Imogen Knox

Thesis title:

Self-destructive desires and the supernatural in early modern Britain

My doctoral research, ‘Self-destructive desires and the supernatural in early modern Britain’, is supervised by Professor Peter Marshall and Dr Naomi Pullin, and funded by the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership. My project explores the ways in which early modern people expressed and enacted feelings of suicide and self harm in supernatural narratives. These narratives provide an insight into how individuals conceptualised and negotiated suicidal ideation during a time where the act of suicide was not only criminal, but caused eternal damnation.

Research Area

History

Publications

Articles:

'Pin-swallowing and self-destruction in early modern British and Irish supernatural narratives', Cultural & Social History (2023) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14780038.2023.2189407
(co-authored with Sophie Pain and Shakira Hanany Abd Rahman) 'Editorial: PGR Teachers and the (Post) Pandemic World', Journal of Postgraduate Pedagogic Practice 2 (2022) https://doi.org/10.31273/jppp.vol2.2022.1223

Blog posts:

'Early modern Britain was terrified of women trying to swallow pins', The Conversation (2024)
'Tricking Pilgrims: Suicide, Jests and Popular Religion', My-Parish (2023)
'Death and Uncertainty in the Early Modern Community', History Workshop Online, for Risk and Uncertainty series (2022)
'Pin', Key Things blog series, CEMS KCL (2022)
'Reading Wellbeing in Andrew Boorde's Dietary of Health, HistoryLab Blog, for monthly theme on mental health histories (2022)
''Tied up from self-murder': Writing about suicide in the wake of the South Sea Bubble', Warwick Early Modern and Eighteenth Century Centre Blog (2022)
'Killing yourself to laugh: joking about suicide and self-harm in early modern England', Warwick Early Modern and Eighteenth Century Centre (2021)
'World Mental Health Day: How History Informs Stigma', Warwick History Department Blog (2021)
Media and Public (Dis)order Warwick/Dresden early modernists workshop report (co authored with Felipe Mello), April 2021
‘The devil will tear me in pieces’: Self-destruction and sympathy in a seventeenth-century witchcraft case, The Many Headed Monster (2021)
‘Some choice directions’: John Prince and early modern suicide advice literature, Social History Society Research Exchange (2021)

Reports:

The Supernatural: Sites of Suffering in the Pre-Modern World, 14th May 2022 (co-author)
Media and Public (Dis)Order: A virtual workshop for early modernists at Dresden and Warwick, 29th and 30th March 2021 (co-author)

Conferences

'Representing male emotional pain in early modern English love ballads', NACHE Conference, University of British Columbia, June 2024

‘Sexualising demoniacs in early modern English possession narratives’, Demonology through the Ages: Belief, Ideas, Material and Visual Culture, Institute of Historical Research, 8th March 2024

'Self-destructive desires and the supernatural in early modern Britain, Eighteenth Century Centre, University of Birmingham, 6th March 2024

'Suicide in the History of Emotions', NACHE Colloquium, 22nd February 2024

'Self-destructive desires and the supernatural in early modern Britain', Early Modern Colloquium, TU Dresden, 14th December 2023

'Love suicide in early modern England', Disappearances: Representations of Suicide in Literature, Culture, and History, International Symposium, 10th July 2023

'Laughing at and joking about suicide in early modern Britain', Humour, Laughter and Everyday Life in the Early Modern Period: Gender, Culture, and Politics, c.1500-1800, Newcastle University, 8th July 2022

'Emotional responses to suicidality in early modern Britain', History Postgraduate Conference, University of Warwick, 26th-27th May 2022

'Attempted Suicide in Early Modern Britain', Renaissance Society of America Conference, Dublin, March 2022

'Emotional responses to suicidal intent in British supernatural narratives, 1560-1735', Emotion, Embodiment and the Everyday, 1500-1800, University of Cambridge, 10th December 2021

'Hidden desires: exploring early modern suicidality through supernatural narratives', The Hidden in Performance, Visual, and Literary Culture, M4C funded conference, 11th September 2021

'Experiencing suicidal temptation in early modern British supernatural narratives', Labour, Leisure, and Life in Early Modern England seminar series, University of Bristol, 31st May 2021

'Conversations with demons: possession, bewitchment, and self-destruction in early modern Britain', History Postgraduate Conference, University of Warwick, 26th May 2021

'Pin-swallowing and pin-vomiting: self-harm in early modern Britain', Centre for the History of Medicine Work in Progress seminar series, University of Warwick, 27th April 2021

'Enemies within and without: talking with devils about self-destruction in early modern Britain', Enemies in the Early Modern World 1453-1789: Conflict, Culture and Control, University of Edinburgh, 26th March 2021

'Sharp objects, self-harm and the supernatural in early modern Britain', Newberry Library Multidisciplinary Graduate Conference, 9th February 2021

'Sharp objects, self-harm and the supernatural in early modern Britain', PG Work in Progress series, History Department, University of Warwick, 30th November 2020

'Sex and Satan in the early modern household', Sexual Knowledge Symposium, University of Exeter, 17th June 2019

Public Engagement & Impact

'Researching ordinary people of the early modern period' workshop, in collaboration with Naomi Pullin, Lord Leycester, and Warwick Record Office

'Stars, sieves and women’s stories: An interactive exhibition about early modern fortune telling', Faculty of Arts Building Opening, University of Warwick, 20th May 2022

'Ghosts, fairies and a wombful of rabbits: Weird and wondrous stories from early modern women', Resonate FestivalLink opens in a new window, Amazing Women strand, Coventry City of Culture, 19th March 2022

'Stars, sieves and women’s stories: An interactive exhibition about early modern fortune telling', Resonate FestivalLink opens in a new window, Amazing Women strand, Coventry City of Culture, 5th March 2022

'Self-Injury, History, and Me' workshop series assistant, University of Reading, February and March 2022

Now and Then session, University of Warwick, October 2021

Assistant on Dr Martha McGill's British Academy Summer Showcase exhibit, 16th June 2021 - watch the recording back here

'Early Modern Witchcraft Belief', Wide Atlantic Weird podcast, 24th April 2021

Ecclesiastical History Society Twitter takeover, 9th-11th April 2021

Other Research Interests

Histories of mental health and wellbeing
Early modern religion and supernatural belief
History of emotion
Gender and masculinity
Laughter and humour

Memberships

HEA, Associate Fellow

Early Career Member, The Royal Historical Society

Postgraduate Member, Social History Society

Biography

I previously completed my MA and BA History degrees at the University of Exeter. My MA dissertation, supervised by Professor Jonathan Barry, constitued a primlinary survey of my PhD topic, focussing on England. My BA dissertation, 'Bewitched Children in Late Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century England' was supervised by Dr Laura Sangha.

Responsibilities

Social Inclusion and Diversity Committee GTA Rep, History Department, University of Warwick (2022-present)

Co-Editor, Warwick Journal of Postgraduate Pedagogic Practice (2022-present)

The Supernatural: Sites of Suffering in the Pre-Modern World co-organiser (with Francesca Farnell), HRC funded conference, University of Warwick (2021-2022)

'Sensitive' Histories Roundtable Discussion, chair and co-organiser, Centre for the History of Medicine, University of Warwick (11th January 2022)

Warwick PG History Conference co-convener, University of Warwick (2021)

History PGR Work in Progress seminar co-convener, University of Warwick (2020-2022)

Co-Publicity and Co-IT officer, The Hidden in Performance, Visual, and Literary Culture Conference (Jan 2021 - Sept 2021)

History Department Research Committee PGR Rep, University of Warwick (2020-2021)

History Department Rep, University of Warwick (2020-2021)

History PGT Rep, University of Exeter (2018-2019)

History Department Athena Swan Student Rep, University of Exeter (2017-2019)

History Third Year and Social Media Rep, University of Exeter (2017-2018)

Additional Activities and Achievements

Postgraduate Award in Teaching and Learning, Distinction (2023)

Beginner German course, Warwick Language Centre (2023)

PG Winner, Digital Arts Lab Showcase (2022)

Shortlisted for Warwick Award for Public and Community Engagement (2022)

APP PGR, awarded Associate Fellow status with HEA (2022)

HRC Doctoral Fellow (2021-2022)

English Palaeography, Warwick Centre for the Study of the Renaissance (2021)

Co-Winner of Warwick Venture into Business Engagement (2021)

Dean's Commendation for Exceptional Achievement, University of Exeter (2019)

Dean's Commendation for Contribution to Life of the Department, University of Exeter (2018)

Academic Undergraduate Rep of the Year, University of Exeter (2018)

Teaching

2023-2024 - Seminar Tutor, Europe in the Making (HI113)

2023 - Tutor, EUTOPIA Summer School on the History of Violence, TU Dresden

'What is violence?' introductory class - lead
Ethics of studying violence - lead
Displaying violence and visit to the Militärhistorisches Museum - co lead
Violence in film: Duelling in Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon - co lead

2023 - Marking, The Early Modern Body (HI3T3)

2022-2023 Seminar Tutor, Deviance and Nonconformity in Early Modern Europe (HI179-30)

2022 - Teacher Champion, Warwick PTC

2022 - Supervisor, Undergraduate Research Support Scheme

2022 - Supervisor, Interdisciplinary Arts Research Project

2021-2022 - Seminar Tutor, Crossing Boundaries and Breaking Norms in the Medieval World (HI2E9)

2021-2022 - Seminar Tutor, Academic Research and Writing (part of Making of the Modern World (HI153))

2021 - Guest Seminar Tutor, Understanding Wellbeing Theory and Practice, Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning, Warwick

2021 - Guest Interviewee, Understanding Wellbeing Online Module, Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning, Warwick