Joe Borsato
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theecoalchemyst.bsky.social
Joe Borsato
@theecoalchemyst.bsky.social
Research fellow; consultant, grant-writer, and editor from Tsilhqot’in Nen, working in Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe territories; PhD in Indigenous and global history from Queen’s University in Cataraqui (Kingston); Italian-Canadian, Irish (il/he/him)
Pinned
My third peer-reviewed article is now out with the journal Ethnohistory! It is about Powhatan sovereignty in the early 17th century. My thanks go to a number of friends and colleagues who provided feedback on this article over the past three years. It wouldn’t be possible without so much support!
Presenting today
@thenacbs.bsky.social on Indigenous South American travel to England and the role of their diplomacy in preserving sovereignty during the 16th and 17th c. You may not have heard much about the Yao and Arromaia polities but their agency shaped much of early colonial history.
November 14, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Aujourd’hui, je suis allé à une très bonne session d’une conférence @thenacbs.bsky.social sur l’histoire de Montréal dans la contexte de l’empire britannique pendant le 19me siècle.

C’était génial de connecter les études académiques avec le lieu de la conférence.
November 14, 2025 at 4:03 AM
Reposted by Joe Borsato
Calling all graduate students at #nacbs2025! We hope you will join us tonight at 8pm for the Graduate Student Reception! Sponsored by the @royalhistsoc #nacbs2025
November 13, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Reposted by Joe Borsato
As the PM makes big resource extraction announcements today, Im thinking about the findings of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
Safety concerns for Indigenous women in resource development: MMIWG inquiry | CBC News
Amnesty International Canada is supporting the call from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls on the "urgent need" to consider the safety of Indigenous women in al...
www.cbc.ca
November 13, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Joe Borsato
Hourra, NACBS 2025 starts today!
November 13, 2025 at 5:05 PM
I am taking the train, making my way up the St. Lawrence River to Montréal for the NACBS, enjoying the in-between fall and winter season that we can currently find in the river valley.
November 13, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Joe Borsato
Here's a great article from acquisitions editors, in time for University Press Week:
Don't Go It Alone! And Other Tips on How To Get Your First Book Published with a University Press.
https://bit.ly/3XoKxfV
##UPWeek2025 #TeamUP #ReadUP @rcolesworthy.bsky.social @aupresses.bsky.social
Don't Go It Alone! And Other Tips on How To Get Your First Book Published with a University Press
Publishing a book can be an isolated -- and isolating -- experience, but it doesn't have to be. Two university press editors share
bit.ly
November 13, 2025 at 4:00 PM
I for one am unconvinced that hiring committees actually read all the materials that they demand from grad students and early career scholars.
📚 More universities now ask for proof of teaching effectiveness early in hiring—dossiers, student evaluations, even sample syllabi.

Are grad students being asked to do too much, or are we finally valuing teaching properly?

➡️ https://bit.ly/4oMY3X7

#HigherEd #AcademicJobs #PhDLife #Teaching
Teaching experience in the academic job market - University Affairs
“Evidence of teaching effectiveness” adds to the ever-growing demands on graduate students.
bit.ly
November 12, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Don’t want a nation under a new mania.
November 11, 2025 at 2:00 AM
Some people say that secular society needs more spirituality in it. Maybe. But not more of this kind. Xstianity has a habit of kidnapping and murdering in the name of an uninspiring redeemer:

Infant remains recovered from excavation at former mother and baby home in Tuam (Ireland)

jrnl.ie/6867881
Infant remains recovered from excavation at former mother and baby home in Tuam
Archaeologists and other specialists started working at the site in July.
jrnl.ie
November 8, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Joe Borsato
Australia has so much solar power that they're offering free electricity during peak hours because solar power is so cheap.

Here in Ontario, Doug Ford is doubling down on nuclear, which is the most expensive form of electricity. And subsidizing it with our tax dollars.

electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
Australia has so much solar that it's offering everyone free electricity
Australia's extensive solar power penetration makes so much energy that the government wants to offer free electricity at peak hours.
electrek.co
November 6, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Fortune smiles upon the city of New York
Mamdani: "We can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves. After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him."
November 5, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Reposted by Joe Borsato
Instead of implementing the biggest service reductions in recent Canadian history, this budget should seek to implement measures that raise revenue. broadbentinstitute.ca/research/202...
Submission to the Department of Finance on Fair Tax Measures and Proposed Public Service Workforce Adjustments - Broadbent Institute
The federal government has a choice and, when Canada faced a similar scale of economic challenges, a wartime economy that brings in fair taxation and a stronger public service should be built to meet ...
broadbentinstitute.ca
October 31, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Reposted by Joe Borsato
TOC, "Gerontocracy in America" (June 2026)
us.macmillan.com/books/978037...
November 3, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Trump is vowing violence in Nigeria over the alleged killing of Christians.

This is just your friendly reminder that Christian violence has, for 2000 years now, been predicated on a mythology of martyrdom. From the Roman arenas to crusades and religious wars, Christianity makes a cult of martyrdom.
November 3, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Reposted by Joe Borsato
What do you do when you see - or think you see - a change in a cosmic environment? I experienced that firsthand one strange night on a rooftop in Washington, DC. Here's my fourth video that introduces my new book, "Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean." #Moon #Astronomy #EnvHist youtu.be/kqCrSyPc8sY
Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean: A Spot on the Moon
YouTube video by Dagomar Degroot
youtu.be
November 3, 2025 at 5:05 PM
It is a mark of illegitimacy and unprofessionalism when all-day academic events like conferences/colloquia do not provide a full lunch or at least a two hour break for participants to nourish themselves.

Same goes for multi-hour talks with Q&As between 6-8pm.

Coffee and biscuits don’t cut it.
November 3, 2025 at 4:00 PM
At this rate, Canada is going to lag behind Europe in innovation and affordability, in the name of satisfying billionaires and oligarchic corporations. Without better consumer protections we are in for a really big crisis.

More young Canadians need to consider emigration as a way out.
New Democrats are deeply concerned after hearing Mark Carney’s pre-budget speech. He’s telling working Canadians to make “sacrifices” while handing out billions to the wealthiest 0.13% and the biggest, most profitable corporations.

Read my full statement: www.ndp.ca/news/ndp-sta...
NDP Statement on Mark Carney's Pre-Budget Speech
In reaction to Prime Minister Mark Carney's pre-budget speech, NDP leader Don Davies issued the following statement:
www.ndp.ca
November 1, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Un gatto multo carino
October 31, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Reposted by Joe Borsato
While on furlough, Isaac Stein is fulfilling a childhood dream and passion project as a hot dog vendor. n.pr/3Lf0l28
This furloughed IRS lawyer is living out his dream of being a hot dog vendor
While on furlough, Isaac Stein is fulfilling a childhood dream and passion project as a hot dog vendor.
n.pr
October 29, 2025 at 9:49 AM
When in Rome
October 29, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Reposted by Joe Borsato
My new book, "Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean," was published today! And here's a new article in @theconversation.com that explains how #solarstorms have influenced #history, and may threaten our future. Spoiler: it's really not a good idea to cut science at NASA. theconversation.com/solar-storms...
Solar storms have influenced our history – an environmental historian explains how they could also threaten our future
From communications outages to a brush with nuclear war, solar events like flares and coronal mass ejections have shaped human history.
theconversation.com
October 28, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Reposted by Joe Borsato