Emily Calcraft
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
PhD Student (History)
- Profile
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Thesis title: Education and Pacifism In Inter-War Britain
This thesis explores how inter-war pacifists attempted to formulate a new social structure that privileged education in order to produce independent thinkers and eliminate international conflict. Education was used by pacifists in the negative sense ( i.e. to stop war), as well as in the positive sense ( to build a society where the likelihood of violence was nil). This imagined future society relied on education, and more specifically schools, to disseminate values of class egalitarianism, gender equality, anti-imperialism, and mental wellbeing. This study explores the role of pacifist and educational ideologues like Bertrand and Dora Russell, and Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst. It also enquires about the role of pacifist educators in state schools, the methods that the peace movement used to target children, the impact of campaigns from students in higher education, and the use of extra-curricular peace activities.
Supervisors:
- Julie Gottlieb (Primary)
- Benjamin Ziemann (Secondary)
Publications:
Calcraft, E. (2025). 鈥楶laying fields not battlefields鈥: pacifism, non-violence and sport in inter-war Britain. Sport in History, 1鈥17. https://doi.org/10.1080/17460263.2025.2452621
Conference papers
鈥楴ew Schools鈥: Pacifist Pedagogy in Inter-War Britain, History of Education Society Conference (2024).
鈥楾he Natural and the Unnatural鈥: Antisemitic Portrayals of Jewish Gender and Sexuality in Weimar Germany, Forschungsstelle Weimar Conference (2023).
Pacifism and Physical Education in Britain 1918-1939, History of Education Society Conference (2023)
Book reviews
Book Review of Sylvia Mergenthal鈥檚 鈥楢 Man Could Stand Up: Masculinities in British and Australian Literature of the Great War鈥 published in the Gender & History Journal (October, 2023).
Blog Posts
鈥楾he Pacifism of Pooh: A.A. Milne and the Symbolism of Winnie-the-Pooh鈥, History Matters Blog, (December, 2023).
鈥業 am not Interested in the Coronation鈥: Similarities and Dissimilarities in Mass Observation鈥檚 12th May Diaries from 1937 and 2023, University of Sussex Library Lookout and Mass Observation Archive, 鈥淚 am not Interested in the Coronation鈥: Similarities and Dissimilarities in Mass Observation鈥檚 12th May Diaries from 1937 and 2023. | University of Sussex 鈥 Library Lookout (May, 2024).
- Qualifications
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- PhD History, University of 91直播, 2024 - present
- MA in Historical Research, University of 91直播, 2022-2023
- BA (Hons) in History, University of 91直播, 2019-2022
- Teaching interests
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The Transformation of the United Kingdom, 1800-present
- Public engagement
Research Assistant: Professor Julie Gottlieb鈥檚 project on New Approaches to Teaching the History of Appeasement in the Classroom (with the Historical Association) in secondary school education, 2022-present.
Appearance on the Sport in History Podcast, January 2025.
Volunteer Archival Assistant at Mass Observation, 2023-2024