Itay Lotem
@ilotem.bsky.social
Looks like I’m a historian. Senior Lecturer at UWestminster: wrote a book about the memory of colonialism in Britain and France, and another one about the pitfalls of memory politics in post-WWII Europe. Dogs are better.
Pinned
Itay Lotem
@ilotem.bsky.social
· Dec 5
Dealing with Dark Pasts
Cambridge Core - Global History - Dealing with Dark Pasts
www.cambridge.org
My new book, ‘Dealing with Dark Pasts’, where I try to coin a new memory concept, is now out online and is free to download for the first four weeks…! www.cambridge.org/core/element...
Reposted by Itay Lotem
Think the marriage of convenience between the historically antisemitic far-right and the Israeli right has been bad for Diaspora Jews? Wait until you see the divorce.
For a decade, political support for Israel has come from conservative Christians. But now isolationism and antisemitism are changing the tone. n.pr/47IHdkv
Support for Israel among U.S. conservatives is starting to crack. Here's why
For a decade, political support for Israel has come from conservative Christians. But now isolationism and antisemitism are changing the tone.
n.pr
November 7, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Think the marriage of convenience between the historically antisemitic far-right and the Israeli right has been bad for Diaspora Jews? Wait until you see the divorce.
I want the world to stop. Now.
(I mean, I call my great aunt/cousin, who is the daughter of my grandfather’s cousin, my aunt. In my case it’s not a “big family” but a family where everything is between kinda got murdered, but that’s not important. WHY IS THIS EVEN A TALKING POINT?!)
(I mean, I call my great aunt/cousin, who is the daughter of my grandfather’s cousin, my aunt. In my case it’s not a “big family” but a family where everything is between kinda got murdered, but that’s not important. WHY IS THIS EVEN A TALKING POINT?!)
Wait, are people really upset that Mamdani spoke about his “aunt,” and it was actually his father’s cousin and not his father’s sibling?
Because that is an extremely normal thing a lot of cultures do. Including a lot of large Jewish families!
Because that is an extremely normal thing a lot of cultures do. Including a lot of large Jewish families!
In a bit of a tense moment, one of the La Mega co-hosts presses Mamdani on why he "lied" about his "aunt" having been scared to ride the subway after 9/11 while wearing a hijab.
Mamdani says it was "not a lie" because he refers to his father's cousin as his "aunt."
Mamdani says it was "not a lie" because he refers to his father's cousin as his "aunt."
October 28, 2025 at 5:55 PM
I want the world to stop. Now.
(I mean, I call my great aunt/cousin, who is the daughter of my grandfather’s cousin, my aunt. In my case it’s not a “big family” but a family where everything is between kinda got murdered, but that’s not important. WHY IS THIS EVEN A TALKING POINT?!)
(I mean, I call my great aunt/cousin, who is the daughter of my grandfather’s cousin, my aunt. In my case it’s not a “big family” but a family where everything is between kinda got murdered, but that’s not important. WHY IS THIS EVEN A TALKING POINT?!)
What is absolutely striking about the current political conversation is that what defines much of the lurch to the (far) right is the logic of embracing nastiness and abandoning goodwill for the sake of political positioning. A type of “après moi le déluge” that gives supporters utter freedom. 1/4
October 28, 2025 at 11:42 AM
What is absolutely striking about the current political conversation is that what defines much of the lurch to the (far) right is the logic of embracing nastiness and abandoning goodwill for the sake of political positioning. A type of “après moi le déluge” that gives supporters utter freedom. 1/4
Si jamais vous étiez à Marseille le 13 novembre et aviez envie de venir parler d’antiracisme et le tournant de 2005, venez me voir à l’Iméra à 17h30 !
Quand l’antiracisme devint postcolonial - Iméra
Itay Lotem, titulaire de la chaire EHESS/Iméra – Etudes transrégionales 2025-2026, interroge le tournant antiraciste des années 2000.
www.imera.fr
October 22, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Si jamais vous étiez à Marseille le 13 novembre et aviez envie de venir parler d’antiracisme et le tournant de 2005, venez me voir à l’Iméra à 17h30 !
The sense of quick unraveling and complete loss of any backbone and coordinates is the oddest thing about waking up to how British political establishment is talking about cleansing and deportation as if it were just normal? And even if I see how we got here, it doesn’t make it any less depressing.
October 22, 2025 at 10:32 AM
The sense of quick unraveling and complete loss of any backbone and coordinates is the oddest thing about waking up to how British political establishment is talking about cleansing and deportation as if it were just normal? And even if I see how we got here, it doesn’t make it any less depressing.
Reposted by Itay Lotem
I’m glad senior Labour figures are feeling like this, but they need to translate their feelings into action. Real action, not just complaining to journalists on background. Get your damn house in order.
Senior Labour figures have expressed dismay at the Party's "cowardly" and "incompetent" response to Tory shadow minister Katie Lam calling for legal migrants to "go home".
"What’s the point of us saying we’re anti-racist when we fail to call out racism," said one MP.
"What’s the point of us saying we’re anti-racist when we fail to call out racism," said one MP.
Exclusive: Labour Anger Erupts Over Party's Response To Katie Lam Immigration Row
"What’s the point of us saying we’re anti-racist when we fail to call out racism," said one MP.
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk
October 22, 2025 at 9:41 AM
I’m glad senior Labour figures are feeling like this, but they need to translate their feelings into action. Real action, not just complaining to journalists on background. Get your damn house in order.
Reposted by Itay Lotem
« Pourquoi il y a débat ? Parce que nous n’étions que huit journalistes à suivre le procès. Pas une seule télé », rappelle @fabricearfi.bsky.social.
Remettre sans relâche la brutalité des faits au cœur de la conversation publique sur la condamnation et l’incarcération de Nicolas Sarkozy 👇
Remettre sans relâche la brutalité des faits au cœur de la conversation publique sur la condamnation et l’incarcération de Nicolas Sarkozy 👇
October 21, 2025 at 8:14 PM
« Pourquoi il y a débat ? Parce que nous n’étions que huit journalistes à suivre le procès. Pas une seule télé », rappelle @fabricearfi.bsky.social.
Remettre sans relâche la brutalité des faits au cœur de la conversation publique sur la condamnation et l’incarcération de Nicolas Sarkozy 👇
Remettre sans relâche la brutalité des faits au cœur de la conversation publique sur la condamnation et l’incarcération de Nicolas Sarkozy 👇
Reposted by Itay Lotem
if all my group chats were leaked tomorrow I don't know that I could say for certain that my career would necessarily retain the trajectory it's currently on, but I will say I'm pretty sure I've never mentioned Hitler in any of them, so at least that's something
October 20, 2025 at 8:19 PM
if all my group chats were leaked tomorrow I don't know that I could say for certain that my career would necessarily retain the trajectory it's currently on, but I will say I'm pretty sure I've never mentioned Hitler in any of them, so at least that's something
Reposted by Itay Lotem
#Berlin Kommt feiern!
Die Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD) wird 40 Jahre alt 🎊
🫶🏾 Kinderbetreuung
☝🏾 Rollstuhlgerecht
🤙🏾 DGS-Verdolmetschung
Am Freitag, den 24.10.25 ab 12:30 Uhr
Powered by @isdbund.bsky.social
Unterstützt von @hkw-berlin.bsky.social & #Heimaten
Die Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD) wird 40 Jahre alt 🎊
🫶🏾 Kinderbetreuung
☝🏾 Rollstuhlgerecht
🤙🏾 DGS-Verdolmetschung
Am Freitag, den 24.10.25 ab 12:30 Uhr
Powered by @isdbund.bsky.social
Unterstützt von @hkw-berlin.bsky.social & #Heimaten
October 20, 2025 at 4:00 PM
#Berlin Kommt feiern!
Die Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD) wird 40 Jahre alt 🎊
🫶🏾 Kinderbetreuung
☝🏾 Rollstuhlgerecht
🤙🏾 DGS-Verdolmetschung
Am Freitag, den 24.10.25 ab 12:30 Uhr
Powered by @isdbund.bsky.social
Unterstützt von @hkw-berlin.bsky.social & #Heimaten
Die Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD) wird 40 Jahre alt 🎊
🫶🏾 Kinderbetreuung
☝🏾 Rollstuhlgerecht
🤙🏾 DGS-Verdolmetschung
Am Freitag, den 24.10.25 ab 12:30 Uhr
Powered by @isdbund.bsky.social
Unterstützt von @hkw-berlin.bsky.social & #Heimaten
Seit Tagen geht es mir genauso wie Sasha Marianna Salzmann. Ich weiß ja, dass Merz mich wohl meint. Als aschkenasischer Jude habe ich gerade in Deutschland gelernt, was es bedeutet, als nicht ganz „weiß“ gelesen zu werden: Haare zu dunkel, Gesichtszüge zu „südländisch.“ Irgendetwas stimmte nie. 1/2
Autor*in zur Stadtbild-Debatte: Der böse Traum vom gereinigten Deutschland
Woran will Bundeskanzler Merz eigentlich das irregulär Migrantische erkennen? Seine Äußerungen zum deutschen Stadtbild sind menschenverachtend.
taz.de
October 19, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Seit Tagen geht es mir genauso wie Sasha Marianna Salzmann. Ich weiß ja, dass Merz mich wohl meint. Als aschkenasischer Jude habe ich gerade in Deutschland gelernt, was es bedeutet, als nicht ganz „weiß“ gelesen zu werden: Haare zu dunkel, Gesichtszüge zu „südländisch.“ Irgendetwas stimmte nie. 1/2
Reposted by Itay Lotem
"Für Jüdinnen und Juden kann es aus der Geschichte nur eine Lehre geben: Die Einteilung in jene, die aus dem #Stadtbild entfernt gehören, und in jene, die in das Stadtbild passen und deshalb verschont bleiben, ist nicht hinnehmbar"
~ Sasha Marianna Salzmann @taz.de
~ Sasha Marianna Salzmann @taz.de
Autor*in zur Stadtbild-Debatte: Der böse Traum vom gereinigten Deutschland
Woran will Bundeskanzler Merz eigentlich das irregulär Migrantische erkennen? Seine Äußerungen zum deutschen Stadtbild sind menschenverachtend.
taz.de
October 19, 2025 at 5:12 PM
"Für Jüdinnen und Juden kann es aus der Geschichte nur eine Lehre geben: Die Einteilung in jene, die aus dem #Stadtbild entfernt gehören, und in jene, die in das Stadtbild passen und deshalb verschont bleiben, ist nicht hinnehmbar"
~ Sasha Marianna Salzmann @taz.de
~ Sasha Marianna Salzmann @taz.de
This is a welcome post about expertise, but even more so about the dangers of total suspicion and the nihilism it encourages. Thinking of societies fueled by total suspicion always gets me back to experiences in Russia recently, but also to close post-Soviet contacts. One story always returns 1/4
Do we need to "stop trusting the experts"?
davidabell.substack.com/p/do-we-need...
davidabell.substack.com/p/do-we-need...
Do We Need to "Stop Trusting the Experts"?
(As RFK, Jr. Urges)
davidabell.substack.com
October 18, 2025 at 6:36 PM
This is a welcome post about expertise, but even more so about the dangers of total suspicion and the nihilism it encourages. Thinking of societies fueled by total suspicion always gets me back to experiences in Russia recently, but also to close post-Soviet contacts. One story always returns 1/4
Reposted by Itay Lotem
Reposted by Itay Lotem
New article out in @jbritishstudies.bsky.social. It's gestation began in late 2021, shortly before I started my current job teaching Black British history. It's the product of my frustrations with the way that the histories of racism & fascism in Britain are written about.
doi.org/10.1017/jbr....
doi.org/10.1017/jbr....
The Lost Pillar of British Political Culture: Black Constructions of British Fascism, 1930s–1970s | Journal of British Studies | Cambridge Core
The Lost Pillar of British Political Culture: Black Constructions of British Fascism, 1930s–1970s - Volume 64
doi.org
October 15, 2025 at 12:36 PM
New article out in @jbritishstudies.bsky.social. It's gestation began in late 2021, shortly before I started my current job teaching Black British history. It's the product of my frustrations with the way that the histories of racism & fascism in Britain are written about.
doi.org/10.1017/jbr....
doi.org/10.1017/jbr....
Reposted by Itay Lotem
this is sociopathic behaviour and I think we need to treat it as such! just because something has become easy to do doesn't mean it has become less creepy, or more acceptable!
October 12, 2025 at 9:10 AM
this is sociopathic behaviour and I think we need to treat it as such! just because something has become easy to do doesn't mean it has become less creepy, or more acceptable!
Reposted by Itay Lotem
Encore 7 Lecornu et on a le droit à un Lecornu gratuit
October 10, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Encore 7 Lecornu et on a le droit à un Lecornu gratuit
It’s that moment when you wish you were GenZ enough to create a meme that shows the sheer ridiculousness of someone (let’s call him Macron) convinced that repeating the same mistake would eventually yield a different result? Is there a reason to think the laws of gravity do not apply to French PMs?
Sébastien Lecornu REnommé à Matignon : le message d’Emmanuel Macron à tous les Français.
Dessin d’ @allanbarte.bsky.social pour Bon Pote
Dessin d’ @allanbarte.bsky.social pour Bon Pote
October 10, 2025 at 9:34 PM
It’s that moment when you wish you were GenZ enough to create a meme that shows the sheer ridiculousness of someone (let’s call him Macron) convinced that repeating the same mistake would eventually yield a different result? Is there a reason to think the laws of gravity do not apply to French PMs?
As much as I appreciate AI’s ability to help very supervised streamlining of certain technical tasks (code! Correspondence with German bureaucrats!), this is the correct answer to anyone asking me why I don’t use ChatGPT to write more books (and believe me, I’ve been asked many a time).
David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)
October 10, 2025 at 9:26 PM
As much as I appreciate AI’s ability to help very supervised streamlining of certain technical tasks (code! Correspondence with German bureaucrats!), this is the correct answer to anyone asking me why I don’t use ChatGPT to write more books (and believe me, I’ve been asked many a time).
Reposted by Itay Lotem
Nigel Farage accuses teachers of "poisoning our kids" on race issues.
Here's a reminder of what teachers and fellow pupils at Farage's own school remember of his own views on that subject.
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/nigel-fara...
Here's a reminder of what teachers and fellow pupils at Farage's own school remember of his own views on that subject.
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/nigel-fara...
October 9, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Nigel Farage accuses teachers of "poisoning our kids" on race issues.
Here's a reminder of what teachers and fellow pupils at Farage's own school remember of his own views on that subject.
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/nigel-fara...
Here's a reminder of what teachers and fellow pupils at Farage's own school remember of his own views on that subject.
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/nigel-fara...
As someone from Small Heath, I’m allowed to talk shit about Handsworth. But it won’t be anything about “feeling uncomfortable,” because Handsworth also represents the best of Britain, big warts and all.
I grew up in Handsworth. It is one of the most vibrant and diverse places in the UK, whether in terms of complexion or creed. For someone to feel uncomfortable there says everything about the kind of sameness they crave, rather than anything meaningful about Handsworth or Birmingham.
October 6, 2025 at 10:44 PM
As someone from Small Heath, I’m allowed to talk shit about Handsworth. But it won’t be anything about “feeling uncomfortable,” because Handsworth also represents the best of Britain, big warts and all.
Reposted by Itay Lotem
One reflection talking to other Jews today is how unshocking this is.
Numbing, upsetting, scary but not shocking. We all knew it was coming. Given the enormous rise in antisemitic incidents in recent years, it's a surprise it hasn't happened more often.
Numbing, upsetting, scary but not shocking. We all knew it was coming. Given the enormous rise in antisemitic incidents in recent years, it's a surprise it hasn't happened more often.
October 2, 2025 at 1:19 PM
One reflection talking to other Jews today is how unshocking this is.
Numbing, upsetting, scary but not shocking. We all knew it was coming. Given the enormous rise in antisemitic incidents in recent years, it's a surprise it hasn't happened more often.
Numbing, upsetting, scary but not shocking. We all knew it was coming. Given the enormous rise in antisemitic incidents in recent years, it's a surprise it hasn't happened more often.
Reposted by Itay Lotem
I realize many people don’t quite get that not every single professor in every single university teaches computer science and might actually be trained in and invested in teaching other things, like let’s say, history? Or poetry.
Or sociology.
It is not our job to teach students how to use AI.
Or sociology.
It is not our job to teach students how to use AI.
If you don’t teach your students how to use AI, you’re doing them a huge disservice because they won’t have jobs in the future.
September 28, 2025 at 11:25 AM
I realize many people don’t quite get that not every single professor in every single university teaches computer science and might actually be trained in and invested in teaching other things, like let’s say, history? Or poetry.
Or sociology.
It is not our job to teach students how to use AI.
Or sociology.
It is not our job to teach students how to use AI.
Reposted by Itay Lotem
Do you know of interesting research that I'm missing? Check out the bibliography at https://www.kai-arzheimer.com/extreme-right-western-europe-bibliography, DM @kai_arzheimer
Bibliography on the Extreme Right in Western Europe
A bibliography of more than 1600 titles on the parties of the Extreme Right in Western Europe (aka the Populist Right, Radical Right, Anti-Immigrant Right)
www.kai-arzheimer.com
September 18, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Do you know of interesting research that I'm missing? Check out the bibliography at https://www.kai-arzheimer.com/extreme-right-western-europe-bibliography, DM @kai_arzheimer
I actually don’t get the point of waffles.
Don’t @ me. I don’t make the rules. Waffles are pointless.
Don’t @ me. I don’t make the rules. Waffles are pointless.
noticing more "oh so you hate waffles?" style randomly aggro replies these days. winter is coming
September 21, 2025 at 9:18 PM
I actually don’t get the point of waffles.
Don’t @ me. I don’t make the rules. Waffles are pointless.
Don’t @ me. I don’t make the rules. Waffles are pointless.
Reposted by Itay Lotem
Statement in Solidarity with the Intern. Assoc. of Genocide Scholars by the Genocide & Holocaust Studies Crisis Network:
We condemn attacks on the IAGS Gaza genocide resolution & abhor the denialism & bad faith that persist among some in the fields of Holocaust & Genocide Studies.
We condemn attacks on the IAGS Gaza genocide resolution & abhor the denialism & bad faith that persist among some in the fields of Holocaust & Genocide Studies.
IAGS Solidarity Statement 9-18-25.pdf
drive.google.com
September 18, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Statement in Solidarity with the Intern. Assoc. of Genocide Scholars by the Genocide & Holocaust Studies Crisis Network:
We condemn attacks on the IAGS Gaza genocide resolution & abhor the denialism & bad faith that persist among some in the fields of Holocaust & Genocide Studies.
We condemn attacks on the IAGS Gaza genocide resolution & abhor the denialism & bad faith that persist among some in the fields of Holocaust & Genocide Studies.