My writing and research explores the political and social history of the early modern Scottish state specifically in the late seventeenth century. The interconnected nature of the time period means that borders, security, the environment, social interactions, and people all feature in my research. I am especially interested in networks of communication, the intersectionality of borders and frontiers, and political determinism.
My current book project is focused on the North Channel (Irish Sea) and the communities who live on the margins whose experiences are crucial in determining the political reality of the late seventeenth century. Communities and individuals were integral pieces in a larger strategic plan in coastal policy at the national level. In addition, I am working on a larger digital humanities project for my research which involves mapping the late seventeenth century experience in Scotland from 1688-1697. Using spatial, environmental, and political analyses the project will be able to track people and policy across time and space during the period.
My most recent research has focused on what started as part of my dissertation. Spies, widows, locals, councillors, and sailors alike traversed the borders on the coastline. The information trade whether covert or not was incredibly important in the outcomes of the Scottish Revolution; war widows provide a lens to study women’s knowledge and participation in the political process; and Greenock played a very important role in policy for the larger coastline policy in a period of chaos and uncertainty. This research has been published in Britain and the World and Parliaments Estates and Representation.
My most recent work is here:
“Real and Imagined Enemies: The Privy Council and Prisoners of War, 1688-1708” The Scottish Privy Council from Revolution to Union, 1689 to 1708 ed. Allan Kennedy, Alastair Mann, and Alan MacDonald (forthcoming, 2025).
“Scrollytelling, Storytelling, and StoryMaps: Folding in the Story,” Gillian Macdonald, Dani Willcutt and Aubree Marshall, ACRL Critical Digital Humanities Cookbook (forthcoming, 2025).
“Sailors, Spies, and Sovereignty: Greenock’s Revolutionary Turmoil, 1688-1691,” Britain and the World 17, no.1 (2024): 23-41, https://doi.org/10.3366/brw.2024.0411.
“Bestowing charity: war widows and the privy council during the Williamite revolution in Scotland (1688-91)” Parliaments Estates & Representation (2023), https://doi.org/10.1080/02606755.2023.2279382.
“Black-boxes, flying packets, and espionage: the information trade and Scottish governance, 1689-91,” Parliaments Estates & Representation 40, no. 3 (December 2020): 269-289, https://doi.org/10.1080/02606755.2020.1853882
ResearchGate Profile here
