Economic and Social History
1+3
Department of Archaeology and History, University of Exeter
Start date: September 2023
Research topic: Food and Community in Early Modern England: How the Production, Consumption and Selling of Food were Central to Seventeenth Century Communities.
My PhD research combines the study of community with that of agriculture, rural life, and food to argue that food was integral to early modern society, not only for sustenance but in the way it created social bonds. Moving beyond the concept of commensality, it explores how the production, consumption and selling of food brought different individuals and groups of people into contact. Primarily using farm and household accounts, I demonstrate how food created social links between the wealthy and less-wealthy and how women were important agents in forming and maintaining these connections.
Research supervisors: Professor Jane Whittle, Professor Henry French
Email: rmg229@exeter.ac.