Picture of the century. 😍

📷 credit: Science Tube

We are hiring - a two-year LSE Fellow in Urban Geography and Planning @lsegeography.bsky.social. The full details can be found here: jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...

Application closing date: 26th April.

Brokers, Collaborators and Knowledge Translators: Expanding the Role of Research Assistants in Geographic Research While ‘local’ research assistants (RA) often play a key role in knowledge production in fieldwork-based disciplines like geography, their role and agency often remain silenced. This paper brings toge...

@zalifung.bsky.social writes thoughtfully and carefully about the process of doing research in collaboration with human rights lawyer Mueda during the PhD and the key ways this shaped the work. A great paper as part of our Asia Pacific Viewpoint Special Issue! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Navigating Ethical Review Processes in Conflict‐Affected, Authoritarian Contexts: A Case Study of Myanmar's Interim Ethics Review Board (IERB) This article examines the formation and operation of Myanmar's Interim Ethics Review Board (IERB), which was established in November 2023 by displaced academics involved in the Civil Disobedience Mov...

A must read for #Myanmar/Burma studies scholars: the Spring IERB Team provide an insider's view of Myanmar's Interim Ethics Review Board formed by displaced academics. Part of our forthcoming Asia Pacific Viewpoint special issue! @zalifung.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Ford on Ford violence

Rethinking the ‘Defeminization of Agriculture’: Land Consolidation and Crop Diversification in Vietnam's Red River Delta Over the past two decades, agricultural restructuring in Vietnam — driven by land consolidation, crop diversification and modernization — has shifted farming from labour-intensive to capital-intensiv...

Loved this paper on gendered labour and "dance clubs" in #Vietnam by Nga Dao and Quang Phung titled "Rethinking the ‘Defeminization of Agriculture." onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Grammarly declined my request to interview CEO Shishir Mehrotra today. But it told me that in response to criticisms, it will allow experts to opt out of the feature by emailing expertoptout@superhuman.com. The company gave me this statement over email: We’ve heard the feedback about this tool and appreciate the engagement from those who have taken the time to raise thoughtful questions about the functionality and the experts surfaced. We agree that the product experience can be improved for both users and experts. The agent was designed to help users discover influential perspectives and scholarship that add value to their work. We want the people behind those perspectives to have greater control over whether their name is used, while providing new ways for influential voices to reach new audiences. Our goal is to improve Expert Review to deliver this outcome.

NEWS: Grammarly tells me it will let "experts" like me opt out of having their names used against their will and for no compensation as part of its "expert review" feature www.platformer.news/grammarly-ex...

Reimagining Research Ethics Through Local Knowledge and Leadership: The Community Ethics Advisory Board on the Thailand–Burma Border This article examines the Community Ethics Advisory Board (CEAB) on the Thailand–Burma border as a locally led ethics advisory mechanism that complements formal and institutionalised ethics systems w...

Exciting New Paper: The Community Ethics Advisory Board's insights into how to 'ground' research ethics in communities of research at the Thai–Burma border. Part of a special issue coming soon, edited by Anne Décobert, Sophia Htwe + @zalifung.bsky.social). onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

This was so great, and yes, art is dangerous *because* expressions of joy inspires more questions, and more knowledge.

Our February–April 2026 issue is now available online!

Check it out... or better yet, subscribe and never miss an issue: mekongreview.com/sub...

Pursuing accountability under authoritarian rule: Thailand's National Human Rights Commission and community struggles for justice Rising authoritarianism in Southeast Asia and globally underscores the need for geographers to critically interrogate this concept, its uneven effects…

New paper in @politicalgeography.bsky.social 🚨

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

I show how authoritarianism not only erodes civil and political rights, but undermines the organisations designed to protect those rights and hold state and corporate actors accountable

1/3

#CfP Mining Transitions in Latin America: A Special Issue for The Extractive Industries and Society. We are looking for contributions that problematize how energy, sustainability, and post-mining transition frameworks "touch ground" in Latin America. More details: drive.google.com/file/d/1m1Q5...

Canada must support Cuba "You cannot ‘live within the lie’ of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination.”

Mark Carney said that Canada is "considering" sending aid to Cuba.

Before COVID, one million Canadians visited Cuba every year. Their convertavle peso is pegged to the Canadian Dollar. I argue that we need to send fuel and supplies ASAP, regardless of Trump.

noraloreto.substack.com/p/canada-mus...

“The Nation” Nominates Minneapolis for the Nobel Peace Prize With their resistance to violent authoritarianism, the people of Minneapolis have renewed the spirit of Dr. King’s call for “the positive affirmation of peace.”

The city of Minneapolis and its people have been nominated for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nation Magazine can formally do so because it's had many peace laureates on its editorial board.

www.thenation.com/article/acti...

Canadian-made Roshel Senator spotted in the wild slowly ramming through protestors (and sandwich boards) @nolore.bsky.social @rachelgilmore.bsky.social noraloreto.substack.com/p/canadian-b...

Stand With Minnesota Donation Directory Stand With Minnesota is a hub for supporting, learning, and taking action to support Minnesotans impacted by ICE and federal enforcement.

again, if you're looking to help with mutual aid.

As a mother I can’t imagine having to write this.

How awful.

Demonstrators Flood Minneapolis Streets as Hundreds of Businesses Close to Protest ICE

Protestors shut down Minneapolis. wow these images. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/u...

UN’s top court opens landmark Myanmar Rohingya genocide case Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh hope for justice as the ICJ begins its first full genocide case in more than a decade.

The first genocide case to come to ICJ in more than 10 years happening this week. www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/...

Flambeau River

1/ ✍️ A new article that has been a little scary to put out into the world: "Volunteering while researching conflict and violence: reflections on listening, solidarity, and decoloniality in Myanmar's borderlands".

Open access: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

An email from Martin Peterson to university administrators.

Martin Peterson's creative response to being banned from teaching Plato (shared with his permission).

New Year's READ: Volunteering While Researching Conflict and Violence by @shonaloong.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Excited that this is part of our special issue on #Decolonising Research #Ethics in Asia Pacific Viewpoint (w/Anne Décobert, Sophia Htwe + @zalifung.bsky.social)

With which professors, at which (oversaturated, underfunded, understaffed) universities, for which jobs?
Lots of Canadian press pointing at this without looking at the actual case in the country.

“Canada’s assertion that the United States remains a safe country for refugees under the Trump administration is a cruel irony to those fleeing persecution today.”

Assistant Professor of Urban Geography/Climate Crisis

Be our colleague… Hiring an Assistant Prof of Urban Geography & Climate Crisis.

www.sfu.ca/geography/ab...

👏

A great read for end of year reflections "The Politics of Acknowledgements" in Myanmar/Burma studies @rosemetro.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... part of our special issue on Decolonising Research Ethics in Asia Pacific Viewpoint @zalifung.bsky.social Anne Decobert & Sophia Htwe.

Article 22 is a jewelry company that repurposes Vietnam War shrapnel and battlefield debris. A portion of their profits goes to the Mine Advisory Group, which works to remove landmines still left in Laos (they've removed more than 300k mines!). I like the company's "Shard" necklace collection.