecting Dr Abdel-Fattah’s name with the Bondi massacre.’
Reposted by Briony Neilson
They would rather burn it all down than risk someone saying a genocide is, in fact, a genocide.
Importantly, it isn't just local authors who've removed themselves from the program. International authors including Zadie Smith and Percival Everett have also left in protest.
What a farce.
What a farce.
January 9, 2026 at 11:30 AM
They would rather burn it all down than risk someone saying a genocide is, in fact, a genocide.
Reposted by Briony Neilson
A watch in the form of a beetle – made in Switzerland, c.1850 (The Met) 🗃️
January 9, 2026 at 12:04 AM
A watch in the form of a beetle – made in Switzerland, c.1850 (The Met) 🗃️
Reposted by Briony Neilson
Looks like Zadie Smith and Masha Gessen may have withdrawn (no statement from either, though)
www.indailysa.com.au/news/just-in...
www.indailysa.com.au/news/just-in...
'Dark days': Writers' Week staff reject axing as authors leave in droves - News | InDaily, Inside South Australia
Writers' Week staff reject the board's decision to axe a prominent Palestinian author, in an email to authors seen exclusively by InDaily.
www.indailysa.com.au
January 9, 2026 at 12:24 AM
Looks like Zadie Smith and Masha Gessen may have withdrawn (no statement from either, though)
www.indailysa.com.au/news/just-in...
www.indailysa.com.au/news/just-in...
A watch in the form of a beetle – made in Switzerland, c.1850 (The Met) 🗃️
January 9, 2026 at 12:04 AM
A watch in the form of a beetle – made in Switzerland, c.1850 (The Met) 🗃️
The ridiculous beauty of butterflies found in Colombia, Indonesia and Malaysia – a page from Émile-Allain Séguy's Papillons published in 1925 🗃️
January 8, 2026 at 5:30 AM
The ridiculous beauty of butterflies found in Colombia, Indonesia and Malaysia – a page from Émile-Allain Séguy's Papillons published in 1925 🗃️
Reposted by Briony Neilson
What’s the point of writers’ festivals — or, for that matter, writers — if they can’t discuss issues that matter? Australian arts administrators would rather destroy the whole sector than allow Palestinians to speak about genocide. It’s beyond shameful.
January 8, 2026 at 4:57 AM
What’s the point of writers’ festivals — or, for that matter, writers — if they can’t discuss issues that matter? Australian arts administrators would rather destroy the whole sector than allow Palestinians to speak about genocide. It’s beyond shameful.