Peter George

Research Topic

Discourses of identity and dialect writing in the press, c.1890-1940.

Having completed an undergraduate degree in history and French at Oxford and a research master’s degree in history at Leiden, I am currently pursuing doctoral research on the relationship bewteen the local press and regional and local identities in France, England and Jersey in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. I aim to examine the cultural construction and development of these identities, and in particular the place that they could have in daily life, their reception and the ways in which the public engaged with them, and the ways that they interacted with other forms of identity such as class or nation.

My most important source for this work are articles in local languages and dialects which were common in the provincial press in this period. These were often a key site for public interaction, as well offering important insights into discussions of identity. Drawing on the common qualities of the local press throughout the areas surveyed, as well as its often close relationship and mutual engagement with its public, I hope to shed further light on the nature of sub-national identities and regionalism as a pan-European phenomenon in this period, whilst also using bottom-up research techniques to gain understanding of the significance of this at a grassroots level.

I have presented aspects of my work at several conferences, including 'Cultural Representations of the Region in Transnational Contexts' at Radboud University in January 2023. I have also discussed my research during media appearances, including for France 3 and the Jersey Evening Post.

My research is funded through the Arts and Humanities Research Council, with additional support from the Millennium Fund of the Société Jersiaise.

Supervisor: Professor David Hopkin