Steph Brown
@stephjayb.bsky.social
Author | Watching Women: Militant Suffragists Write the British Surveillance State (2024)
Assoc Prof of English in Tucson | Surveillance | C20/21 Caribbean and British Lit | GWS
rock scrambler | hawk enthusiast | she/her
Assoc Prof of English in Tucson | Surveillance | C20/21 Caribbean and British Lit | GWS
rock scrambler | hawk enthusiast | she/her
Amid the holidays, my book's publication anniversary was last week! It's been a great year of talking with readers, and people-who-didn't-read-it-but-had-questions-anyway.
utppublishing.com/doi/book/10....
utppublishing.com/doi/book/10....
Watching Women - University of Toronto Press
utppublishing.com
December 31, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Amid the holidays, my book's publication anniversary was last week! It's been a great year of talking with readers, and people-who-didn't-read-it-but-had-questions-anyway.
utppublishing.com/doi/book/10....
utppublishing.com/doi/book/10....
December 31, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Was teaching in a public space at the Victoria&Albert and my students all started intensely looking something up on phones. When I asked what was up they told me that Lady Gaga had just strolled through behind me while I was lecturing. (They were googling “Lady Gaga tattoos” to be sure it was her.)
Right folks. Feeling rather down at the moment so bringing back an oldie
Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction
Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction
December 30, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Was teaching in a public space at the Victoria&Albert and my students all started intensely looking something up on phones. When I asked what was up they told me that Lady Gaga had just strolled through behind me while I was lecturing. (They were googling “Lady Gaga tattoos” to be sure it was her.)
Reposted by Steph Brown
Microplastics are here to stay; that's why we need to eat them responsibly in the classroom
August 3, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Microplastics are here to stay; that's why we need to eat them responsibly in the classroom
Reposted by Steph Brown
I've heard so many critiques throughout the years about how Iowa had a hand in squashing working class literature but I have yet to see a strong corrective for this problem
December 28, 2025 at 10:32 PM
I've heard so many critiques throughout the years about how Iowa had a hand in squashing working class literature but I have yet to see a strong corrective for this problem
Reposted by Steph Brown
everyone knows that Starbucks workers are on strike and until there's a contract, don't buy anything there, right?!?!
After 45 days on ULP strike, you've got to get center joy! But don't let our dance moves fool you: we're serious about this strike. You can find us on the line until Starbucks stops union busting and settles a fair union contract.
paydayreport.com/starbucks-un...
paydayreport.com/starbucks-un...
Starbucks Union Keeps it Dancing on the Picket Line
On Saturday, with Pittsburgh bracing for an arctic blast, forty baristas gathered for a picket line in front of the Bloomfield Starbucks to complete the first month of their strike. They stayed warm w...
paydayreport.com
December 28, 2025 at 3:14 PM
everyone knows that Starbucks workers are on strike and until there's a contract, don't buy anything there, right?!?!
Very niche but the one that always gets me is English-speaking scholars who lean on Fanon’s Black Skin White Masks opening with “Look!” when the original (French) doesn’t do that. If you’re reading a translation and want to make word choice a big deal, make sure the word is in the original!
looking up the source of quotes, whether for a book or a video script, is great for figuring out when a quote everyone "knows" and has repeated for ages is actually just weird bullshit someone else made up
December 26, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Very niche but the one that always gets me is English-speaking scholars who lean on Fanon’s Black Skin White Masks opening with “Look!” when the original (French) doesn’t do that. If you’re reading a translation and want to make word choice a big deal, make sure the word is in the original!
Reposted by Steph Brown
I strongly suspect many people would be a lot less aggressively anti-AI at this point if they hadn’t just spent two years feeling constantly pressured, often by very unpleasant people and actors, to use it Or Else
As a lawyer I’m getting a daily machine gun of come-ons to use AI in legal research, have AI draft my documents, let AI suggest my arguments, AI can take a flying fuck at a rolling seven-fingered doughnut
December 21, 2025 at 6:12 PM
I strongly suspect many people would be a lot less aggressively anti-AI at this point if they hadn’t just spent two years feeling constantly pressured, often by very unpleasant people and actors, to use it Or Else
Reposted by Steph Brown
My friends, I say this with all the love in my heart: Right now might not be the moment for “But we should be TOLERANT and NUANCED about the plagiarism machines!”
Your tolerance and “nuance” will be weaponised by the grifters and their apologists. Please respect yourselves more.
Your tolerance and “nuance” will be weaponised by the grifters and their apologists. Please respect yourselves more.
December 20, 2025 at 2:24 PM
My friends, I say this with all the love in my heart: Right now might not be the moment for “But we should be TOLERANT and NUANCED about the plagiarism machines!”
Your tolerance and “nuance” will be weaponised by the grifters and their apologists. Please respect yourselves more.
Your tolerance and “nuance” will be weaponised by the grifters and their apologists. Please respect yourselves more.
The only 19C lit class in my French major was on the French Caribbean. Was mad about it at the time (no Balzac? Flaubert! Dumas! Quelle honte! Quelle horreur!), but eventually circled back to the Anglophone Caribbean and the only reason I even knew where I was was because of that class.
In honor of me being mad on the internet, and also needing to feel like other people share my values:
Tell me about the class you didn't want to take in college that ended up bending your mind or being otherwise "useful" in your development as a person
Tell me about the class you didn't want to take in college that ended up bending your mind or being otherwise "useful" in your development as a person
December 19, 2025 at 5:23 AM
The only 19C lit class in my French major was on the French Caribbean. Was mad about it at the time (no Balzac? Flaubert! Dumas! Quelle honte! Quelle horreur!), but eventually circled back to the Anglophone Caribbean and the only reason I even knew where I was was because of that class.
Reposted by Steph Brown
I am so tired of people who I otherwise respect talking about the demographic cliff as though it is a natural phenomenon, rather than a political projection.
IF it happens (which I still doubt) it will be because a racist, anti-education coalition has been trying to make it real with policy.
IF it happens (which I still doubt) it will be because a racist, anti-education coalition has been trying to make it real with policy.
December 18, 2025 at 5:20 PM
I am so tired of people who I otherwise respect talking about the demographic cliff as though it is a natural phenomenon, rather than a political projection.
IF it happens (which I still doubt) it will be because a racist, anti-education coalition has been trying to make it real with policy.
IF it happens (which I still doubt) it will be because a racist, anti-education coalition has been trying to make it real with policy.
Reposted by Steph Brown
🚨 JOB JOB JOB!!! 🚨
Late-breaking job! Indigenous history at University of Colorado Boulder. Assistant or eatly associate. Been trying to get this line for forever. It’s finally happening 🙏 Great place to live and work. Fabulous colleagues (ask me how I know!) networks.h-net.org/jobs/69637/u...
Late-breaking job! Indigenous history at University of Colorado Boulder. Assistant or eatly associate. Been trying to get this line for forever. It’s finally happening 🙏 Great place to live and work. Fabulous colleagues (ask me how I know!) networks.h-net.org/jobs/69637/u...
University of Colorado - Boulder - Assistant or Associate Professor of History | H-Net
The Department of History at the University of Colorado Boulder seeks a tenure-track Assistant Professor or early Associate Professor specializing in Native American history with a focus on the North American West, broadly defined. The successful applicant will have access to funds associated with the Walter and Lucienne Driskill Professorship in Western American History. Specialization is open, but the department particularly encourages applications from scholars whose research focuses on the early American West (pre-1920s) and engages with legal history, the history of women and gender, environmental history, and/or the history of medicine and public health. Scholars with demonstrated commitments to engaging Native American communities and/or supporting Native and Indigenous students are especially encouraged to apply, as are those who bring relevant lived and individual experiences and achievements to this position.
networks.h-net.org
December 16, 2025 at 10:14 PM
🚨 JOB JOB JOB!!! 🚨
Late-breaking job! Indigenous history at University of Colorado Boulder. Assistant or eatly associate. Been trying to get this line for forever. It’s finally happening 🙏 Great place to live and work. Fabulous colleagues (ask me how I know!) networks.h-net.org/jobs/69637/u...
Late-breaking job! Indigenous history at University of Colorado Boulder. Assistant or eatly associate. Been trying to get this line for forever. It’s finally happening 🙏 Great place to live and work. Fabulous colleagues (ask me how I know!) networks.h-net.org/jobs/69637/u...
Reposted by Steph Brown
Here's my current big queer request:
Does anybody have I Sing the Body Electric, Especially When My Power's Out, by Andrea Gibson, in printed form?
I'm trying to find the real formatting but there's so many different layouts online.
Does anybody have I Sing the Body Electric, Especially When My Power's Out, by Andrea Gibson, in printed form?
I'm trying to find the real formatting but there's so many different layouts online.
December 15, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Here's my current big queer request:
Does anybody have I Sing the Body Electric, Especially When My Power's Out, by Andrea Gibson, in printed form?
I'm trying to find the real formatting but there's so many different layouts online.
Does anybody have I Sing the Body Electric, Especially When My Power's Out, by Andrea Gibson, in printed form?
I'm trying to find the real formatting but there's so many different layouts online.
Opposite of favorite, but in most recent archival work, was looking at Andrew Salkey's letters from the 60s and 70s and reading the correspondence from his split from Kamau Brathwaite was heartbreaking.
I want to be writing about Polydore Vergil and John Leland's feud about the historical King Arthur, and it really just doesn't fit in what I'm working on. So tell me: what is your favorite scholarrly/quasi-scholarly feud from your period? Dudes that just absolutely could not stand one another?
December 12, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Opposite of favorite, but in most recent archival work, was looking at Andrew Salkey's letters from the 60s and 70s and reading the correspondence from his split from Kamau Brathwaite was heartbreaking.
Reposted by Steph Brown
Historian focusing on early modern book culture here. I am not sure that feeding a private company with all our past handwritings from archives is a solution or a way forward. Google‘s AI studio is a data trap. #skystorians
Gemini’s ability to read handwritten archival documents has importance beyond the humanities. It opens new frontiers for scientific research and collaboration with the humanities.
foundhistory.org/seeing-old-s...
#ClimateScience #DataScience #Agriculture #Archives #Research #LandGrant #AI
foundhistory.org/seeing-old-s...
#ClimateScience #DataScience #Agriculture #Archives #Research #LandGrant #AI
Seeing Old Science
Gemini’s ability to read handwritten archival documents has importance beyond the humanities
foundhistory.org
December 11, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Historian focusing on early modern book culture here. I am not sure that feeding a private company with all our past handwritings from archives is a solution or a way forward. Google‘s AI studio is a data trap. #skystorians
Reposted by Steph Brown
When they say "competency," but they mean "obedience."
I'll say it again, when we offload our critical and creative capacities to a "co-intelligence" for the sake of convenience, all we have left to offer the prevailing social order is our obedience.
I'll say it again, when we offload our critical and creative capacities to a "co-intelligence" for the sake of convenience, all we have left to offer the prevailing social order is our obedience.
In related news, the Canadian Sociological Association is instructing its members to be open to working "in collaboration" with AI and to cultivate "the ability to use it as a complementary 'co-intelligence' rather than view it solely as a threat."
So that's how things are going in higher ed.
So that's how things are going in higher ed.
December 10, 2025 at 5:57 PM
When they say "competency," but they mean "obedience."
I'll say it again, when we offload our critical and creative capacities to a "co-intelligence" for the sake of convenience, all we have left to offer the prevailing social order is our obedience.
I'll say it again, when we offload our critical and creative capacities to a "co-intelligence" for the sake of convenience, all we have left to offer the prevailing social order is our obedience.
Reposted by Steph Brown
We are at it again! Myself & the wonderful @rcolesworthy.bsky.social😍
Seeking pubs -- articles, book chapters, monographs -- by contingent lit scholars for the 2025 list 👇👇 please spread the word!!!
contingentmagazine.org/2024/12/08/2...
Seeking pubs -- articles, book chapters, monographs -- by contingent lit scholars for the 2025 list 👇👇 please spread the word!!!
contingentmagazine.org/2024/12/08/2...
2024 Literary Studies Book and Journal Article List
A companion list for lit studies scholars.
contingentmagazine.org
November 9, 2025 at 5:04 PM
We are at it again! Myself & the wonderful @rcolesworthy.bsky.social😍
Seeking pubs -- articles, book chapters, monographs -- by contingent lit scholars for the 2025 list 👇👇 please spread the word!!!
contingentmagazine.org/2024/12/08/2...
Seeking pubs -- articles, book chapters, monographs -- by contingent lit scholars for the 2025 list 👇👇 please spread the word!!!
contingentmagazine.org/2024/12/08/2...
Reposted by Steph Brown
It’s that time of year friends! Thanks to @erinbartram.bsky.social and our friends at @contingent-mag.bsky.social, Laura and I are putting together a list of 2025 articles & books by contingent & indie lit critters. DM, reply, email me @ suny press. And spread the word!!
We are at it again! Myself & the wonderful @rcolesworthy.bsky.social😍
Seeking pubs -- articles, book chapters, monographs -- by contingent lit scholars for the 2025 list 👇👇 please spread the word!!!
contingentmagazine.org/2024/12/08/2...
Seeking pubs -- articles, book chapters, monographs -- by contingent lit scholars for the 2025 list 👇👇 please spread the word!!!
contingentmagazine.org/2024/12/08/2...
2024 Literary Studies Book and Journal Article List
A companion list for lit studies scholars.
contingentmagazine.org
November 9, 2025 at 5:07 PM
It’s that time of year friends! Thanks to @erinbartram.bsky.social and our friends at @contingent-mag.bsky.social, Laura and I are putting together a list of 2025 articles & books by contingent & indie lit critters. DM, reply, email me @ suny press. And spread the word!!
Reposted by Steph Brown
Job: the University of Arizona Libraries is hiring a Librarian with focus on Instructional Strategies and STEM (assistant/associate) to join our new cohort model of liaisons
arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
Librarian, Instructional Strategies and STEM (Assistant or Associate) (C/CE)
Instructional Strategist & Member of Strategies in Teaching and
Research UnitBuilds relationships with faculty, instructors, and campus units to i...
arizona.csod.com
December 8, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Job: the University of Arizona Libraries is hiring a Librarian with focus on Instructional Strategies and STEM (assistant/associate) to join our new cohort model of liaisons
arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel.
December 8, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel.
Anyone else having (probably unwarranted) anxiety about the grad admissions software everyone seems to be using that doesn't let you preview letters of rec before submitting?
Keep worrying that there'll be a file retrieval glitch and I'll end up sending pics of my cats instead of letters of rec.
Keep worrying that there'll be a file retrieval glitch and I'll end up sending pics of my cats instead of letters of rec.
December 7, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Anyone else having (probably unwarranted) anxiety about the grad admissions software everyone seems to be using that doesn't let you preview letters of rec before submitting?
Keep worrying that there'll be a file retrieval glitch and I'll end up sending pics of my cats instead of letters of rec.
Keep worrying that there'll be a file retrieval glitch and I'll end up sending pics of my cats instead of letters of rec.
Out here in Jutland
In the old man-killing parishes
I will feel lost,
Unhappy and at home.
In the old man-killing parishes
I will feel lost,
Unhappy and at home.
Which lines of poetry live rent-free in your head?
December 7, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Out here in Jutland
In the old man-killing parishes
I will feel lost,
Unhappy and at home.
In the old man-killing parishes
I will feel lost,
Unhappy and at home.
Reposted by Steph Brown
We do. This was something @bakerdphd.bsky.social, @annakornbluh.bsky.social, & I discussed at the UIC UF event last week. (Forthcoming pod.)
Unions need power maps & conflicts audits of their schools, boards, etc. But we also need more info sharing between academic worker collectives.
Unions need power maps & conflicts audits of their schools, boards, etc. But we also need more info sharing between academic worker collectives.
The university-surveillance component of this piece is !!! I had missed the Qualtrics shift and acquisition and wow.
We really need an ed-tech key players power-map, does anyone know if this exists?
We really need an ed-tech key players power-map, does anyone know if this exists?
December 7, 2025 at 12:53 PM
We do. This was something @bakerdphd.bsky.social, @annakornbluh.bsky.social, & I discussed at the UIC UF event last week. (Forthcoming pod.)
Unions need power maps & conflicts audits of their schools, boards, etc. But we also need more info sharing between academic worker collectives.
Unions need power maps & conflicts audits of their schools, boards, etc. But we also need more info sharing between academic worker collectives.
Reposted by Steph Brown
ICE raid today in Tucson.
Newly seated Rep Adelita Grijalva and protesters who turned out to protect their neighbors got flash-banged, pepper sprayed, pushed.
At least two were arrested.
Newly seated Rep Adelita Grijalva and protesters who turned out to protect their neighbors got flash-banged, pepper sprayed, pushed.
At least two were arrested.
December 6, 2025 at 3:17 AM
ICE raid today in Tucson.
Newly seated Rep Adelita Grijalva and protesters who turned out to protect their neighbors got flash-banged, pepper sprayed, pushed.
At least two were arrested.
Newly seated Rep Adelita Grijalva and protesters who turned out to protect their neighbors got flash-banged, pepper sprayed, pushed.
At least two were arrested.
Reposted by Steph Brown
Make sure you get your copy! Or check the volume online.
Very excited for this new open access publication to be out in the world! Thank you @doctorjc.bsky.social and Anny-Dominique Curtius for editing and organizing us! This is my look at the transoceanic through-lines of trans of color critique in Francophone Studies, a gateway to my future work. Link⬇️:
December 5, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Make sure you get your copy! Or check the volume online.