Series editor Sara Barker introduces the Studies in Early Modern European History series

Posted by Bethan Hirst - Tuesday, 29 Mar 2022

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The period from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries fascinates us for many reasons. Some people are interested the evolving ideas about the ways states should be ordered and run which led to profound political and social change across all levels of society. We might want to think more about the impact of new technologies, such as the printing press, and how these both had to work alongside existing tools and carve out their own spaces. Scholars continue to question how religious change shaped people’s lives across and outside Europe. We are thinking more about the bodies people lived in, the spaces they were able to inhabit in those bodies and the feelings that they had. Worlds we thought were largely lost to us, such as the oral cultures that dominated most people’s lives, or the objects that they used each day, are being recovered through new approaches and methodologies.  Increasingly, we are aware of the necessity of looking at how the colonial expansion which took off in this period continues to reverberate across the world. Thinking through the impulses and understandings which drove early modern Europeans to work, to play, to travel, to love, to mistrust, to worship, to engage in their communities or which forced them to exist on the margins, to live their lives individually and collectively continues to challenge us, inform us and engage us.

One of the most exciting parts of my job right now is discovering the innovative research being done by colleagues at all career stages in the field of early modern studies. As a series editor for Manchester University Press’s Studies in Early Modern European History series, I am in a privileged position – not only do I get to spend time talking to people about new trends in research, but I also get to work with academics bringing their ideas to MUP, to talk about how we can work together with the Commissioning Editors to make a really successful book project. Stepping into an established, respected series which has been running for over twenty years was potentially quite daunting, but in the two years I’ve been working with MUP, I’ve been really impressed both by the commitment of the MUP staff and the work that we get to publish, and I am really excited for what the future holds for the Studies in Early Modern European History series.

As a series team, we’re dedicated to making sure that our series continues to publish groundbreaking work that really helps us understand this crucial era in our collective histories. As research evolves, so does our series evolve, and we’re particularly interested in reflecting the important work that is being done in the fields of race, emotions, materiality, disability studies, gender, communication and medicine, as well as interdisciplinary studies. We are interested in discussing works that uncover the histories of all parts of Europe – Western, Central, Eastern, Northern and Mediterranean – as well as how Europe and the rest of the world connected with and impacted on each other. We are committed to making sure that the books we publish serve the subject matter well, whether that is through a monograph or an edited collection, and we are experienced at supporting authors and editors at all career stages and from a variety of backgrounds.

If you are interested in finding out more about the series, please contact me or my fellow series editors – further information can be found at https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/series/studies-in-early-modern-european-history/  or you can contact me via email at [email protected].

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