#SocialHistoryAssociationAnnualConference2016. By Emma Battell Lowman
In late March 2016, the Social History Association (SHA) met for its annual conference. In beautiful Lancaster, at the University of Lancaster, a large group of energetic scholars met to share new research, connect with colleagues, and celebrate four decades of successful operation. This was my first engagement with the Association. I have hesitated […]
Martyrdom, Memory and the Marquis of Montrose. By Rachel Bennett
During the past three years a key part of my research as part of the Criminal Corpse project has been to trace the people who suffered the last punishment of the law from their capital convictions before the criminal courts to their public executions upon the scaffold and the post-mortem fate of their bodies. […]
A chance to talk about gibbeting and hanging in France? Yes, please! By Emma Battell Lowman
One of the joys of academic work is participating in study days or workshops that bring together a diverse group of scholars to approach a theme or issue from multiple vantage. It is easy to fall into working within the same networks and groups – whether textually in the form of the bodies of […]
Effigies, Real Bodies and Iconoclasm. By Sarah Tarlow
Last week I was in Chester to examine a PhD thesis there (congratulations to Dr Ruth Nugent – the third person to complete a PhD in the young and dynamic archaeology department there, under the guidance of Howard Williams). As a side note, Howard’s terrific blog, Archaeodeath, is always full of interesting reflections on […]
The Geography of the Criminal Corpse: Magic, therapies and bodily pieces across Europe. By Francesca Matteoni
I have been involved in the first two years of the project as a postdoctoral researcher working on the medico-magical employment of the criminal corpse’s pieces: hands, fingers, blood, corporeal fragments, but even those objects who had a direct contact with the body, such as the rope, or more intangible, mysterious substances like the […]
Dismemberment in Prehistory – Not Just for the Criminally Insane. By Shane McCorristine
For as long as humans have been around we have cut up, hacked, butchered, and mutilated corpses. Today, the practice is mostly associated with serial killers and abnormal personalities. So what is it about post-mortem dismemberment that some people find so shocking and horrifying? This might be a silly question to ask but it is […]
What and When is Death? By Floris Tomasini
In this blog post I’d like to talk about two forms of death, biological and social death, through the conceptual lens of personal identity. This deceptively simple distinction informs a lot of my subsequent conceptual analysis about the harm and redemption of death and dying. It also lays one of the foundation stones for […]
Writing the Magic of the Criminal Corpse. By Owen Davies
It is that time in a major research project when the final outputs are being worked on. In my case that is co-writing a short monograph entitled Executing Magic: The Power of Criminal Bodies. This will explore the magical ‘life cycle’ of the criminal corpse from the seventeenth to the early-twentieth century. The book […]
Disgusting Dinner Conversation. By Emma Battell Lowman
In the two months since joining the Harnessing the Power of the Criminal Corpse project at the University of Leicester, I like to think I’ve become a highly desirable dinner guest. Before what I’m calling my CrimCorpse period, I could be relied on to chat socially about the weather, dogs, the latest series of RuPaul’s […]
Post-Mortem Punishment: A Fate Worse than Death? By Rachel Bennett
A key question I have repeatedly asked myself in the researching and writing up of my PhD thesis, and one that permeates the Criminal Corpse project, asks why punish the dead? The 1752 Murder Act placed the post-mortem punishment of the corpse at the centre of the criminal justice system in Britain as it stipulated […]
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