Dr Kiran Mehta
Stipendiary Lecturer in History
Worcester College
I am a historian of Britain and the British Empire in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. I received my B.A. from Cornell University, and my MPhil and DPhil from the University of Oxford. My doctoral research examined the nature of justice in the London metropolis with a particular focus on the development of criminal imprisonment as a means of custody and of punishment. Broadly, my work grapples with concerns such as the role and growth of the state, the nature of authority and the operation of justice, poverty and the rise of the ‘welfare state’, and the social functions of punishment.
Research Interests
I have recently published on the use and nature of summary justice in the London metropolis in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. My article, 'Summary Justice in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Southwark', explored the operation of justice at one magistrate's court in London and focused in particular on two understudied aspects of summary justice: the role that gender played in determining outcomes and the use of summary imprisonment.
I am currently working on two projects: firstly, I am revising my doctoral dissertation, 'Courts and Prisons: Criminal Imprisonment in London metropolis, 1750-1845' for publication; secondly, I am starting a new project on forced labour in Britain and its Empire, 1700-1900, which focuses in particular on the use of prisoner labour.
Teaching
I teach a range of courses for undergraduate History students. These courses predominantly explore the histories of Britain, Europe and their Empires between the late seventeenth and early twentieth centuries. I also teach historiography and several historical methods and approaches courses.
Additionally, I teach the Masters course Theories and Methods.
