DrJennifer Wallis

I continue to work on many of the themes explored in my PhD on scientific practice in the 19th-century asylum, particularly the history of the postmortem. I am interested not only in postmortems as a practice but also in how they and the people who performed them have been understood in popular culture from the 19th century onwards. At present I am working on the history of postmortems within private houses during the 19th and early 20th centuries, and scoping out research on the history of surgery within the asylum.

Alongside this, I am an active researcher in the history of intoxication and drinking studies. My most recent forthcoming chapter explores the intersection of personal history, memoir, and historical work in an exploration of alcohol misuse.

Related to my research in the history of postmortem practice, I am currently undertaking collaborative research with artist Jason B. Bernard, on the history of execution postcards. We are interested in how such imagery was disseminated and consumed; the re-use and public display of such photographs; and the ways in which the use and discussion of such images has the potential to inform contemporary academic debates about ethics and how we do or do not 'control' images of death.