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About Me

Head of History and Archaeology of Youth and Childhood at the Manchester Centre for Youth Studies.

I am an Ancient Historian, specialising in the history of: children, demography, sex; Roman Egypt; breastfeeding and wet-nurses.

I am currently involved in an AHRC funded project on Everyday Life in Roman and Late Roman Egypt, using artefacts a t the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology. I am also involved in a project reconstructing the lives of young people growing up in the ancient city of Oxyrhynchos, Roman Egypt, from thousands of papyrological documents.

I have taught and held research positions at the following institutions:

Manchester Metropolitan University, Senior Lecturer in Ancient History, 2015 – present

Newcastle University, Lecturer in Ancient History, 2014/15

Birkbeck, University of London, Lecturer in Ancient History, 2011-14

Universitet i Oslo, Visiting Professor, May 2013

University of Liverpool, Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow, 2009-11

University of Edinburgh, Teaching Fellow in Ancient Greek History, 2008/9

University of Birmingham, Visiting Lecturer in Ancient History, 2007/8

University of Manchester, Teaching Assistant, 2003-07

 

Academic collaborations

AHRC project (June 2017-June2019): Roman and Late Antique Artefacts from Egypt: Undersanding Society and Culture with Dr Ellen Swift, Dr Jo Stoner (Canterbury Kent) and Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UCL

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Growing Up in an Ancient Metropolis: Children in Roman Oxyrhynchos with Dr Ville Vuolanto, Oslo/Tampere

This is the first study of its kind: a systematic analysis of thousands of papyri from the metropolis of Oxyrhynchos in Roman Egypt, reconstructing children’s lives, concerns and environments. Co-authored monograph in progress.

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Between Words and Walls. Textual and Material Approaches to Ancient Housing with Dr Jennifer Baird, Birkbeck, University of London

We are editing a volume on the relationship between housing as it was expressed in words and how it materialised in walls. The volume features Classicists, Ancient Historians and Archaeologists, building on our recent conference reviewed here. Volume currently under review.

Recent Publications

AJ. Pudsey, V. Vuolanto (under review/in preparation). Child and the City in Antiquity. Growing Up in Graeco-Roman Oxyrhynchos 

AJ. Pudsey (under review/in preparation). Birth, Death and Taxes. Population, Society and Family in Roman Egypt 

J. Baird, A. Pudsey eds. (under review). Between Words and Walls. Material and Textual Approaches to Ancient Housing . 

C. Holleran, A. Pudsey eds. (2011). Demography and the Graeco-Roman World New Insights and Approaches.Cambridge University Press.

AJ. Pudsey ‘House as community: structures in housing and kinship in Tebtynis.’ (under review) in J. Baird, A. Pudsey eds.  Between Words and Walls. Material and Textual Approaches to Ancient Housing.

AJ. Pudsey (2017). ‘Children’s cultures in Graeco-Roman Egypt.’ in L. Grig. ed. Popular Culture in the Ancient World. Cambridge University Press, pp.208-234.

AJ. Pudsey (2016). ‘Disability and infirmitas in the ancient world: demographic and biological facts in the longue durée.’ in C. Laes. Disability in Antiquity. Routledge, pp.22-34.

AJ. Pudsey, V. Vuolanto (2016). ‘Being a Niece or Nephew in an Ancient City. Children’s Social Environment in Roman Oxyrhynchos.’ in C. Laes, V. Vuolanto. Children and Everyday Life in the Roman and Late Antique World. pp.79-96.

AJ. Pudsey (2015). ‘Children and families in late Roman Egypt: family and everyday life in monastic contexts.’ in C. Laes, K. Mustakallio, V. Vuolanto.  Children and Family in Late Antiquity. Life, Death and Interaction. Peeters, pp.215-234.

AJ. Pudsey (2013). ‘Children in Roman Egypt.’ in TG. Parkin, J. Evans Grubbs. eds. Handbook of Children and Education in the Classical World. Oxford University Press, pp.484-509.

AJ. Pudsey (2012). ‘Death and the family: widows and divorcées in Roman Egypt.’ in L. Larsson Lovén, M. Harlow eds. Families in the Imperial and Late Antique Roman Worlds. Continuum, pp.157-180.

AJ. Pudsey (2011). ‘Nuptiality and the demographic life cycle of families in Roman Egypt.’ in C. Holleran, A. Pudsey eds. Demography and the Graeco-Roman World. New Insights and Approaches.. Cambridge University Press, pp.60-98.

AJ. Pudsey, C. Holleran (2011). ‘Introduction: Studies in Ancient Historical Demography.’ in C. Holleran, A. Pudsey eds. Demography and the Graeco-Roman World. New Insights and Approaches. Cambridge University Press, pp.1-13.

Media Coverage

I was a guest on the BBC Radio 4 'When Greeks Flew Kites' History programme podcast (May, 2018), and have been interviewed for the BBC World Service 'Newsday' programme (2015). Discussion of my work has also appeared in MailOnline and Der Spiegel

Social Media

@AprilPudsey

Country Focus

Expertise by Geography

Africa, Mediterranean

Expertise by Chronology

Ancient

Expertise by Topic

Children & Youth, Disability, Environment, Family, Gender, Migration & Immigration, Women