Participant Info

First Name
Meghan
Last Name
Kobza
Country
United States
State
IL Illinois
Affiliation
Newcastle University
Website URL
https://newcastle.academia.edu/MegKobza
Keywords
British History, Eighteenth Century, Transatlantic History, Masquerades, Social History, European Court Society, History of Leisure, History of Consumer Culture
Availability
Media Contact
Additional Contact Information
PhD
other credentials

Personal Info

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About Me

I am a doctoral candidate at Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK.

My research examines the social and economic history of the eighteenth-century London masquerade, which challenges the current depiction of the masquerade as a purely carnivalesque and debaucherous entertainment. Recent scholarship, including the seminal work by Terry Castle, suggests that the London masquerade was a space where all ranks of people could freely mix and openly transgress contemporary social and gender norms while in disguise. This understanding is heavily dependent on representations of the masquerade in contemporary novels, which use the entertainment as a climactic literary device and present a rather one-sided depiction. However, newspaper reports, personal accounts, and material culture reveal that the historical reality of the masquerade is more complex and elite than previously thought. Examining the masquerade’s commercial and material aspects, as well as its public and private applications will help uncover how the masquerade operated as an elite social space of the beau monde in its London and transatlantic contexts.

The data from this research will fill the existing gaps in knowledge of the masquerade and the larger social history of eighteenth-century London. While many spaces of sociability have received academic attention (coffeehouses, pleasure gardens, opera), the masquerade has been neglected. Examining the changes and consistencies of the masquerade’s social history will contribute to the ongoing dialogue about polite culture, the history of leisure, and the history of consumer culture.

Recent Publications

‘Dazzling or “Fantastically Dull”? Re-examining the Eighteenth-Century London Masquerade’, Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, online member access: https://doi.org/10.1111/1754-0208.12668

 

‘George IV, Prince of Wales, and the Habits of the Masquerade’, Georgian Papers Programme Blog, online access: https://georgianpapers.com/2019/04/10/george-iv-prince-of-wales-and-the-habits-of-the-masquerade/

Media Coverage
Country Focus
Great Britain, Early North America
Expertise by Geography
Atlantic, British Isles, England, United Kingdom, United States
Expertise by Chronology
18th century, Early Modern
Expertise by Topic
American Founding Era, Colonialism, Economic History, Material Culture