Petter Hellström

The banality of evil.

Klotter med blod. Grisdelar utanför entrén. Säkerhetsåtgärder för hundratusentals kronor. Expos kartläggning visar att mer än hälften av de muslimska församlingarna och föreningarna har utsatts för antimuslimska incidenter sedan 2025. Samtidigt växer den antimuslimska retoriken inom politiken.

In a large-scale design study, just out in @jsse-journal.bsky.social, @onolgard.bsky.social, myself and colleagues examined how Swedish high school students make sense of Linnaeus's place in the history of scientific racism, and how this legacy should be removed today. urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=...

This is not a bad infographic.

Mercator size vs. true country size by @neilrkaye.bsky.social

fredag kl 16–23 Spice H2O, Skanstull 18.00 Vox Vulgaris (akustiskt) 21.30 Vox Vulgaris feat. Nora Sharks

Många har påpekat att KD har övergivit kristendomen. Årets valkampanj gör det tydligt vad man tror på när man inte längre tror på Gud.

A reminder that a man had his German passport taken away because of two Instagram posts. He is now stateless. Germany's "Staatsräson" is thus a tool of oppression www.zeit.de/zeit-magazin...

🚀🚨🚀 We are hiring: 3-year postdoc in African history! 🚀🚨🚀! The University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway is hiring a researcher with a PhD in History to conduct research on “European Languages in Post-Colonial Africa (1950-1990). The job listing can be found here: www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

The Linnaeus University (southern Sweden) is inviting applications for 5-6 fully funded PhD positions in the arts and humanities, including #history, #arthistory and #religiousstudies. International applicants without prior knowledge of Swedish are encouraged to apply.

RIP Carlo Ginzburg - giant among historians

Happy to share I'll be joining the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study as a Sabbatical Fellow this Autumn!

According to Netanyahu, Iran has been "extremely close" to producing a bomb since the 1990s. According to Trump, they have been "very close" to striking a deal for the last three months.

Generations of “sociobiologists” have tried and failed to argue that genetic analysis offers the key to understanding social inequality. Jessica Riskin and Marc Feldman reviews the latest attempt (and failure) in @nybooks.com.

No more Code Noir? The French National Assembly is about to abolish the country's notorious slave laws – 341 years after King Louis XIV signed them into existence.

The Uppsala Declaration of Conscientious Objection continues to grow, and now has 2,783 signatories. We refuse to collaborate with academic institutions complicit in illegal occupation, apartheid, genocide, and other violations of international law.

‘The image of luxury towers constructed above mass graves, with tens of thousands presumably buried under the earthworks, embodies the logic of 21st-century genocide.’ Eyal Weizman on the demolition of Gaza, online early from the next issue. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Pleased to see @mirandabryant.bsky.social's report from the new Badin exhibition at the National Museum in Stockholm, curated by my friend and colleague Åsa Bharathi Larsson of Södertörn University. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Har haft denna på hjärnan i flera dagar nu. Ni borde också se.

I'm looking forward to Simon Werrett's inaugural lecture as professor at @stsucl.bsky.social – on the importance of seabirds in historical navigation! www.ucl.ac.uk/mathematical...

Discussing the repatriation of human remains and the legacy of scientific racism with Finnish and Swedish colleagues at @ki.se. More to read at news.ki.se/calendar/ope...

tidningenbrand.se/brand/nummer...

Happy to share that I'm taking up a new post tomorrow as Senior Lecturer in History at Dalarna University. (Image by the Dalarna painter Winter Carl Hansson from 1799, illustrating the stages of human life.)

WHAT DO WE DO WITH THE DEAD? In 1873, Swedish anatomist Gustaf Retzius plundered Finnish graves at Pälkäne and elsewhere. Following repatriation to Finland in 2024, the remains were subjected to new research at the hands of Finnish researchers. Come discuss the findings and implications at @ki.se!

If the war ends up as a debacle for the US, it is clear that Israel is going to be blamed, and by extension also American Jews, and Jews in general, in a manner surpassing similar accusations regarding the Iraq war. The infrastructure for antisemitism is just far more developed and mainstreamed. 1/

Med anledning av utvecklingen i Tyskland men också de återkommande utspelen från svenska politiker om "importerad" antisemitism, känner jag mig manad att återpublicera den här texten, som Olof Bortz, Daniel Strand och jag skrev för ett år sedan.

This article by @robin-c.bsky.social is an achievement, and should be read by anyone who seeks to understand the relation between racism, antisemitism, and anti-antisemitism.

ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIP IN HISTORY OF SCIENCE My home department at Uppsala University is advertising an endowed professorship in the history of science. This is the best position in the field in Sweden, and probably in all of Scandinavia. Apply before 30 April 2026. www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...

‘Since October 2023 five thousand years of cultural buildings and ancient libraries have been bombed into dust in Gaza with hardly a whisper from the international media or cultural institutions.’ New on the blog from @selmadabbagh.bsky.social. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/fe...

As someone who has published books with 100+ images, here are my tips for finding free #earlymodern images (and tips for discounts when you have to pay for them!) 🗃️ sarahabendall.com/2020/03/11/e...

I am but one of 1000+ scholars who have signed this letter in support of UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, and in repudiation of the attempts by powerful governments to impede her work for accountability with the aid of fabricated evidence and unsubstantiated allegations.

Forskar i biblioteket. Målbilden är en ansökan till ERC.

Anklagelserna mot Zita är inte ett försvar mot antisemitismen. De är antisemitismens spegelbild. Jag har skrivit om drevet mot biografen Zita i @flamman.se www.flamman.se/drevet-mot-z...

”Men jag börjar tro att många debattörer på högerkanten faktiskt inte förstår skillnaden mellan judar och staten Israel.” Läs @nphellstrom.bsky.social:

Drevet mot biografen Zita visar att många högerdebattörer inte kan skilja på judar och staten Israel. Resultatet är en förvirrad debatt som i praktiken förstärker antisemitismen, skriver @nphellstrom.bsky.social.

Auschwitz was at the end of a process. We must remember that it did not start from gas chambers. This hatred gradually developed: from ideas, words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanization & escalating violence... to systematic and industrial murder. Auschwitz took time.

“Early this morning, Israeli forces stormed the UNRWA Headquarters, a United Nations site, in East Jerusalem.” Statement by UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini: www.unrwa.org/newsroom/off...

🧵 1/2 Hur kan detta inte vara en större nyhet idag? Ja, det händer väldigt mycket och väldigt stora saker just nu. Det är svårt att hänga med själv. Men det ÄR en stor nyhet att en stat attackerar FN på det här sättet.

This is such a cool illustration of how the Mercator map distorts the size of Greenland, which looks as big as the whole continent of Africa on that map but is actually the size of Mexico.

‘During the Cold War, US-sponsored regime change was most often carried out at arm’s length. The kidnapping of Maduro seems to follow an older model, closer to the gunboat diplomacy which saw US troops occupy Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua between 1900 and 1934.’ Tony Wood: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...