Dr. David Kennerley

Biography

David Kennerley is a College Lecturer in Modern British History at St John's College, University of Oxford. His research focuses on the social, cultural, and political significance of sound and music in the past, with particular attention to the sonic aspects of gender and political culture in the long nineteenth century. Kennerley teaches British, European, and World history from the late seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, employing various disciplinary approaches. His work addresses the methodological challenges of studying phenomena with a substantial impact on people in the past, particularly as sound is evanescent and cannot be directly studied through traditional printed, visual, and material sources. Drawing from musicology, sound studies, and sensory history, Kennerley investigates how individuals interacted with their auditory environment and how music-making illuminates aspects of material and bodily social experiences. His notable publication, "Sounding Feminine: Women's Voices in British Musical Culture, 1780-1850," delves into the complex entanglements of female vocality with class, religious, national, and gender identity in British musical culture. He is currently completing a book on the sound and music of the Chartist movement, examining how sonic experiences shaped Chartist politics and identity, especially the collective voice of the crowd within the Victorian soundscape.

Research Interests

Courses