James Adams

I received my BA in History and Politics and MA in History from the University of Leicester. My general interests are in eighteenth-century history, particularly on contemporary understandings and responses to sex, gender, and deviance in general.

My research is centred on the cultural history of sodomy in the eighteenth century - how it is perceived and spoken about orally and in print.

My current research is on the societal context of anti-sodomy discourse in eighteenth-century Britain. This explores the underlying fears, concerns, and anxieties relating to the nation state and to the interests of the broader national community in the discourse on sodomy. This project gives an in-depth focus on the relationship between anti-sodomy discourse and xenophobia, populationism, the moral panic surrounding alcohol, and religion, all focussed on what sodomy represented for the nation as a whole. This is a project that arose out of previous research at undergraduate and post-graduate levels, involving the language of sodomy discourse and courtroom defences at the Old Bailey.