Dr Beckie Rutherford (she/her)
@beckierutherford.bsky.social
Historian of disability, gender and sexuality in modern Britain | Research Fellow @voicesofmotherhood.bsky.social | Editor @historyworkshop.org.uk
Pinned
Writing History in a Time of Genocide
Anne Irfan asks, what does it mean to write the history of a place as it is being destroyed before our very eyes?
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
I've been thinking about this quote all day
"Every university in Gaza has been destroyed. The mass killing of Palestinians has also extinguished the knowledge, memories, experiences and indeed the histories that they carry as individuals. Genocide targets a people’s past as much as their present."
"Every university in Gaza has been destroyed. The mass killing of Palestinians has also extinguished the knowledge, memories, experiences and indeed the histories that they carry as individuals. Genocide targets a people’s past as much as their present."
Reposted by Dr Beckie Rutherford (she/her)
Another update from us to round off the week!
We were absolutely delighted by the overwhelming response to our conference, and have now been in contact with all of our speakers.
We are aiming to share our official programme in the first week of December so watch this space!
We were absolutely delighted by the overwhelming response to our conference, and have now been in contact with all of our speakers.
We are aiming to share our official programme in the first week of December so watch this space!
We're pleased to share this call for papers for our upcoming conference!
📍Online via Zoom
🗓️Thursday 5 - Friday 6 February 2026
⏱️Abstract deadline Saturday 1 November 2025
See our website for full details 👇
voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk/index.php/news-and-resources/updates-from-the-project
📍Online via Zoom
🗓️Thursday 5 - Friday 6 February 2026
⏱️Abstract deadline Saturday 1 November 2025
See our website for full details 👇
voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk/index.php/news-and-resources/updates-from-the-project
November 21, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Another update from us to round off the week!
We were absolutely delighted by the overwhelming response to our conference, and have now been in contact with all of our speakers.
We are aiming to share our official programme in the first week of December so watch this space!
We were absolutely delighted by the overwhelming response to our conference, and have now been in contact with all of our speakers.
We are aiming to share our official programme in the first week of December so watch this space!
I've been thinking about this quote all day
"Every university in Gaza has been destroyed. The mass killing of Palestinians has also extinguished the knowledge, memories, experiences and indeed the histories that they carry as individuals. Genocide targets a people’s past as much as their present."
"Every university in Gaza has been destroyed. The mass killing of Palestinians has also extinguished the knowledge, memories, experiences and indeed the histories that they carry as individuals. Genocide targets a people’s past as much as their present."
Writing History in a Time of Genocide
Anne Irfan asks, what does it mean to write the history of a place as it is being destroyed before our very eyes?
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
November 20, 2025 at 5:35 PM
I've been thinking about this quote all day
"Every university in Gaza has been destroyed. The mass killing of Palestinians has also extinguished the knowledge, memories, experiences and indeed the histories that they carry as individuals. Genocide targets a people’s past as much as their present."
"Every university in Gaza has been destroyed. The mass killing of Palestinians has also extinguished the knowledge, memories, experiences and indeed the histories that they carry as individuals. Genocide targets a people’s past as much as their present."
It was a pleasure to work with Gordon on such a thought-provoking, timely article.
Big thanks also to my erstwhile HW colleague Vivien @inoutofpractice.bsky.social for arranging another ✨amazing✨ collaboration with one of their illustration students!
Big thanks also to my erstwhile HW colleague Vivien @inoutofpractice.bsky.social for arranging another ✨amazing✨ collaboration with one of their illustration students!
Does Artificial Intelligence have the potential to simplify, and ultimately impoverish, our study of the past?
Gordon McKelvie @gordonmckelvie.bsky.social considers the recent explosion in A.I. and what it might mean for historians facing the current Higher Education crisis.
Gordon McKelvie @gordonmckelvie.bsky.social considers the recent explosion in A.I. and what it might mean for historians facing the current Higher Education crisis.
Artificial Intelligence: A Warning for History
Does Artificial Intelligence have the potential to simplify, and ultimately impoverish, our study of the past? Gordon McKelvie considers the recent explosion in A.I. and what it might mean for the his...
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
November 12, 2025 at 9:13 AM
It was a pleasure to work with Gordon on such a thought-provoking, timely article.
Big thanks also to my erstwhile HW colleague Vivien @inoutofpractice.bsky.social for arranging another ✨amazing✨ collaboration with one of their illustration students!
Big thanks also to my erstwhile HW colleague Vivien @inoutofpractice.bsky.social for arranging another ✨amazing✨ collaboration with one of their illustration students!
Reposted by Dr Beckie Rutherford (she/her)
📅 Save the Date!
🎉 To mark 50 years of the Social History Society, we’re hosting a Social History Festival with @ihr.bsky.social!
🗓️ Fri 24 April 2026
📍 Senate House, University of London
Panels, a keynote + hands-on activities!
💡 Want to contribute? 👉[email protected]
More info coming soon!
🎉 To mark 50 years of the Social History Society, we’re hosting a Social History Festival with @ihr.bsky.social!
🗓️ Fri 24 April 2026
📍 Senate House, University of London
Panels, a keynote + hands-on activities!
💡 Want to contribute? 👉[email protected]
More info coming soon!
October 22, 2025 at 8:27 AM
📅 Save the Date!
🎉 To mark 50 years of the Social History Society, we’re hosting a Social History Festival with @ihr.bsky.social!
🗓️ Fri 24 April 2026
📍 Senate House, University of London
Panels, a keynote + hands-on activities!
💡 Want to contribute? 👉[email protected]
More info coming soon!
🎉 To mark 50 years of the Social History Society, we’re hosting a Social History Festival with @ihr.bsky.social!
🗓️ Fri 24 April 2026
📍 Senate House, University of London
Panels, a keynote + hands-on activities!
💡 Want to contribute? 👉[email protected]
More info coming soon!
Reposted by Dr Beckie Rutherford (she/her)
I'm still looking for participants to interview about Reclaim the Night, squatting/housing co-ops and feminist architecture! Please share 💗
October 31, 2025 at 11:56 AM
I'm still looking for participants to interview about Reclaim the Night, squatting/housing co-ops and feminist architecture! Please share 💗
Reposted by Dr Beckie Rutherford (she/her)
Exciting news! 🎉👀
We are running a series of events in and around the city of Worcester as part of the 2025 Being Human Festival @beinghumanfest.bsky.social
The theme is "Marginalised Motherhoods" and our aim is to capture critical and creative responses to motherhood and its absence.
(1/4)
We are running a series of events in and around the city of Worcester as part of the 2025 Being Human Festival @beinghumanfest.bsky.social
The theme is "Marginalised Motherhoods" and our aim is to capture critical and creative responses to motherhood and its absence.
(1/4)
Marginalised Motherhoods
Led by the University of Worcester
www.beinghumanfestival.org
November 3, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Exciting news! 🎉👀
We are running a series of events in and around the city of Worcester as part of the 2025 Being Human Festival @beinghumanfest.bsky.social
The theme is "Marginalised Motherhoods" and our aim is to capture critical and creative responses to motherhood and its absence.
(1/4)
We are running a series of events in and around the city of Worcester as part of the 2025 Being Human Festival @beinghumanfest.bsky.social
The theme is "Marginalised Motherhoods" and our aim is to capture critical and creative responses to motherhood and its absence.
(1/4)
Reposted by Dr Beckie Rutherford (she/her)
What if friendship were understood not just on an individual, personal level, but as something political – a radical practice capable of upending hierarchies and producing revolutionary social change?
Laura C. Forster and Joel White reflect on radical friendship and everyday solidarities.
Laura C. Forster and Joel White reflect on radical friendship and everyday solidarities.
Friends in Common
How might we reassess friendship as a transformative, even revolutionary, political resource?
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
October 30, 2025 at 12:39 PM
What if friendship were understood not just on an individual, personal level, but as something political – a radical practice capable of upending hierarchies and producing revolutionary social change?
Laura C. Forster and Joel White reflect on radical friendship and everyday solidarities.
Laura C. Forster and Joel White reflect on radical friendship and everyday solidarities.
Reposted by Dr Beckie Rutherford (she/her)
📢 final update from us 📢
1 November is a soft deadline and we will happily accept any abstracts that arrive a few days later!
If you would like to put something together but don’t have anything ‘formal’ yet, just let us know and we’ll bear this in mind.
Our email is: [email protected]
1 November is a soft deadline and we will happily accept any abstracts that arrive a few days later!
If you would like to put something together but don’t have anything ‘formal’ yet, just let us know and we’ll bear this in mind.
Our email is: [email protected]
We're pleased to share this call for papers for our upcoming conference!
📍Online via Zoom
🗓️Thursday 5 - Friday 6 February 2026
⏱️Abstract deadline Saturday 1 November 2025
See our website for full details 👇
voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk/index.php/news-and-resources/updates-from-the-project
📍Online via Zoom
🗓️Thursday 5 - Friday 6 February 2026
⏱️Abstract deadline Saturday 1 November 2025
See our website for full details 👇
voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk/index.php/news-and-resources/updates-from-the-project
October 29, 2025 at 10:05 AM
📢 final update from us 📢
1 November is a soft deadline and we will happily accept any abstracts that arrive a few days later!
If you would like to put something together but don’t have anything ‘formal’ yet, just let us know and we’ll bear this in mind.
Our email is: [email protected]
1 November is a soft deadline and we will happily accept any abstracts that arrive a few days later!
If you would like to put something together but don’t have anything ‘formal’ yet, just let us know and we’ll bear this in mind.
Our email is: [email protected]
Reposted by Dr Beckie Rutherford (she/her)
📣 Call for participants 📣
Have you ever used any History Workshop Journal articles in your teaching practice?
We’d love to hear from you for the 100th issue of HWJ!
Please let us know by sending an email or feel free to DM.
Have you ever used any History Workshop Journal articles in your teaching practice?
We’d love to hear from you for the 100th issue of HWJ!
Please let us know by sending an email or feel free to DM.
October 28, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Reposted by Dr Beckie Rutherford (she/her)
Solidarity to all staff at the British Library! 98% in favour with 75% turn out is an astounding strike ballot result, truly shows the strength of feeling. www.pcs.org.uk/news-events/...
October 23, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Solidarity to all staff at the British Library! 98% in favour with 75% turn out is an astounding strike ballot result, truly shows the strength of feeling. www.pcs.org.uk/news-events/...
Reposted by Dr Beckie Rutherford (she/her)
We are delighted to announce that MBS2026 will be held at the University of Birmingham, 3-5 June 2026!
Papers may consider the opening day's theme of 'Polycrisis', but we also welcome all submissions related to modern British studies.
For any questions please contact [email protected]
Papers may consider the opening day's theme of 'Polycrisis', but we also welcome all submissions related to modern British studies.
For any questions please contact [email protected]
Modern British Studies Conference 2026 - University of Birmingham
Conference information
www.birmingham.ac.uk
October 17, 2025 at 9:12 AM
We are delighted to announce that MBS2026 will be held at the University of Birmingham, 3-5 June 2026!
Papers may consider the opening day's theme of 'Polycrisis', but we also welcome all submissions related to modern British studies.
For any questions please contact [email protected]
Papers may consider the opening day's theme of 'Polycrisis', but we also welcome all submissions related to modern British studies.
For any questions please contact [email protected]
Reposted by Dr Beckie Rutherford (she/her)
We are looking for volunteers who are interested in writing 300-350 words, (about 1-2 paragraphs) on how disability is portrayed in horror movies. Deadline 24th October 2025
Contact Richardamm(at)gmail.com
Find our free disability zines: linktr.ee/disabilityark
Contact Richardamm(at)gmail.com
Find our free disability zines: linktr.ee/disabilityark
October 10, 2025 at 5:22 PM
We are looking for volunteers who are interested in writing 300-350 words, (about 1-2 paragraphs) on how disability is portrayed in horror movies. Deadline 24th October 2025
Contact Richardamm(at)gmail.com
Find our free disability zines: linktr.ee/disabilityark
Contact Richardamm(at)gmail.com
Find our free disability zines: linktr.ee/disabilityark
Reposted by Dr Beckie Rutherford (she/her)
I feel this so deeply, for myself and for so many others. The cumulative effect on this nation and its communities is staggering and completely unaccounted for by anyone in power.
It really is just relentless the constant dehumanisation in this country. Prove you deserve to be here. Prove you deserve to be cared for. Prove your gender. Prove you deserve to have human rights. Prove you deserve to stay after a whole decade. It just chisels away at your humanity
Just fuck off with this. How about start the conversation by highlighting how much immigrants contribute to the UK - not least by propping up the NHS and social care system!
Also - forced volunteering is not volunteering, it's unpaid labour.
Also - forced volunteering is not volunteering, it's unpaid labour.
September 29, 2025 at 10:47 AM
I feel this so deeply, for myself and for so many others. The cumulative effect on this nation and its communities is staggering and completely unaccounted for by anyone in power.
Reposted by Dr Beckie Rutherford (she/her)
Very much this. The IHR really is open to everyone and this includes our common room and our library as well as our wonderful seminars. All free, all welcome!
History curious? You don't need to be in London (or the UK) to attend many Institute of Historical Research seminars, although if you're in Bloomsbury you'll enjoy doing so. Most are hybrid (online/in person). They're free, usually fortnightly and open to the public.
Starting this week:
Starting this week:
Events
Stay up to date with the upcoming events organised or hosted by the Institute of Historical Research
www.history.ac.uk
September 22, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Very much this. The IHR really is open to everyone and this includes our common room and our library as well as our wonderful seminars. All free, all welcome!
If you read one more article this week I would urge it to be this one!
Thank you @echomikeromeo.bsky.social for writing such an important and insightful piece.
Thank you @echomikeromeo.bsky.social for writing such an important and insightful piece.
How can trans history facilitate knowledge and solidarity beyond the 'existence' of trans people?
Sam Rutherford @echomikeromeo argues for trans history as a tool of political education, through the history of access to healthcare:
Sam Rutherford @echomikeromeo argues for trans history as a tool of political education, through the history of access to healthcare:
Imagining Trans Futures
Sam Rutherford reflects on how trans histories and historians can work towards building power in the trans community.
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
September 25, 2025 at 8:11 AM
If you read one more article this week I would urge it to be this one!
Thank you @echomikeromeo.bsky.social for writing such an important and insightful piece.
Thank you @echomikeromeo.bsky.social for writing such an important and insightful piece.
Reposted by Dr Beckie Rutherford (she/her)
We're pleased to share this call for papers for our upcoming conference!
📍Online via Zoom
🗓️Thursday 5 - Friday 6 February 2026
⏱️Abstract deadline Saturday 1 November 2025
See our website for full details 👇
voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk/index.php/news-and-resources/updates-from-the-project
📍Online via Zoom
🗓️Thursday 5 - Friday 6 February 2026
⏱️Abstract deadline Saturday 1 November 2025
See our website for full details 👇
voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk/index.php/news-and-resources/updates-from-the-project
September 24, 2025 at 7:50 AM
We're pleased to share this call for papers for our upcoming conference!
📍Online via Zoom
🗓️Thursday 5 - Friday 6 February 2026
⏱️Abstract deadline Saturday 1 November 2025
See our website for full details 👇
voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk/index.php/news-and-resources/updates-from-the-project
📍Online via Zoom
🗓️Thursday 5 - Friday 6 February 2026
⏱️Abstract deadline Saturday 1 November 2025
See our website for full details 👇
voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk/index.php/news-and-resources/updates-from-the-project
Reposted by Dr Beckie Rutherford (she/her)
It's a huge honour for this piece by Lola and Agnes to be the final addition to the From Place to Place series. As my HW Fellowship draws to a close, I can't think of a more helpful reminder to keep finding new intimacies and continue feeling through my practice. I hope you've enjoyed the series!
What if history could be 'weightless'?
Lola Olufemi and Agnes Cameron expand on their collaboration, This is a Temporal Landscape You Will Find No Direction Here, a digital assemblage for reimagining our relationship to the radical histories before us:
www.historyworkshop.org.uk/practice-his...
Lola Olufemi and Agnes Cameron expand on their collaboration, This is a Temporal Landscape You Will Find No Direction Here, a digital assemblage for reimagining our relationship to the radical histories before us:
www.historyworkshop.org.uk/practice-his...
YOU WILL FIND NO DIRECTION HERE
Lola Olufemi and Agnes Cameron revive resistance in the concepts of 'history' and 'technology', through digitally reassembling the archive.
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
September 16, 2025 at 8:24 AM
It's a huge honour for this piece by Lola and Agnes to be the final addition to the From Place to Place series. As my HW Fellowship draws to a close, I can't think of a more helpful reminder to keep finding new intimacies and continue feeling through my practice. I hope you've enjoyed the series!
An article that I wrote years ago for the @britishlibrary.bsky.social was sadly lost in the 2023 cyber attack but I've just stumbled across the beautiful illustration that was commissioned for the piece!
Illustration for the British Library, on Feminism and Disability Rights
I was commissioned by the British Library to create a website banner for an article about disabled women's rights activists. Disabled women have long been a force in feminism and disability activism. ...
www.hireillo.com
September 2, 2025 at 3:38 PM
An article that I wrote years ago for the @britishlibrary.bsky.social was sadly lost in the 2023 cyber attack but I've just stumbled across the beautiful illustration that was commissioned for the piece!
Reposted by Dr Beckie Rutherford (she/her)
Can anyone recommend readings on *premodern* disability and sexuality, and/or disability and queerness? #disabilitystudies #history #queerhistory #lgbthistory #earlymodern
August 26, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Can anyone recommend readings on *premodern* disability and sexuality, and/or disability and queerness? #disabilitystudies #history #queerhistory #lgbthistory #earlymodern
Reposted by Dr Beckie Rutherford (she/her)
“What would it mean to disabled women if they could read about others navigating the same things they were? What would it feel like if those experiences weren’t hidden but celebrated?”
For September’s British Vogue, I wrote about my new book, health and body image. www.vogue.co.uk/article/vogu...
For September’s British Vogue, I wrote about my new book, health and body image. www.vogue.co.uk/article/vogu...
When Will Fashion Stop Failing Disabled People?
“Existing as a Disabled woman in the world can feel like straddling a constantly moving line: we must prove that we are ‘normal’ while somehow not feeling shame that we are different,” Frances Ryan wr...
www.vogue.co.uk
August 26, 2025 at 9:56 AM
“What would it mean to disabled women if they could read about others navigating the same things they were? What would it feel like if those experiences weren’t hidden but celebrated?”
For September’s British Vogue, I wrote about my new book, health and body image. www.vogue.co.uk/article/vogu...
For September’s British Vogue, I wrote about my new book, health and body image. www.vogue.co.uk/article/vogu...
Reposted by Dr Beckie Rutherford (she/her)
Today is the last day of carnival weekend in Notting Hill!
What can this radical tradition of costume and performance tell us about decolonised approaches to teaching history?
Ife Thompson explores in this piece from the HW archive.
What can this radical tradition of costume and performance tell us about decolonised approaches to teaching history?
Ife Thompson explores in this piece from the HW archive.
The History of Radical Mas Bands at Notting Hill Carnival
What can the radical tradition of costume & performance at Notting Hill Carnival tell us about a decolonised approach to the teaching of history? Ife Thompson on the People's War Carnival Band
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
August 25, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Today is the last day of carnival weekend in Notting Hill!
What can this radical tradition of costume and performance tell us about decolonised approaches to teaching history?
Ife Thompson explores in this piece from the HW archive.
What can this radical tradition of costume and performance tell us about decolonised approaches to teaching history?
Ife Thompson explores in this piece from the HW archive.
Two days left to apply for these roles!
📣We're into the FINAL WEEK for applications for two Editorial Fellowship positions 2025-27!📣
Deadline is midnight 15th August (that's this Friday!), and the fellowships are open to any early career historians. See the post below for the full details:
www.historyworkshop....
Deadline is midnight 15th August (that's this Friday!), and the fellowships are open to any early career historians. See the post below for the full details:
www.historyworkshop....
Call for Applications: Editorial Fellowships at History Workshop, 2025
History Workshop is advertising two part-time, paid Editorial Fellowships in 2025, open to early career historians.
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
August 13, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Two days left to apply for these roles!
I've just re-read every piece in Reimagining Disability to help develop ideas for an article I'm writing on public #DisHist
I feel very lucky to have worked with such an amazing range of authors - helping them develop their pieces for this @historyworkshop.org.uk series has been truly inspiring!
I feel very lucky to have worked with such an amazing range of authors - helping them develop their pieces for this @historyworkshop.org.uk series has been truly inspiring!
Reimagining Disability
How can we reimagine disability as something more than just a medical identity? Beckie Rutherford introduces a new History Workshop series.
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
August 13, 2025 at 11:41 AM
I've just re-read every piece in Reimagining Disability to help develop ideas for an article I'm writing on public #DisHist
I feel very lucky to have worked with such an amazing range of authors - helping them develop their pieces for this @historyworkshop.org.uk series has been truly inspiring!
I feel very lucky to have worked with such an amazing range of authors - helping them develop their pieces for this @historyworkshop.org.uk series has been truly inspiring!
it was a pleasure to publish Maisie's brilliant research on craftivism and Greenham women!
How did making banners help women to express themselves and support one another at Greenham Common Peace Camp?
Maisie Jepson (@girlinthewrongera.bsky.social) explores this creative process and explains why motherhood was such a prominent theme.
Maisie Jepson (@girlinthewrongera.bsky.social) explores this creative process and explains why motherhood was such a prominent theme.
Motherhood and Banner-making at Greenham Women’s Peace Camp
How did making banners help women to express themselves at Greenham Common Peace Camp? Why was motherhood was such a prominent theme?
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
August 7, 2025 at 1:10 PM
it was a pleasure to publish Maisie's brilliant research on craftivism and Greenham women!
Reposted by Dr Beckie Rutherford (she/her)
We know that Covid-19 hasn’t gone away — & we want everyone, including immunocompromised visitors, to feel safe and welcome at GWL.
That’s why every Friday we kindly ask all visitors to wear a mask & observe social distancing. Our staff & volunteers do the same (unless exempt).
That’s why every Friday we kindly ask all visitors to wear a mask & observe social distancing. Our staff & volunteers do the same (unless exempt).
July 29, 2025 at 11:46 AM
We know that Covid-19 hasn’t gone away — & we want everyone, including immunocompromised visitors, to feel safe and welcome at GWL.
That’s why every Friday we kindly ask all visitors to wear a mask & observe social distancing. Our staff & volunteers do the same (unless exempt).
That’s why every Friday we kindly ask all visitors to wear a mask & observe social distancing. Our staff & volunteers do the same (unless exempt).