Lauriane Cherki

Please tell us about your research project.
I am a second-year PhD candidate working on British penal transportation in a long 18th century, spanning from 1718 to 1812. I am trying to assess if penal transportation can be thought as a way to control and manage populations within the British Empire. I am looking at mental representations at work in the designing of the policy, its implementation, and the concrete impacts of this measure on local ("metropolitan") and imperial order.

Could you please tell us a bit more about your scholarship/exchange programme?
I have been awarded the monthly scholarship of the MFO for February. Thanks to this opportunity, I can spend my time here using the Bodleian's and local archives' manuscript collections, to study the logistics of implementing transportation at a local level, especially in Oxfordshire and neighbouring counties.

 

First impressions of Oxford/the University?
It is my first time in Oxford and I've been very impressed by the architectural and historical wealth of the city, as well as the quietness that reigns, despite the rich student and cultural life. It seems like the perfect setting to conduct research, alternating between immersion in historical sources, wandering around centuries-old colleges or peaceful meadows, like so many students before. In that thrilling environment, the MFO is also a place where I have felt at home, experiencing both its welcoming collective life and calming work atmosphere.