Simone Battiston
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sbattiston.bsky.social
Simone Battiston
@sbattiston.bsky.social
110 followers 110 following 9 posts
Researching different aspects of Italian emigration, with a particular attention to the Australian context. Snr lecturer, history and politics @ Swinburne. He/him
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sbattiston.bsky.social
New publication, co-written with Lorenzo Veracini and Francesco Ricatti — On the limits and potentiality of sovereignty in settler colonial countries, through the experience of Italian migrants in Australia.
November 28, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
amigrationhn.bsky.social
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Migropessimism of the Intellect, Migro-Optimism of the Will: The Italian-Australian Experience
Focusing on the Italian-Australian experience, this article outlines its authors’ migropessimism and their subsequent migro-optimism. We initially focus on what we perceive as the migrant’s ‘ontolo...
www.tandfonline.com
November 28, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
eleaud.bsky.social
Happy to share my new book 'Quiet Protest: A New History of Activism during the Vietnam War', which will be published by UNSW Press on 1 April 2026.
This text is taken from the Jan-June 2026 UNSW Press catalogue (too much to fit in this box) - https://unsw.press/catalogues/
November 19, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
evansmithhist.bsky.social
If you’re interested in the history of the far right in Australia, as well as those who have opposed it, our book ‘Histories of Fascism and Anti-Fascism in Australia’ is now on sale with a 20% discount.

@drjpersian.bsky.social

www.routledge.com/Histories-of...
November 11, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
globalcit.bsky.social
Citizenship in the News 📰🇪🇸

Spain grants citizenship to descendants of civil war’s International Brigades: About 32,000 volunteered to fight Franco dictatorship

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Spain grants citizenship to descendants of civil war’s International Brigades
About 32,000 volunteered to fight Franco dictatorship, including 2,500 men and women from Britain and Ireland
www.theguardian.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
hannahforsyth.bsky.social
Two years ago, burned out to the point of random vomiting, I put my hand up for a voluntary redundancy from the academic job I loved. On my first day unemployed I took a train to the outback.
November 2, 2025 at 4:36 AM
sbattiston.bsky.social
🇦🇺🇮🇹 How did the Italian Australian community mobilise its social networks during the COVID-19 pandemic 😷?

In our chapter, we explore how bonding and bridging ties have maintained community resilience.

Available in Open Access 👉 bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/edcollchap-o...
bristoluniversitypressdigital.com
October 31, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
as-ruby.bsky.social
Excited to be part of this incredible team writing the first history of grandparenting in Australia! grandparentsaustralia.net
Grandparenting tells us much about our history. It’s important to preserve these stories
Grandparents can play a fundamental role in families, yet they have often been overlooked in Australian history.
theconversation.com
October 31, 2025 at 12:46 AM
sbattiston.bsky.social
Thank you @danielaldrich.bsky.social for sharing.

Link to Open Access version: bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/edcollchap-o...
October 30, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
stecam.bsky.social
🇹🇼🇭🇰 Populist Voting Beyond Western Borders?

In our new article, we explore how populist attitudes shape voting in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

🔍 Key takeaway:

Populist attitudes “travel,” by adapting to local contexts.

Full article 👉 doi.org/10.1080/1745...

#Populism #EastAsia #Taiwan #HongKong
Populist voting beyond western borders? Populist attitudes and electoral behaviour in East Asia
Literature suggests that traces of populist rhetoric can be found also in Asia. However, the issue of populism at the citizen level in this context remains open. While we know that populist attitud...
www.tandfonline.com
October 18, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
familytreeuk.bsky.social
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

#FamilyHistory #genealogy #ancestry
How an old suitcase revealed a hidden family fortune, lost under Nazi rule
The contents of his late father's case led Antony Easton to uncover a rich and tragic history.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 18, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
ahsjournal.bsky.social
Published online, an open access article by Alexandra Dellios @alecadell.bsky.social ‘1975: Working Migrant Women’. It's part of a guest-edited special issue due out in May 2026, ‘Fifty Years On: Rethinking the Legacies of Australia’s International Women’s Year (1975)’. doi.org/10.1080/1031...
October 14, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
gsal.bsky.social
In Italy’s EU election, abstention passed 50% for the 1st time: not from indifference or circumstance, but from aversion and long-term erosion of trust & efficacy, towards the EU and politics in general.

A “no-plot” tale in my new article on Italy’s political disengagement: doi.org/10.1080/2324...
A startling tale with a ‘no-plot’ twist: electoral abstention in Italy at the 2024 European parliament elections
Italy has traditionally stood out for both high participation rates and positive attitudes towards the European Union. Over time, however, this picture has shifted. In the 2024 European parliamenta...
doi.org
October 9, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
amigrationhn.bsky.social
New open access article by @alecadell.bsky.social
1975: Working Migrant Women
share.google/LXGXDHgguQ7G...
1975: Working Migrant Women
The ethnic and class politics of working migrant women marked them at a distance from mainstream feminism and its mostly middle-class, libertarian, and Anglo-centric outlook during International Wo...
share.google
October 8, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
alecadell.bsky.social
Continued musings from my ongoing work on the community origins of multiculturalism and 1975 - bittersweet, to have something published in @meanjin.bsky.social - meanjin.com.au/essays/the-g...
The Greek Left, Whitlam and the Dismissal: a radical legacy
Whitlam meant a great deal to working-class migrant communities.
meanjin.com.au
September 24, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
michellearrow.bsky.social
Bleak times at Macquarie Uni, as management moves to implement large scale job cuts in arts and science (because who needs that expertise, right?). Amanda’s threat outlines the lies that underpin these changes. We need urgent governance reform now: but is the government listening?
amandawise.bsky.social Prof. Amanda Wise @amandawise.bsky.social · Sep 20
1/At Macquarie Uni we are losing 50% of our units in my faculty. This is on top of cuts in 2020. We estimate by next year my faculty will be teaching 80% fewer subjects than pre Covid. Disciplines being cut do not have declining enrolments. @jennaprice.bsky.social @michaelwestbiz.bsky.social
September 20, 2025 at 4:36 AM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
polstudies.bsky.social
How do non-party actors view far-right parties in Australia? @imogenrichards.bsky.social, Callum Jones, Jordan McSwiney & @kurtsengul.bsky.social explore perceptions & relationships within the far-right ecosystem beyond formal politics. Read OPEN ACCESS: buff.ly/RIP41sg

@polstudiesassoc.bsky.social
September 16, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
evansmithhist.bsky.social
Very excited that my new article with @andrekosvarnava.bsky.social has been published open access in @historicaljnl.bsky.social

'Transnational Whiteness and the Elite Backlash to Reforming the Australian Immigration Control System in the 1950s and 1960s'

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Transnational Whiteness and the Elite Backlash to Reforming the Australian Immigration Control System in the 1950s and 1960s by Evan Smith & Andrekos Varnava Abstract: In the 1950s and 1960s, changes in the international situation, such as decolonization in Asia, led some Australians to question the usefulness of keeping the ‘White Australia Policy’, the basis for the country’s immigration system since Federation in 1901. Some argued that Australia’s international reputation, especially with newly independent countries in Asia and Africa, could be harmed by the maintenance of this policy. Events such as the Sharpeville Massacre in apartheid South Africa in 1960 caused further introspection into Australia’s racialized system. However, as pushes to reform the policy grew, others used international events to resist reforms. Using speeches by politicians and documents produced by policymakers, this article will show how events, such as the Notting Hill riots in Britain, the Little Rock controversy in the United States, and the Sharpeville massacre, were used as warnings about Australia potentially introducing similar ‘racial problems’ if it allowed more non-white migration. This article argues that these concerns tapped into a transnational whiteness that shared anxieties about decolonization, civil rights and non-white immigration in the post-war period, bringing a racialized solidarity forged at the turn of the twentieth century into the Cold War era.
September 12, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
beneltham.bsky.social
Melbourne poet Pi-O performs a poem at the Save Meanjin rally this morning
September 11, 2025 at 1:49 AM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
deutschmann.bsky.social
New JEMS #openaccess paper w/ @niwitte.bsky.social:

We show that EU citizens living abroad are less likely to vote in European elections due to bureaucratic obstacles such as early registration deadlines. This happens even for intra-EU movers who feel attached to the EU.

doi.org/10.1080/1369...
Casting votes or crossing borders? How living abroad reduces mobile Europeans’ likelihood to participate in European elections ABSTRACT Both freedom of movement and voting in European elections are fundamental citizenship rights at the heart of European integration. Ideally, EU citizens should be able to exercise both rights simultaneously. Yet, in practice, tensions exist between the two: Despite their strong emotional attachment to the European Union, EU citizens living outside their country of citizenship have a reduced likelihood to vote in European elections, even when they reside within the EU. This article demonstrates this pattern empirically for German emigrants in the 2019 European Parliament election, based on data from the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study (GERPS). This survey is unique in that it covers both mobile German citizens who currently live abroad and those who have lived abroad, but have recently returned to Germany. Self-reported turnout was significantly reduced among those currently living abroad. Bureaucratic hurdles (including early opt-in registration deadlines, complex registration procedures, and tedious access to ballot) are identified as a key explanation for the decreased participation. These findings seem to contradict basic democratic principles and could have political implications: Since there are more than eleven million mobile EU citizens who are eligible to vote, reduced turnout among this group could affect election outcomes. Figure 1 shows the registration deadlines, based on official EU information, for mobile Europeans who wanted to vote in the 2024 EP election, for all member states that provided such information. It reveals several major obstacles: First, the registration options and deadlines varied widely between EU member states. For example, Swedish citizens residing in Belgium had two choices: register to vote in Sweden by 16 May or to vote in Belgium by 29 February. Among the 13 member states that listed a registration deadline for their own nationals residing abroad, there were no fewer than twelve different registration dates (Figure 1, Panel A). In the case of registration deadlines for non-nationals, there were even 20 unique dates among the 20 different countries that listed a specific deadline. 4This multiplicity of rules requires mobile Europeans to actively search for the conditions that apply in their particular case and thus complicates their situation. Crucially, many of these deadlines were very early. Several deadlines had already expired in March or earlier – multiple months before the election on 9 June 2024. The most extreme case concerns non-national EU citizens in Spain, who had to register more than four months before the election. This requirement creates a serious obstacle to participation in the election. Figure 2 displays the descriptive differences between the four groups under study. Among Germans who currently reside in other EU countries, the average self-reported turnout in the 2019 EP election was 54 percent (Panel A). This number is close to the actual average turnout of 51 percent in the European Union as a whole, but lower than the average turnout of 61 percent in the general German population (Swedish National Election Studies Program 2019). Moreover, past intra-EU migrants (i.e. Germans who have lived in other EU countries and have since returned to Germany), who are a more meaningful reference group since they have comparable socio-demographic characteristics (similar level of education, age, etc.; cf. Online Appendix, Table A2), feature a self-reported turnout of 81 percent. Thus it seems that the probability to vote for those currently residing abroad was suppressed by 28 percentage points compared with their counterparts who have returned to Germany. The turnout gap is even larger for global migrants: Germans who currently reside in a country outside the EU had only a 25 percent probability to vote in the past European election, compared with a turnout of 90 percent among past global migrants – a striking difference of 65 percentage points. Put differently, global migratory moves suppressed the turnout by 72 percent. Regression models corroborating the previous descriptive findings
September 8, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
vandawilcox.bsky.social
The new issue of @modernitaly.bsky.social is finally out & it's the special issue I guest edited with Maria Stella Chiaruttini, entitled: Turning Points and Transformations in Contemporary Italy: A Century of Big Changes Through ‘Small Histories’

snappy, I know...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Modern Italy: Volume 30 - Turning Points and Transformations in Contemporary Italy: A Century of Big Changes Through ‘Small Histories’ | Cambridge Core
Cambridge Core - Modern Italy - Volume 30 - Turning Points and Transformations in Contemporary Italy: A Century of Big Changes Through ‘Small Histories’
www.cambridge.org
September 4, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
sespjournal.bsky.social
📢 #NewIssue (30/1) #SpecialIssue
Everything changes, everything stays the same? #ItalianPolitics after the 2022 general elections

Guest editors: @edegiorgi.bsky.social & Andrea Pedrazzani
Don't miss it! 👇
www.tandfonline.com/toc/fses20/c...
August 11, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
slackbastard.bsky.social
"Never ask a woman her age, a man his salary, or Bob Katter about his Lebanese ancestry."

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...
Bob Katter threatens journalist over reference to Lebanese heritage
Federal MP Bob Katter was speaking outside the Queenland Parliament with state members of the Katter’s Australia Party about his intention to attend a March For Australia event this weekend.
www.abc.net.au
August 28, 2025 at 2:37 AM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
phavictas.bsky.social
ANU School of History invites applications for a PhD scholarship to research the Communist Party of Australia, 1970-91. The project continues the work of the late Prof Stuart Macintyre and is valued at AU$100,000 over a four year period.

programsandcourses.anu.edu.au/program/9520...

#phavictas
August 24, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Reposted by Simone Battiston
michellearrow.bsky.social
More than 100 high-profile and distinguished Australians -and BA graduates- have signed the @austhistassoc.bsky.social open letter calling for the repeal of Job-Ready Graduates: a policy that punishes humanities students with life-changing debts: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Tim Winton among 100 high-profile Australians calling for university fees that don’t ‘punish’ arts students
Open letter urges Labor to reverse JRG scheme, introduced by Coalition in 2021, as cost of humanities degrees reaches more than $50,000
www.theguardian.com
July 27, 2025 at 9:23 PM