Matt Whittle
@drmattwhittle.bsky.social
Lecturer, University of Kent
Postcolonial & contemp lit, climate crises, migration & decolonisation
📚Global Literature & the Environment (2024) • Post-War British Literature & the End of Empire (2016)
Postcolonial & contemp lit, climate crises, migration & decolonisation
📚Global Literature & the Environment (2024) • Post-War British Literature & the End of Empire (2016)
Pinned
Matt Whittle
@drmattwhittle.bsky.social
· Aug 14
✌️OUT NOW✌️my new book w/
Jade Munslow Ong.
Explores how literature contextualises the climate crisis within a history of capitalist-imperialism & helps us imagine a habitable and just world for all forms of life.
Jade Munslow Ong.
Explores how literature contextualises the climate crisis within a history of capitalist-imperialism & helps us imagine a habitable and just world for all forms of life.
“He was convinced that all AI really does is enable us to experience the ‘spectacle of thought’ rather than engaging in thought itself”.
Baudrillard’s genius lay in foreseeing what these rudimentary devices like fax machines suggested about likely future uses of technology.
How the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard predicted today’s AI 30 years before ChatGPT
Baudrillard’s genius lay in foreseeing what these rudimentary devices like fax machines suggested about likely future uses of technology.
tcnv.link
November 4, 2025 at 8:52 PM
“He was convinced that all AI really does is enable us to experience the ‘spectacle of thought’ rather than engaging in thought itself”.
“Persisting w/ an inadequate fees-led model of higher education, in which universities are run as competing businesses funded by student consumers, is producing a dystopian academic landscape. A more stable system of public funding is urgently required.”
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Guardian view on campus discontent: listen to those on the frontline | Editorial
Editorial: The government’s funding plans, announced in this week’s white paper, won’t do much to alleviate a deepening crisis of morale among university staff
www.theguardian.com
October 23, 2025 at 6:43 AM
“Persisting w/ an inadequate fees-led model of higher education, in which universities are run as competing businesses funded by student consumers, is producing a dystopian academic landscape. A more stable system of public funding is urgently required.”
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Matt Whittle
One week left to apply! ✉️
📝 Registration for the 'Settler Colonialisms / British Empire' workshop series is open!
🪢 Over three online sessions, we're gathering UK-based PhDs and ECRs to connect, reflect and develop our approaches to the study of British settler colonialism.
🔗 Find out more: www.scbenetwork.co.uk/workshops
🪢 Over three online sessions, we're gathering UK-based PhDs and ECRs to connect, reflect and develop our approaches to the study of British settler colonialism.
🔗 Find out more: www.scbenetwork.co.uk/workshops
October 19, 2025 at 10:30 AM
One week left to apply! ✉️
Reposted by Matt Whittle
Please see below a Call for Papers: 2026 Annual Conference of the Society for Caribbean Studies @soccaribbeanuk.bsky.social: community-languages.org.uk/scs/annual-s...
Call for Papers: 2026 Annual Conference of the Society for Caribbean Studies – Society for Caribbean Studies
community-languages.org.uk
October 3, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Please see below a Call for Papers: 2026 Annual Conference of the Society for Caribbean Studies @soccaribbeanuk.bsky.social: community-languages.org.uk/scs/annual-s...
Very interesting read! A Labour govt sowing *more* suspicion of both migrants & people who claim benefits. These proposals will make it so migrants must pay into the system but can’t take from it at a time of need. What kind of society are they building?
Labour’s plan to make migrants earn permanent residency by doubling the wait to 10 years & adding new tests turns belonging into an endless exam.
🔗 theconversation.com/labours-plan...
#ShabanaMahmood
#LabourConference
🔗 theconversation.com/labours-plan...
#ShabanaMahmood
#LabourConference
Labour’s plan for migrants to ‘earn’ permanent residency turns belonging into an endless exam
In this hierarchical system, migrants are kept on extended probation and judged by standards never applied to British nationals.
theconversation.com
September 30, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Very interesting read! A Labour govt sowing *more* suspicion of both migrants & people who claim benefits. These proposals will make it so migrants must pay into the system but can’t take from it at a time of need. What kind of society are they building?
Enjoyed this book launch. Lots of great insights (inc how the climate crisis will affect political mobilisation). Looking forward to reading into alternatives to the current climate transition
Just one week to go until my book launch!
Come hear me, Asad Rehman, James Meadway, Emma River-Roberts and Harpreet Kaur-Spannos get stuck into the green economy and where we take the fight from here!
23 Sept, free to register - tinyurl.com/khurbx6u
Come hear me, Asad Rehman, James Meadway, Emma River-Roberts and Harpreet Kaur-Spannos get stuck into the green economy and where we take the fight from here!
23 Sept, free to register - tinyurl.com/khurbx6u
September 23, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Enjoyed this book launch. Lots of great insights (inc how the climate crisis will affect political mobilisation). Looking forward to reading into alternatives to the current climate transition
Reposted by Matt Whittle
Agreed! Also ends with a mere side note on Humanities degrees & this expert insight framing History & English as prepping students for quaint little hobbies 🤦♂️
September 13, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Agreed! Also ends with a mere side note on Humanities degrees & this expert insight framing History & English as prepping students for quaint little hobbies 🤦♂️
Reposted by Matt Whittle
It is insane to me that the richest man in the world is using his global megaphone to call for millions of British people to be rounded up and deported (including my family) and somehow this isn’t even news.
September 1, 2025 at 1:57 PM
It is insane to me that the richest man in the world is using his global megaphone to call for millions of British people to be rounded up and deported (including my family) and somehow this isn’t even news.
Reposted by Matt Whittle
teachers!
excited to share a new website at this late date of Aug 15 to try to help us collectively prepare for back to school in the interpretative humanities classroom assaulted by the AI grift, so we don't have to go it alone.
take a look, share, + most importantly: CONTRIBUTE
against-a-i.com
excited to share a new website at this late date of Aug 15 to try to help us collectively prepare for back to school in the interpretative humanities classroom assaulted by the AI grift, so we don't have to go it alone.
take a look, share, + most importantly: CONTRIBUTE
against-a-i.com
AGAINST AI
against-a-i.com
August 15, 2025 at 5:39 PM
teachers!
excited to share a new website at this late date of Aug 15 to try to help us collectively prepare for back to school in the interpretative humanities classroom assaulted by the AI grift, so we don't have to go it alone.
take a look, share, + most importantly: CONTRIBUTE
against-a-i.com
excited to share a new website at this late date of Aug 15 to try to help us collectively prepare for back to school in the interpretative humanities classroom assaulted by the AI grift, so we don't have to go it alone.
take a look, share, + most importantly: CONTRIBUTE
against-a-i.com
Reposted by Matt Whittle
Application round for the Charles Wallace India Trust Writing Fellowship is now open!
Enables a creative writer from India to come and work at the University of Kent & develop their own prose/poetry project for up to twelve weeks in Spring 2026.
research.kent.ac.uk/colonialandp...
Enables a creative writer from India to come and work at the University of Kent & develop their own prose/poetry project for up to twelve weeks in Spring 2026.
research.kent.ac.uk/colonialandp...
The Charles Wallace Trust - Colonial and Postcolonial Studies - Research at Kent
Since 1991, the Charles Wallace India Trust (CWIT) has sponsored an annual Fellowship that enables a writer from India to come and work at the University of Kent for the Spring Term. Hosted by the Sch...
research.kent.ac.uk
August 5, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Application round for the Charles Wallace India Trust Writing Fellowship is now open!
Enables a creative writer from India to come and work at the University of Kent & develop their own prose/poetry project for up to twelve weeks in Spring 2026.
research.kent.ac.uk/colonialandp...
Enables a creative writer from India to come and work at the University of Kent & develop their own prose/poetry project for up to twelve weeks in Spring 2026.
research.kent.ac.uk/colonialandp...
Application round for the Charles Wallace India Trust Writing Fellowship is now open!
Enables a creative writer from India to come and work at the University of Kent & develop their own prose/poetry project for up to twelve weeks in Spring 2026.
research.kent.ac.uk/colonialandp...
Enables a creative writer from India to come and work at the University of Kent & develop their own prose/poetry project for up to twelve weeks in Spring 2026.
research.kent.ac.uk/colonialandp...
The Charles Wallace Trust - Colonial and Postcolonial Studies - Research at Kent
Since 1991, the Charles Wallace India Trust (CWIT) has sponsored an annual Fellowship that enables a writer from India to come and work at the University of Kent for the Spring Term. Hosted by the Sch...
research.kent.ac.uk
August 5, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Application round for the Charles Wallace India Trust Writing Fellowship is now open!
Enables a creative writer from India to come and work at the University of Kent & develop their own prose/poetry project for up to twelve weeks in Spring 2026.
research.kent.ac.uk/colonialandp...
Enables a creative writer from India to come and work at the University of Kent & develop their own prose/poetry project for up to twelve weeks in Spring 2026.
research.kent.ac.uk/colonialandp...
Reposted by Matt Whittle
Shaimaa has a scholarship to do a PhD on Palestinian literature with me at @uoe-llc.bsky.social, but she's stuck in Gaza because the foreign office won't help. Please share. www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
I should be at Cambridge, but I’m trapped in Gaza
Home Office red tape strands dozens of Palestinian scholarship winners in war zone
www.telegraph.co.uk
July 19, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Shaimaa has a scholarship to do a PhD on Palestinian literature with me at @uoe-llc.bsky.social, but she's stuck in Gaza because the foreign office won't help. Please share. www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
Reposted by Matt Whittle
*Please share with your networks 📣*
Are you a PGR interested in Postcolonial Studies? Are you interested in gaining experience in a director role? We want to hear from you!
The NVPoco network will need a new director for the coming academic year.
(1/2)
Are you a PGR interested in Postcolonial Studies? Are you interested in gaining experience in a director role? We want to hear from you!
The NVPoco network will need a new director for the coming academic year.
(1/2)
July 17, 2025 at 10:06 AM
*Please share with your networks 📣*
Are you a PGR interested in Postcolonial Studies? Are you interested in gaining experience in a director role? We want to hear from you!
The NVPoco network will need a new director for the coming academic year.
(1/2)
Are you a PGR interested in Postcolonial Studies? Are you interested in gaining experience in a director role? We want to hear from you!
The NVPoco network will need a new director for the coming academic year.
(1/2)
This was one of the best conferences I’ve been to - a welcoming arena for conversation & exchange of ideas about how literature & culture intervene in Hostile Environment policy & discourse
First day of the conference ‘Hostile Environments and Hospitable Praxes’ today.
June 25, 2025 at 8:30 PM
This was one of the best conferences I’ve been to - a welcoming arena for conversation & exchange of ideas about how literature & culture intervene in Hostile Environment policy & discourse
Reposted by Matt Whittle
Western leaders call for diplomacy, but they won’t stop this war – they refuse to even name its cause | Nesrine Malik
Western leaders call for diplomacy, but they won’t stop this war – they refuse to even name its cause | Nesrine Malik
The political centre sees the US and Israel’s war on Iran as a crisis to be managed, while the gap between their detached politics and bloody rhetoric widens, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik
www.theguardian.com
June 23, 2025 at 5:32 AM
Western leaders call for diplomacy, but they won’t stop this war – they refuse to even name its cause | Nesrine Malik
Reposted by Matt Whittle
New Voices in Postcolonial Studies Network x University of Westminster present 'American Dream/American Nightmare' 💭
A two-day, hybrid conference on the fantastical & the horrific in a US context.
Online - 3rd July
In-person - 4th July
A two-day, hybrid conference on the fantastical & the horrific in a US context.
Online - 3rd July
In-person - 4th July
American Dream/American Nightmare Conference - British Association for American Studies
The American Dream/American Nightmare Conference is hosted in collaboration with the University of Westminster and is concerned with the fantastical and the horrific in the American context,…
buff.ly
May 30, 2025 at 8:21 AM
New Voices in Postcolonial Studies Network x University of Westminster present 'American Dream/American Nightmare' 💭
A two-day, hybrid conference on the fantastical & the horrific in a US context.
Online - 3rd July
In-person - 4th July
A two-day, hybrid conference on the fantastical & the horrific in a US context.
Online - 3rd July
In-person - 4th July
Reposted by Matt Whittle
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, giant of African literature, dies aged 87 | Ngugi wa Thiong'o | The Guardian
www.theguardian.com/...
www.theguardian.com/...
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, giant of African literature, dies aged 87
Kenyan writer’s death announced by his daughter, who wrote: ‘He lived a full life, fought a good fight’
www.theguardian.com
May 28, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, giant of African literature, dies aged 87 | Ngugi wa Thiong'o | The Guardian
www.theguardian.com/...
www.theguardian.com/...
Gary Younge nails it, as always.
Listen to his full response to Labour’s abysmal “island of strangers” rhetoric @overunderpod.bsky.social
Listen to his full response to Labour’s abysmal “island of strangers” rhetoric @overunderpod.bsky.social
We are the people who Wipe Your A**es! 🏥
@GaryYounge reflects on his Mother’s experience in the NHS as an Immigrant Worker… @nadinewrites1.bsky.social
🎧 Listen To The Full Episode - linktr.ee/overthetopun... (LINK IN BIO) 🔗
This episode is sponsored by @powertochange.org.uk
@GaryYounge reflects on his Mother’s experience in the NHS as an Immigrant Worker… @nadinewrites1.bsky.social
🎧 Listen To The Full Episode - linktr.ee/overthetopun... (LINK IN BIO) 🔗
This episode is sponsored by @powertochange.org.uk
May 20, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Gary Younge nails it, as always.
Listen to his full response to Labour’s abysmal “island of strangers” rhetoric @overunderpod.bsky.social
Listen to his full response to Labour’s abysmal “island of strangers” rhetoric @overunderpod.bsky.social
Reposted by Matt Whittle
If you're a creative nonfiction/memoir writer, submit now to the 2025 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize in the Life Writing category. Translated work is accepted across all categories.
Deadline: 30 June.
buff.ly/xq4ptaC
Deadline: 30 June.
buff.ly/xq4ptaC
May 17, 2025 at 11:11 AM
If you're a creative nonfiction/memoir writer, submit now to the 2025 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize in the Life Writing category. Translated work is accepted across all categories.
Deadline: 30 June.
buff.ly/xq4ptaC
Deadline: 30 June.
buff.ly/xq4ptaC
Reposted by Matt Whittle
We're excited to present our 8th and final author in our series of posts on the contributions to New Voices in Postcolonial Studies Magazine No. 2: "Imagining Postcolonial Futures"! ✨
▶︎ To frame the magazine issue, we present an Introduction by Dr Matthew Whittle @drmattwhittle.bsky.social
▶︎ To frame the magazine issue, we present an Introduction by Dr Matthew Whittle @drmattwhittle.bsky.social
May 6, 2025 at 2:06 PM
We're excited to present our 8th and final author in our series of posts on the contributions to New Voices in Postcolonial Studies Magazine No. 2: "Imagining Postcolonial Futures"! ✨
▶︎ To frame the magazine issue, we present an Introduction by Dr Matthew Whittle @drmattwhittle.bsky.social
▶︎ To frame the magazine issue, we present an Introduction by Dr Matthew Whittle @drmattwhittle.bsky.social
Great network here for new scholars working across postcolonial & indigenous studies - recommend a follow!
We're delighted to announce the launch of the latest issue of of New Voices in Postcolonial Studies Magazine edited by Soph Harris-Nijmeijer and Juni Kvarving (@juni-kvarving.bsky.social) on the theme of "Imagining Postcolonial Futures"!
April 30, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Great network here for new scholars working across postcolonial & indigenous studies - recommend a follow!
Just had it confirmed that Meta has stolen my monographs to train its AI. Parasitic & unethical behaviour that’s taking the human out of the Humanities.
Use the link below to check for yourself and take action.
Use the link below to check for yourself and take action.
Our comment on Meta's use of LibGen, a notorious database of pirated content 👇
www.alcs.co.uk/news/alcs-co...
www.alcs.co.uk/news/alcs-co...
ALCS comment on Meta and LibGen
It was recently revealed by The Atlantic that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has used LibGen, a vast database of pirated material, to train its AI models.
www.alcs.co.uk
April 2, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Just had it confirmed that Meta has stolen my monographs to train its AI. Parasitic & unethical behaviour that’s taking the human out of the Humanities.
Use the link below to check for yourself and take action.
Use the link below to check for yourself and take action.
Call for papers for the #migration studies folks!
‘Hostile Environments & Hospitable Praxes’ @ University of Kent, UK, 23rd – 24th June 2025
Deadline for abstracts is March 17
blogs.kent.ac.uk/hostileenvir...
‘Hostile Environments & Hospitable Praxes’ @ University of Kent, UK, 23rd – 24th June 2025
Deadline for abstracts is March 17
blogs.kent.ac.uk/hostileenvir...
Hostile Environments and Hospitable Praxes – Literary and Cultural Responses to Racial and Migratory Politicsdesign1
blogs.kent.ac.uk
March 7, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Call for papers for the #migration studies folks!
‘Hostile Environments & Hospitable Praxes’ @ University of Kent, UK, 23rd – 24th June 2025
Deadline for abstracts is March 17
blogs.kent.ac.uk/hostileenvir...
‘Hostile Environments & Hospitable Praxes’ @ University of Kent, UK, 23rd – 24th June 2025
Deadline for abstracts is March 17
blogs.kent.ac.uk/hostileenvir...