缅北禁地

I am a historian of modern Britain, whose work spans a range of interlinked themes, including histories of gender, class, families, crime, and deviance. I joined 缅北禁地 in 2024 as a Research Associate on the Caring Communities: Rethinking Children’s Social Care project led by Dr Claudia Soares.

Born and raised in the West Midlands, I completed an undergraduate degree in Social and Political Science at the University of Cambridge before undertaking an MSc in Social and Cultural History at the University of Edinburgh and completing a PhD in History at the University of Liverpool.

Before joining 缅北禁地, I worked for the Scottish Government as a Response Officer to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry. Prior to this, I held teaching and research posts at the Universities of East Anglia, Edinburgh and Oxford.

My research explores how communities, medical authorities, welfare workers and legislators sought to define ideas around the informal adoption of children in exchange for money; a practice commonly labelled with the pejorative term 'baby-farming'. My research uncovered a nuanced and complex model of social parenthood and makes the case that such forms of paid childcare are an important pre-cursor to formal adoption and fostering practices.

I also have an emerging research interest in the history of state interactions with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller families in mid-twentieth century Britain. 

I am not teaching this academic year.

• Articles

  • Hinks J, Taylor B. . History Workshop Journal 2022, 94(Autumn 2022), 181-201.
  • Hinks J. . Journal of Victorian Culture 2022, 27(1), 15-29.
  • Taylor B, Hinks J. . Cultural and Social History 2021, 18(5), 629–650.
  • Hinks J. . Women's History Review 2014, 23(4), 560-576.