James Fisher
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jamdanfish.bsky.social
James Fisher
@jamdanfish.bsky.social
Historian of work, knowledge and capitalism (C16-18th) | Lecturer at Uni of Exeter | Author of THE ENCLOSURE OF KNOWLEDGE (CUP, 2022)
Pinned
My 2nd article on the serfdom-like compulsory child labour schemes in C18th southwest England is now available (open access) doi.org/10.1017/S026...

It was distinctive not merely as a type of unfree labour, but as a centralised method for allocating servants to farmers
Reposted by James Fisher
How might we today visualize the appearance of people who fled enslavement? We asked a modern artist, Adrienne Mayor, to imagine and sketch Jack, who took flight from slavery in Virginia in 1730.

Read Billy Smith’s telling of Jack’s story: freedom-seekers.org/story/jack/
November 19, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Reposted by James Fisher
Really pleased to announce the launch of the all-new, all-dancing, London Lives website - www.londonlives.org It has been thoroughly re-engineered to facilitate more types of search, and redesigned for phones and tablets. The team very much hopes peope like it. 1/
London Lives
www.londonlives.org
November 5, 2025 at 11:24 AM
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So grateful to have received the Elise M. Boulding Prize from the Peace History Society for Pax Economica. What a tremendous honor!

@princetonupress.bsky.social
📚 News from the world of peace and economic history ☮️ Dr Marc-William Palen’s Pax 'Economica: Left-Wing Visions of a Free Trade World' has just received the Elise M. Boulding Prize in Peace History🏆 for groundbreaking work that rethinks how free trade once carried hopes for ending empire and war🌍
November 11, 2025 at 9:45 AM
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JOB
Assistant Professor in the History of Knowledge Pre-1400,
University of Cambridge

www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...
Assistant Professor in History of Knowledge Pre-1400
Applications are invited for the position of Assistant Professor in History of Knowledge Pre-1400, in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. Please note
www.cam.ac.uk
November 1, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Reposted by James Fisher
A reminder that my book on the history of protest is now published. It is superbly produced with a great cover. Buy it now from @reaktionbooks.bsky.social
October 27, 2025 at 8:59 AM
This is heart breaking. Such a wonderful and generous chess teacher, absolutely loved his videos.
Daniel Naroditsky, a chess grandmaster, the highest title given to competitors by the International Chess Federation, and a former Junior World Champion, has died at 29.
Daniel Naroditsky, Chess Grandmaster, Dies at 29
He earned the highest title in the chess world as he built a career as an accomplished chess teacher, commentator and author.
nyti.ms
October 21, 2025 at 10:28 AM
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Very much looking forward to Polly Lowe @polly-lowe.bsky.social speaking this Wednesday on bound labour and Scottish miners in the 18th c. @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social Everyone welcome - either in person or hybrid, but please register at www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Bound Labour, Narratives of Nationhood, and the Rhetoric of Slavery: Liberty, Identity, and Scottish Coal-Miners in the Long Eighteenth Century
www.history.ac.uk
October 20, 2025 at 9:27 AM
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Delighted to share that my first book The Experience of Work in Early Modern England (co-written with the fantastic @jwhittle.bsky.social, @markhailwood.bsky.social, and Hannah Robb) has been published and is available free and Open Access! doi.org/10.1017/9781...

#earlymodern #economic #history
The Experience of Work in Early Modern England
Cambridge Core - Economic History - The Experience of Work in Early Modern England
doi.org
September 22, 2025 at 1:13 PM
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What's in yer basement?
October 15, 2025 at 7:21 PM
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Who did what in early modern England?

New #OpenAccess book, 'The Experience of Work in Early Modern England' by @jwhittle.bsky.social, @markhailwood.bsky.social, @hkrobb.bsky.social & @aucointaylor.bsky.social, based on thousands of #EarlyModern court depositions 🗃️

Read it: doi.org/10.1017/9781...
October 2, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Reposted by James Fisher
Great news!
JSTOR now have a free account with an Independent Researcher category. You can access 100 documents per month

www.jstor.org/action/showL...
September 29, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Reposted by James Fisher
Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer scratched bullets with a Helldivers combo and a furry sex meme
Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer scratched bullets with a Helldivers combo and a furry sex meme
The suspected shooter left a hodgepodge of extremely online taunts.
buff.ly
September 12, 2025 at 4:00 PM
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What can petitions to magistrates from London apprentices tell us about gendered violence in #EarlyModern England?

New addition from Hilary Taylor to the #PowerOfPetitioning annotated bibliography:
petitioning.history.ac.uk/2019/05/13/p...
September 12, 2025 at 10:42 AM
A clarifying summary of different ways of thinking about AI and culture >

I hadn't come across the final 'role play' framing, which is very useful
August 18, 2025 at 5:44 PM
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Instead of regurgitating the bromide that LLMs are just "autocomplete on steroids" (even by people who know better), maybe we can actually engage in some public education. The problem with genAI is better expressed through a classic computer science concept, known as SYMBOL GROUNDING. 🧵
August 12, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Reposted by James Fisher
It is inherently absurd to proscribe a group as terrorists based on acts the public doesn't know about. Terrorism *by definition* involves violence intended to intimidate a civilian population. How can the target population be terrorised by acts they know nothing about?

www.bbc.com/news/article...
Yvette Cooper: Some 'don't know the full nature' of Palestine Action
Defending the group's proscription under terror law, she said the organisation was "not a non-violent organisation".
www.bbc.com
August 12, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Reposted by James Fisher
I certainly share all the worries about students outsourcing their writing and thinking to generative AI models, but the core question for me is "Why do they see this as a good thing to do?" We have to meet the challenge of that question and the challenge dates back to long before ChatGPT showed up.
August 8, 2025 at 12:44 PM
The revealing phrase here is "feels like", because what matters is how the product feels to its user, not it's actual capabilities

"GPT-5 is the first time that it really feels like talking to an expert in any topic, like a PhD-level expert."

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
OpenAI claims new GPT-5 model boosts ChatGPT to ‘PhD level’
GPT-5's release comes as tech firms continue to compete in an effort to claim the world's most advanced AI.
www.bbc.co.uk
August 8, 2025 at 8:21 AM
I highly recommend this free online course on AI, which neatly distils the most pressing cultural concerns and generally strikes the right note in terms of critical engagement

thebullshitmachines.com
Modern-Day Oracles or Bullshit Machines: Introduction
A free online humanities course about how to learn and work and thrive in an AI world.
thebullshitmachines.com
August 7, 2025 at 5:02 PM
"OpenAI has come for education on all fronts, through the students, through the teachers, through the institutions, through the government.... OpenAI is now presenting itself as the saviour of the problems that it caused in the first place."

leonfurze.com/2025/07/31/o...
OpenAI Has Come for Education
OpenAI's recent partnership with Instructure's Canvas Learning Management System furthers its aggressive entry into education. While claiming to support students and teachers, I'm worried about the ef...
leonfurze.com
August 7, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Reposted by James Fisher
Delighted that the print copies of my first book 'Birth, Death, and Domestic Religion in early modern London', just published with @universitypress.cambridge.org, have arrived! 📚📚📚
August 7, 2025 at 7:23 AM
I don't know what the psychological impact will be of reading and marking endless textual equivalents of "glossy but with 13 fingers" will be, but it can't be good
August 6, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Reposted by James Fisher
I’m staring at the sentence about using “generative AI to produce a historical image.”

What does the word “historical” mean in this sentence? Vibes?
The AHA has published Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence in History Education, offering a disciplinary approach to AI that focuses on the specific needs and challenges of history educators. 🗃️
Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence in History Education
These 14 foundational principles are meant to assist educators and administrators in crafting AI policies suited to local circumstances and the specific needs of students.
www.historians.org
August 5, 2025 at 5:31 PM
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***CALL FOR PROPOSALS***
Routledge Studies in #18thC Cultures & Societies (eds. @profelainechalus.bsky.social & Deborah Simonton) seeks proposals for book-length studies on aspects of British, European, or transnational culture and society c.1680-1850. Full details: www.bsecs.org.uk/news-and-eve...
New History Book Series Call for Proposals: Routledge Studies in Eighteenth- Century Cultures and Societies - BSECS
Series Editors: Elaine Chalus, University of Liverpool, UK and Deborah Simonton, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark Routledge Editor: Max Novick The long eighteenth century sits as a pivotal poin...
www.bsecs.org.uk
July 28, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Reposted by James Fisher
All famines are man-made, all famines are political. Historians of empire and humanitarianism have known this forever. Gaza is not starving, Gaza is being starved, by Israel, and this starvation is enabled by our government and by every other government that does not step in to force food and aid.
July 24, 2025 at 1:48 PM