Thesiss

This dissertation examines the rise and expansion of the British associational world during the long 18th century. It asks why Britons became joiners in the first place and why this propensity to form and join clubs, societies, and associations of all kinds spread across the Eng…

In my dissertation, I argue that dance—whether as practice or performance— embodies the ideologies and values of the human communities that creates it. Specifically, I posit that the contredanse, a French derivative of the English country dance, embodied a mode of sociability, w…