Jeanne Dufresne

Research

My project explores the life and representations of mobile women in early modern England and France. Although women are often thought to be less mobile than men, recent research has shown that their lives were far from being as settled as previously thought. I aim to better understand the importance of being ‘on the road’ and what it meant for the communities they, in turn, left and joined. To which extent did women suffer and/or benefit from physical movement? How did this mobility affect their ability to form and/or retain professional, familial, and communal ties? I hope to rethink the different spaces – both physical and symbolic – women occupied, sometimes simultaneously, as well as their ability to transition between them. I seek to better understand the interactions between early modern communities and people on the move, and especially how the latter shaped, changed and challenged the former. Far from being static, communities were ever-changing organisms, not only accepting their members' movement but benefiting from it.

I am supervised by Professor Beat KüminLink opens in a new window, Doctor Angela McShaneLink opens in a new window and Professor Penny RobertsLink opens in a new window; and my project is funded by the Chancellor’s International Scholarship.

My research interests include, but are not limited to, social history, the early modern world and the history of margins.