History, University of Birmingham
Thesis title:
I am a first-year PhD student based at the University of Birmingham, studying broadside ballads in seventeenth-century England.
Based in the field of gender history, my project aims to further our understanding of female identity and gender relations in seventeenth-century England by assessing social constructions of womanhood in seventeenth-century English broadside balladry.
Comprising text, imagery, and a tune, ballads were cheap, accessible, and popular throughout English society. The seventeenth century is considered the heyday of the genre, with new and revised songs near-constantly being produced. Balladists drew inspiration from a range of contemporary occurrences, from local scandal to disturbances that had nation-wide impact, such as the Civil War. Thus, ballads were particularly responsive to popular attitudes and values.
The projects aims to provide a comprehensive and socially representative analysis of women and gender relations as represented in broadside balladry, contributing to the pursuit of a greater understanding of the realities of early modern society. It takes its lead from recent work in the field which conceives of the broadside ballad as a holistic, ‘multi-media matrix’ rather than simply a literary artefact; the focus will therefore be on the ballad as part of the textual, oral, aural, visual, and performative culture of early modern England.
Gender relations
Women's history
Early modern society
Print culture
Visual culture
Soundscapes of early modern England
'Soundscapes in the Early Modern World' research network