Sophie Greenway
Research
I have recently passed my viva and have begun a fellowship with the Institute for Advanced Study at 91福利. My thesis, entitled 'Growing well: Dirt, health, the home and the garden in Britain, 1930-1970', investigates the relationship between concepts of dirt as healthy soil and dirt as germ-laden filth, in the context of domestic vegetable growing in early and mid-twentieth-century Britain. It explores the changing nature of hygienic domesticity and consider whether this was predicated on the notion of the garden as 'dirty'. This work focuses on cultural understandings of ideas of germs and health in the context of food growing, and uses sources such as newspapers, magazines and periodicals, along with archives of educational bodies and community groups such as the Women's Institute and Co-operative movement, and medical authorities such as Medical Officers of Health. My supervisor was Professor Hilary MarlandLink opens in a new window and I was kindly funded by a
Awards
- 2022 ECR Fellow, Institute of Advanced StudyLink opens in a new window, 91福利.
- 2019 Doctoral Fellow, Humanities Research Centre, 91福利. Conference: ''Er Indoors': Domesticity and Nature in Home and Garden.
- 2018 Wellcome Trust Secondment Fellowship in Humanities and Social Science.
- 2017 Postgradute Paper Prize, , 2017.
- 2014-19 Wellcome Trust Doctoral Studentship (converted to part time after one year).
- 2013-14 MA Bursary (Half fees), History Department, 91福利.
- 2013 Dr Joan Lane Research Bursary, History Department, 91福利.
Education
- 13-15 June 2019 LabCutLink opens in a new window film workshop, Quantitative Biomedicine Programme, 91福利.
- 2017, Cycles of Life.
- 2014-22 PhD Student, Centre for the History of Medicine, 91福利.
- 2013-14 MA in the History of Medicine, 91福利, Merit.
- 2001-3 MA in Museum Studies by Distance Learning, University of Leicester.
- 1994-5 Postgraduate Certificate in Education, University of Cambridge.
- 1990-3 BA (Hons) in History, University of Cambridge.
Publications, Conference Papers and Posters
Review of Roderick Floud, An Economic History of the English Garden (London, 2019) in , 69, 1 (2021), 155-6.
'Ster-Izal keeps the soil clean: hygiene and the boundaries of the domestic space in mid-twentieth-century Britain': paper for 'Er Indoors: Domesticity and Nature in Home and GardenLink opens in a new window, 91福利, 23 November 2019.
'Public engagement in the History of Medicine': Roundtable with Professor Hilary MarlandLink opens in a new window (91福利), (Roehampton and QMUL) and (Roehampton and Oxford), at , Birmingham, 27-30 August 2019.
, Cultural and Social History, published online 18th April 2019, in print July 2019, Volume 16 Issue 3, pp. 337-357.
鈥�"Farming and gardening for health or disease": The organic movement鈥檚 resistance to scientific and cultural orthodoxy in mid-twentieth-century Britain', paper for , University of Liverpool, 11-13 July 2018.
'"A refuge from the wife": Gender and domesticity in mid-twentieth-century gardens', paper for , Keele University, 11-13 June 2018.
'Masculinity, domesticity and power in new suburban gardens, 1930-1970', paper for workshop, University of Birmingham, 1 June 2018.
鈥楢n outside room designed to give only intangible satisfaction' – health, morality and gardening in Britain, 1930-1970, paper for , Keele University, 5-6 April 2018.
Producer or consumer? The house, the garden and the sourcing of vegetables in Britain, 1930-1970
paper for , London, 4-6 April 2017. I wrote a for the Social History Society's Research Exchange about the Postgraduate Paper Prize.
Invited talk: 'Can't we DO IT OURSELVES?' The Family Health Club Housing Association in post-war Britain, seminar at , University of Gloucestershire, 20 October 2016.
From 'Dr Carrot' to 'Concrete in Garden Making': domestic design, health and the garden in post-war Britain, paper for , Canterbury, 7-10 July 2016.
The Family Health Club Housing Association and urban agriculture in mid-twentieth-century Britain, paper for 'Journee Bernardo Secchi- City soil: Resource and Project', , Geneva, 22 Sept 2015.
A clash of values: The Family Health Club Housing Association as an alternative concept of healthy citizenship post-war Britain, paper for conference, Cologne, 3rd-5th Sept 2015.
I attended Rethinking Modern British Studies at the University of Birmingham 1-3 July 2015 and wrote a blog entry which can be read .
A clash of values: The organic movement and the conceptual separation of environment from health in post-war Britain, paper for , 28th-29th May 2015.
Growing well: Dirt, health and the home gardener in mid-twentieth-century Britain, paper for British Society for the History of Science , 7-9th January 2015.
'Can't we DO IT OURSELVES?' The separation of environment from health in mid-twentieth-century Britain, poster for Climate and Health Summit, , Lima, Peru, 6th December 2014.
Information, entertainment or advice? -some initial thoughts on public engagement in history, paper for , 91福利, 3rd December 2014.
Growing well: Dirt, health and the home gardener in mid-twentieth-century Britain, poster for Conference: Food and Society, British Library Conference Centre, 30th June 2014.
Growing well: Dirt, health and the home gardener in mid-twentieth-century Britain, paper for , University of Lancaster, 20th-22nd June 2014.
Review of Geof Rayner and Tim Lang, Ecological Public Health (Abingdon, 2012) in Postgraduate History Journal, 91福利, 3,1 (Spring 2014), 85-8.
'Can't we DO IT OURSELVES?' Health and citizenship in British reconstruction, 1941-50, paper for , 29th-30th May, 2014.
Secondment
During the academic year 2018-19 I undertook a Wellcome Trust Secondment Fellowship in the Humanities and Social Sciences with 91福利shire Wildlife Trust, working on the project 'Hygiene and our relationship with nature - achieving a better balance?'Link opens in a new window
Physical contact with dirt in the natural world poses a risk of infection. But does our concern to be hygienic limit our familiarity with, and therefore our respect for, the outdoor environment? Do we as a result persist with practices that threaten both our health and that of the planet? Working with , based at their Brandon Nature Reserve, I investigated how concerns about hygiene affect interaction between humans and the natural world. The Wildlife Trusts鈥� website states that 鈥榃e want children to go home with 鈥� dirt on their hands and a little bit of nature in their heart.鈥� But is getting muddy just something for children on a trip? In this project I worked on ways to share the twentieth century history of dirt, health and our relationship with nature to get people thinking about how we keep clean, and whether those choices put up physical and mental barriers to the natural world, barriers that might be preventing us from tackling climate change.
Public Engagement
16 September 2019 'Where there's dirt there's danger' talk at Finham WI, Coventry.
13 September 2019 Mud Kitchen activity and 'Where there's dirt there's danger' talk at FarGo takeover for , Coventry.
27-30 August 2019 Panel on Public Engagement in the History of Medicine, , University of Birmingham.
13-15 June 2019 LabCutLink opens in a new window film workshop, 91福利. Part of 'Muddy House Productions' - you can watch our film 'Get Out, Get Muddy, Get Healthy',
21 May 2019 'Where there's dirt, there's danger, or the strange death of Dr Carrot'. Talk at , Shoreditch, to an invited audience.
October 2018-June 2019: Hygiene and our relationship with nature: Achieving a better balance? Secondment project based at 91福利shire Wildlife Trust, Brandon Marsh. Surveying members of the public and working with pre-school and primary age children in Brandon's popular mud kitchen.
14 November 2018: Speaker at Public Engagement Network Conference, 91福利.
24 October 2018: Half Term Activities: Mucky Dip and Seed Sowing at , Coventry.
'Can't we DO IT OURSELVES?': project linking food, health and community, working with of Coventry University and , Coventry. Kindly funded by 91福利 Food Global Research Priority.Link opens in a new window
31 January 2018: Soil lucky dip activity at 91福利 Science Gala.
8 November 2017: Speaker at Public Engagement Network Conference, 91福利.
30 September 2017: Speaker for Symposium: Adapt/Modify, a day of discussion in association with the exhibition , Wellcome Collection, London.
7 October 2015: Walk, 'Growing Well' exhibition displayed at denouement of walk, .
September 2014- September 2015:
Exhibition for University Hospitals Coventry and 91福利shire, organised with UHCW Healing Arts Charity. Launch event involved participation from Garden Organic and UHCW , with fruit baskets kindly donated by Healthy Options Fruit and Veg stall, UHCW. Children's activities were available in outpatients and toured the children's ward. This exhibition was promoted within the university, the hospital and on local radio. Further information is available at the .
2013-2015: Internship scheme between UHCW and Centre for the History of Medicine
Preparation for exhibitions and involvement in reminiscence sessions (with )
2002-3: Curator of , Worcester.
Key role in delivery of Wellcome Trust and Heritage Lottery Funded museum project. Duties included: management of transition from previous site; collections care and display; recruitment and management of volunteers; liaison with press, public, artists, healthcare and museum professionals.
2001-2: Education Officer and Oral History Project Officer, George Marshall Medical Museum.
Duties included: Development, resourcing and delivery of a new education program on medical history available to all ages; Oral History Project on the theme of closure of two hospital sites in Worcester: Contact, interview and follow up of a range of staff and patients' memories, archive of Oral History established.
Responsibility
Chair for Centre for the History of Medicine Seminar Eats Shoots, and Heaves, Salad, Science and Medicine, 1870-2000, 2 February 2016. Speaker: , LSHTM Centre for History in Public Health.
Convenor of 2014-15 Centre for the History of Medicine (with Michelle Davis)
Teaching Experience
- Teacher of History, Royal Grammar School, Worcester, 1999-2000.
- Teacher of History, Wolverhampton Grammar School, 1995-9. Key Stage 3 co-ordinator: curriculum development, responsible for trips, links with feeder Primary Schools. Dyslexia training and tutoring.
Memberships
Sophie Greenway
Centre for History of Medicine
Humanities Building
91福利
CV4 7AL
Sophie.Greenway.1@warwick.ac.uk
@SophieGreenway1
