The Queen Mary/Geffrye Museum Centre for Studies of Home and the Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions invite applications for a PhD studentship on the theme of ‘Emotions and the Home in Modern Britain’ to cover fees and maintenance (at the AHRC rate, which is currently £15,590) from 2011-2014, starting in September 2011.

This studentship arises from a collaboration between two interdisciplinary research centres at Queen Mary, and the Geffrye Museum. The project will be co-supervised by staff in the School of Geography (Professor Alison Blunt or Dr Alastair Owens), School of History (Dr Thomas Dixon, Dr Rhodri Hayward, or Professor Amanda Vickery) and the Geffrye Museum (Eleanor John). An appropriate supervisory team will be appointed based on the successful candidate’s exact topic.

Drawing on the expertise of academic staff in the Schools of Geography and History, as well as the collections of the Geffrye Museum, which document and illustrate the history of the English domestic interior since the seventeenth century, this studentship will explore some aspect of the role of the home in shaping the emotional lives of modern British people.

Taking perspectives from the history of emotions and the family; the geographies of home and the built environment; and the study of material culture, candidates should prepare their own Research Proposal for a project which will shed new light on themes such as:

• The special role of domestic space in cultivating intimate affections and powerful, sometimes secret, positive and negative emotions
• The different emotions, and related rules of expression, experienced inside and outside the home
• The different domestic emotional regimes that have prevailed at different periods and for different social and economic classes
• Psychological states directed towards the home itself, including love of home, fear of home, and nostalgia or homesickness
• The home as the site of healthy or harmful psychological development of children, and also of fear, hatred, and domestic violence
• The ways that psychological categories such as ‘passions’, ‘sentiments’, and ‘affections’ have been mapped onto the physical and social hierarchies embodied in the fabric of the home Sources used will potentially include personal letters and memoirs; literary and visual representations of the home; and the material composition and contents of the home itself.

This collaboration between the Centres offers a rich environment for study and for dissemination, to academic and museum staff and the wider public. The successful candidate will be encouraged to give yearly research seminars to the Centres and to contribute to the Geffrye Museum’s public programme, for example through a study day/workshop or lecture. A conference for the Centres is also a possibility, which the student would help to organise.

The successful candidate will, by the time of taking up the studentship, have successfully completed a Masters qualification in a geographical or historical subject related to the themes of the studentship.

Candidates should discuss their research proposal with at least one member of the supervisory team listed above before submitting their application, and identify who they would like to act as their ‘Primary Supervisor’.

Applications should be marked for the attention of EITHER the School of Geography OR the School of History, depending on which School the Primary Supervisor is located in, and should follow the application process for that School.

• SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY: http://www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/admissions/phdadmissions/funding/42249.html
• SCHOOL OF HISTORY: http://www.history.qmul.ac.uk/postgraduate/funding/index.html

All application materials should be sent to:

The Admissions and Recruitment Office, Queen Mary University of London, E1 4NS

Closing Date: 21 February 2011

See also:

• QM Centre for the History of the Emotions: http://www.qmul.ac.uk/emotions
• Geffrye Museum: http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/