معرفی
Laura Stokes is an Associate Professor of History at Stanford University, specializing in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Her research integrates economic, gender, legal, and social history with a focus on urban reform and persecution mechanisms. She leads the digital humanities project Panic and Pandemic in Early Modern Europe through CESTA (Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis).
- Education: Advanced Studies Diploma from Thomas Jefferson High School (1992), BA in History from Reed College (1996), MA (2001) and PhD (2006) in History from the University of Virginia.
Stokes' research explores the intersection of economic culture, social control, and the evolution of judicial practices in 15th-17th century Europe. Her work on witchcraft prosecutions and sodomy trials examines how legal systems weaponized fear and morality to regulate society. Current projects include A Social History of Greed in the Age of the Reformation, analyzing Basel court records, and the digital humanities initiative The Murder of Uly Mörnach, a microhistory in progress.
Her publications span witchcraft historiography, judicial torture, and epidemic responses, reflecting broad interests in European History, Social History, and Gender Studies. Stokes' methodological approach combines traditional archival research with digital data analysis.
As a Project Lead for CESTA, she leverages computational tools to study historical epidemics and their societal impacts. Her work bridges disciplinary gaps between legal, economic, and urban history to illuminate the dynamics of early modern social control.
