How do century-old debates about the “servant problem” reverberate through today’s political struggles around migration, labour, exploitation, and race? Maia Silber explores.
Recent Posts
Precarious Courtships in Old Regime France
How did young couples negotiate sexual activity and its reproductive consequences in Old Regime France? Julie Hardwick discusses the real and perceived risks and uncertainties of courtship, arguing that communities ultimately sought to protect and safeguard young women’s wellbeing and futures.
Abortion Before Roe
How did US women have abortions when it was illegal? Rosa Campbell explores an archive of US women’s testimonies of abortions across borders, in Japan, Puerto Rico and Mexico, with resonances for today.
Freedom Seekers in Restoration London
Newspaper advertisements for enslaved boys who escaped into early modern London reveal very little about the freedom seekers, and rather more about those who enslaved them. But what can we learn of Cuffee, who risked everything to escape in 1701?
Risk and Uncertainty
Conceptions of risk and uncertainty are traditionally applied to moments of environmental and economic crisis, both real and imagined. This new HWO series seeks to understand how ordinary people calculated perceived and real risks and uncertainties in daily life. How have differences of race, class, gender and sexuality shaped experiences of risk and uncertainty throughout history? And what can a historical understanding of risk and uncertainty in the past offer us in the present?
When Feminists Said No to Europe
This article is part of a series on Global Feminisms. Articles in this series explore how feminists have acted beyond the nation. How have global events, ideas and tactics impacted feminism, and vice versa? And when have feminists worked across difference – for example, of race, nation, politics – more […]
Podcast: Activism Against Sexual Violence
What is the history of activism against sexual violence? What kinds of strategies have survivors employed to combat it, and to counter the stigma that has too often surrounded it? George Severs, Allison McKibbin, and Rhea Sookdeosingh discuss with Marybeth Hamilton in this episode of the History Workshop Podcast.