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lisaonaga.bsky.social
Lisa Onaga
@lisaonaga.bsky.social
2.4K followers 370 following 58 posts
historian of science & technology, itinerant potter
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Sericulture 養蚕 Amami Ōshima tsumugi 奄美大島紬
(animal) biomaterials (動物)生体材料・バイオマテリアル
Cocoon Cultures, under contract @Dukepress
RTAWD, Proteins & Fibers Working Groups @MPIWG-Berlin
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lisaonaga.bsky.social
My mind is blown by this Glossary of Communities, created to elevate the visibility of "heritage words" to the normalizing/universalizing words often used in general and technical conservation glossaries. Thank U dear Renée Riedler for clueing me in! #MaterialCulture #heritage #art glo-co.org
November 28, 2025 at 5:15 PM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
Some good news for a change: At the 2025 HSS awards ceremony tonight, one of our Insect Histories Focus authors Jeannie Shinozuka received the Phil Pauly Prize for the best first book on the history of science in the Americas. Check out Biotic Borders if y'all have a chance! 🪲🪲🪲🪲🪲🪲
screen projecting citation for Jeannie N. Shinozuka, recipient of 2025 Philip J. Pauly Prize. Jeannie is standing at a podium giving an acceptance speech. The presiding vice-president of the HSS Soraya de Chadarevian is standing to the side. The seated audience members are in the foreground.
November 16, 2025 at 7:28 AM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
This is the roundtable abstract shorturl.at/tnnDe
Content from page 54 of HSS Annual Meeting program. This is the abstract of the Roundtable entitled Accessibility and the History of Science. This is the abstract: This round table explores the pressing question of accessibility within the field of the history of science, with a particular focus on academic conferences as both sites of scholarly exchange and potential barriers to feeling welcomed and at home. Despite growing awareness of the need for inclusivity, the structures and practices of academic events often remain inaccessible—whether due to financial constraints, physical and digital inaccessibility, language barriers, or assumptions about normative bodies, geographies, and institutions. Visa restrictions, risk of detainment and discrimination are intensifying barriers to scholars traveling to meetings held in the United States. Our discussion will aim to critically assess how the history of science, as a discipline, can become more equitable in both content and form. Contributors will reflect on their own experiences navigating these challenges, examine institutional responsibilities, and consider practical interventions for change—from hybrid and remote conferencing models to funding mechanisms and inclusive design. The round table will also address broader, reflexive questions, moving beyond best practices regarding accessibility, to ask: Who gets to produce and share knowledge in our field? Could histories of science be reshaped through more accessible and participatory modes of engagement? Recognizing that barriers to accessibility have an impact on who attends and participates, this hybrid roundtable can be attended in-person at the meeting or via Zoom. Organized by the HSS Committee on Diversity and Inclusivity.
November 16, 2025 at 7:18 AM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
Sounds of healthy reefs can help corals grow! 🎶🪸 Reclaiming '🐢s All the Way Down' Working Group @mpiwg.bsky.social visited media artist Marco Barotti's exhibit "Beyond Us" @ berlinscienceweek.com/exhibition-beyond-us 日本の皆様、Coral Sonic Resilienceが2026年2月13-15日まで、DIGSHIBUYAで展示される予定です。 #ecology #marine
Monitor display of Northern Ryukyu Islands, Japan and coral bleaching alert area level 4 (high). Sea surface temperature anomaly is relatively high. People looking down at the coral health monitor at ground level and looking up at video installation of "CORAL SONIC RESILIENCE." In the foreground is a solar-powered device that was part of Marco Barotti's acoustic intervention.
November 9, 2025 at 7:52 PM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
Please register for the HSS meeting @NOLA & come meet Ashton Wesner 🐟Sam Muka 🪸 Rebecca Woods 🐒 Aleksandar Shopov 🐫 and + discuss their research on animal mobilities and why such histories of science matter. Thanks to Sonia Wigh, co-organizer of this roundtable with the Osiris editors! #histsci
Left hand holding a hard copy of "Animal Mobilities," volume 40 of Osiris against backdrop of messy office
July 19, 2025 at 9:58 AM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
To reconsider how, where, and by whom science is done, these amazing authors explore the theme "Animal Mobilities" & guide us to some unexpected spaces to show us how animal agency & human–animal interactions have mattered in the history of knowledge production. 🐟🪰🪸🐕🦆🐒🦏🐘🐛

Check it out! 👇
Table of Contents of "Animal Mobilities" Osiris volume 40
June 18, 2025 at 9:13 PM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
MPIWG is hiring postdocs in Dept "Artifacts, Action, Knowledge" (includes working groups RTAWD, Heavens in Your Hand, Common Kg, Metals&Minerals) + Dept "Knowledge Systems + Collective Life" and @astra-mpiwg.bsky.social ! Do check "career" page for closing dates: tinyurl.com/2usszea9
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job advertisement screenshot https://www.mpg.de/24329299/postdoctoral-scholars1 screenshot of MPIWG Reclaiming "Turtles All The Way Down" working group web page https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/research/projects/reclaiming-turtles-all-way-down-tawd-plural-practices-animal-cosmologies
April 5, 2025 at 7:07 PM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
Coho salmon smolts diet=70% spiders! Spent last weekend learning about Tomales Bay Watershed thx to @turtleisland-org.bsky.social scientists and volunteers. To strengthen coho salmon spawning grounds, we planted native Calif plants on a river embankment adjacent to an old concrete plant #ecology
sedge seedlings in a nursery. California landscape; ungrazen land on left, and grazed hillside on right, divided by a road and a defunct concrete plant.
March 21, 2025 at 4:56 PM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
CFP for "Fabricated Natures: Stories from the Bio-Material Archive" (workshop deadline Jul 15 2024)--please share to folks working on studies of multidisciplinary sciences re: #biomaterials #fibers #textiles #biomimesis #materials #animals #plants #prostheses www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/news/fabrica...
Nylon stockings under a microscope, 2021. Nylon, a polymer created in 1939, had widespread use, particularly and gradually replaced natural materials like silk, catgut, fur, and leather (Quye 2014: 214). Image: Source: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Potd/2023-03-27_(pt) https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/news/fabricated-natures-stories-bio-material-archive-deadline-july-15-2024
June 12, 2024 at 8:37 PM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
Fantastic to see the hard copy of @isisjournal.bsky.social! The Magnifying Insect Histories Focus reflects on the methodological purchase of thinking about 🪲🐝🐛🦂🦟🐜🦋 for doing history of science. Thank U authors + @dominikhhh.bsky.social & Dear editors: your visions enabled us to reach new heights 🙏
Cover image and table of contents of Isis journal. March 2024, 115:1 Focus: Magnifying Insect Histories Introduction: Expanded Perspectives on Tiny Animals as Epistemic Agents, Lisa Onaga and Dominik Huenniger White Ants: Biotic Borders to Biocultural Frontiers, Jeannie N. Shinozuka and Rohan Deb Roy Placing Insects in Histories of Science, Diogo de Carvalho Cabral and Frederico Freitas Zvipukanana: “Tiny Animals with No Bones”, Clapperton Chakanetsa Mavhunga Ways of Knowing a Former Insect, Leah Lui-Chivizhe and Jude Philp “Ambivalent Insects” as Tools and Targets, Lisa Onaga and Luísa Reis-Castro A Collection Ecologies Forum: Reevaluating Insects as Archives, Dominik Huenniger, Karina Lucas Silva-Brandão, Christian Reiß, and Xiaoya Zhan https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/journals/isis/focus
April 22, 2024 at 11:43 AM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
Sending this out into the big BlueSky ICYMI - The "first research article" writing fellowship @MPIWG is open to predoctoral students enrolled in universities situated in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Posting is 15 Feb! Please spread the word! www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/de/job-posit...
February 12, 2024 at 8:24 PM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
Proud beyond words of my cousin and lithographer Minami Wrigley, who has an opening at the #Seattle Art Museum TODAY 2-4pm! 🖼️ Her printworks focus on mountainous environments in #Japan, England & Cascadia. Please check out her art @ the gallery or visit Instagram @minwrigley 🙏🏼 #art #envt #PNW
screenshot of artist Minami Wrigley Introduction on Seattle Art Museum webpage https://www1.seattleartmuseum.org/rsg/341 Printing the PNW Vermissage advertisement information screenshot of Nunobiki Falls and other lithography by artist Minami Wrigley. https://www1.seattleartmuseum.org/rsg/341
December 9, 2023 at 1:53 PM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
Printed the chapters out for the first time in a while! Feels good to see it in this form and to realize I'm not so far from really getting my book manuscript out from my computer's innards... and letting go!? I'm excited for this winter break! Cannot wait! IYKYK #CocoonCultures
a printout of a book manuscript held in front of a computer in a way that aligns with the swooshy pattern of the computer's desktop background
December 3, 2023 at 8:11 AM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
A true honor to participate in Horizon 2073 to commemorate 50 years of Japanese studies @crjehess! I'm inspired by the many scholars & students who are thinking deeply about the future of studying Japan in the world. Merci @EHESS & discussant Alice Doublier @CNRS! Congratulations to the organizers!
screenshot from the website formerly known as Twitter with photo by @crjehess with photo of keynote lecture by Lisa Onaga on historicizing the role of silk in the long durée history of biomaterials. https://carnetsjapon.hypotheses.org/29035 description of Horizon 2073 conference date and venue at Campus Condorcet
November 26, 2023 at 1:09 PM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
Looking forward to this collection of contemporary and classic feminist essays and poetry co-edited by Edna Bonhomme and Alice Spawls! What a great lineup of authors writing about reproductive justice--The publication can be preordered from Silver Press (11/12/23) silverpress.org/products/aft...
screenshot of edited volume "After Sex" co-edited by Edna Bonhomme and Alice Spawls, and list of contributors.
November 8, 2023 at 10:09 PM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
a plush carpet
overtakes the spaces
苔だより
moss in between cobblestones and autumn leaves and some maple seeds
November 6, 2023 at 6:39 PM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
As the next best thing to asking my friends to go to the Whitney so I can see this exhibit vicariously, I'm gonna spend this winter holiday paying homage, reading Everything She Touched: The Life of Ruth Asawa by Marilyn Chase, featuring photography by Imogen Cunningham! www.kqed.org/arts/1387892...
Cover of "Everything She Touched: The Life of Ruth Asawa," by Marilyn Chase (Chronicle Books, 2020)
November 5, 2023 at 1:45 PM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
We're growing!

There's a good smattering of positions relevant to #HistSciTechMedEnvt posted recently on the MPIWG career page, located here: www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/news-events/...

... and here's the link for the Research Coordinator position Deadline Dec10 www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/job-position...
screenshot of Tweet from @MPIWG advertising research coordinator
November 2, 2023 at 12:52 PM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
If you ❤️ research & 💕 helping researchers and their collective work environments reach their full potential, apply to be a Research Coordinator @MPIWG! We're looking for a collaborative team player! Details: www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/news-events/... TVöD 13 #HistSci #Coordination Deadline: 10 DEC 23 🦄
screenshot of job ad for Research Coordinator (m/f/d), a permanent full-time position at the MPIWG, rank TVöD 13 second screenshot of job ad for Research Coordinator (m/f/d), a permanent full-time position at the MPIWG, rank TVöD 13
November 1, 2023 at 7:32 PM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
Graffiti near Freie Universität --- Don't Touch (the tree stump? the fungi?) I admire the orange spray paint matching the mushroom (or is it the other way around?) and have many questions. Happy 🎃 Day, everyone!
October 31, 2023 at 4:54 PM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
Please spread the word! 🐢MPIWG Dept🐢"Artifacts, Action, Knowledge" seeks a Postdoctoral Fellow with experience in long-term or deep-time studies of Animal-Plant-Human interactions, spanning ancient history to the age of encounter and the recent past🐢 #HistSci
www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/job-position...
stone carving of stacked turtles job advertisement
October 28, 2023 at 10:05 AM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
Pleased to introduce our new PhD cohort for the In'tl Max Planck Research School "Knowledge and Its Resources"! 🎉 Welcome, Dwirahmi Suryandari, Omri Polatsek, Jonathan Haid, Megan Briers, Clara Kahn, Leonie Rau! 🎉 Click below to read about their projects!

www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/news/interna...
photo of six of the 12 IMPRS doctoral students (first row) and the rest of the team of staff and faculty
October 25, 2023 at 6:51 PM
lisaonaga.bsky.social
Greetings! I have some news coming up and it has something to do with
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... stay tuned! Meanwhile, happy Friday and have a great weekend. Looking forward to getting my bearings here in the great blue yonder.
Stone turtle sculpture, China, S/N 3_2256. Courtesy The Live Turtle & Tortoise Museum, Singapore. Photographer: Hu Tsun Hao.
October 20, 2023 at 4:02 PM