Antara Datta
@antaradatta.bsky.social
600 followers 200 following 33 posts
Historian of South Asia. Refugees, Migration and Borders.
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antaradatta.bsky.social
In NICUs we generally don’t stay overnight. We could visit any time we wanted though in the two hospitals we were in. Funnily enough he’s now 8 (and absolutely fine- all hail modern medicine) and still hates bed sharing…🤣
antaradatta.bsky.social
You have to stay and sleep with your child in the general paeds wards and despite the generally excellent care, it is usually hell. (Not to mention that you have a sick child…).
antaradatta.bsky.social
Yes so again pumps are available but we often have to rent hospital grade ones (I did). And yes there are chairs but sitting in those for hours is impossible. I’ll be honest and say I have found the NICUs to be relatively better equipped than the paeds wards.
antaradatta.bsky.social
As a former NICU mum of a 26 weeker, a lot of the money we raise provides for what I suppose are deemed extras- incubator blankets, parents’ coffee rooms, nicer reclining chairs for breastfeeding etc.
Reposted by Antara Datta
pastpresentsoc.bsky.social
New on advance access: "Air Travel, Statelessness, and the Rights Claims of Ugandan Asians, c.1973"

by @riakapoor.bsky.social (@qmul.bsky.social)

#OpenAccess

doi.org/10.1093/past...
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antaradatta.bsky.social
And also helped me think through something I am writing about repatriation at the end of WW2 and thinking through the state’s intransigence versus the refugees’ creative use of their circumstances.
antaradatta.bsky.social
I read it yesterday and really enjoyed it. Particularly the contrast between the state’s pejorative view of queue jumpers and ‘shuttlecocking’ versus how the displaced saw these as opportunities.
Reposted by Antara Datta
rahulraothariel.bsky.social
UK universities claim to be reckoning with their imperial and colonial pasts, but refuse to see their implication in the genocidal settler colonialism of the present – so how serious are these exercises? wrote about this for @versobooks.bsky.social blog

www.versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/...
Race Reports
In July 2025, the University of Edinburgh published a wide-ranging ‘Review of Race and History’ that attempts to confront its legacies of enslavement and colonialism. Four months earlier, the Universi...
www.versobooks.com
Reposted by Antara Datta
andreucasas.bsky.social
🚨Hiring a fully funded (3.5 years) PhD for the @ldnsocmedobs.bsky.social to research social media and politics. Candidates should have quantitative/computational skills and/or be interested in content curation/moderation. UK home candidates only unfortunately. www.royalholloway.ac.uk/media/hquftp...
www.royalholloway.ac.uk
antaradatta.bsky.social
A superb special issue on caste and Indian diplomacy. Well done @kalathmika.bsky.social and the other editors! brill.com/view/journal...
brill.com
antaradatta.bsky.social
I have. I did a single seminar for PhD students. For organisation I showed them what my practice was in a very granular step by step way. And took suggestions from them (younger, technically more competent?) about what I could do better. Or how they would improve my practice.
antaradatta.bsky.social
Congratulations to my lovely colleague Andreu @andreucasas.bsky.social on his fellowship- keep an eye on all the stuff he’s going to be doing!
andreucasas.bsky.social
🚨Very honored to receive the Future Leaders Fellowship from @ukri.org I’ll use this 2.3 million £ investment to create the London Social Media Observatory, for cutting-edge research on social media and politics, and novel computational tools for social science research. www.ukri.org/news/ukri-an...
Reposted by Antara Datta
lrb.co.uk
‘The conditions in the hotels are very bad: most residents share rooms with complete strangers, have no laundry or cooking facilities, no choice about when or what they eat, with any visits strictly policed by security.’

Helen Charman on ‘our girls’ vs asylum hotels: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/se...
Helen Charman | Of Flags and Families
The new home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said in May (in an interview with Michael Gove for the Spectator) that she has...
www.lrb.co.uk
antaradatta.bsky.social
Come to our lovely campus to hear about how @danielalai.bsky.social, Will Jones, Ibrahim Halawi and Mohammad Kalantari and I have been re-designing our ‘intro to IR’ class over the last five years.
antaradatta.bsky.social
I once got asked for it by an officious bus driver when my younger one wasn’t even six. She kept saying: how do I know he isn’t 11? Because he’s half the size of his brother who is 10????! But to be fair that was the only time…
antaradatta.bsky.social
I think when they get closer to 11 it’s a way of showing that they can still travel for free/proof of age. My younger one who takes the Tube to school uses his everyday because it means we can go through the barriers separately and not wait for the wide gate to go through with me.
antaradatta.bsky.social
Many congratulations!
antaradatta.bsky.social
This is the kind of thing that’s harder after the first book/big project slump. Also learning what to say no to is discipline specific but again a steep learning curve (I am especially bad at this…).
antaradatta.bsky.social
True. And I would find it hard to mentor someone who only worked in a lab/group. But within social sciences/humanities I think you can mentor more generally- eg how to block out writing time in the week. I got some top notch advice from @thomstubbs.bsky.social on this btw!
antaradatta.bsky.social
Which leads to the more helpful question I think which is how do we support junior faculty through that tricky post first book/big tranche of publications phase?
antaradatta.bsky.social
Also: maternity leave and a gap for those with caring responsibilities (esp women)? Also it’s not just monographs, typically in the humanities we do big projects that take time to mature so once you have the material for tenure published it’s going to take time to build up to the next one?
Reposted by Antara Datta
lrb.co.uk
‘Israel’s allies are still buying time for Israel to change course or come to a deal with Hamas over how many trucks to allow in, as though food were a legitimate bargaining chip. Gazans cannot afford to wait for either.’

Amjad Iraqi on the blog: 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
antaradatta.bsky.social
Re-stating the obvious for any one still in doubt.
lottelydia.bsky.social
All famines are man-made, all famines are political. Historians of empire and humanitarianism have known this forever. Gaza is not starving, Gaza is being starved, by Israel, and this starvation is enabled by our government and by every other government that does not step in to force food and aid.
Reposted by Antara Datta
saimanasar.bsky.social
I am working on 'The Asian Mother and Baby Campaign' which ran from 1984-1986. I would love to interview any linkworkers who were employed by the campaign or any women who were supported by linkworkers. Please spread the word or get in touch if this is you! My email is [email protected]