U of G History Professor Karen Racine has been invited to participate in two significant international projects.
For the first project, Racine will be the subject area editor for the Atlantic World for the Oxford Reference Encyclopedia in Latin American History.
As subject editor, she will define topics, suggest experts to write about them and review the submissions (which will also be peer-reviewed). Her area covers interactions among the people of Europe, Africa and the Americas, including topics such as the slave trade, pirates, exploration and discovery, and disease transmission.
Racine is also on the editorial team of a 15-year project to transcribe and publish the diaries and correspondence of lawyer, philologist and dissenter Henry Crabb Robinson. Born in London in 1775, he was known as the first war correspondent (covering the Peninsular War in Spain) and was friends with many important literary figures of the time. He began keeping extensive and detailed diaries in 1811, and continued for the next 53 years.
“His diaries are wonderful because he describes everything from the politics of the day to his experience going to the dentist,” says Racine.
She will provide expert commentary to the documents pertaining to Robinson’s time in Spain. The first volumes are scheduled to be published by Oxford University Press in 2018.