Letter From the Editors

Dear Reader,

The development of Issue 18, titled ‘Gender & Sexuality,’ has been characterised by significant changes. Over the past three months, the Editorial Team at EPOCH has undergone considerable shifts; the last of EPOCH’s founding members has now departed. Amy Louise Smith, our Art Director and Cultural History Editor, is now working with the editorial team of History Today. Additionally, our previous Coordinating Editor and Modern History Editor, Will Garbett, resigned in October after serving in that role since January. Beyond the Coordinating Team, our Maritime History Editor, Dabeoc Stanley, and Early Modern Editor, Sophie Merrix, have also stepped back from EPOCH to concentrate on their theses. Our Deputy Coordinating Editor, Anna Drury, has also resigned from her role in order to focus on her duties as PGR Rep in the History Department. We wish all of them the very best in their future endeavours!

In preparation for the next epoch of EPOCH, we have been restructuring the Coordinating and Editorial roles to clarify responsibilities and our processes. We are pleased to introduce our new Associate Editors: David Gott, Rob Campbell-Roscoe, Alex Pomeroy, Greg Florez, Chiara Mapelli, Aimée Wilkinson, Vincent Kennedy, Kaiyan Chu, Chris Sanderson, Mirka van der Boom, and Jimyeong-Kim Jin. Together, they represent PhD and, for the first time, MA students from various departments within Lancaster University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Although they had limited input on this issue, we look forward to collaborating with them moving forward. Additionally, we welcome Ed Moore, our former Medieval Editor, as the new Chairperson (previously known as Coordinating Editor).

There are a great number of articles in this issue that touch on aspects of Gender and Sexuality, from the local history of pride and protest in Lancaster to the manipulation of gender in propaganda. As with our other issues, the articles span across all periods and places and touch on themes of all sorts. Delve into the history of Feminist politics in Brazil, witness portrayals of the Aryan Woman and the Jewish man in Nazi propaganda and read about an unorthodox knighting ceremony. Other articles in this issue explore collaboration amid the US abortion wars, the British Empire’s Arctic policy after the First World War, early medieval deviant burials, Victorian efforts to avoid being buried alive and early Christian thinkers from Ancient Rome.

We hope you enjoy this issue of EPOCH and look forward to your reactions and discussions about our contributors and their work! Now that Issue 18 is out, we set our sights on Issue 19, ‘Art and Architecture’, out March 2025; keep an eye out on our social media pages for more CFPs and all the latest news from EPOCH!

Sincerely,

The Editorial Board.