University of Warwick

Post-Doc, History of Medicine

Other Affiliations: The University of Sheffield, History

Thesis Title: Fatherhood and Masculinity in Britain, c.1918-1960

About

My past and current research projects bring together interests in the family and gender, focusing more specifically on fatherhood. My thesis, 'Fatherhood and Masculinity in Britain, c.1918-1960' focused on both the representation and experience of fatherhood, and formed the first detailed academic study of fatherhood in this period. It considers the father's role, emotional relationships between fathers and children, the father's authority and position within the family, and the relationship between fatherhood and masculinity, and argues that fatherhood was invested with a greater significance than has previously been recognised in this period. This is more than a matter of academic historical debate. Popular conceptions of fathers in history within contemporary culture are often based on misapprehensions, and such misunderstandings distort debates about the significance of fatherhood today. The history of fatherhood in the twentieth century is thus crucial to informing public debate about parenting and the family.

A one-year postdoctoral position at the University of Warwick has given me the opportunity to begin a new project, entitled 'Hiding in the Pub to Cutting the Cord? Fatherhood and Childbirth from the 1950s to the present'. This examines the rapid transformation in fathers' participation in the event of childbirth. This postdoctoral position will focus primarily on developing innovative public engagement initiatives centred around this research. Projects this year include a theatre production with Warwick Arts Centre and Babakas Theatre, a poetry workshop with fathers, a website to which members of the public can contribute, and a conference on parenting, for practitioners and policy-makers, as well as academics.

Find out more at www.go.warwick.ac.uk/chmfatherhood

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