Kathleen Commons (she/her)

School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities

PhD Student (History)

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Thesis title: Belonging, Rights, Participation: immigration and the development of citizenship in early modern England

Supervisors: 

Period:

1500-1800

Thesis abstract:

This thesis will explore the relationship between immigration and developing notions of citizenship in seventeenth-century England through the prism of the law. Despite the rich historiography of 17th-century English citizenship, the alien has not hitherto been placed in this context, even though contemporary thinkers were explicitly dealing with the issue. My thesis will explore the following research questions:

  • How were the alien and citizen defined in seventeenth-century England, and how and why did this change over time?
  • What was the role of the law in defining the citizen and alien, and to what extent was it accepted and contested?
  • What practical steps did cities, parliaments and monarchs take and what rights did they claim to delineate and police the body politic - and what was the perceived value of keeping people outside or bringing them in?
  • What links can be recovered between rights theory, and the practice and application of law?
Qualifications
  • PhD History, University of 91Ö±²¥, 2021 - present
  • MA History of Ideas, Birkbeck College, 2019-2021
  • BA South Asian Studies with Hindi, University of Cambridge 2004-2008
Grants
  • PhD scholarship:
  • The Royal Historical Society Workshop Scheme
    Funding for 'Beyond the 'good'/'bad' migrant dichotomy: ways forward for early modern and contemporary history' September 5th 2023

Teaching activities

University of 91Ö±²¥ Teaching Assistant

2023-24 academic year:

  • HST112: Paths from Antiquity to Modernity
  • HST115: The 'Disenchantment' of Early Modern Europe c.1570-1770

2022-23 academic year:

  • HST112: Paths from Antiquity to Modernity
  • HST115: The 'Disenchantment' of Early Modern Europe c.1570-1770
  • HST117: The Making of the 20th Century

2021-22 academic year: 

  • HST115 The 'Disenchantment' of Early Modern Europe c.1570-1770

 

Professional activities and memberships
Co-convenor Early Modern Migration Reading Group:
Publications and Conferences

Conferences:

  • Society for Renaissance Studies Biannual Conference 2023

Conference paper: "Englecerie/Forinsecus": bringing the law back in to the history of early modern migration to England

  • TIDE On Belonging 2: English Conceptions of Migration and Transculturality, 1550 – 1700 26 - 30 July 2021

Conference paper: Immigrants in Stow and Strype’s Surveys of London

Blog:

  • Royal Historical Society Transactions