Dr. Jessica Patterson

Biography

Jessica Patterson is a historian specializing in intellectual culture and political thought. Her work to date has focused on the politics of the Enlightenment and the empire in the context of Britain's relationship with South Asia during the 18th and 19th centuries. Current research interests include the history of international law, Enlightenment conceptions of civilizational change, and radical politics. Her book, 'Religion, Enlightenment, Empire: British Interpretations of Hinduism in the Eighteenth Century', was published in 2021 as part of the Cambridge University Press series 'Ideas in Context'. In 2022, she received the Constance Blackwell Prize for the best monograph in intellectual history. Originally from Stockport, Jessica arrived at Cambridge as an undergraduate student, returning as a lecturer in History of Political Thought in 2020 after holding positions at Queen Mary University and King’s College London. She completed her AHRC funded PhD at the University of Manchester as a President’s Doctoral Scholar, and her research concerns intellectual history from the 18th to early 20th centuries, with a geographical focus on Britain, the British Empire, South Asia, and the Atlantic world. As an intellectual historian, she is particularly interested in how religious, legal, philosophical, and political thought developed within their historical contexts.

Research Interests

Experience