Vivien Chan

"There’s this real sense of connecting a personal, almost existential crisis with the bigger impetus, of using History Workshop, or the reasons for History Workshop, to generate a personal sense of purpose." @inoutofpractice.bsky.social on the founding mission of HWJ.

How has the History Workshop Journal collective sustained its commitment to radical history over fifty tumultuous years? Two HWJ veterans, Sally Alexander and Jeffrey Weeks, sat down to share their memories with @beckierutherford.bsky.social and @inoutofpractice.bsky.social🎙✊🏻

I recently had the great pleasure to be interviewed by Typesetter, an independent publisher doing incredible work: typesetter.hk/en/2025/12/1...

Somehow still hanging on! All jokes aside, I'm so grateful to my HW and NTU colleagues, and of course my former students, for sharing their insights and getting stuck in. Excited to celebrate HWJ100 with everyone on Saturday!

How has the legacy of History Workshop Journal inspired our own editorial collective? @beckierutherford.bsky.social, @inoutofpractice.bsky.social, and @marralsham.bsky.social consider their historical practice and relationship to radical history.

The summer has seen anti-trans campaigns across the UK & US, alongside a crisis in healthcare. But what use could trans history have in these times beyond proof 'we have always been here'? Sam Rutherford @echomikeromeo reflects on Imagining Trans Futures: www.historyworkshop.org.uk/queer-histor...

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!

Grateful to Az for coming to us to write this piece. As a V&A/RCA alum and design student myself, reflecting on the process of learning what is 'good' design/history through working with Az helped clarify some of the complex emotions I had visiting the Storehouse!

🚨HW FELLOWSHIP KLAXON🚨 We're now in the final week for applications, deadline is on Friday! DMs are open for any questions about the position!

It's a pleasure to include Sabine's research @sabinehanke.bsky.social in the series! The history of the circus, while problematic in contemporary times, is clearly a site where you can find important intersecting identities and frictions.

Sometimes the historical dictionary offers solace through the existence of an obsolete word that is sorely needed now. One of them is ‘respair’, recorded just once, in the 15th century. It means fresh hope, and a recovery from despair.

Myself and Mary's fellowships are ending in October, and we're now looking for two new fellows! I have had the best time, it's been a brilliant way to transition out of the PhD alongside teaching. It's been a joy to learn from the team and contribute something of my own too! Any questions? DM me!

I'm so pleased to include Kar Yern in the series, both because we share lots of research interests, and because his research is so dynamic and rich! Keep an eye out for his upcoming book on Malay(si)a Foodways 👀👀👀

Another in From Place to Place today, and so excited to include sensory histories in this piece by Meg Parsons and Karen Fisher. Thinking about how processes of itinerance have the capacity to be violent, in colonial notions of exploration and transformation.

I'm so excited to share that from October I will be a fellow at IIAS @iias.bsky.social in Leiden. I'll be working on a project on wetness in spatial histories of Hong Kong and SEA, continuing on from my research on wet markets. Looking forward to exploring NL! www.iias.asia/profile/vivi...

Another super exciting one to add to the From Place to Place roster! What if we thought of itinerance through objects? how are histories materialised? So wonderful to work with Hege on this piece!

A huge honour to have Becky Taylor in From Place to Place, and amazing to see such beautiful and rare archival material alongside her research.

So happy to be able to commission more design historians to write for HW! As a grassroots archive enthusiast, I was so excited to find out about Elli's collection of garments.

Huge congrats to @maryknewman.bsky.social on her new series on Indigenous histories!

I had the pleasure of being one of the people Juli would share her insights with while walking around Hong Kong. It sparked lots of conversations about what we can vs. what we choose to call history. Super honoured to share Juli's work in From Place to Place!

Such an imaginative and exciting piece from @davehitchcock.bsky.social and a significant question about the relationship between itinerance and the making of public spaces - who gets to make it theirs?

How does a public space become a 'begging place'? In our latest article, Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social on the life of Jamaican street sweeper in Regency London, Charles McGee. www.historyworkshop.org.uk/urban/beggin...

We stand in solidarity with trans women and the trans community and we will always be a space that recognises the importance of trans history. Read on for a selection from our archive 🧵 1/8

Another piece for From Place to Place today! Anitha was so generous with me when I was in Surabaya for a conference late last year, and knows so much about her city. She took me around so many places, and at every corner was something and someone she knew. Such a gift to have her on board!

What histories are we missing when places operate in unofficial and responsive ways? Anitha Silvia on the on-going histories of Surabaya's street markets, and how to archive as history unfolds on the street: www.historyworkshop.org.uk/public-histo...

Really excited to have Felicity involved in the series, thinking about precarity and romanticism, the reality vs. fantasies in narratives of women's histories. Also seems fitting now the flowers are all coming up for springgggg 💐

A haiku for the Reading Room users: window is damaged therefore does not work. yet I, also damaged, do.

One from our Radical Objects series suggested by Vivien (@inoutofpractice.bsky.social) Ulrike Wöhr unpacks this image of Hiro Sumpter and what it reveals about the politics of race within feminist and anti-nuclear power activism.

This article launches a new series on "History & Higher Education in Crisis" We are inviting articles on: 🎓 the history & origins of this crisis 🔮 its impact on research, methodologies, specialisms & teaching ✊ building solidarities & collective action www.historyworkshop.org.uk/contribute/

A brilliant piece and for an ECR what is hopeful is the passion of my colleagues who can be both realistic and supportive, and believe in the root essence of university as a site for knowledge exchange and collaboration.

UK universities are in crisis. Dave Hitchcock (@davehitchcock.bsky.social) on how the sector became 'broken' and why it must be approached as an interdependent system. www.historyworkshop....

The third piece for the series, how listening is hard work, is fulfilling, is radical in the research process. If listening was as important as speaking/reading in research, we'd be in a different place. It was so wonderful to work with Zarna, a fellow design historian!

Donald Trump's January 20th Executive Order is a harmful attack on queer and transgender healthcare education, but it will be resisted. Lucy Kelly turns to the legacy of queer activists and allies in the struggle for AIDS education in the 1980-90s. www.historyworkshop....

Such a profound and hopeful evening listening to @taoleighgoffe.bsky.social @ogoegbunam.bsky.social on Tao's new book Dark Laboratory: On Columbus, the Caribbean and the origins of the climate crisis. Had me thinking so much about itinerance (coral spores, mongoose etc) as well as more on water 🌊

An incredibly timely and important read.