Jo Laycock
@jolaycock.bsky.social
Historian: migration, refugees, humanitarianism, South Caucasus, Armenia. Sidelines in histories of Rochdale and of the Manchester Guardian. UCU Manchester equalities (disabilities) officer. Tired.
Reposted by Jo Laycock
My review of Francesca Piana’s book is out! networks.h-net.org/group/discus...
H-Diplo Review 648: Cretu on Piana, Humanitarian Protection for Prisoners of War and Refugees_ | H-Net
H-Diplo Review 648Francesca Piana, Humanitarian Protection for Prisoners of War and Refugees in the Long Aftermath of the First World War. Leiden University Press, 2024. ISBN: 9789087284213.
networks.h-net.org
November 14, 2025 at 10:04 AM
My review of Francesca Piana’s book is out! networks.h-net.org/group/discus...
I am not enjoying this getting the train to work in the dark business.
November 12, 2025 at 7:35 AM
I am not enjoying this getting the train to work in the dark business.
Reposted by Jo Laycock
Please sign to protest the closure of Modern Languages programmes at Nottingham.
Solidarity with affected colleagues and students in Modern Languages and other departments.
👇👇👇
c.org/xYPmDLcXBn
Solidarity with affected colleagues and students in Modern Languages and other departments.
👇👇👇
c.org/xYPmDLcXBn
c.org
November 10, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Please sign to protest the closure of Modern Languages programmes at Nottingham.
Solidarity with affected colleagues and students in Modern Languages and other departments.
👇👇👇
c.org/xYPmDLcXBn
Solidarity with affected colleagues and students in Modern Languages and other departments.
👇👇👇
c.org/xYPmDLcXBn
Today’s archival mystery. The entirely imaginary Royal Kingdom of Transcaucasia Vitanvalie, Maikop and Ferghana.
November 4, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Today’s archival mystery. The entirely imaginary Royal Kingdom of Transcaucasia Vitanvalie, Maikop and Ferghana.
Reposted by Jo Laycock
Please consider donating to Caucasus Heritage Watch, a unique research project based at Cornell and Purdue that documents and monitors abuses of cultural heritage in war zones in the Caucasus using high-resolution satellite imagery.
crowdfunding.cornell.edu/project/48028
crowdfunding.cornell.edu/project/48028
Caucasus Heritage Watch
Help Cornell University raise $10,000 for the project: Caucasus Heritage Watch. Your gift will make a difference!
crowdfunding.cornell.edu
November 3, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Please consider donating to Caucasus Heritage Watch, a unique research project based at Cornell and Purdue that documents and monitors abuses of cultural heritage in war zones in the Caucasus using high-resolution satellite imagery.
crowdfunding.cornell.edu/project/48028
crowdfunding.cornell.edu/project/48028
My first year students were wonderful again today, but I am so glad of a break from classrooms and the general pace of this semester. Solidarity to everyone else struggling through teaching with chronic health issues, may your reading weeks be restful!
October 29, 2025 at 3:49 PM
My first year students were wonderful again today, but I am so glad of a break from classrooms and the general pace of this semester. Solidarity to everyone else struggling through teaching with chronic health issues, may your reading weeks be restful!
Reposted by Jo Laycock
Do you have questions about migration?
On 14 November, join GDI's Tanja Bastia and colleagues at the John Rylands Library for a Teach in/Teach out, part of the coordinated activities of the Migration Scholars’ Global Solidarity Resistance Network.
Register to attend for free: bit.ly/4h0WjWU
On 14 November, join GDI's Tanja Bastia and colleagues at the John Rylands Library for a Teach in/Teach out, part of the coordinated activities of the Migration Scholars’ Global Solidarity Resistance Network.
Register to attend for free: bit.ly/4h0WjWU
October 13, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Do you have questions about migration?
On 14 November, join GDI's Tanja Bastia and colleagues at the John Rylands Library for a Teach in/Teach out, part of the coordinated activities of the Migration Scholars’ Global Solidarity Resistance Network.
Register to attend for free: bit.ly/4h0WjWU
On 14 November, join GDI's Tanja Bastia and colleagues at the John Rylands Library for a Teach in/Teach out, part of the coordinated activities of the Migration Scholars’ Global Solidarity Resistance Network.
Register to attend for free: bit.ly/4h0WjWU
Reposted by Jo Laycock
Thrilled to share that my book The Interpreters is out!
It explores how Britain engaged with the politics of Southeastern Europe—national questions, federations, and minority rights—and how those debates echoed from the Balkans to Ireland.
🔗 manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526160133/
It explores how Britain engaged with the politics of Southeastern Europe—national questions, federations, and minority rights—and how those debates echoed from the Balkans to Ireland.
🔗 manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526160133/
October 27, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Thrilled to share that my book The Interpreters is out!
It explores how Britain engaged with the politics of Southeastern Europe—national questions, federations, and minority rights—and how those debates echoed from the Balkans to Ireland.
🔗 manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526160133/
It explores how Britain engaged with the politics of Southeastern Europe—national questions, federations, and minority rights—and how those debates echoed from the Balkans to Ireland.
🔗 manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526160133/
A general everything is awful (aside from my first years who continue to be ace) day. Have been defeated by the everlasting cold/chest infection so it’s the first round of antibiotics and steroids of the winter - let’s hope it is the last.
October 15, 2025 at 8:09 PM
A general everything is awful (aside from my first years who continue to be ace) day. Have been defeated by the everlasting cold/chest infection so it’s the first round of antibiotics and steroids of the winter - let’s hope it is the last.
Reposted by Jo Laycock
Wherein I write about the staging of the West Side Story in Soviet Armenia in 1963 open.substack.com/pub/artyom/p...
Chino's Gun
One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it.
open.substack.com
October 9, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Wherein I write about the staging of the West Side Story in Soviet Armenia in 1963 open.substack.com/pub/artyom/p...
Reposted by Jo Laycock
"Synagogue attack: the Manchester I know – by antisemitism researcher and Mancunian Jew" by Tony Kushner, James Parkes Professor of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations theconversation.com/synagogue-at...
Synagogue attack: the Manchester I know – by antisemitism researcher and Mancunian Jew
Manchester Jewry has maintained an extraordinarily strong local identity, but is notable in its diversity.
theconversation.com
October 6, 2025 at 8:12 AM
"Synagogue attack: the Manchester I know – by antisemitism researcher and Mancunian Jew" by Tony Kushner, James Parkes Professor of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations theconversation.com/synagogue-at...
Reposted by Jo Laycock
Peripheral Histories? has just published a new author interview with Beatrice Penati about her excellent book 'Rural History of Soviet Central Asia: Land Reform and Agricultural Change in Early Soviet Uzbekistan' @peripheralhist.bsky.social www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/rural-h...
Rural History of Soviet Central Asia: Land Reform and Agricultural Change in Early Soviet Uzbekistan
Beatrice Penati’s new book Rural History of Soviet Central Asia: Land Reform and Agricultural Change in Early Soviet Uzbekistan (published with Brill, 2025) provides a comprehensive account of early S...
www.peripheralhistories.co.uk
September 30, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Peripheral Histories? has just published a new author interview with Beatrice Penati about her excellent book 'Rural History of Soviet Central Asia: Land Reform and Agricultural Change in Early Soviet Uzbekistan' @peripheralhist.bsky.social www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/rural-h...
Reposted by Jo Laycock
The new issue of Diaspora journal is out now. Our editors’ preface, renewing our commitment to the journal’s original vision and thinking about what this means in changing times, is available here: utppublishing.com/doi/pdf/10.3... open access
utppublishing.com
September 26, 2025 at 11:34 AM
The new issue of Diaspora journal is out now. Our editors’ preface, renewing our commitment to the journal’s original vision and thinking about what this means in changing times, is available here: utppublishing.com/doi/pdf/10.3... open access
The new issue of Diaspora journal is out now. Our editors’ preface, renewing our commitment to the journal’s original vision and thinking about what this means in changing times, is available here: utppublishing.com/doi/pdf/10.3... open access
utppublishing.com
September 26, 2025 at 11:34 AM
The new issue of Diaspora journal is out now. Our editors’ preface, renewing our commitment to the journal’s original vision and thinking about what this means in changing times, is available here: utppublishing.com/doi/pdf/10.3... open access
Hurrah for chicken pox vaccinations. 9 years ago today I had chicken pox as an adult, which was absolutely horrendous. (I was also on a research trip to New York at the time and ended up stranded in my hotel room for 2 weeks, but that’s another story…)
August 29, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Hurrah for chicken pox vaccinations. 9 years ago today I had chicken pox as an adult, which was absolutely horrendous. (I was also on a research trip to New York at the time and ended up stranded in my hotel room for 2 weeks, but that’s another story…)
Reposted by Jo Laycock
Don't forget Bahruz @smdov.bsky.social , see below.
Jailed for being for peace. #Azerbaijan #Armenia
Jailed for being for peace. #Azerbaijan #Armenia
🅾️ OPINION: One year after OC Media contributor Bahruz Samadov was arrested, Azerbaijani activist Gulnara Mehdiyeva argues that his release is necessary to make the new Azerbaijani state policy of peace believable.
➡️ Read more: oc-media.org/opinion-my-f...
➡️ Read more: oc-media.org/opinion-my-f...
August 21, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Don't forget Bahruz @smdov.bsky.social , see below.
Jailed for being for peace. #Azerbaijan #Armenia
Jailed for being for peace. #Azerbaijan #Armenia
Reposted by Jo Laycock
let’s all just have a nap, or go to a cafe, or go for a walk. turn higher education off and on again. it’s worth a try at this point i think
August 20, 2025 at 9:00 AM
let’s all just have a nap, or go to a cafe, or go for a walk. turn higher education off and on again. it’s worth a try at this point i think
Heading for Sweden.
August 19, 2025 at 5:55 AM
Heading for Sweden.
Holiday. I like it in Scandinavia, not sure I want to come home.
August 9, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Holiday. I like it in Scandinavia, not sure I want to come home.
Migraine 1 - Jo 0. Looks like chapter 5 is coming on holiday with me then…
August 1, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Migraine 1 - Jo 0. Looks like chapter 5 is coming on holiday with me then…
Had my aids fitted this morning. Pleasantly surprised by how much I remembered about how they work from note-taking on an audiology MA about twenty years ago. Also quite amazed about all the fancy Bluetooth stuff they do, wasn’t expecting them to connect to the TV!
August 1, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Had my aids fitted this morning. Pleasantly surprised by how much I remembered about how they work from note-taking on an audiology MA about twenty years ago. Also quite amazed about all the fancy Bluetooth stuff they do, wasn’t expecting them to connect to the TV!
Reposted by Jo Laycock
Just released 📣
@myrmek.bsky.social's latest article, 'Transit Beirut: UNHCR, Diaspora Networks, and the Covert Resettlement of Armenians during the Cold War' is now published in Mashriq & Mahjar.
Read the full article here: lebanesestudies.ojs.chass.ncsu.edu/index.php/ma...
@myrmek.bsky.social's latest article, 'Transit Beirut: UNHCR, Diaspora Networks, and the Covert Resettlement of Armenians during the Cold War' is now published in Mashriq & Mahjar.
Read the full article here: lebanesestudies.ojs.chass.ncsu.edu/index.php/ma...
August 1, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Just released 📣
@myrmek.bsky.social's latest article, 'Transit Beirut: UNHCR, Diaspora Networks, and the Covert Resettlement of Armenians during the Cold War' is now published in Mashriq & Mahjar.
Read the full article here: lebanesestudies.ojs.chass.ncsu.edu/index.php/ma...
@myrmek.bsky.social's latest article, 'Transit Beirut: UNHCR, Diaspora Networks, and the Covert Resettlement of Armenians during the Cold War' is now published in Mashriq & Mahjar.
Read the full article here: lebanesestudies.ojs.chass.ncsu.edu/index.php/ma...
Today I have written 5000 words and seen a baby badger in my garden. That counts as an excellent day at the moment.
July 30, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Today I have written 5000 words and seen a baby badger in my garden. That counts as an excellent day at the moment.
Reposted by Jo Laycock
1/ My concluding post on the history of council housing in Rochdale looks at the Lower Falinge Estate, stigmatised as 'England’s benefits capital', and the sadly notorious Freehold Estate. What went wrong and where are we now?
municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2025/07/22/a...
municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2025/07/22/a...
A History of Council Housing in Rochdale: Part III, from 1967 to the Present
We left Rochdale in last week’s post contemplating the failure of its Ashfield Valley Estate, completed in 1968 and all but demolished by 1992. For the moment, let’s return to the heady days and hi…
municipaldreams.wordpress.com
July 26, 2025 at 7:29 AM
1/ My concluding post on the history of council housing in Rochdale looks at the Lower Falinge Estate, stigmatised as 'England’s benefits capital', and the sadly notorious Freehold Estate. What went wrong and where are we now?
municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2025/07/22/a...
municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2025/07/22/a...
Reposted by Jo Laycock
‘Famine experts warned that this would happen. Israel’s experiment in ‘calibrated deprivation’ in Gaza has been proved reckless and catastrophic,’ writes Amjad Iraqi, @crisisgroup.org’s senior Israel/Palestine analyst. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/ju...
Amjad Iraqi | Walking Corpses
Israel’s allies are still buying time for Israel to change course or come to a deal with Hamas over how many trucks to...
www.lrb.co.uk
July 25, 2025 at 5:46 PM
‘Famine experts warned that this would happen. Israel’s experiment in ‘calibrated deprivation’ in Gaza has been proved reckless and catastrophic,’ writes Amjad Iraqi, @crisisgroup.org’s senior Israel/Palestine analyst. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/ju...