Dr Claire Martin

Profile

I am a graduate of the Université Paris Est Créteil, where I studied for a BA in Anglophone studies, before specialising in modern British history for my MA. I joined the University of Leeds in 2011 as a tutor in the French department, before starting my PhD in History in 2013. I was awarded my PhD in 2018 for my thesis entitled ‘Bodies of Knowledge: Science, Popular Culture, and Working-Class Women's Experience of the Life Cycle in Yorkshire, c.1900-1940'. 

Research interests

My research interests lie in the social and cultural history of modern Britain, and more specifically in the history of gender and sexuality; the history of health, medicine, and the life cycle; working-class history; and the history of everyday life in twentieth-century Britain.

My PhD thesis focussed on the creation and diffusion of knowledge on sexuality and female physiology in the period 1900-1940, exploring the tensions inherent to these processes along the lines of class and gender by examining medical discourse, popular culture, and the experience of Yorkshire working-class women in relation to menstruation, sex, pregnancy/childbirth, and the menopause. I am currently undertaking further research with a view to turn my thesis into a monograph.

More broadly, I am interested in changing definitions of knowledge, experience, and expertise on health and the body in the twentieth century, including the power relations which sustain those definitions, and how these are reproduced in the historical record.

<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Any research projects I'm currently working on will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>

Professional memberships

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• Member of the Social History Society
• Member of the Women's History Network