Dr Kit Candlin
Senior Lecturer
School of Humanities, Creative Ind and Social Sci (History)
- Email:kit.candlin@newcastle.edu.au
- Phone: (02) 0400717044
Exploring Liminal Borders and Revolutionary Realities
Dr Kit Candlin is Senior Lecturer in the History of the Americas at the University of Newcastle Australia. He is a past President of the Australian Association of Caribbean Studies and a member of the Centre for the Study of Violence.
Prior to his engagement at Newcastle, he held a four-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Sydney and was a research associate for one year at the university of Melbourne. He has written widely on Atlantic themes including American prisoners of war, free women of colour, refugees and slavery in the West Indies with a particular focus on the cross cultural and intercolonial dynamic of the Windward islands of the southern Caribbean. He is a recognized scholar of liminal borders and hinterlands in this broad region.
His first book entitled ‘The Last Caribbean Frontier, 1795-1815’ was released through Palgrave-Macmillan in June 2012. In 2016 he published along with Cassandra Pybus, his second book ‘Enterprising Women: Race, Gender and Power in the Revolutionary Atlantic 1770-1830’, through Georgia University Press. He is currently working on a history of the Fedon Rebellion that occurred in the British colony of Grenada in 1795. In addition to his new monograph Kit has just completed three articles that are currently under review. The first is entitled ‘Late Eighteenth Century Maroonage in Dominica and Grenada: A Comparison’ the second, ‘Same Sex Activity and Enslavement: A Case Study from Grenada 1765’ while the third is entitled ‘Fear, Dependency and Complicity in late 18th Century Grenada, 1784–1796’.
His most recent work is:
- ‘The Role of the Enslaved in the Fedon Rebellion’. Slavery and Abolition: The Journal of Slave and Post Slave Societies, (December 2018)
- ‘Sir John Gladstone and the Debate Over the Amelioration of Slavery in the British West Indies in the 1820s’ Journal of British Studies(January 2019)
- ‘The Connections Between Granada and Trinidad in the Age of Fedon 1783-1797’ The Journal of Caribbean History (January 2022)
- Refugees of the American War of Independence (2023) book chapter in The Cambridge History of the American Revolution (Cambridge University Press)
- ‘Tracing Women’s Lives: Choice and Constraint Across Grenada’s Fedon Rebellion of 1795’ (2023) in the Journal of the Early American History
- ‘American Prisoners of War in the Captive Atlantic, 1812-1815’
- (2023) (with Peter Hooker) in the Journal of Military History
- ‘A Little Rough in his Manner’: Two Captivity Narratives from Revolutionary Guadeloupe 1795 (2023) Caribbean Quarterly
In addition to his traditional scholarly outputs kit has also played leading roles as a designer and researcher in two documentary films ‘A Regular Black’ which interrogated the literary references to enslavement and the Caribbean in Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights and ‘The Queen of Demerara’ a pilot episode currently under review with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation which explores the life of Dorothy Thomas a free Afro Caribbean businesswoman in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Demerara. He has also played a leading role in creating the website Black Loyalists of the American War of Independence with Cassandra Pybus and Jim Sidbury at www.blackloyalist.info for which he was the lead researcher. He is a regular commentator on radio including JJJ, ABC Radio and RRR. He is also a frequent lecturer to high school students on all aspects of modern and early modern history.
Kit teaches broadly across all aspects of American History, European colonial history, the history of enslavement, gender in the colonial setting and racism. Adept at both modern and early modern history, Kit welcomes projects from candidates in all of these fields.
His most recent successful PhD supervisions include ‘Visible and Vocal: Afro Caribbean Women in British Society 1700-1800’ and ‘From Ship to Shore: American Prisoners of war from the War of 1812’
He is currently supervising:
- ‘Wealth, Waste, and the Alternate Vision of the Highlands put Forward by Robert Somers in 1847’ and ‘Psychoanalytic Cosmology and the Myth of the Hero’.
Exploring Liminal Borders and Revolutionary Realities
Dr Kit Candlin is Senior Lecturer in the History of the Americas at the University of Newcastle Australia. He is a past President of the Australian Association of Caribbean Studies and a member of the Centre for the Study of Violence.
Career Summary
Biography
Dr Kit Candlin is Senior Lecturer in the History of the Americas at the University of Newcastle Australia. He is a past President of the Australian Association of Caribbean Studies and a member of the Centre for the Study of Violence. Prior to his engagement at Newcastle, he held a four-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Sydney and wasa research associate for one year at the university of Melbourne. He has written widely on Atlantic themes including American prisoners of war, free women of colour, refugees and slavery in the West Indies with a particular focus on the cross cultural and intercolonial dynamic of the Windward islands of the southern Caribbean. He is a recognized scholar of liminal borders and hinterlands in this broad region.
His first book entitled ‘The Last Caribbean Frontier, 1795-1815’ was released through Palgrave-Macmillan in June 2012. In 2016 he published along with Cassandra Pybus, his second book ‘Enterprising Women: Race, Gender and Power in the Revolutionary Atlantic 1770-1830’, through Georgia University Press. He is currently working on a history of the Fedon Rebellion that occurred in the British colony of Grenada in 1795. In addition to his new monograph Kit has just completed three articles that are currently under review. The first is entitled ‘Late Eighteenth Century Maroonage in Dominica and Grenada: A Comparison’ the second, ‘Same Sex Activity and Enslavement: A Case Study from Grenada 1765’ while the third is entitled ‘Fear, Dependency and Complicity in late 18th Century Grenada, 1784–1796’.
His most recent work is:
‘The Role of the Enslaved in the Fedon Rebellion’. Slavery and Abolition: The Journal of Slave and Post Slave Societies, (December 2018)
‘Sir John Gladstone and the Debate Over the Amelioration of Slavery in the British West Indies in the 1820s’ Journal of British Studies(January 2019)
‘The Connections Between Granada and Trinidad in the Age of Fedon 1783-1797’ The Journal of Caribbean History (January 2022)
Refugees of the American War of Independence (2023) book chapter in The Cambridge History of the American Revolution (Cambridge University Press)
‘Tracing Women’s Lives: Choice and Constraint Across Grenada’s Fedon Rebellion of 1795’ (2023) in the Journal of the Early American History
‘American Prisoners of War in the Captive Atlantic, 1812-1815’
(2023) (with Peter Hooker) in the Journal of Military History
‘A Little Rough in his Manner’: Two Captivity Narratives from Revolutionary Guadeloupe 1795 (2023) Caribbean Quarterly
In addition to his traditional scholarly outputs kit has also played leading roles as a designer and researcher in two documentary films ‘A Regular Black’ which interrogated the literary references to enslavement and the Caribbean in Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights and ‘The Queen of Demerara’ a pilot episode currently under review with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation which explores the life of Dorothy Thomas a free Afro Caribbean businesswoman in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Demerara. He has also played a leading role in creating the website Black Loyalists of the American War of Independence with Cassandra Pybus and Jim Sidbury at www.blackloyalist.info for which he was the lead researcher. He is a regular commentator on radio including JJJ, ABC Radio and RRR. He is also a frequent lecturer to high school students on all aspects of modern and early modern history
Kit teaches broadly across all aspects of American History, European colonial history, the history of enslavement, gender in the colonial setting and racism. Adept at both modern and early modern history, Kit welcomes projects from candidates in all of these fields.
His most recent successful PhD supervisions include ‘Visible and Vocal: Afro Caribbean Women in British Society 1700-1800’ and ‘From Ship to Shore: American Prisoners of war from the War of 1812’
He is currently supervising:
‘Wealth, Waste, and the Alternate Vision of the Highlands put Forward by Robert Somers in 1847’ and ‘Psychoanalytic Cosmology and the Myth of the Hero’.
Qualifications
- PhD, University of Sydney
- Bachelor of Arts (Honours), University of Sydney
Keywords
- America
- Empire
- Slavery
- colonialism
- race
- revolution
- violence
- war
Languages
- French (Working)
Fields of Research
| Code | Description | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 430321 | North American history | 50 |
| 430304 | British history | 50 |
Professional Experience
UON Appointment
| Title | Organisation / Department |
|---|---|
| Senior Lecturer | University of Newcastle School of Humanities, Creative Ind and Social Sci Australia |
Invitations
Distinguished Visitor
| Year | Title / Rationale |
|---|---|
| 2016 | UON Rethink series "Is America in decline' |
Publications
For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.
Book (2 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 |
Candlin K, Pybus C, Enterprising Women: Gender, Race and Power in the Revolutionary Atlantic, University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA, 199 (2015) [A1]
|
Nova | |||
| 2012 | Candlin K, The Last Caribbean Frontier, 1795-1815, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 280 (2012) [A1] |
Chapter (2 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Candlin K, 'Refugees in the American War of Independence', Cambridge History of the American Revolution, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2023) | ||||
| 2016 |
Candlin K, Pybus C, 'Enterprising Women and War Profiteers: Race, Gender and Power in the Revolutionary Caribbean', War, Demobilization and Memory: The Legacy of War in the Era of Atlantic Revolutions, Palgrave Macmillan, London, UK 254-268 (2016) [B1]
|
Nova |
Journal article (12 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 |
Candlin K, Bell KC, 'Running from Bondage. Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America', INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SOCIAL HISTORY, 68 341-343 (2023)
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| 2023 |
Candlin K, 'Tracing Women's Lives: Choice and Constraint Across Grenada's Fedon Rebellion of 1795', Journal of Early American History, (2023) [C1] This article explores the levels of choice and constraint that structured women's lives during the Fedon Rebellion, a highly destructive conflict which broke out in the Briti... [more] This article explores the levels of choice and constraint that structured women's lives during the Fedon Rebellion, a highly destructive conflict which broke out in the British-held Caribbean colony of Grenada in 1795. The article explores the continuities and contrasts between the lives of free and enslaved women in the colony during the eighteen-month struggle and the differences between those who were revolutionary and those women more conservative. The article also underscores more broadly the power dynamics between those who were mixed race and free and those formally from enslaved community. The variety of archival sources that were created during the rebellion allow us to examine the role of women in this important colony at this critical time with more detail than might be expected. Even though the record was created largely by and for white men in a deeply divided colony, women appear surprisingly often and in all manner of guises. Considering this contested terrain this article highlights the options exercised by free black, mixed race and enslaved women in Grenada at the end of the eighteenth century. I argue that women exercised these options in ways that were both distinctive and particular to the colony at this time.
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| 2022 |
Candlin K, 'The Connections Between Grenada and Trinidad in the Age of Fedon 1783-1797', Journal of Caribbean History, 56 1-23 (2022) [C1]
|
Nova | ||||||
| 2018 |
Burnard T, Candlin K, 'Sir John Gladstone and the Debate over the Amelioration of Slavery in the British West Indies in the 1820s', Journal of British Studies, 57 760-782 (2018) [C1] Sir John Gladstone made a fortune as a Demerara sugar-planter and a key supporter of the British policy of amelioration in which slavery would be improved by making it more humane... [more] Sir John Gladstone made a fortune as a Demerara sugar-planter and a key supporter of the British policy of amelioration in which slavery would be improved by making it more humane. Unlike resident planters in the British West Indies, who were firmly opposed to any alteration to the conditions of enslavement, and unlike abolitionists, who saw amelioration as a step toward abolition, Gladstone was a rare but influential metropolitan-based planter with an expansive imperial vision, prepared to work with British politicians to guarantee his investments in slavery through progressive slave reforms. This article intersects with recent historiography highlighting connections between metropole and colony but also insists on the influence of Demerara, including the effects of a large slave rebellion centered on Gladstone's estates (which illustrated that enslaved people were not happy with Gladstone's supposedly enlightened attitudes) on metropolitan sensibilities in the 1820s. Gladstone's strategies for an improved slavery, despite the contradictions inherent in championing such a policy while maintaining a fierce drive for profits, were a powerful counter to a renewed abolitionist thrust against slavery in the mid to late 1820s. Gladstone showed that that the logic of gradual emancipation still had force in imperial thinking in this decade.
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Nova | ||||||
| 2018 |
Candlin K, 'The role of the enslaved in the fedon rebellion of 1795', Slavery and Abolition, 39 685-707 (2018) [C1] This article argues that the slave component of Grenada¿s Fedon Rebellion of 1795 has been somewhat overlooked in the scholarship. In reality, the Fedon Rebellion was an enormous ... [more] This article argues that the slave component of Grenada¿s Fedon Rebellion of 1795 has been somewhat overlooked in the scholarship. In reality, the Fedon Rebellion was an enormous servile revolt that cost the lives of some 7000 slaves over the course of its 18-month duration. This article argues that there were three distinct elements to the slaves caught up in this revolt: those that joined with the revolutionaries, those that remained loyal and those that sided with neither. This article also explores the varying source base for this conflict to argue that though partisan, the few sources that remain can tell us a great deal about the war and the slaves who took part.
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Nova | ||||||
| 2015 | Candlin K, 'The counter-revolution of 1776: Slave resistance and the origins of the United States of America', American Historical Review, 120 235-236 (2015) [C3] | |||||||
| 2012 |
Candlin K, 'Atlantic Creoles in the Age of Revolutions', AMERICAS, 68 446-447 (2012)
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| 2012 |
Candlin K, 'Freedom bound: law, labor, and civic identity in colonizing English America, 1580-1865', LABOR HISTORY, 53 305-306 (2012)
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| 2010 |
Candlin K, 'Transient women of the southern Caribbean 1790-1820', Callaloo, 33 476-497 (2010)
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| 2010 |
Candlin K, 'The empire of women: Transient entrepreneurs in the southern Caribbean, 1790-1820', Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 38 351-372 (2010) This article uses the details of those who fled to Trinidad from the violence of the Venezuelan war of independence in 1814, 1815 and 1816 as a prism through which to view female ... [more] This article uses the details of those who fled to Trinidad from the violence of the Venezuelan war of independence in 1814, 1815 and 1816 as a prism through which to view female agency in the southern Caribbean during first two decades of the nineteenth century. In particular it focuses on free coloured women as being able to exploit the poorly controlled edges of empire for their own advantage. Characterised by a self-reliant independence these women were at once highly mobile, independent and influential. These women have been marginalised in the histories of the region and yet this research suggests that they had a far more prevalent and powerful role in shaping its character and history than has been recognised to date. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.
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| 2009 |
Candlin K, 'The expansion of the idea of the refugee in the early-nineteenth-century Atlantic world', Slavery and Abolition, 30 521-544 (2009) This article highlights the differences in labour status given to various groups in the Atlantic region and argues that the word 'refugee' was repeatedly used to make th... [more] This article highlights the differences in labour status given to various groups in the Atlantic region and argues that the word 'refugee' was repeatedly used to make these descriptive distinctions. The article looks at the way an African-American bid for freedom affected the development of empire. The research emphasises the confusions inherent in the ending of the slave trade. By examining migration, we can see the increasingly exclusionary nature of the British Empire and its territorial space as well as the changes brought about by decades of instability. © 2009 Taylor & Francis.
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Grants and Funding
Summary
| Number of grants | 7 |
|---|---|
| Total funding | $437,000 |
Click on a grant title below to expand the full details for that specific grant.
20201 grants / $5,000
The Fedon Rebellion 1795 Book Manuscript Support$5,000
Funding body: Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle
| Funding body | Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle |
|---|---|
| Scheme | Strategic Network and Pilot Project Grants Scheme |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 2020 |
| Funding Finish | 2020 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | N |
20181 grants / $2,000
Association of Caribbean Historians Annual Conference, Barbados, 1-4 June 2018$2,000
Funding body: Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle
| Funding body | Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Kit Candlin |
| Scheme | FEDUA Conference Travel Grant |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 2018 |
| Funding Finish | 2018 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | N |
20151 grants / $5,000
New Staff Grant$5,000
Funding body: Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle
| Funding body | Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle |
|---|---|
| Scheme | New Staff Grant |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 2015 |
| Funding Finish | 2015 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | N |
20111 grants / $415,000
Enterprising Women : Gender race and Power in the Revolutionary Atlantic$415,000
Funding body: ARC (Australian Research Council)
| Funding body | ARC (Australian Research Council) |
|---|---|
| Project Team | cassandra Pybus, Kit Candlin |
| Scheme | Discovery Project |
| Role | Investigator |
| Funding Start | 2011 |
| Funding Finish | 2015 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | Aust Competitive - Commonwealth |
| Category | 1CS |
| UON | N |
20101 grants / $5,000
Andrew Mellon Visiting Fellow to the Virginia Historical Society $5,000
Funding body: Carnegie Mellon University
| Funding body | Carnegie Mellon University |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Kit Candlin |
| Scheme | Andrew Mellon Visiting Fellowship |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 2010 |
| Funding Finish | 2010 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | International - Competitive |
| Category | 3IFA |
| UON | N |
20071 grants / $3,000
The John Fraser Travelling Scholarship$3,000
Funding body: The University of Sydney
| Funding body | The University of Sydney |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Kit Candlin |
| Scheme | Research Grant |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 2007 |
| Funding Finish | 2007 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | Aust Competitive - Non Commonwealth |
| Category | 1NS |
| UON | N |
20061 grants / $2,000
The James Kentley Memorial Scholarship for History$2,000
Funding body: The University of Sydney
| Funding body | The University of Sydney |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Kit Candlin |
| Scheme | Research Grant |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 2006 |
| Funding Finish | 2006 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | Grant - Aust Non Government |
| Category | 3AFG |
| UON | N |
Research Supervision
Number of supervisions
Current Supervision
| Commenced | Level of Study | Research Title | Program | Supervisor Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Masters | Psychoanalytic Cosmology and the Myth of the Hero | M Philosophy(Cultural Studies), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Co-Supervisor |
Past Supervision
| Year | Level of Study | Research Title | Program | Supervisor Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | PhD | Visible and Vocal: Black Women in Eighteenth Century Britain c. 1707-1834 | PhD (History), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Principal Supervisor |
| 2021 | PhD | From Ship to Cell: American Mariners in Captivity and the Contest of American Identity During the Era of 1812 | PhD (History), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Co-Supervisor |
| 2020 | PhD | “Wild Humours of the Common People”: Violence and Sympathy in The Wars of the Three Kingdoms 1639- 1653 | PhD (History), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Co-Supervisor |
| 2020 | PhD | The Search for an Integrated Policy: Challenges to Australian National Interest in the Asia-Pacific, 1921–57 | PhD (History), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Co-Supervisor |
News
News • 7 Jun 2017
Call for papers: Historicising Violence
Historicising Violence: the Contested Histories of Present Day Conflict
A multidisciplinary conference convened by the Centre for the History of Violence at the University of Newcastle, Australia, to be held at the Rome Global Gateway, University of Notre Dame, Rome, 22-24 November 2017.
Dr Kit Candlin
Position
Senior Lecturer
School of Humanities, Creative Ind and Social Sci
College of Human and Social Futures
Focus area
History
Contact Details
| kit.candlin@newcastle.edu.au | |
| Phone | (02) 0400717044 |
| Mobile | 0400717044 |
Office
| Room | w 227 |
|---|---|
| Building | Behavioural Science BDG |
| Location | Callaghan University Drive Callaghan, NSW 2308 Australia |
NEWS • Jun 07.2017
Call for papers: Historicising Violence
Calling for contributions to this multidisciplinary conference, convened by the UON Centre for the History of Violence.