#sheffield hallam university

[shefeld]

Owen Building, Sheffield Hallam University.

Jan 23

[eretzyisrael]

A Palestinian lecturer exposed by the JC after she met the terrorist hijacker Leila Khaled and praised her as a “beautiful fighter” has left her employer, Sheffield Hallam University, the JC can reveal.

The disclosure – made to this newspaper by a senior university official – came on the eve of an announcement today that Sheffield Hallam is about to build a second, southern branch at Brent Cross, in the heart of north London’s Jewish community.

The lecturer, Shahd Abusalama, was cleared by an internal university inquiry that reported in February, when she was given a new contract as an associate lecturer – an event she celebrated on social media, saying she had been “wholly exonerated of the false charges of antisemitism, brought under the not-fit-for-purpose IHRA [International Holocaust Remembrance Association] definition.”

However, shortly afterwards she became the subject of a fresh complaint by a Jewish student, and the university commissioned a second investigation by human rights barrister Akua Reindorf.

Speaking to the JC, Sheffield Hallam’s deputy vice chancellor, Richard Calvert, said confidentiality rules meant he could give details of neither the second complaint nor Ms Reindorf’s findings.

But he added: “She is no longer an employee of the university. She’s not worked for us for a number of months.”

Until now, neither the second investigation nor the end of Dr Abusalama’s contract have been made public.  

[downthetubes]

Comics Up Close returns next month, at Sheffield Hallam University

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, Sheffield Hallam University and The University of Manchester, the organisations behind Comics Up Close, have revealed the schedule for “Origin Stories”, taking place next month

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, Sheffield Hallam University and The University of Manchester, the organisations behind Comics Up Close, have revealed the schedule for this year’s event, “Origin Stories”,  taking place at Sheffield Hallam University on Wednesday 21st February 2024. Tickets available via Eventbrite. Comics Up Close 2024 speakers include Steven Appleby, Karrie Fransman…

[thejewishlink]

Terror-supporting professor ‘no longer employed’ by British university

Terror-supporting professor ‘no longer employed’ by British university

A university official confirmed that Professor Abusalama, who had initially been cleared of wrongdoing, has left the institution. By World Israel News Staff A Gaza-born professor who met with a notorious Palestinian hijacker and publicly supported terrorists who murdered Israelis is no longer employed by a British university. An initial probe into her statements had cleared her of wrongdoing. In…

[xtruss]

Anti-China Institutions Spin ‘Forced Labor’ Lies to Undermine China’s Competitiveness in Renewables

— James Smith | December 04, 2023

Slandering Xinjiang! The New Normal of the Empire of Lies. Illustration: Vitaly Podvitski

Over the weekend, an article in the BBC accused the British Army of using firms linked to "Uygur Forced Labor" in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to invest in over £200 million of solar panels in order to meet its renewable energy targets. The article, citing a report from Sheffield Hallam University's "Helena Kennedy Centre," argued in favor of supply chain diversification by cutting reliance on China, which dominates the global Solar Panel supply chain.

The report didn't substantiate its findings, only using the term "'very high' exposure" in an ambiguous fashion, yet the article repeated its claims as though they're facts. The British government at large has avoided confronting China on solar panels, recognizing that the UK has limited industrial capacity and is under tremendous pressure to meet its net zero targets. On the other hand, such documentation was used readily to ban their import in the United States under a blanket assumption of guilt, which speaks volumes about the true motivations of this research.

The "Uygur forced labor" issue is a ruse, exclusively driven by the US government. It's designed to promote anti-China supply chain diversifications and commercially motivated protectionism, targeting goods which the US deems "strategic." Starting in 2021, the Biden administration U-turned on the Trump administration's neglect of environmentalism and declared that its fundamental policy goal was to dominate the "technologies of the future," which in turn constitutes renewable energy goods - solar panels, electric batteries, cars and similar technologies.

In doing so, a number of "Studies" quickly materialized from US-funded and linked institutions which, lacking direct evidence, accused China of utilizing forced labor from the Uygur minority in the Xinjiang autonomous region in order to make solar panels. This has never been proven, yet the allegations were repeated by the mainstream media and quickly led up to several US policy decisions including a ban on Chinese made solar panels, as well as all goods from the Xinjiang region, all of which were meted on a "guilty until proven innocent" premise which asked companies to "prove a negative," all of which were in deliberate bad faith.

Beyond Santa’s Ability! Global Times, December 06, 2023, Illustration: Liu Rui

The Helena Kennedy Centre in the United Kingdom is but one particular example of how such "Research" institutes are used to co-opt and market America's commercial, economic and strategic goals. The head of the center, Baroness Helena Kennedy, is a hardline anti-China figure who is the founder of the Sinophobic "Interparliamentary Alliance on China" (IPAC) organization. IPAC is, by its own public admission, funded by the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and also the Taiwan island authorities. Similarly, the primary researcher in the Helena Kennedy Centre who created this solar panel "Forced Labor" report, Laura Murphy, is an employee of the US Department of Homeland Security.

What becomes visible is a "web" of anti-China institutions which works to create this content, which is then amplified by the media with its claims taken at face value, and whose aim is to undermine China's commercial competitiveness. The real problem is that China is a world leader in solar panel manufacturing and renewable energy goods, and the United States seeks to undermine this for its own economic gain. Thus, to do this, it resorts to bad faith tactics designed at promoting market exclusion that weaponizes the rhetoric of human rights. The real US policy thinking is explicitly reflected in the Inflation Reduction Act which seeks to weaponize tariffs on a wide range of Chinese renewable goods, irrespectively, without any façade of intention.

It becomes even more telling in this respect that minimal resources, media attention or interest are given towards legitimate reports of real human slavery or forced labor practices around the world, especially those committed in countries allied to the United States. Instead, it is used as a ruse to discredit products they disapprove of or seek to sanction. For instance, if it is not feasible to accuse products of being made with "forced labor," it usually instead emerges in the form of baseless accusations of "espionage" or being a "national security threat" such as the attacks on Huawei or Hikvision.

All in all, it is evident that to try and forcibly exclude China from the global solar panel supply chain, who provides 80 percent of the world's total, will be economically, commercially, and thus environmentally devastating. Such bans would forcibly narrow the market, drive up prices and set the world back decades. Given this, the UK is really not in any capacity to actually act on the propaganda which is being laundered, hence the government only says it will keep an eye and audit its suppliers accordingly.

— The author is a Political and Hstorical Relations Analyst.

[degreesmaker]

[sowhatifiliveinfukuoka]

My former life...

Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England (flickr)

Sheffield Hallam University, Surrey Lane

[scifrey]

Videos to Watch if You Enjoyed "Cling Fast"

How Much Booze Did Medieval People Really Drink? - Dr. Eleanor Janega teaches us how to booze it up, White Horse-style.

Could You Make a Living in Medieval London? - Another great Eleanor Janega video about occupations, scandals, and the every day lives of every day folks in Medieval cities.

What Was Life Really Like For A Medieval Peasant? - the last of the Eleanor Janega videos about what kind of life Hob Gadling would have lived before he met his Stranger.

A Tudor Feast - domestic historians and archeologists Ruth Goodman, Alex Langlands, Peter "Fonz" Ginn and Hugh Beamish - under the supervision of Marc Meltonville of Hampton Court Palace's Tudor kitchens - prepare and serve a tudor banquet at Haddon Hall in Derbyshire. Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four

Who Do You Think You Are: Danny Dyer Learns Tudor Etiquette - A segment from the Ancestry.com series following actor Danny Dyer as he explores his royal roots.

Who Would Be King of England Today According to Henry VIII's Will? - chartmaker Matt Baker takes us through the royal family tree from Henry the Eighth to the present day, if his edict that the next monarch in the event that his three children (Mary, Edward, and Elizabeth) produced no heirs, then the crown should next fall to the children of his youngest sister. And not, as actually happened, go to James of Scotland.

Royal Myths: Elizabeth I and the Spanish Armada - Dr. Lucy Worsley talks us through the propaganda and fibs that have sprung up around Good Queen Bess, and whether or not she really did declare that she had the stomach of a king.

Dancing Cheek to Cheek: The Devil's Work - Another great series by Dr. Lucy Worsley, chief curator of Royal Historic Palaces, but this time she's joined by Strictly Come Dancing's Len Goodman. They trace the history of dance in Britain, and this episode features some rowdy Medieval and Elizabethan numbers.

Turn Back Time: Tudor Monastery Farm - This series sees Ruth, Alex, and Peter return to the Elizabethan age, this time spending a year on a farm worked by peasants and serfs in service to the church.

The Tudors' Bizarre 12 Days Of Christmas Ritual - The Tudor Monastery Farm Christmas special.

Hardwick Hall: A window onto the Elizabethan world - Sheffield Hallam University gives a great look at Hardwick Hall (more glass than wall), the estate home of the wealthiest woman in Britain at the time, and the kind of place Hob would have aspired to build.

Tudor Food & Etiquette Explained in 14 Minutes - Quick and dirty explanation of where your napkin goes and who the 'chairman of the board' was.

Tudor Houses Explained in 10 Minutes - Not particularly engagingly presented, but a video chock full of visual examples of different kinds of Tudor houses and buildings.

Modern History: The Knight - Jason Kingsley introduces us to the concept behind Modern History and in particular their first series, “The Knight”. Jason has been fascinated by history his whole life, in particular the medieval period and the life of knights. (This is the first video of a playlist).

Royal Armouries - Elizabethan Swordsmanship - a demonstration by weaponsmasters at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds. (I recommend turning on closed captioning for this one, as the sound was recorded live with no mics.)

Getting Dressed - Tudor Royal Household - a nice, even-paced and well produced video showing what it was like to get dressed in queen Katherine Parr's household.

Dressing Up a Tudor Man - my personal heroes at Prior Attire show us what the blokes were wearing at the time. Keep in mind that this is 40 years too early for Hob and Dream's disastrous Shakespeare-ruined feast. (I recommend turning on closed captioning for this one, as the sound was recorded live with no mics.)

And just for the fun of it:

Medieval Pickup Lines from the folks behind (I believe?) Whores of Yore, and Top Tudor Historian Rates Famous Movie Scenes, wherein Dr Nicola Tallis, British historian and author of three books on the Tudors, rates scenes from five blockbuster movies set in the Tudor period. (I love how scandalized she gets.)

If you want more, I really recommend anything at all featuring Doctors Lucy Worsley, Eleanor Janega, and Ruth Goodman (search their names on YouTube and you'll find a wealth of clips, full episodes, and even playlists.)

[modernistdelights]

Division House boasts 39 stylish studios across three floors, delivering a total of 23,713 sq ft of contemporary living space. Conveniently situated in central Sheffield, between Sheffield Hallam University and The University of Sheffield, this development is popular among young professionals and students alike. - MCR Homes

Who cares! Division House is a concrete (ex-office?) block of rather small proportions, but that makes it all the more charming. Notice the incised triangles in-between the retrofitted windows.

The block next door is good, too, but I couldn't get a good shot of it. The tower in-between separates the two buildings nicely.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Aaron Goren

On May 8, 2021, CUNY Law student and graduation speaker Fatima Mohammed egregiously compared Jews to Nazis in a tweet. In February 2022, Sheffield Hallam University in England reinstated Shahd Abusalama as an associate lecturer after an investigation revealed that she publicly defended a student’s poster with the phrase “Stop the Palestinian Holocaust.” On��Twitter, Abusalama claimed that she��“understood” why the student used the term Holocaust about Israel’s strikes in Gaza.

On May 19, 2023, Oren Schweitzer, a student at Yale University and member of the Yale Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter, published an article titled “Never Again is Right Now in Palestine,” which falsely compares the Arab-Israeli conflict, namely Israel’s response to Palestinian terrorism, to the Holocaust.

During his January 2021 talk, Ghasemi praised the “martyrdom” of prominent IRGC officer Qasem Soleimani and once-internationally wanted terrorist Imad Mughniyeh.

“Soleimani’s blood gives us a positive energy … This energy became radiant, and millions of Qasem Soleimani’s — and millions of Imad Mughniyeh’s — followers were nurtured. This will bring an end to the life of the oppressors and occupiers, Zionists and Jews across the world,” Ghasemi said.

Both individuals he references held the same vitriolic hatred of Jews, and acted upon that belief with terrorist attacks against civilians that spanned the Middle East. Both met violent ends in targeted killings by the United States and Israel.

Ghasemi ended his talk by inviting students to participate in an “apocalyptic war” against the West, something that Yekta also paralleled in his speech, saying that the world has entered the “preface to the apocalypse,” and that the “era of the Jews” will soon be at an end.

[shefeld]

Woodville Hall Of Residence,

Sheffield Hallam University.

May 23

[stevebattle]

Sheffield Hand by Graham Whiteley (2002), Sheffield Hallam University, UK. The Sheffield Hand was developed by Dr Graham Whiteley as part of his PhD, prior to the inception of Elumotion. The research explores the mechanical articulation needed to produce life-like hand and arm movement. It uses a kind of artificial muscle made from small telescopic rods, the resulting designs used for new prosthetics. Testing included arm-wrestling contests between different versions of the arm with a human.

[downthetubes]

Origin Stories: Call for Papers for Comics Up Close event in February 2024

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, Sheffield Hallam and Manchester University, the organisations behind Comics Up Close, have just issued a Call for Papers for their next conference taking place in February 2024, deadline fast approaching

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, Sheffield Hallam and Manchester University, the organisations behind Comics Up Close, have just issued their Call for Papers for their next academic conference taking place in February 2024. The deadline for proposals is 19th November. Comics Up Close launched last February, its inaugural event taking place at Manchester Museum, a project created by…

[upsettingandunfortunateclasshate]

As quality sinks ever lower, the big housebuilders’ profits continue to soar. A 2021 study by Tom Archer and Ian Cole at Sheffield Hallam University found that, before the 2008 financial crisis, an average home built by one of the nine biggest UK housebuilders netted a pre-tax profit of around £30,000. By 2017, that had doubled to more than £62,000, with shareholder dividends rising from £400m to more than £1.8bn. “This was more than just ‘recovery’ after the financial crisis,” Archer says. “It was a catalyst for absolutely gigantic profit-making in the following years, with dividend payments rising to unprecedented levels.” Profit before volume became the mantra of the housebuilders. “They didn’t even have to increase their output,” he adds, “as they were making so much more money on each home.”

[thoughtportal]

When most people think of piracy, they think of Bittorrent and The Pirate Bay. These public manifestations of piracy, though, conceal an elite worldwide, underground, organized network of pirate groups who specialize in obtaining media – music, videos, games, and software – before their official sale date and then racing against one another to release the material for free.

Warez: The Infrastructure and Aesthetics of Piracy is the first scholarly research book about this underground subculture, which began life in the pre-internet era Bulletin Board Systems and moved to internet File Transfer Protocol servers (“topsites”) in the mid- to late-1990s. “The Scene,” as it is known, is highly illegal in almost every aspect of its operations. The term “Warez” itself refers to pirated media, a derivative of “software.” Taking a deep dive in the documentary evidence produced by the Scene itself, Warez describes the operations and infrastructures of an underground culture with its own norms and rules of participation, its own forms of sociality, and its own artistic forms. Even though forms of digital piracy are often framed within ideological terms of equal access to knowledge and culture, Eve uncovers in the Warez Scene a culture of competitive ranking and one-upmanship that is at odds with the often communalist interpretations of piracy.

Broad in scope and novel in its approach, Warez is indispensible reading for anyone interested in recent developments in digital culture, access to knowledge and culture, and the infrastructures that support our digital age.

About the Author

Martin Paul Eve is Professor of Literature, Technology and Publishing at Birkbeck, University of London and Visiting Professor of Digital Humanities at Sheffield Hallam University. He has published books on a wide variety of topics, including Close Reading with Computers (Stanford, 2019), password (Bloomsbury, 2016), Pynchon and Philosophy (Palgrave, 2014),  and Open Access and the Humanities (Cambridge, 2014), among others. His ORCID is https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5589-8511.

[freakingoutthesquares]

Nick & Russell of Pulp look at the model in 1996 and the reality in 1999.

Pictures revive memories of Sheffield's National Centre for Popular Music 20 years on – did you go?

Twenty years ago, the National Centre for Popular Music closed to visitors for the last time having been open for less than 18 months.

By Richard Blackledge (1st May 2020) The Star

The £15 million lottery-funded project officially launched in March 1999 and was envisaged as a celebration of contemporary music and culture, with exhibits including instruments and outfits from the careers of legendary acts.

But the place on Paternoster Row struggled to attract enough visitors, becoming a high-profile failure – after its closure as a museum in July 2000 it was used as a venue for hire before the distinctive building, formed of stainless steel-coated ‘drums’, was turned into Sheffield Hallam University’s students’ union.

Enjoy a virtual trip to the long-gone museum by taking a look at these pictures.

Russell spoke to ITN in 1996. "...I haven't a clue what on earth this interaction is gonna involve, it might, you know, be trying to recreate the experience of being in a band, which would be quite nightmarish. But, you know, we'll reserve judgement on that. And yeah, it's a weird looking buiding, and I'm all for weird looking buildings."

and a month later he left the band.