Rory Hanna
roryhanna.bsky.social
Rory Hanna
@roryhanna.bsky.social
Research Associate on the project 'Global Socio-Economic Rights, Local Contexts: Work in East Africa and Western Europe'. Based at the University of Sheffield. Recently completed a PhD on student protest and activism in early West Germany, 1949-1965.
Thanks to Stefan Berger for writing for our blog! Please take a look 😊
In our latest guest blog post, Stefan Berger points out that Germany's Ruhr area has a thriving industrial heritage sector, but one which reveals little about how the region's workers have fought to improve their conditions. A new initiative seeks to change this. Well worth a read! 👩‍🏭⛏️ bit.ly/3Y4NYZC
Commemorating Economic and Social Rights in the Ruhr Area of Germany
Stefan Berger sheds light on a new project to inform tourists about local workers’ struggles in a key region of Europe’s industrial past.
medium.com
December 3, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Reposted by Rory Hanna
Our Medium page has a new blog! Bernard Thomann of @ifrae.bsky.social and @inalco.fr in Paris has written for us about accusations of 'social dumping', international pressure, and the transformation of labour conditions in twentieth-century Japan. Subscribe to see more!

medium.com/@glosoc/soci...
‘Social dumping’ and the economic transformation of twentieth-century Japan
Guest Blog by Bernard Thomann (Ifrae/Inalco, Paris, France)
medium.com
October 22, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Enjoyed writing this - please do give it a read! 🧑‍🔧👩‍🏭
Happy Labour Day! To mark the occasion, our project member @roryhanna.bsky.social has authored a blog on the 1955 protests by the labour movement in West Germany demanding a five-day week - with some very pertinent contemporary resonances!

medium.com/p/bc26223cafcf
May 1, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Looking forward to this!
We are very happy to announce our exciting program for our first project workshop, 5-6 June, on "Writing Global Histories of Socio-Economic Rights"

See www.glosoc.org/events/ for a text version of the programme and for details to register for online and in-person attendance.
April 16, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Reposted by Rory Hanna
We are very happy to announce our exciting program for our first project workshop, 5-6 June, on "Writing Global Histories of Socio-Economic Rights"

See www.glosoc.org/events/ for a text version of the programme and for details to register for online and in-person attendance.
April 10, 2025 at 4:14 PM
I'm planning a visit to the Modern Records Centre at Warwick University, and was wondering about overnight accommodation nearby. Any recommendations would be much appreciated!
March 24, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Well worth a read! @nielsboender.bsky.social on Julius Nyerere's attitude to trade unionism as a 'brother' in the post-colonial Tanzanian 'family':
We're happy to announce we've posted our next blog - authored by Project Post-doc @nielsboender.bsky.social - a spotlight from our archival research on Trade Unions, Labour Rights and Tanzania: medium.com/@glosoc/docu...
Document Highlight: When Julius Nyerere broke with Western Trade Unionism
[Author: Dr Niels Boender (University of Edinburgh)]
medium.com
March 7, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Question for fellow historians/archive visitors: if you work with pdfs rather than photos of documents, is there a pdf-converter software or app which you'd recommend? Looking for one which is fairly quick to use (while still producing clear pdfs) so that I don't lose too much time in the archives
February 18, 2025 at 3:01 PM
If you work on the history of labour rights from an intellectual/protest/policy perspective or any other related approach, do take a look at our call for papers!
A reminder of our call for papers for the June 2025 hybrid workshop 'Writing Global Histories of Socio-Economic Rights'✍️🌐👷‍♀️🧑‍🏭 We are requesting proposals for 10-minute impulse papers. Simply send us a keyword, an abstract and a bio by 15 February! More details here: www.glosoc.org/events/
Events
www.glosoc.org
January 17, 2025 at 3:41 PM
The GLOSOC project ( @glosoc.bsky.social ) invites papers for a hybrid summer workshop in Sheffield, UK, on the topic 'Writing Global Histories of Socio-Economic Rights'. Save the dates and do send us a proposal if you'd like to take part in a transnational discussion on histories of work!
January 7, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by Rory Hanna
Call for Papers for our first event! Join us at our hybrid workshop - Writing Global Histories of Socio-Economic Rights at the University of Sheffield, 5-6 June 2025. Please send us a keyword, abstract, and bio at glosoc@sheffield.ac.uk. The deadline is 15 February. See more details below!
January 7, 2025 at 10:37 AM
📢 Since the new year is underway, it's time for another plug for the new blog posts on the histories of African and European social rights, written by myself and @nielsboender.bsky.social for our research project 'Global Socio-Economic Rights, Local Contexts' ( @glosoc.bsky.social ) bit.ly/4iHrJSG
Global Socio-Economic Rights, Local Contexts – Medium
Read writing from Global Socio-Economic Rights, Local Contexts on Medium. An AHRC-funded research project exploring the histories of work-related social rights in Britain, Germany, Tanzania and Kenya,...
bit.ly
January 6, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Our research project on the modern global history of social rights has a new blog page. Do take a look at my account of British and German pensions and healthcare within a European story of social rights (bit.ly/3P5tzz4), and @nielsboender.bsky.social's take on African labour history t.co/RJbQm00030
Is There a European History of Social Rights?
The idea of a distinct European state-welfare model risks ignoring diverse national approaches to social provision. By Rory Hanna
bit.ly
December 20, 2024 at 3:24 PM
Hi @michellelkahn.bsky.social, would you be able to add me to the German History starter pack? If so I'd be very grateful!
December 20, 2024 at 1:45 PM