معرفی
Joseph Harley is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, Education and Social Sciences at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), where he serves as Course Leader for the MA History program. His research focuses on poverty, material culture, and consumption in Britain from the early modern period to the Victorian era. He has held academic appointments at the University of Derby and Leicester, and contributed to Heritage Lottery Fund projects.
Education includes a PhD in History from the University of Leicester (2016), MA from Warwick (2011), and BA from Leicester (2010). He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (2022) and Higher Education Academy (2020).
Research explores how the poor navigated material constraints, emphasizing their agency in shaping domestic environments through consumer choices. Notable works include At Home with the Poor (2024) and co-edited Objects of Poverty (forthcoming 2025). His work challenges perceptions of poverty as synonymous with deprivation, revealing intentional domestic investments.
Teaching spans undergraduate and postgraduate modules like 'Life in the English Workhouse' and 'Consumption and the World of Goods'. He advises PhD candidates on British history topics and maintains editorial roles with Urban History. Recent presentations include discussions on workhouse food systems and pauper inventories at conferences like the European Social Science History Conference (2025).
