Biography
I was awarded my BA in History from the University of Durham in 2013 and my MA in Social and Economic History (Research Methods), also from Durham, in 2015. My MA degree was funded by an award from the Economic and Social Research Council and my dissertation centred on the social and cultural history of women’s drinking in Britain between 1933 and 1960, with a particular focus on the historical interplay between cultural norms and social practice. It was awarded the Michie MA Prize in History for best performance in the MA Dissertation (2014).
My doctoral research at Cambridge investigates changing attitudes towards food and body weight in post-war Britain (c. 1954–1990). Ranging across the subjects of domestic food work, family eating patterns, weight management, and social and health inequality, it asks how a variety of historical ideas; themes of selfhood, emotion, gender identity, and social positioning; might be traced out through the landscape of food consumption and food concern.
Other research interests, both within this project and more broadly, include: the study of everyday life in modern Britain; the methodological challenges of doing (very) contemporary history; and the social and cultural meanings implicit within acts of consumption.
