Owen Davies (historian)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Owen Davies | |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 August 1969 Edenbridge, Kent, England, UK |
| Education | Sondes Place Comprehensive School, Dorking, Surrey |
| Alma mater | Lancaster University |
| Occupation | Professor in Social History |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Employer | University of Hertfordshire |
Owen Davies (born 1969) is a British historian who specialises in the history of magic, witchcraft, ghosts, and popular medicine.[1] He is currently Professor in History at the University of Hertfordshire[2] and has been described as Britain's "foremost academic expert on the history of magic".[3]
Reading Alan Garner as a child led Davies to be interested in magic. He studied archaeology and history at Cardiff University.[4] He went on to a Ph.D at Lancaster University. Completed in 1995, Davies's thesis looked at the continuation and decline of popular belief in witchcraft and magic from the Witchcraft Act 1735 to the Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951 (1991–1994).[5]
Career
Davies has authored and edited 15 books and numerous research articles.[6]
He has been a key collaborator in a number of large-scale historical research projects. From 2010 to 2015, Davies was Co-Investigator on 'Harnessing the Power of the Criminal Corpse', a Wellcome Trust funded project exploring "the meanings, treatment, and uses of the criminal corpse".[7] Davies was also a Co-Investigator on the major Leverhulme-funded project 'Inner Lives: Emotions, Identity, and the Supernatural, 1300-1900'.[8] Davies and University of Hertfordshire colleague Dr Ceri Houlbrook are currently Co-Investigators in 'Bottles Concealed and Revealed', an Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project investigating witch bottles.[9]
Davies has been based at the University of Hertfordshire since the early 2000s. In 2019, he instigated a Folklore Studies MA at the University of Hertfordshire, which is currently the only academic qualification of its kind in England and Wales.[10]
In 2020, Davies was elected President of the Folklore Society.[11]
