Dr Jessica Hammett
BA, MA, PHD
Current positions
ESRC New Investigator
Department of History (Historical Studies)
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
I am a social and cultural historian of modern Britain, and my research is concerned with communities and how they understand themselves. My current project, supported by an ESRC New Investigator award, uses co-production methods to conduct research with residents of the Seacroft estate, Leeds. We are analysing how attitudes towards mental health and expertise shifted between the 1950s and 1990s, and investigating the changing role of friendship and local support networks in wellbeing. My previous public history work has included collaborating with archives and museums, community groups, artists, and the voluntary sector.
My PhD research and forthcoming book examine community in the civil defence services during the Second World War. I explore the ways in which local social groups engaged with and reused narratives of good citizenship and civil duty to explain their own value within the war effort, thus writing themselves into the ‘people’s war’ and creating this national wartime mythology from the bottom up.
Project websites:
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
The MenoMakers' Handling Box
Principal Investigator
Role
Co-Principal Investigator
Description
Our innovative activities and research methods aim to display hidden voices and help women to develop their own voice in this life stage. From our previous research we know there…Managing organisational unit
School of Management - Business SchoolDates
17/12/2021 to 31/07/2022
Living well through the menopause
Principal Investigator
Description
How have women found information and advice about the menopause? Is it understood and discussed differently within different families or social and cultural groups? How can creative activities and storytelling…Managing organisational unit
Department of History (Historical Studies)Dates
01/04/2021 to 31/07/2021
8009 ESRC ES/V001329/1 - Dr Jessica Hammett
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Department of History (Historical Studies)Dates
05/10/2020 to 12/11/2023
Wellbeing, Support Networks and Expertise on the Seacroft Council Estate, Leeds, 1950s-90s
Principal Investigator
Description
The second half of the twentieth century witnessed a transformation in the homes, health and wellbeing of British working-class communities. The establishment of the Welfare State and the NHS led…Managing organisational unit
Department of History (Historical Studies)Dates
05/10/2020 to 04/10/2022
Publications
Selected publications
01/08/2022Creating the people’s war: Civil defence communities in Second World War Britain
Creating the people’s war: Civil defence communities in Second World War Britain
Art, Collaboration and Multi-Sensory Approaches in Public Microhistory: Journey with Absent Friends
History Workshop Journal
‘The Invisible Chain by Which All Are Bound to Each Other’: Civil Defence Magazines and the Development of Community During the Second World War
Journal of War and Culture Studies
Recent publications
01/08/2022Creating the people’s war: Civil defence communities in Second World War Britain
Creating the people’s war: Civil defence communities in Second World War Britain
Targeted support is needed to protect the wellbeing of researchers working with emotionally challenging material
Targeted support is needed to protect the wellbeing of researchers working with emotionally challenging material
Researcher Wellbeing: Guidelines for History Researchers
'A Place for Everyone, and Everyone Must Find the Right Place': Recruitment to British Civil Defence, 1937-44
Propaganda and Public Relations in Military Recruitment: Promoting Military Service in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
Family Historians and Historians of the Family: The Value of Collaboration
Making Histories