Christine Johnson
LightNews LightNews
banner
christinkallama.bsky.social
Christine Johnson
@christinkallama.bsky.social
620 followers 520 following 500 posts
Historian of Renaissance Germany. Author of _The German Discovery of the World: Renaissance Encounters with the Strange and Marvelous_. Also on Mastodon: @christinkallama@mastodon.social.

She/her
Posts Replies Media Videos
christinkallama.bsky.social
A map of the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, with hundreds of dark circles representing "No Kings" events on October 18, 2025.
October 10, 2025 at 6:54 PM
christinkallama.bsky.social
Show your support for Ukraine during the Alaska Summit between the war criminal Putin and the corrupt felon Trump. Flood social media with the Ukrainian flag and colors all day on Friday, August 15.

That's now! 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦
A poster explaining "How you can help Ukraine during the Alaska summit". It says to "display the Ukrainian flag on all social media platforms on Friday, August 15". The poster is headlined "Stand with Ukraine" and has a stylized banner of the Ukrainian colors (blue and yellow) running diagonally from lower left to middle right.
August 15, 2025 at 5:17 AM
christinkallama.bsky.social
The part that confused me was the outdated, disproven assertions used to make the larger claim. Yes, women's history is often occluded in the sources. But not in the way she asserts. We don't enhance knowledge by only accepting the answers we like.
May 27, 2025 at 7:27 PM
christinkallama.bsky.social
Just came across this description of the fax machine in a student's rough draft.

I am so old.
A snippet from a student's essay that describes faxing as "a precursor to modern communication technology"
March 9, 2025 at 10:37 PM
christinkallama.bsky.social
Like the #50501 folks, the organization behind the February 28 #EconomicBlackout is new, nebulous, & largely a web/social media presence. They have not (yet) built coalitions or done on-the-ground organizing. They don't even provide media resources to make it easier to spread the word.
Poster calling for an Economic Blackout on February 28th. Don't buy anything! No gas, no groceries, no fast food. Let's show them our economic power.
February 21, 2025 at 4:49 AM
christinkallama.bsky.social
February 21, 2025 at 4:03 AM
christinkallama.bsky.social
February 21, 2025 at 1:04 AM
christinkallama.bsky.social
Non-residential seminar fellowship opportunity for grad students and Ph.Ds working on "Global Catholicism in Local Spaces" from the Center for Research on Global Catholicism at Saint Louis University.

Open to scholars in all humanities and social sciences disciplines. 🗃️
February 3, 2025 at 11:32 PM
christinkallama.bsky.social
Screenshot from Boston University's website with headline: "BU Athletics Finalizes Contract Extensions for Both Basketball Head Coaches."
November 22, 2024 at 11:17 PM
christinkallama.bsky.social
Have you gotten to the glowing invocation of nineteenth-century match factories yet?
October 10, 2024 at 5:47 PM
christinkallama.bsky.social
This support came principally from the Black Baltimore community - especially the Grand United Order of Galilean Fishermen and the Mutual United Brotherhood of Liberty. These groups collected money and published pamphlets to spread the word about the true conditions leading to the violence.
Title page of the pamphlet "The Navassa Island Riot. Illustrated" published by the National Grand Tabernacle, Order of Gallilean Fishermen, Baltimore MD. in 1889. Two portraits of accused rioters from Navassa with biographical details. One, James Johnson, was born in Carlisle, Pa. and is 22 years old. His mother lives in Chambersberg PA, and he lived for 15 years in Washington, D.C. with his father, who is a messenger to the Supreme Court. The other, Moses Williams, was born in Dakota and is described as a "half-breed Indian" educated at Carlisle (presumably the Indian Boarding School).
October 3, 2024 at 6:06 AM
christinkallama.bsky.social

#Guano, one of the essential ingredients for #Ammineite, has an amazing (and terrible) history.
Featuring not just birds and bats, but kings and rebels, Black Mutual Aid organizations, and the U.S. Supreme Court...
An advertisement in an 1866 newspaper. The title reads GUANO. Above the title reads: Guano! Guano!! Guano!!! Beneath the title: Peruvian and Swan Island Guanos, Superphosphates, and the Bruce Concentrated Fertilizer, are offered to the Trade at the lowest wholesale prices, by George E. White & Co., No. 55 Cliff street, New York.
October 3, 2024 at 5:44 AM
christinkallama.bsky.social
A gif of the video "Safety Dance" from Men Without Hats.
October 2, 2024 at 12:23 AM
christinkallama.bsky.social
Put my thoughts on Mastodon, but would reiterate here that Roth's really just doing the minimum; while he affirms the principles of civil dialogue, he avoids the responsibility of critical inquiry and analysis of dynamics of power and oppression.
Screenshot of Mastodon post: Wesleyan University's president reframes the role of the university in the current political climate: "we [I hope] will cultivate our ability to pay attention, to talk to one another across our differences." I would argue that that's not enough: #humanities scholars have sharp analyses of how power works in this kind of talking, and critiquing the dynamics even as we engage in them is also an essential part of free inquiry. link to NYT op-ed. Second screenshot from Mastodon: Roth's vision is pretty bloodless, both in noting (correctly) that the aim of campus dialogue should not be to wound, and in minimizing campus dialogue as a response to issues affecting millions of people in the here and now, and therefore understandably rousing emotions. Students should not just be taught to disagree politely, but to put politics and policies in a historical context, to recognize and respond to speaker positions, and to think about #solidarity as well as bridging divides.
September 3, 2024 at 1:53 AM
christinkallama.bsky.social
From our Provost's beginning-of-the-year email - our charge as a university is to nurture "free expression and diverse thought".

Um, no, our charge is to nurture thoughtful and informed expression and critical engagement, including with existing structures of power.
"We must remember our charge as a university and as educators to encourage free expression and diverse thought...respectful and civil dialogue is necessary to engender understanding and progress."
August 19, 2024 at 8:01 PM
christinkallama.bsky.social
Nothing says "our decisions aren't based on racial bias!" like...relying on police reporting. 🙃
In "refuting the racial bias allegations", the city explained that the criteria it uses for deciding which properties to condemned (set forth in statutes and local ordinances) includes "three years of police data to identify 'building that were especially problematic from a policing perspective'."
May 9, 2024 at 9:14 PM
christinkallama.bsky.social
Ugh. So much fluff. Plus, Nagy didn't join the army; he was *drafted*. And his ambition didn't lead him to the Soviet Union - he was captured by the Russian Army! Plus, no mention of how Nagy's career resembles others from proletarian backgrounds in the first decades of Communism. #ContextMatters
First paragraph from ChatGPT: Imre Nagy's pre-1956 career vividly illustrates the remarkable socio-economic and geographical mobility attainable during the first half of the twentieth century. Born into a humble peasant family in rural Hungary in 1896, Nagy's trajectory exemplifies the transformative opportunities available amidst the turbulent landscapes of early 20th-century Europe. Despite limited formal education, Nagy's intellect and ambition propelled him forward. He initially found work as a locksmith apprentice before joining the Austro-Hungarian army during World War I. Following the war, Nagy embraced socialist ideology, a decision that led him to increasingly prominent roles within Hungary's political landscape. His rise through the ranks of the Communist Party demonstrates how individuals from modest backgrounds could navigate political structures to achieve upward mobility, showcasing the fluidity of socio-economic boundaries during this era. Second paragraph from ChatGPT: Moreover, Nagy's career trajectory underscores the geographical mobility facilitated by the political upheavals of the early 20th century. As political landscapes shifted across Europe, opportunities arose for ambitious individuals like Nagy to traverse borders and seize new prospects. Following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Nagy ventured to Soviet Russia, where he became immersed in Bolshevik ideology and gained invaluable experience in governance and party politics. This relocation not only broadened Nagy's horizons but also positioned him at the nexus of historical events that would shape the course of Eastern Europe for decades to come. Nagy's subsequent return to Hungary and his ascent to the premiership underscore how individuals could capitalize on geopolitical flux to advance their careers and influence, showcasing the dynamic interplay between socio-economic forces and geographical mobility in the early 20th century
April 9, 2024 at 11:46 PM
christinkallama.bsky.social
h/t @sarahbrouillette.bsky.social 🗃️
The Abstract for an article titled: "For Democratic Governance of Universities: The Case for Administrative Abolition" by Blanca Misse and James Martel.
January 23, 2024 at 9:41 PM
christinkallama.bsky.social
Chris Rufo: "We will restore truth as the highest principle of academic life"

Chris Rufo, when asked to define concepts like "truth" and "beauty":

www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2...
A photo still from the infamous video of Josh Hawley running away from the January 6th rioters at the Capitol. Like Hawley, Rufo is all bravado when posing for the news media, but flees at the least sign of having to back up his charade with actual accomplishment.
January 3, 2024 at 1:55 AM
christinkallama.bsky.social
My New Year's wish to all: may you each obtain your heart's desire. 🥳
A dining table is set for a celebratory New Year's Eve with candles and a white tablecloth. A tabby cat with white paws resting on the tablecloth looks longingly at a plate containing luscious pink fillets. Added text identifies the cat as "Kaja" and the fillets as "Salmon".
January 1, 2024 at 12:04 AM
christinkallama.bsky.social
Blood was just the start...
Excerpt from Kathy Stuart, _Defiled Trades and Social Outcasts : Honor and Ritual Pollution in Early Modern Germany_ (Cambridge UP, 1999), describing the use of fat, bones, and skin, as well as blood, of executed criminals for healing purposes in the early modern period.
December 6, 2023 at 11:30 PM
christinkallama.bsky.social
Re: the administration:
November 30, 2023 at 10:20 PM
christinkallama.bsky.social
Gordon Gee of WVU has also said explicitly that claims of financial problems just allow him to do what he wanted to do anyway, to respond to what he says is the real problem: declining public trust in universities. Gee, what could be causing that??
www.wvgazettemail.com/news/educati...
Quote from Gordon Gee, "We would be doing the same thing now that we were doing even if we didn't have that deficit."
November 17, 2023 at 4:58 AM
christinkallama.bsky.social
And a "Recombobulation Area" on the other side of security!
November 15, 2023 at 3:18 AM
christinkallama.bsky.social
Tfw you are excited to share a post that you ran across on your #Mastodon feed with your parents because it shows the continuing impact of your sister's scholarship and then realize you'll have to 1) read the post out loud to them and 2) explain what Mastodon is...🫠

@jajohnson.bsky.social
A Mastodon post from @starwall@wizzard.online captioned "this chart changed my fucking life". The chart is labeled The Origin of the Solar System Elements and shows the periodic table color-coded according to the element's origin in, for example, big bang fusion or dying low mass stars. A note at the bottom states "Graphic created by Jennifer Johnson".
September 30, 2023 at 3:12 AM