Email: abell44@huron.uwo.ca
Office Location: HUC V130
Office Phone: (519) 438-7224 ext. 293
B.A. (King's College, Halifax), M.A. (Dalhousie), Ph.D. (Queen's)
I am working on a book manuscript right now entitled, Murder Capital: Suspicious Deaths in London 1933-1953. I am tracing the effects of policing changes, urban planning and wartime dislocation on the city of London, England and its effects on the discovery and investigation of violent crime. I am also beginning a new study into how the Second World War affected British children, focusing on issues of wartime strains and mental health as well as the perceived dangers of increased juvenile delinquency and what it meant for postwar reconstruction. I have recently discovered trans-national links between Canadian teachers and child development experts, including Dr. William Blatz in Toronto, and British projects to help traumatized children, and am eager to explore them in my upcoming sabbatical year.
I have taught across a wide chronological and geographical range at Huron, from World History in the first year, to Early Modern Europe to Modern Britain at the second and third year levels. The two courses I have recently created for Huron students, HIST 2413E: Europe and the Paradoxes of Modernity and HIST 2706E: Youth Cultures in the Twentieth-Century, showcase my two main classroom obsessions: comparing historical themes across national boundaries and investigating how historians have used primary sources in innovative ways. For instance, a comparison of representations of American youth in 1920s films with legal records of delinquent young women in 1920s Montreal reveals the gap between the aspirational ideals for youth in this period, and the social and personal difficulties many faced. The small classes and variety of courses taught in Huron's History department allows me to tailor courses to my research interests, and to engage students in the excitement of the research process.
Heads up, Girls: Women's Politics, Poetry and the Feminist Historiography of the Great War, Canadian Journal of History 42:3 (Winter/Hiver 2007), 411-438.
London was Ours: Diaries and Memoirs of the London Blitz. London: IB Tauris, 2008.
Landscapes of Fear; Wartime London 1939-1945 Journal of British Studies 48: 1 (January 2009), 153-175.
Murder and the Microscope: The Dobkin Trial 1942 under review, History Workshop Journal.
