Dr Jacob Fredrickson

I am a historian of modern Britain, with a particular interest in histories of gender, law, and the emotions. My work explores how intimate histories can alter our understanding of the law, gender, sexuality and the broader transformations that shaped twentieth-century Britain. My forthcoming first book, Crimes of Passion, Violence and the Making of Modern Intimate Life in Britain, attempts a new history of the transformation of intimacy in modern Britain, with violence, and the threat of violence at its centre. It contributes to growing transnational interest in the relationship between ‘love’ and the law, and the way anglophone legal systems have grappled with comprehending, and disciplining, the emotions.

I am currently a postdoctoral research fellow on the ‘Hurt Feelings and the Law Project’, working with Professor Chloe Kennedy (Edinburgh), Professor Katie Barclay (Macquarie) and Dr Alice Krzanich (Aberdeen).