I am currently working on my British Academy funded postdoctoral project "Enslaved Women's Emotional Experiences and Memories of the Slavery Institution in the US South."
Beth Wilson
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100
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British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow
MA option: African American Resistance from Slavery to Black Lives Matter
Areas of interest
As part of my British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship, my current work explores the emotional experiences and memories of enslaved and formerly enslaved women in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
My monograph will combine methods from slavery studies and emotional history to reveal how societal standards shaped enslaved women's emotional expression, their varied emotional experiences of slavery and emancipation, and the complex long-term emotional impact of enslavement.
Teaching
I research and teach broadly on the history of race, gender and resistance in the United States, specialising in the history of US slavery, gendered experiences of enslavement, and the history of emotions.
Research centres and groups
Member of the University's Gender History Research Cluster: http://www.reading.ac.uk/research/themes/theme-heritage-creativity/rd-history/history-cluster-gender.aspx
Research projects
My research focuses on the methodological challenges of using oral, visual and textual sources produced with formerly enslaved people, and I have forthcoming publications exploring emotion, specifically anger, in interviews with formerly enslaved women.
Current projects
Publications
- Wilson, B. (2021) “I ain’ mad now and I know taint no use to lie”: honesty, anger, and emotional resistance in formerly enslaved women’s 1930s’ testimony. American Nineteenth Century History , 22 (3). pp. 307-326. ISSN: 1466-4658 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14664658.2021.2022543