Sonali Dhanpal
@sonalidhanpal.bsky.social
Historian of modern architecture and urbanism and a fellow at the Buell and SOF Heyman at Columbia
Pinned
This is such a huge compliment to get from of the best urban historians of Britain
My article is the first from my second project on race, empire and post war housing in Britain! It’s in a Special Issue on State Effects in Grey Room edited by Zeynep Celik Alexander with Lucia Allais.
My article is the first from my second project on race, empire and post war housing in Britain! It’s in a Special Issue on State Effects in Grey Room edited by Zeynep Celik Alexander with Lucia Allais.
Reposted by Sonali Dhanpal
Why should young people participate in an economy that offers them no hope for the future?
The inter-generational bargain that kept British capitalism afloat has collapsed - and Labour is too busy listening to corporate lobbyists to do anything about it.
graceblakeley.substack.com/p/generation...
The inter-generational bargain that kept British capitalism afloat has collapsed - and Labour is too busy listening to corporate lobbyists to do anything about it.
graceblakeley.substack.com/p/generation...
Generation Despair
Work doesn’t pay, housing is a trap, and life has been enshittified — why should young people keep propping up a system rigged against them?
graceblakeley.substack.com
December 8, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Why should young people participate in an economy that offers them no hope for the future?
The inter-generational bargain that kept British capitalism afloat has collapsed - and Labour is too busy listening to corporate lobbyists to do anything about it.
graceblakeley.substack.com/p/generation...
The inter-generational bargain that kept British capitalism afloat has collapsed - and Labour is too busy listening to corporate lobbyists to do anything about it.
graceblakeley.substack.com/p/generation...
Reposted by Sonali Dhanpal
🇵🇸 The last Columbia University protester still in ICE detention, Leqaa Kordia, describes conditions inside the Texas facility where she has been held for the past 9 months.
KORDIA: “Right now, we’re 87 people and the capacity is 37. A lot of people are sleeping on the floor.”
“Another word for...
KORDIA: “Right now, we’re 87 people and the capacity is 37. A lot of people are sleeping on the floor.”
“Another word for...
December 8, 2025 at 5:05 PM
🇵🇸 The last Columbia University protester still in ICE detention, Leqaa Kordia, describes conditions inside the Texas facility where she has been held for the past 9 months.
KORDIA: “Right now, we’re 87 people and the capacity is 37. A lot of people are sleeping on the floor.”
“Another word for...
KORDIA: “Right now, we’re 87 people and the capacity is 37. A lot of people are sleeping on the floor.”
“Another word for...
Reposted by Sonali Dhanpal
One thing social media platforms do is meld the British and US higher ed crises into one. I think there are similarities but, tbh, the UK feels much more like a catalogue of shambles and poor policy decisions than a real ideological attack—even if the consequences remain the same.
December 8, 2025 at 8:44 AM
One thing social media platforms do is meld the British and US higher ed crises into one. I think there are similarities but, tbh, the UK feels much more like a catalogue of shambles and poor policy decisions than a real ideological attack—even if the consequences remain the same.
Reposted by Sonali Dhanpal
"Srinivasan himself has started a 'Network School' on an artificial island near Singapore, where techno-optimists can work their day jobs remotely while living in a hotel together and learning how to 'bootstrap'... a new society [ — ] 'society-as-a-service'"
Tech elites are starting their own for-profit cities
They want to escape from regulation and ‘failing’ democracy — but are they more opportunistic than libertarian?
www.ft.com
December 7, 2025 at 10:40 PM
"Srinivasan himself has started a 'Network School' on an artificial island near Singapore, where techno-optimists can work their day jobs remotely while living in a hotel together and learning how to 'bootstrap'... a new society [ — ] 'society-as-a-service'"
Reposted by Sonali Dhanpal
So, after implying (smearing, really) that delivery riders were often dodgy illegal immigrants, and doing a much hyped national “blitz” they found 60 people without permission to work. 60 out of over 150,000 delivery riders.
So much effort and harm focused on imaginary problems.
So much effort and harm focused on imaginary problems.
UK to deport 60 delivery riders after illegal work crackdown
The Home Office says the group are among 171 riders arrested over seven days in November in a national
www.bbc.co.uk
December 7, 2025 at 10:58 AM
So, after implying (smearing, really) that delivery riders were often dodgy illegal immigrants, and doing a much hyped national “blitz” they found 60 people without permission to work. 60 out of over 150,000 delivery riders.
So much effort and harm focused on imaginary problems.
So much effort and harm focused on imaginary problems.
Reposted by Sonali Dhanpal
Heartbreaking. The University of Nebraska will terminate its entire Earth science department.
One of the country's most successful and respected geology & climate programs: gone.
When ideologues & politicians are threatened by the very act of studying climate change, I wonder: who of us is next?
One of the country's most successful and respected geology & climate programs: gone.
When ideologues & politicians are threatened by the very act of studying climate change, I wonder: who of us is next?
It's over.
Despite the fact that the academic council recommended against it, despite the fact that the program brought in more tuition than it cost, and despite the fact that Nebraskans need & deserve this expertise, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences will be cut.
www.dailynebraskan.com/news/adminis...
Despite the fact that the academic council recommended against it, despite the fact that the program brought in more tuition than it cost, and despite the fact that Nebraskans need & deserve this expertise, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences will be cut.
www.dailynebraskan.com/news/adminis...
BREAKING: ‘This hurts’: UNL eliminates 4 programs despite faculty, student pleas
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln eliminates the Earth and atmospheric sciences 8-0, educational administration 7-1, statistics 7-1, textiles, merchandising and fashion design 7-1 programs.
www.dailynebraskan.com
December 6, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Heartbreaking. The University of Nebraska will terminate its entire Earth science department.
One of the country's most successful and respected geology & climate programs: gone.
When ideologues & politicians are threatened by the very act of studying climate change, I wonder: who of us is next?
One of the country's most successful and respected geology & climate programs: gone.
When ideologues & politicians are threatened by the very act of studying climate change, I wonder: who of us is next?
Reposted by Sonali Dhanpal
Here's the table of contents of The Story of Capital:
December 6, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Here's the table of contents of The Story of Capital:
Reposted by Sonali Dhanpal
"The library is not meant to be a node in the just-in-time-economy that puts a rights-restricted copy of 'Abundance' in our AirPods. It’s meant to be an accessible portal to our government, the place we go to access shared knowledge and to make meaning with others."
— @shannonmattern.bsky.social
— @shannonmattern.bsky.social
Extralibrary Loan: Making the Civic Infrastructure We Need
Amid a war on public knowledge, libraries are pushing outward, enlarging the commons through new configurations of civic and creative life.
placesjournal.org
December 6, 2025 at 12:23 AM
"The library is not meant to be a node in the just-in-time-economy that puts a rights-restricted copy of 'Abundance' in our AirPods. It’s meant to be an accessible portal to our government, the place we go to access shared knowledge and to make meaning with others."
— @shannonmattern.bsky.social
— @shannonmattern.bsky.social
Reposted by Sonali Dhanpal
Reposted by Sonali Dhanpal
What looks like an alien starship visiting a small country estate in eighteenth-century Germany is in fact, *checks notes* a giant pomelo. So nothing to see here, #skystorians
December 5, 2025 at 11:32 AM
What looks like an alien starship visiting a small country estate in eighteenth-century Germany is in fact, *checks notes* a giant pomelo. So nothing to see here, #skystorians
Had the RHS Marshall fellowship for the final year of my PhD and it really helped materially and intellectually - so if you’re in the final stages of your PhD, do apply!
Applications are now invited for the Society's 2026-27 Centenary PhD Fellowships for early career historians completing a doctorate bit.ly/48pWB72
Fellowships provide support of £8500 per award for 6 months and are held jointly with @ihr.bsky.social. Closing date: 31 January 2026 #Skystorians
Fellowships provide support of £8500 per award for 6 months and are held jointly with @ihr.bsky.social. Closing date: 31 January 2026 #Skystorians
Applications invited for the Society's Centenary PhD Fellowships, 2026-27 - RHS
Applications are now invited for the Royal Historical Society’s Centenary PhD Fellowships to support postgraduate historians to complete a doctorate. Two Fellowships, of six months each, are offered f...
bit.ly
December 4, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Had the RHS Marshall fellowship for the final year of my PhD and it really helped materially and intellectually - so if you’re in the final stages of your PhD, do apply!
HELP- for another article please!
Does anyone have access to Kena Wani’s Trustees of the nation? Business, philanthropy and changing modes of legitimacy in colonial and postcolonial western India in the Indian Economic and Social History Review? Thank you!
Does anyone have access to Kena Wani’s Trustees of the nation? Business, philanthropy and changing modes of legitimacy in colonial and postcolonial western India in the Indian Economic and Social History Review? Thank you!
HELP WITH A PAPER PLEASE-
Does anyone have access to
Sanjay Subrahmanyam’a paper “A note on some early nineteenth century inam records in the Karnataka state archives” in the Indian Economic and Social History Review from 1991?
Thanks in advance!
Does anyone have access to
Sanjay Subrahmanyam’a paper “A note on some early nineteenth century inam records in the Karnataka state archives” in the Indian Economic and Social History Review from 1991?
Thanks in advance!
December 4, 2025 at 4:28 PM
HELP- for another article please!
Does anyone have access to Kena Wani’s Trustees of the nation? Business, philanthropy and changing modes of legitimacy in colonial and postcolonial western India in the Indian Economic and Social History Review? Thank you!
Does anyone have access to Kena Wani’s Trustees of the nation? Business, philanthropy and changing modes of legitimacy in colonial and postcolonial western India in the Indian Economic and Social History Review? Thank you!
100%
Academia has this way of making you feel utterly unsuccessful even when by any reasonable standard you are doing just fine.
December 4, 2025 at 5:30 AM
100%
Wild!
The Royal Engineers Museum, Kent, said staff were "devastated" by the destruction of the sketches from World War Two. The collection included technical drawings and plans, some related to the design and construction of the D-Day Mulberry harbours. #archives #museum 🗃️
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
December 3, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Wild!
Reposted by Sonali Dhanpal
Hidden Empire of Finance: How Wall Street Profits from Our Cities and Fuels Global Inequality
www.dukeupress.edu
December 3, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Sonali Dhanpal
Obaid Siddiqi Chair in the History and Culture of Science at the Archives at NCBS
archives.ncbs.res.in/os
From someone who has enjoyed the Chair:
"This is an extraordinary place to spend a year and they interpret “history and culture of science” in a broad sense."
archives.ncbs.res.in/os
From someone who has enjoyed the Chair:
"This is an extraordinary place to spend a year and they interpret “history and culture of science” in a broad sense."
archives.ncbs.res.in
December 3, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Obaid Siddiqi Chair in the History and Culture of Science at the Archives at NCBS
archives.ncbs.res.in/os
From someone who has enjoyed the Chair:
"This is an extraordinary place to spend a year and they interpret “history and culture of science” in a broad sense."
archives.ncbs.res.in/os
From someone who has enjoyed the Chair:
"This is an extraordinary place to spend a year and they interpret “history and culture of science” in a broad sense."
Reposted by Sonali Dhanpal
Anyone writing history without a methodological training in the subject struggles with one aspect: historiography.
It’s our core toolkit. It defines every story we tell.
Let’s nurture it.
It’s our core toolkit. It defines every story we tell.
Let’s nurture it.
December 3, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Anyone writing history without a methodological training in the subject struggles with one aspect: historiography.
It’s our core toolkit. It defines every story we tell.
Let’s nurture it.
It’s our core toolkit. It defines every story we tell.
Let’s nurture it.
This article by PhD candidate in Architecture Ushma Thakrar titled Beneath the Waters of a Universal Ocean”: Containing, Contaminating, and Cleaning the Ganges River in Varanasi, looks great!
www.journal18.org/issue-20/ben...
www.journal18.org/issue-20/ben...
“Beneath the Waters of a Universal Ocean”: Containing, Contaminating, and Cleaning the Ganges River in Varanasi
Ushma Thakrar Shortly after being elected to office in a landslide victory in 2014, Narendra Modi, India’s then and current prime minister, appeared on Dashashwamedh Ghat on the banks of the Ganges Ri...
www.journal18.org
December 2, 2025 at 4:25 PM
This article by PhD candidate in Architecture Ushma Thakrar titled Beneath the Waters of a Universal Ocean”: Containing, Contaminating, and Cleaning the Ganges River in Varanasi, looks great!
www.journal18.org/issue-20/ben...
www.journal18.org/issue-20/ben...
HELP WITH A PAPER PLEASE-
Does anyone have access to
Sanjay Subrahmanyam’a paper “A note on some early nineteenth century inam records in the Karnataka state archives” in the Indian Economic and Social History Review from 1991?
Thanks in advance!
Does anyone have access to
Sanjay Subrahmanyam’a paper “A note on some early nineteenth century inam records in the Karnataka state archives” in the Indian Economic and Social History Review from 1991?
Thanks in advance!
December 2, 2025 at 2:25 PM
HELP WITH A PAPER PLEASE-
Does anyone have access to
Sanjay Subrahmanyam’a paper “A note on some early nineteenth century inam records in the Karnataka state archives” in the Indian Economic and Social History Review from 1991?
Thanks in advance!
Does anyone have access to
Sanjay Subrahmanyam’a paper “A note on some early nineteenth century inam records in the Karnataka state archives” in the Indian Economic and Social History Review from 1991?
Thanks in advance!
December 2, 2025 at 2:12 PM
HELP WITH A PAPER PLEASE-
Does anyone have access to
Sanjay Subrahmanyam’a paper “A note on some early nineteenth century inam records in the Karnataka state archives” in the Indian Economic and Social History Review from 1991?
Thanks in advance!
Does anyone have access to
Sanjay Subrahmanyam’a paper “A note on some early nineteenth century inam records in the Karnataka state archives” in the Indian Economic and Social History Review from 1991?
Thanks in advance!
Reposted by Sonali Dhanpal
📣New interview📣
'Terms like “detransitioner,” like “transitioner,” reduce people to the act of transitioning and frame transitioning as an extremist act or impulsive decision'
@katfuller.bsky.social discusses transphobic moral panics on the far right.
reacpol.net/moral-panic-...
'Terms like “detransitioner,” like “transitioner,” reduce people to the act of transitioning and frame transitioning as an extremist act or impulsive decision'
@katfuller.bsky.social discusses transphobic moral panics on the far right.
reacpol.net/moral-panic-...
Interview: Moral panic: Transphobia, gender ideology and far-right conspiracy (Kat Fuller) - Reactionary Politics Research Network
This interview is based on Kat Fuller's chapter 'Moral panic: Transphobia, gender ideology and far-right conspiracy' (2025, w. Q. McLamore)
reacpol.net
December 2, 2025 at 11:25 AM
📣New interview📣
'Terms like “detransitioner,” like “transitioner,” reduce people to the act of transitioning and frame transitioning as an extremist act or impulsive decision'
@katfuller.bsky.social discusses transphobic moral panics on the far right.
reacpol.net/moral-panic-...
'Terms like “detransitioner,” like “transitioner,” reduce people to the act of transitioning and frame transitioning as an extremist act or impulsive decision'
@katfuller.bsky.social discusses transphobic moral panics on the far right.
reacpol.net/moral-panic-...
Reposted by Sonali Dhanpal
The purpose of higher education is not to tell students what to think, nor even to fill their heads with information. The purpose of higher education is to help students develop the skills to think for themselves, and to freely decide what information gets to fill their heads.
Not every job requires a college degree. But higher education is about so much more than job training, and every kid deserves affordable access to it. Public support of higher education is an investment in a shared future that we all benefit from.
December 1, 2025 at 8:04 PM
The purpose of higher education is not to tell students what to think, nor even to fill their heads with information. The purpose of higher education is to help students develop the skills to think for themselves, and to freely decide what information gets to fill their heads.
Reposted by Sonali Dhanpal
You almost forget that it was only a little over a year ago that university administrators, cheered on by right-wing thugs, were collaborating with cops to beat up and arrest peaceful student and faculty protestors, with seemingly no accountability or consequence.
December 1, 2025 at 8:03 PM
You almost forget that it was only a little over a year ago that university administrators, cheered on by right-wing thugs, were collaborating with cops to beat up and arrest peaceful student and faculty protestors, with seemingly no accountability or consequence.
Won a grant for my book whoop.
Now if only HE will continue to exist in some form by the time I write it 😅
Now if only HE will continue to exist in some form by the time I write it 😅
December 1, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Won a grant for my book whoop.
Now if only HE will continue to exist in some form by the time I write it 😅
Now if only HE will continue to exist in some form by the time I write it 😅
Reposted by Sonali Dhanpal
Those instances should never give rise to even semi-serious discourse about classroom policies or grading practices or pedagogy because they are, prima facie, fake & absurd.
December 1, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Those instances should never give rise to even semi-serious discourse about classroom policies or grading practices or pedagogy because they are, prima facie, fake & absurd.