Bowen Ran, PhD candidate in the History Department, has been awarded a research bursary from the Society for the Study of Labour History (SSLH). This funding will support his archival research in the UK on the late social historian E. P. Thompson.
About the grant
Founded in 1960, SSLH is the UK’s leading organization dedicated to the study of labour history. It provides financial support to PhD students, postgraduate researchers, and independent scholars conducting research at the postgraduate level, as well as to BA and MA students undertaking archival and library research.
Archival research in the UK
Ran’s research explores the intellectual and sociopolitical context in which E. P. Thompson wrote his seminal work, The Making of the English Working Class. The bursary will enable him to visit the Hull History Centre and the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick, which hold Thompson’s correspondence with left-wing comrades such as John Saville, Eric Hobsbawm, Lawrence Daly, and E. E. Dodd. Additionally, records from the Extramural Department at the Leeds University Archive provide valuable insights into Thompson’s early years (1948–1955) as a history teacher. By examining these lesser-studied sources, Ran aims to shed light on how Thompson navigated his often conflicting roles as a polemicist, adult education teacher, and scholar.
About the recipient
Bowen Ran is a PhD candidate at the History Department. His PhD project examines the configuration of historical distance in politically engaged Anglophone historiographies from the 1960s to the 1990s, based on the historical narrative of three historians: Howard Zinn (1922-2010), E. P. Thompson (1924-1993) and Natalie Zemon Davis (1928-2023). He also works as a freelance academic translator, having translated numerous books, articles, and videos into Chinese.
- PhD student
