Dr Isabel Gilbert
@drisabelgilbert.bsky.social
Historian of colonial legacies, symbolism and interpretation. Lecturer at University of Worcester. Wanderer in graveyards, ruins and forests. 🌳🔮
Personal views here.
Personal views here.
I keep missing the way the other app that’s now ruined used to be. Bluesky feels similar - but I had so many amazing contacts back in the day. I keep trying to make this home but it feels like a mammoth task to try to rebuild my network.
a woman with red curly hair is crying while another woman holds her
Alt: Penelope Bridgerton, a woman with red curly hair, is crying on the shoulder of another woman in a blue dress who holds her.
media.tenor.com
July 10, 2025 at 2:15 PM
I keep missing the way the other app that’s now ruined used to be. Bluesky feels similar - but I had so many amazing contacts back in the day. I keep trying to make this home but it feels like a mammoth task to try to rebuild my network.
Still thinking about the beauty and wild togetherness of Mardi Gras expressed through parades, civic pride, identity, costume, art and music. Truly an amazing thing to behold.
April 6, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Still thinking about the beauty and wild togetherness of Mardi Gras expressed through parades, civic pride, identity, costume, art and music. Truly an amazing thing to behold.
People who wear dry robes instead of coats look like they’re doing a really rubbish grim reaper cosplay.
February 24, 2025 at 9:30 PM
People who wear dry robes instead of coats look like they’re doing a really rubbish grim reaper cosplay.
Reposted by Dr Isabel Gilbert
This is a must-read. Tl;dr: finances are healthy; talk of crisis is likely opportunistic; the real scandal is financial mismanagement, including capital expenditure and notorious failed projects
Read the REAL story of the 'financial crisis' at Edinburgh uni: www.ucuedinburgh.org.uk/blog/3fzpaa5...
No Compulsory Redundancies at The University Of Edinburgh! — UCU Edinburgh
Financial mismanagement at the University of Edinburgh continues. On 11 February 2025, Peter Mathieson wrote to all staff threatening “restructuring, possible closures of programmes or even Schools, m...
www.ucuedinburgh.org.uk
February 15, 2025 at 5:59 PM
This is a must-read. Tl;dr: finances are healthy; talk of crisis is likely opportunistic; the real scandal is financial mismanagement, including capital expenditure and notorious failed projects
Humans have always been into funny little guys.
These remarkable vessels are known as Roman face pots, and they’ve been found right here in Colchester, a city that was once a thriving Roman stronghold.
February 12, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Humans have always been into funny little guys.
Reposted by Dr Isabel Gilbert
These remarkable vessels are known as Roman face pots, and they’ve been found right here in Colchester, a city that was once a thriving Roman stronghold.
February 12, 2025 at 9:23 AM
These remarkable vessels are known as Roman face pots, and they’ve been found right here in Colchester, a city that was once a thriving Roman stronghold.
Feeling bleak that I’m seeing calls for papers on art and photography that use AI art for their flyer. Feels unethical and tone deaf at best. The art we laud, create and interpret is so fascinating because of its innate humanity, no?
February 11, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Feeling bleak that I’m seeing calls for papers on art and photography that use AI art for their flyer. Feels unethical and tone deaf at best. The art we laud, create and interpret is so fascinating because of its innate humanity, no?
Really sad to see this. I think the redundancies of 2020 were bad for the National Trust, and these will be bad for English Heritage. Organisations in this sector are nothing without their passionate and dedicated staff.
Obviously worried about these developments, and I can't comment other than to express solidarity with my colleagues who are also potentially impacted by the proposals. The potential 'brain drain' and loss of unique knowledge and skills to EH will be terrible.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
English Heritage plans up to 200 redundancies and winter closures of some sites
Exclusive: At least 7% of workforce could be affected with curators targeted as part of charity’s restructuring
www.theguardian.com
January 30, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Really sad to see this. I think the redundancies of 2020 were bad for the National Trust, and these will be bad for English Heritage. Organisations in this sector are nothing without their passionate and dedicated staff.
We seem to constantly forget that we’re just a bunch of animals who got too big for their boots.
January 29, 2025 at 9:03 PM
We seem to constantly forget that we’re just a bunch of animals who got too big for their boots.
Reposted by Dr Isabel Gilbert
If you need a distraction today-- check out my new piece for Aeon!
I say there's no universal definition of fiction b/c how "fiction" is understood depends on a culture's metaphysics. Philosophy of fiction has been taking Greek metaphysics for granted. I say we branch out.
aeon.co/essays/befor...
I say there's no universal definition of fiction b/c how "fiction" is understood depends on a culture's metaphysics. Philosophy of fiction has been taking Greek metaphysics for granted. I say we branch out.
aeon.co/essays/befor...
January 20, 2025 at 3:55 PM
If you need a distraction today-- check out my new piece for Aeon!
I say there's no universal definition of fiction b/c how "fiction" is understood depends on a culture's metaphysics. Philosophy of fiction has been taking Greek metaphysics for granted. I say we branch out.
aeon.co/essays/befor...
I say there's no universal definition of fiction b/c how "fiction" is understood depends on a culture's metaphysics. Philosophy of fiction has been taking Greek metaphysics for granted. I say we branch out.
aeon.co/essays/befor...
Frosty Ambleside gravestone. Distinctly Victorian and very beautiful. I read that you won’t find many very old graveyards and churches in the Lakes because the area was rather poor and the construction of specific places of worship was not long lasting. One record cites church services in a barn.
January 24, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Frosty Ambleside gravestone. Distinctly Victorian and very beautiful. I read that you won’t find many very old graveyards and churches in the Lakes because the area was rather poor and the construction of specific places of worship was not long lasting. One record cites church services in a barn.
Something of a salve to everything that’s happening ever.
January 22, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Something of a salve to everything that’s happening ever.
I’d say the overt & public return to trad colonialism with the proposed renaming of the Gulf of Mexico & rescinding of a mountain’s indigenous name is also an act of deliberate forgetting. But I don’t think it’s forgetting at all. The president knows the violent white supremacist legacy he follows.
January 22, 2025 at 7:45 AM
I’d say the overt & public return to trad colonialism with the proposed renaming of the Gulf of Mexico & rescinding of a mountain’s indigenous name is also an act of deliberate forgetting. But I don’t think it’s forgetting at all. The president knows the violent white supremacist legacy he follows.
I was introduced to the word ‘sanewashing’ yesterday as a way of explaining media insistence on the ambiguity of an OBVIOUS fascist gesture at the inauguration. It’s not ‘sanewashing’, it’s complicity. Reluctance to call out hate when it is right in front of us is an act of deliberate forgetting.
January 22, 2025 at 7:12 AM
I was introduced to the word ‘sanewashing’ yesterday as a way of explaining media insistence on the ambiguity of an OBVIOUS fascist gesture at the inauguration. It’s not ‘sanewashing’, it’s complicity. Reluctance to call out hate when it is right in front of us is an act of deliberate forgetting.
‘I feel like Anne Boleyn would have been a brunch girlie.’
‘Anne Boleyn is brat is what I have learned.’
- Matt and I in the car
‘Anne Boleyn is brat is what I have learned.’
- Matt and I in the car
January 3, 2025 at 4:56 PM
‘I feel like Anne Boleyn would have been a brunch girlie.’
‘Anne Boleyn is brat is what I have learned.’
- Matt and I in the car
‘Anne Boleyn is brat is what I have learned.’
- Matt and I in the car
Matt just described Van Helsing starring Hugh Jackman as ‘silly’ and ‘weird’. Researching the cost of a divorce.
January 2, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Matt just described Van Helsing starring Hugh Jackman as ‘silly’ and ‘weird’. Researching the cost of a divorce.
Just finished Rivals and this is actual footage of Matt. Absolutely rampaged through this series, it is so good! Being set in our ends adds a touch of joy too.
December 30, 2024 at 8:41 PM
Just finished Rivals and this is actual footage of Matt. Absolutely rampaged through this series, it is so good! Being set in our ends adds a touch of joy too.
If anyone was wondering what happened to Trusty the Hedgehog after the National Trust attempted to assassinate him, he has sought refuge in my husband’s childhood bedroom. [Location undisclosed for security reasons.]
December 26, 2024 at 12:03 PM
If anyone was wondering what happened to Trusty the Hedgehog after the National Trust attempted to assassinate him, he has sought refuge in my husband’s childhood bedroom. [Location undisclosed for security reasons.]
Reposted by Dr Isabel Gilbert
Christmas at Stonehenge by Rockwell Kent 🪨✨🪨✨
December 25, 2024 at 6:57 PM
Christmas at Stonehenge by Rockwell Kent 🪨✨🪨✨
Festive friend
December 23, 2024 at 3:13 PM
Festive friend
Happy Winter Solstice ❄️ 🌞 from our stones to yours.
December 21, 2024 at 4:43 PM
Happy Winter Solstice ❄️ 🌞 from our stones to yours.
Reposted by Dr Isabel Gilbert
A new playlist for stomping to stones over the next few months. See you all in the field!
open.spotify.com/playlist/6Xm...
open.spotify.com/playlist/6Xm...
Across the field to the stone circle
Playlist · Stone Club · 17 items
open.spotify.com
December 21, 2024 at 4:27 PM
A new playlist for stomping to stones over the next few months. See you all in the field!
open.spotify.com/playlist/6Xm...
open.spotify.com/playlist/6Xm...
Reposted by Dr Isabel Gilbert
Victorian #Christmas cards never cease to amaze: here's a lovely cat #family, going for a stroll on a gorgeous summer's day.
#ArchiveAdventCalendar #19thCentury #Victorian
#ArchiveAdventCalendar #19thCentury #Victorian
December 21, 2024 at 10:18 AM
Victorian #Christmas cards never cease to amaze: here's a lovely cat #family, going for a stroll on a gorgeous summer's day.
#ArchiveAdventCalendar #19thCentury #Victorian
#ArchiveAdventCalendar #19thCentury #Victorian
Buzzing to be giving my talk ‘Living Museums: Anti-Colonial Scholarship in Botany' at the 2025 Bgen conference in Feb! 🌱 Can’t wait!
bgen.org.uk/bgen2025conf...
bgen.org.uk/bgen2025conf...
Bgen 2025 Conference - bgen
Gardens of tomorrow: Addressing the climate crisis through education and democratisation When: Thursday 6th – Friday 7th February 2025 Where: National Botanic Garden of Wales REGISTRATION CLOSES ...
bgen.org.uk
December 21, 2024 at 10:38 AM
Buzzing to be giving my talk ‘Living Museums: Anti-Colonial Scholarship in Botany' at the 2025 Bgen conference in Feb! 🌱 Can’t wait!
bgen.org.uk/bgen2025conf...
bgen.org.uk/bgen2025conf...
Tonight’s watch: An interesting glimpse into papal politics that seems authentic to the point of feeling like illicit voyeurism. It presents the Vatican in a manner that reflects a complex system which is riddled with contradictions and scandal, but remains deeply influential and revered by many.
December 20, 2024 at 10:24 PM
Tonight’s watch: An interesting glimpse into papal politics that seems authentic to the point of feeling like illicit voyeurism. It presents the Vatican in a manner that reflects a complex system which is riddled with contradictions and scandal, but remains deeply influential and revered by many.