Joanna Bourke

@joannabourke.bsky.social

1.3K followers 940 following 90 posts

Historian curious about violence, the emotions, and what it means to be human. Currently writing a book on Women and Wine! See joannabourke.com

Videos

Joanna Bourke is a British historian and academic. She is professor of history at Birkbeck, University of London.

Source: Wikipedia

Political science 32%

History 28%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Joanna Bourke @joannabourke.bsky.social · 1d

Brodie: wow. A detail I missed

Joanna Bourke @joannabourke.bsky.social · 3d

I have been interviewing some of the leading figures in 'Alcohol Studies'. My latest is the incredible Robin Room, whose research on the social aspects of drinking and alcohol addiction have been incredibly influential. See the interview here: www.joannabourke.com/blog

Joanna Bourke @joannabourke.bsky.social · 3d

These are incredible! I spent much of my childhood in Haiti and still have Haitian art on my walls as visual inspiration.

Reposted by Joanna Bourke, Mary Burke

Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 3d

I don't really care much about the Olympics, but Haiti's uniforms take winterwear to epic new levels of awesomeness. The only hand-painted uniforms in the games, for a nation (to quote designer Stella Jean) 'that refuses to disappear.

hand painted uniforms, green leaves, red horse, a puffy skirt, gorgeous green head wrap. My god they are beautiful.

Reposted by Katharine Hayhoe, Richard S.J. Tol, Dorothy Bishop , and 46 more Katharine Hayhoe, Richard S.J. Tol, Dorothy Bishop, Richard F. Catalano, Kimberly A. Prather, Keith Jones, Stephan Lewandowsky, David N. Thomas, Louis Moresi, James M. Bullock, Nancy Knowlton, Jonathan A. Foley, Karen R. Lips, Steve Peers, Steven French, Evelyne de Leeuw, David Johnson, Joanna Bourke, Caroline Krafft, Martin Tomko, Jeremy T. Kerr, Joseph Schafer, Peter Holmes, Sabine Pahl, Kate Lancaster, Alan Richardson, R. M. Wilson, Laura Huenneke, Ailsa Cameron, Carlos Nunes Silva, Stephen D. Murphy, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Juan Rocha, Nikolay Marinov, David Murakami Wood, Kent Johnson, Ann Bartow, Pauline Stafford, Raúl Pacheco-Vega, Nikki Fairchild, Hisham Zerriffi, Meredith Farkas, Nancy M. Wingfield, Maksym Polyakov, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Lorna Hughes, Susan D. Blum, David Spurrett, David Darmofal

jennifer uncoolidge @histoftech.bsky.social · 3d

No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition.

Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Gladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technology

She made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman.

www.nature.com

Joanna Bourke @joannabourke.bsky.social · 5d

Sometimes older book are the best! I recently read Robert Fuller's 1996 book entitled 'Religion and Wine', where he invents the concept of ‘secular oenophilia’: the love of wine as providing drinkers with a sense of spirituality and purpose. I interviewed him here: www.joannabourke.com/blog

Reposted by Joanna Bourke

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 5d

'As the regulator for all higher education providers in England, the outcome of the challenge against the OfS will have far-reaching implications for its ability to enforce freedom of speech and academic freedom at universities.'

Abolish the OfS, the metastisising cancer of English HE.

University begins High Court challenge against £585k free speech fine

The University of Sussex says the watchdog overstepped its legal powers in imposing the fine last year.

www.bbc.co.uk

Joanna Bourke @joannabourke.bsky.social · 8d

I love this poem.

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Joanna Bourke

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 8d

Vital case of University of Sussex vs Office for Students is in the High Court this week. The results will matter for all of us given the OfS's overreach and directions of travel.

The Office for Students’ (OfS) investigation into freedom of speech : In focus : News : University of Sussex

www.sussex.ac.uk

Reposted by Joanna Bourke, Carolyne Larrington

Elizabeth Boyle @thecelticist.bsky.social · 8d

From yesterday's Irish Times.

The Lie, Mary O'Malley

The lie that a protester shot dead by ICE
in Minneapolis was a terrorist, the lie
that killers set loose on their own cities
are victims, the lie that a poem is a gun.

A poem is not a gun, though a poem
from the pen of Akhmatova or Neruda
or Mandelstam, not one of whom ever
to my knowledge fired a shot, might

in certain conjugations of the stars
lodge in the heart and spread out
across mountains and borders
across languages and the sea and you

can’t shoot it down, or lock it up
or alter its pixels. It is played
on the hollowed reeds of dead bones.
A poem like that is a bomb.

Mary O’Malley’s most recent collection, The Shark Nursery (Carcanet), was winner of the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry 2025

Reposted by Joanna Bourke, Lesley A. Hall, Justin Lewis , and 1 more Joanna Bourke, Lesley A. Hall, Justin Lewis, Katrina Navickas

John Grindrod @grindrod.bsky.social · 8d

As it’s LGBTQ+ History Month I thought I’d share some bits from my new book Tales of the Suburbs: LGBTQ+ Lives Behind Net Curtains (out in mid March) just to give a flavour of what was going on beyond the privet…

Cover of Tales of the Suburbs: LGBTQ+ Lives Behind Net Curtains by John Grindrod

Reposted by Joanna Bourke, Margot C. Finn

Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 9d

A packed house @bbkhistorical.bsky.social for History Workshop Journal's 50th anniversary/100th issue celebration! It's a joy to see so many wonderful historians here to mark @historyworkshop.org.uk's incredible 50 years.

A room full of people with speakers at the front

The green cover of hwj100 with a pine tree

Reposted by Joanna Bourke, Margot C. Finn, Michael H. Whitworth , and 4 more Joanna Bourke, Margot C. Finn, Michael H. Whitworth, Kevin O’Sullivan, Glen O’Hara, Martin van Gelderen, François Guesnet

Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 11d

Wonderful news from Birkbeck's School of Historical Studies. We're hiring not one but TWO open-ended, full-time roles: Medieval Studies, and History of Art! cis7.bbk.ac.uk/home.html#fi...

Current Vacancies - Birkbeck, University of London

Birkbeck

cis7.bbk.ac.uk

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Steve Peers, Joanna Bourke , and 2 more Jonathan Portes, Steve Peers, Joanna Bourke, Richard H. King, Alison Phipps

Jolyon Maugham KC @goodlawproject.org · Jan 10

Yep, The Times is going with 'The murder of Renee Nicole Good is the fault of immigrants'.

Reposted by Joanna Bourke

Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · Jan 9

During these challenging times, we could all benefit from a smile, so I would like to present the oldest smile in the world: the Mannetje van Willemstad (the little man from Willemstad, Netherlands).
The Mesolithic figurine, dating about 5400 BC, was carved in oak wood. 🧵 1/2

📷 me

🏺 #archaeology

A small wooden anthropomorphic figure with a stylized human face, deeply carved eyes, a pronounced nose, and a simple smiling mouth, displayed upright on a clear stand against a yellow background.

Reposted by Joanna Bourke

Michelle Henning @michellehenning.bsky.social · Jan 7

They’ve arrived! It’s out!

A picture of a pile of my books which have just arrived, complementary copies destined for copyright holders and kind friends.

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Elizabeth Saunders, Steven Van de Walle , and 29 more Anna O. Law, Elizabeth Saunders, Steven Van de Walle, Steven French, Joanna Bourke, David Rothschild, Jonathan M. Gilligan, Fabián Muniesa, Smith, Jonathan Hopkin, Felicity Callard, Janet Murray, Gerald Friedman, Julie Cupples, Glenn H. Shepard, Michael D. McDonald, James Goodwin, Dean Eckles, Julia M. Wright, Leo McCann, Timothy Burke, Lisa Diedrich, Ann Bartow, Marcus Credé, James Connelly, Miko Flohr, Hisham Zerriffi, Samuel Coavoux, Charles T. Mathewes, Annette Yoshiko Reed, Markus Haverland, Carissa Byrne Hessick

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · Jan 7

"I’m going to pause here just to review: an institution that purports to be a university has told a philosophy professor he is forbidden from teaching Plato."

surreal times

dailynous.com/2026/01/06/t...

Texas A&M Bans Plato - Daily Nous

Drop the race and gender material from your course and the Plato readings, or teach a different course. You have a day to decide. That's a paraphrase of what Martin Peterson, professor of philosophy a...

dailynous.com

Joanna Bourke @joannabourke.bsky.social · Jan 7

I found the *first half* of Jeffrey Sachs' speech to the UN Security Council a couple of days ago a useful, historical summary. See: www.jeffsachs.org/recorded-lec...

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall

Joanna Bourke @joannabourke.bsky.social · Jan 2

It's official! My new book, FIVE EVIL WOMEN will be published on 1 March (Reaktion Books). See www.joannabourke.com/blog. I have spent years exploring the lives of women who committed the most horrendous crimes: Myra Hindley, Rose West, Karla Homolka, Aileen Wuornos, & Karla Faye Tucker.

Reposted by Joanna Bourke

womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · Dec 31

#HAPPYNEWYEAR 2026

wherever you are!!! ❤️

a black and white photo of a woman dancing in a room .

Alt: A black and white gif of a white woman in a glowing dress dancing energetically in a room

media.tenor.com

Joanna Bourke @joannabourke.bsky.social · Dec 26

I visited Valladolid prison, one of the prisons where the anti-fascist, feminist Maria Bruguera was incarcerated. A terrifying place. Thanks for reminding us of her incredible and very full life.

Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · Dec 26

#OtD 26 Dec 1992 Spanish anti-fascist and feminist, María Bruguera Pérez, died aged 77. Joining the fight against fascissm during the Spanish Civil War, she was jailed for life in 1937 but released in 1945, and then joined the underground resistance workingclasshistory.com/2020/06/17/e...

Reposted by Joanna Bourke

Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · Dec 26

Reposted by Joanna Bourke

Feral Maui Hermit @mauigreg.bsky.social · Dec 25

Millions of documents so far, and not a single trans person or drag performer in the Epstein Files hurting children... seems to be 100% wealthy cis white folks.
Imagine that.

Joanna Bourke @joannabourke.bsky.social · Dec 20

Yes, there are so many contenders for the label 'evil woman'! I originally set out with nearly 30. And although the book focuses on 5, others are discussed in the context of these women, or as contrasts.

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Steve Peers, Joanna Bourke , and 3 more Jonathan Portes, Steve Peers, Joanna Bourke, Peter Campbell, Alan Lester, John Foot

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · Dec 18

Even by my low expectations for Kemi Badenoch ‘violence against women and girls is something done by immigrants and nobody else’ has shocked me.

Zoë Grünewald @zoegrunewald.bsky.social · Dec 18

Dog-whistle and factually incorrect. Ladies, raise your hand if you were sexually assaulted by a boy at school? I’d wager this or a family member is most women’s first experience of sexual violence

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Steve Peers, Tim Bale , and 6 more Jonathan Portes, Steve Peers, Tim Bale, Joanna Bourke, Peter Campbell, Mark Priestley, Glen O’Hara, Jackie Goode, Gerry Hassan

Zoë Grünewald @zoegrunewald.bsky.social · Dec 18

Reposted by Joanna Bourke

womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · Dec 18

Inuk artist Pitseolak Ashoona,
Girl chased by dog, 1961 #WomensArt #ArtAdvent

Print featuring a girl in black with hands in the air running right with a black dog behind her holding her skirt

Joanna Bourke @joannabourke.bsky.social · Dec 17

So, they are 'reflecting'?!!! Isn't Sex Matters a hate group?

Jolyon Maugham KC @goodlawproject.org · Dec 17

After an oral hearing, the High Court 'reserved' - ie is thinking about - whether to give permission for the Sex Matters hate group to try and overrule in court the wishes of the majority of the users of Hampstead women's pond. goodlaw.social/gofy