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Fellow during the summer term 2022
Project: Adrift in Medical Transit: Distressed British seamen in limbo, c. 1890-1930
Jen's research encompasses medical, maritime and legal histories, themes on which she has published widely. Her current focus is the framework established by the 'distressed seamen' provisions within historic Merchant Shipping Acts.
She will spend her time at LMU's Centre for Global History readying her research for publication. Jen will examine how these legalities and associated border controls resulted in a 'transitory' status for seamen incapable of work and unable to return home from overseas ports. Using archival bureaucratic case studies, she will investigate the complex and conflicting operational aspects of this system of repatriation which involved numerous parties such as shipping companies, border controllers and local health and welfare providers. Her project uses a policy versus practice methodology to compare the law’s intent with its practical application. It links with the themes of 'waiting
and immobility' integral to the Global DisConnect research strand at LMU Munich.