Kathleen Commons

Really pleased to share my (open access!) article on immigration control in early modern England, feat. rights-bearing subjects, rightsless migrants, and experiments in immigration control

Just one week to sign up for @ihr.bsky.social Migration & Mobility Seminar from Becky Taylor: 'How do you displace a Gypsy? Belvedere Marshes & the dangers of a progressive state': 03/11/26, online & in-person. Sign up here: tinyurl.com/45xfpdw5

Less than a week until our (hybrid!) seminar @ihr.bsky.social - 'Race and the Rent Collector' with Jonah Miller: how did social investigators in 2 formative periods of British sociology account for difference in studies of poverty & the working class. Sign up here: tinyurl.com/53xv6j6c

🎤🎤 Upcoming talk at the @ihr.bsky.social Migration and Mobility Seminar. Tuesday 20th October 2026, 5.30-7.30pm. Senate House, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HU and online. Register for free: tinyurl.com/53xv6j6c Event contact: @kabcommons.bsky.social

Join @ihr.bsky.social Migration & Mobility Seminar to hear from Jonah Miller on @katharinebuildings.bsky.social & limits & possibilities of sociology when recovering diversity & exclusion. Feat. Beatrice Webb, 'lady rent collector' (!) 20th October 5.30pm, hybrid, sign up: tinyurl.com/53xv6j6c

At least 139 people, including children, have died after a boat carrying 305 migrants capsized off the coast of Djibouti in east Africa, the International Organization for Migration said.

From our PI at London’s @ihr.bsky.social for a @ihrhistorylab.bsky.social event organised by @kabcommons.bsky.social with a strong maritime/port city angle. Here’s a display from @layersoflondon.bsky.social, a #DigitalHumanities project that inspired the mapping element of our #LiminalWater project.

Family should never be out of reach. Our Young Leaders share what family means to them, and why this issue is deeply personal. Hear their message, then stand with refugee families and call on the Government to restore this vital safe route: act.safepassage.org.uk/sign-petitio...

Really thrilled to be a 2026 LHub Visitor @ials.bsky.social. Delighted and a little (justifiably) overwhelmed to be spending the next year working with this amazing group of scholars: ials.sas.ac.uk/research/lhu...

Just 2 wks till @ihr.bsky.social @ihrhistorylab.bsky.social & Migration & Mobility Seminar New Research showcase w/papers on 19thC prison ships, Muslims in 19thC London, migrants lodgers in late 19thC Antwerp & working class Anglo-Chinese families in 20thC Liverpool. Sign up: tinyurl.com/mr22jn5e

Incredibly powerful testimony from RNLI volunteers (now being abused by Patriot Platform among others) about their rescues of people seeking asylum www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

“I am conscious I have deserv’d all I suffer.” What did remorse, hope and survival mean aboard HMS Calcutta in 1803? Join me at the Migration & Mobility Seminar & @ihrhistorylab.bsky.social, Senate House London/online, 6 Oct, on convict letters & Britain’s transportation system #earlymodern #history

Just 10 days to submit to this amazing ECR roundtable @ihr.bsky.social Migration and Mobility Seminar, convened by MC Loureiro, which aims to open space for new ways of understanding & challenging practices and theories of belonging, rights & protections. Details here: le.ac.uk/law/news/law...

@julietatkinson.bsky.social's work is *so good* - on mobility, and paperwork, and the ways that mobility was governed and surveilled

The @ihr.bsky.social Migration and Mobility seminar is starting with a bang this year, with 4 pieces of new postgraduate research on 6 October - sign up to attend at forms.gle/tUCt9uWatCYK...

I'm so proud to be a trustee @afrilcharity.bsky.social - an incredible charity, supporting refugees and migrants in some really innovative ways (incredible & growing advice service, Saturday school, destitution service). This is a great opportunity to get involved & develop skills (& feel great!)

Migration & Mobility x HistoryLab new research showcase 06/10/25 5.30pm (hybrid). Papers: Indian Muslims in Victorian London; migrant lodgers in Antwerp 1850-1900; convict letters from HMS Calcutta, 1803; experiences of working-class Anglo-Chinese couples, 1906-39. Sign up: forms.gle/tUCt9uWatCYK...

‘According to Deportation Alarm, a charter flight has been scheduled at 1 a.m. from Leipzig to Kabul between 25 and 27 August. Tofan didn’t know if he would be forced to get on it.’ Caitlin L. Chandler on a German deportation case, new on the blog. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/au...

The @ihr.bsky.social Migration and Mobility Seminar has an open CFP for what will be a brilliant ECR roundtable: Historical and Theoretical Approaches to Mobility, Migration and Citizenship Deadline 10/09 - pls apply, share etc! le.ac.uk/law/news/law...

Submitted a book manuscript! Is it good? I genuinely have stared at it so much I have no idea

‘The trend in recent years has been for countries to do away with, rather than affirm, 𝘫𝘶𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘪. Ireland abolished the practice in 2005 after a referendum; Australia, New Zealand and India have all revoked it.’ @kabcommons.bsky.social on birthright citizenship. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

‘Just as the judges in 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘯’𝘴 𝘊𝘢𝘴𝘦 made legal contortions to interpret the law in a way consistent with existing legal principles and the desires of the new monarch, so have supporters of Trump’s effort to abolish birthright citizenship.’ @kabcommons.bsky.social: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

‘It was relatively straightforward for the British government to end birthright subjecthood: statute overrides common law. It is less easy for those seeking to end birthright citizenship in the US.’ @kabcommons.bsky.social on birthright citizenship in England. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

My new post: 'Grand Juries and Star Chamber’s Haunting Spectre' legalhistorymiscellany.com/2026/07/17/g...

‘Law is not the only element in determining citizenship: the actions of those who interpret or challenge the law are just as important.’ @kabcommons.bsky.social on England’s birthright citizenship. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

I wrote about US efforts to strip birthright citizenship from migrants' children using a 17thC English court case @lrb.co.uk. Calvin's Case (1608) is comically clear that the basis of citizenship is birthright: the rest of the judgement tho was much more controversial... tinyurl.com/mv5m8ady

Joining some pretty hallowed company here

Burnham's first act should be to reinstate family reunion. At present, more than 16,000 people are trapped. The big question is: will he? www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

📘From our latest issue! Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social @sheffielduni.bsky.social on 'Discovering ‘Immigration Control’ in England, c. 1540 – c. 1640' #Migration #History #EarlyModern #England #Immigration 📜 16thc 17thc 👉Read open access here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Congratulations! 🎉 @stephaniewanga.bsky.social @gianamar97.bsky.social

It should also be noted that a key "safe route" was suspended by the govt in September, causing untold distress to refugees in the UK, and placing their families overseas in often imaginable danger. Family reunion was already hugely restricted - now no refugee can access it.