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Biography
My research sits at the intersection of historical geography, political geography, and the geographies of philanthropy. I am interested in how non-state actors, philanthropic foundations, and municipal institutions have shaped political and social life across national borders. Drawing extensively on archival research, I examine the transatlantic networks connecting Britain and the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with a particular focus on the role of philanthropy in reshaping local government and public services.
My doctoral studies are funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Midlands Graduate School. I hold an MSc in Social Science Research (Distinction) and a BA in Geography (First Class) from the 海角黑料.
Research Summary
PhD Thesis: The Political Geographies of Public Library Philanthropy: Andrew Carnegie, Bureaucracy, and Anglo-American Worldmaking
My PhD explores how philanthropic foundations exercised governance power beyond the nation-state through bureaucratic practices and administrative expertise. Focusing on Andrew Carnegie's library philanthropy and the activities of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, I investigate how philanthropic organisations and their administrators influenced municipal governance across Britain and the United States between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The project examines the development of the library grant-giving system as a form of governance. While Carnegie's public library infrastructure investments can be seen as boastful gifts to communities, I explore the administrative frameworks, bureaucratic procedures, and professional networks that underpinned their development. As such, I suggest that philanthropy operated through the circulation of administrative knowledge, expertise, and standards that reshaped how local governments understood and managed public services.
The central theme of this research is the role of bureaucracy as a mode of governance and an epistemic technology. By examining grant applications, correspondence, reports, and other administrative records, I investigate how bureaucratic procedures enabled philanthropic organisations to influence local decision-making while presenting themselves as objective, scientific, and apolitical institutions.
My research is based on archival collections held at the National Records of Scotland, the Library of Congress, Columbia University, Carnegie Mellon University, and other repositories in the United Kingdom and the United States.