Project description
Character as politics in Victorian Britain
In Victorian England, personal character was more than a private virtue. It was seen as the foundation of a peaceful society. But how did this idea shape real-world politics and reforms? Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the CHARMA project explores this question over 24 months. By analysing political texts and the reform efforts of the Unitarian community in Victorian Manchester, the project uncovers how ideals of character influenced education and social change. Through archival research and social network analysis, CHARMA bridges intellectual history and political philosophy with innovative methods. It sheds light on how character-building was not just moral talk, but a political strategy in times of upheaval.
Objective
This project (CHARMA) is a study of the political importance of the concept of personal character in Victorian England. CHARMA will be developed through a 24-month European Fellowship with the University of Manchester. The overarching goal of this project is understanding the relationship between the cultivation of individual character and the plans for building a peaceful society, at a time when Britain was experiencing rapid socio-economic and political change. To achieve this overarching goal, I divided my project into two sub-goals. My first sub-goal is understanding the Victorian discourse of character and its political importance through texts of early and mid-Victorian political thought. This study will be pursued by textual analysis. My second sub-goal is demonstrating that this concept influenced actual plans for educational and social reform. To do so, I will focus on a case-study: I will analyse the reform practices and institutions of a highly influential group of Dissenters, the Unitarians, in Victorian Manchester. This study will be pursued through archival research, using the vast collections in the University of Manchester Archive. I will also used social network analysis to trace the connections of Unitarians with different social groups and represent them graphically. This project will contribute to the fields of intellectual history, history of political thought and political philosophy. CHARMA's methodology is interdisciplinary, as it combines different fields, different kind of sources and a practice-based, bottom-up approach with a contextualist study of published texts. CHARMA also uses a mixed-methods approach and provides methodological innovation by introducing a new method, social network analysis, into the field of intellectual history.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
You need to log in or register to use this function
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
M13 9PL Manchester
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.