About

I am a historian of Britain and the British Empire, with a particular interest in tracing how Britain’s distinctive, self-conscious, and often troubled role in the world shaped modern liberalism, rights, and humanitarianism.

At Bates, I teach Modern European history from the eighteenth century to the present, situating Europe in its broader global contexts. Key themes in my courses include: explorations of race, migration and difference; human rights; revolutions; sex and scandal; and empire and decolonization.

My first project focused on the development of refuge as a humanitarian norm. Britannia’s Embrace: Modern Humanitarianism and the Imperial Origins of Refugee Relief (Oxford University Press, 2015) traces the nineteenth-century development of refuge as a humanitarian norm.

My current research examines the gray area between freedom of speech and the protection of personal reputation in British law and society since 1700. Drawing on newspaper accounts, legal reports and case law, political commentary, gossip columns, and etiquette manuals, among other sources, my project focuses on the history of Britain’s peculiar defamation laws (slander and libel) as part and parcel of efforts to establish a greater liberty of the press.

As with Britannia’s Embrace, this project remains intimately concerned with the nature of people’s responsibility to each other, to community, to nation and empire, and to more abstract notions of justice.

Education

Ph.D. in History: The University of California, Berkeley; B.A. in History and English: Johns Hopkins University

Curriculum Vitae