By Subject

Below you will find an archive of posts organised by subject: the most recent three posts are featured on this page, with the full archive linked to underneath each heading.

Colonialism

• Japan’s Empire and the Crushed Hopes of the “Colored Races” of the World
  Figure 1: 1938 pamphlet issued by the Negro Commission of the National Committee of the Communist Party, USA By Dr Sherzod Muminov For a few early decades of the twentieth century, Japan came to be seen as a champion of the colonized peoples around the world. Behind this image stood… Read more: Japan’s Empire and the Crushed Hopes of the “Colored Races” of the World
• Ghanaian Racial Citizenship in the Soviet Union and U.S., 1957-1966
  By Nana Osei-Opare On May 25, 2020, a white American police officer, Derek Chauvin, and two other police officers murdered George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man. Floyd’s murder sparked global outrage and a reckoning on anti-Black racism. Even right-wing television evangelist Pat Robertson, a staunch pro-police supporter, criticised Chauvin’s actions.… Read more: Ghanaian Racial Citizenship in the Soviet Union and U.S., 1957-1966
• Deep Mapping Migrant Settlerhood: Unfolding histories of Finns in Canada
  DR SAMIRA SARAMO At the turn of the twentieth century, Finnish migrants, drawn by the familiar landscape of lakes, forests, and rocky outcrop, settled in the rugged wilderness of Northern Ontario in Canada and overcame the harsh conditions of the early years through their inherent Finnish characteristic of “sisu” (determination,… Read more: Deep Mapping Migrant Settlerhood: Unfolding histories of Finns in Canada

Criminality

• Richard III, the Princes in the Tower, and Thomas More – answers to the mystery?February 3, 2021
  PROFESSOR TIM THORNTON The fascination evoked by Richard III and the mystery of the ‘princes in the Tower’ continues to grow. The discovery of Richard’s body under a carpark in… Read more: Richard III, the Princes in the Tower, and Thomas More – answers to the mystery?
• John Stearne’s Confirmation and discovery of witchcraftOctober 1, 2020
  New Book Interview: Scott Eaton, John Stearne’s Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft: Text, Context and Afterlife (Routledge, 2020). History: How did this project develop? Where did your interest in the subject originate? Scott:… Read more: John Stearne’s Confirmation and discovery of witchcraft
• Prosecuting Procurement in the Russian EmpireNovember 14, 2019
  Siobhán Hearne. Panic over sex trafficking and the procurement of young women and girls for prostitution reached a crescendo in the early 1900s across Europe and the Americas. Government officials,… Read more: Prosecuting Procurement in the Russian Empire

Decolonisation

• Interview with Jessica A. Fernandez de Lara Harada on Othered Histories of Race
  “Mexican and Japanese relations demonstrate the existence of an open, decentred world characterised by multiple overlapping structures.” By Jessica A. Fernandez de Lara Harada Iker Itoiz Ciaurriz: Firstly, for those who might be unfamiliar with the topic, can you give us a brief overview of the history of race and… Read more: Interview with Jessica A. Fernandez de Lara Harada on Othered Histories of Race
• Japan’s Empire and the Crushed Hopes of the “Colored Races” of the World
  Figure 1: 1938 pamphlet issued by the Negro Commission of the National Committee of the Communist Party, USA By Dr Sherzod Muminov For a few early decades of the twentieth century, Japan came to be seen as a champion of the colonized peoples around the world. Behind this image stood… Read more: Japan’s Empire and the Crushed Hopes of the “Colored Races” of the World
• Black History is not just for Black History Month!
  Fig. 1 Black History Month display at UEA Library How libraries – and librarians – are grappling with decolonisation and why this matters By Jenny Whitaker and Grant Young This is probably self-evident – especially to historians – but libraries are not neutral entities. They are highly constructed. They have… Read more: Black History is not just for Black History Month!

Economic History

• How to Run an Empire: Early Modern Style
  L.H. Roper Dr C. Annemieke Romein recently offered a very helpful discussion here of how the habitual misunderstanding and misuse of nineteenth-century characterisations of ‘-isms’ and ‘the state’ continue to obscure our understanding of the nature and history of European government prior to 1789.  With Dr Romein’s permission and assistance,… Read more: How to Run an Empire: Early Modern Style
• Running Tudor England’s Second City: The Accounts of the Chamberlains of Norwich, 1539-45
  All information cited in the body of this text are taken from Rawcliffe, C, The Norwich Chamberlains Accounts 1539-40 to 1544-45. vol. 83, Norfolk Records Society, (Norwich, 2019). Please consult this volume if you wish to follow up and reference anything below.  Carole Rawcliffe. Accounts are an important source of… Read more: Running Tudor England’s Second City: The Accounts of the Chamberlains of Norwich, 1539-45

History of Emotions

• ‘”A celebrated correspondence between the charming Mrs C- formerly well-known in the fashionable World – & her Amiable Daughter”’: The Historical Importance of the letters of Hitty and Bess Canning.[1]
  By Rachel Smith Whilst reading through the eighteenth-century Canning Family archive at the West Yorkshire Archive Service in Leeds, I came across a rather interesting letter from John Murray, a publisher, to a Mrs Butler. Dated 25th July 1912, he wrote that I gather from what Miss Routh and Mr.… Read more: ‘”A celebrated correspondence between the charming Mrs C- formerly well-known in the fashionable World – & her Amiable Daughter”’: The Historical Importance of the letters of Hitty and Bess Canning.<a href="#_ftn1">[1]</a>
• Why is the HIstory of Emotions So Important?
  ASHLEIGH WILSON The History of Emotions has become a vital field of historical research within contemporary academic discussions. Able to provide insight into the emotional history of a particular event, society and culture, this thematic approach has allowed for a nuanced understanding of the past. As a current undergraduate student,… Read more: Why is the HIstory of Emotions So Important?
• The History of Emotions: A Four Volume Sourcebook
  KATIE BARCLAY, with FRANÇOIS SOYER, is editor of Emotions in Europe, 1517-1914 (Routledge, 2020), a four volume sourcebook. Here she talks to History about the work. History: What was the inspiration behind this project? Katie: I’ve been teaching History of Emotions courses for several years now and had been developing a series… Read more: The History of Emotions: A Four Volume Sourcebook

Gender

• ‘All Women United Fraternally against War and Fascism’: The Comité Mondial des Femmes contre la Guerre et le Fascisme December 22, 2022
  Fig 1: Demonstration of The Comité Mondial Des Femmes Contre la Guerre et le Fascisme demanding female vote By Dr Jasmine Calver Political discourse over the last few years has… Read more: ‘All Women United Fraternally against War and Fascism’: The Comité Mondial des Femmes contre la Guerre et le Fascisme 
• Co-Rulership and Power in Medieval EuropeNovember 23, 2022
  Fig. 1 Henry II and his children, Royal 14 B VI, Membrane 6, British By Gabby Storey For most scholars of royal studies, the concepts of corporate or composite monarchies, now… Read more: Co-Rulership and Power in Medieval Europe
• Finding Transgender Worlds in Late Medieval IcelandSeptember 5, 2022
  By Basil Arnould Price Translations are the author’s own. On May 25, 2022, software engineer Helen Staniland streamed an interview with journalist Helen Joyce. During the interview, Joyce remarked: “…we… Read more: <strong>Finding Transgender Worlds in Late Medieval Iceland</strong>

Material Culture

• The Francoist appropriation of the popular festival
  Fig 1: Franco and members of the Seville government in a Holy Week procession in 1940 By Claudio Hernández Burgos and César Rina When it comes to understanding contemporary cultural processes and political dynamics, the study of festivals and popular rituals has traditionally occupied a secondary and anecdotal position in historiography.… Read more: The Francoist appropriation of the popular festival
• Women collectors, Lady Associates and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
  By Julie Holder When I tell people that I research the nineteenth-century history of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, a very specific idea of an ‘antiquary’ comes to mind: white, male, and middle or upper class. And to a great extent this view is correct. However, that does not… Read more: Women collectors, Lady Associates and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
• Lacquer as Art and Medicinal Material in Early Modern England
  CHENG HE Look up the word ‘lacquer’ in an art dictionary, or on Google, and you usually find the word ‘varnish’; a sticky liquid applied to the surface of objects to form a shiny coating. The word can also refer to the objects coated with varnish themselves, which are sometimes… Read more: Lacquer as Art and Medicinal Material in Early Modern England

Methodologies

• The Francoist appropriation of the popular festival
  Fig 1: Franco and members of the Seville government in a Holy Week procession in 1940 By Claudio Hernández Burgos and César Rina When it comes to understanding contemporary cultural processes and political dynamics, the study of festivals and popular rituals has traditionally occupied a secondary and anecdotal position in historiography.… Read more: The Francoist appropriation of the popular festival
• Replacing Ireland’s Lost Records: Doing Public History with the Beyond 2022 Project
  By Elizabeth Biggs One hundred years ago, in the spring and early summer of 1922, the Public Record Office of Ireland in the Four Courts complex in Dublin was occupied by anti-Treaty forces, with Rory O’Connor as one of their leaders. They were opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty of the… Read more: Replacing Ireland’s Lost Records: Doing Public History with the Beyond 2022 Project
• A Royal Bedroom: Gender, Class and Material Culture
  By Esther Griffin van Orsouw For my PhD research at the University of Warsaw, I investigate the consumption of art by the Sobieski family and their contemporaries in the late 17th and early 18th century in relation to space. I consider what type of objects the royals surrounded themselves with,… Read more: A Royal Bedroom: Gender, Class and Material Culture

Pedagogy

• Black History is not just for Black History Month!
  Fig. 1 Black History Month display at UEA Library How libraries – and librarians – are grappling with decolonisation and why this matters By Jenny Whitaker and Grant Young This is probably self-evident – especially to historians – but libraries are not neutral entities. They are highly constructed. They have… Read more: Black History is not just for Black History Month!
• A Royal Bedroom: Gender, Class and Material Culture
  By Esther Griffin van Orsouw For my PhD research at the University of Warsaw, I investigate the consumption of art by the Sobieski family and their contemporaries in the late 17th and early 18th century in relation to space. I consider what type of objects the royals surrounded themselves with,… Read more: A Royal Bedroom: Gender, Class and Material Culture
• A History of Argument: Teaching Students Critical Analysis
  By Andrew Struan Writing in 1808 when in office as President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson told his grandson: ‘I never yet saw an instance of one of two disputants convincing the other by argument’. Continuing this line of thought in his letter, Jefferson explained that his fellow Founding… Read more: A History of Argument: Teaching Students Critical Analysis

Queer History

• Co-Rulership and Power in Medieval Europe
  Fig. 1 Henry II and his children, Royal 14 B VI, Membrane 6, British By Gabby Storey For most scholars of royal studies, the concepts of corporate or composite monarchies, now fusing with ideas of co-rulership, are important – though not always essential – approaches to apply to the study of… Read more: Co-Rulership and Power in Medieval Europe
• A Global History of Sex and Gender
  DR HANNAH TELLING What is gender history and why does it matter? For me, it is a discipline that provides a fascinating insight into the often-overlooked aspects of history. I was first introduced to gender history as an undergraduate and the University of Edinburgh, when I enrolled on a course… Read more: A Global History of Sex and Gender
• Worrying about the Field of the History of Emotions in Ireland – A report
  Sara Honarmand Ebrahimi Back in November, when the world was still in a relatively ‘normal’ state, I asked Dr Hannah Parker about the possibly of writing a report for the new History website concerning a series of events I was organising under the title, “Worrying about the Field of the… Read more: Worrying about the Field of the History of Emotions in Ireland – A report

Women’s History

• Portraits of Female Power in Argentina: Encarnación Ezcurra and Eva Perón
  By Rachel Morgan The last three decades of the twentieth century have witnessed a boom in writings on Latin American women to the left of the political spectrum. When considering the topic of leftist Argentine women in power, the image of Eva Perón is inescapable: she was the impoverished and… Read more: Portraits of Female Power in Argentina: Encarnación Ezcurra and Eva Perón
• What It Feels Like for a Girl: Gendering the History of the Senses
  SASHA RASMUSSEN When asked to describe my work, I tend to say that my research sits at the intersection of gender and sensory histories. Gender as a lens of historical analysis has by now been widely adopted, but the concept of ‘sensory history’ may need further explanation. To my mind,… Read more: What It Feels Like for a Girl: Gendering the History of the Senses
• Role Theory and Protestant Spirituality in Early Modern Scotland
  CIARAN JONES I recently submitted my PhD thesis on Protestant spirituality in early modern Scotland. Focussing on witchcraft trials, my thesis was mainly concerned with how your average seventeenth-century peasant articulated certain spiritual ideas. Using mostly manuscript records of witchcraft trial confessions as my source base, I compared how these ideas were… Read more: Role Theory and Protestant Spirituality in Early Modern Scotland