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Neil Armstrong Senior Lecturer (History), School of Arts & Media T: 01642 384030E: n.armstrong@tees.ac.uk Research institute: Institute of Design, Culture and the Arts
Dr Neil Armstrong has a strong interest in the impact of modernisation and secularisation in everyday life, particularly the development of national, civic, urban and consumer cultures in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain.
These interests informed his doctoral research on the English Christmas in the long nineteenth century, now published as Christmas in Nineteenth-Century England (2010), which explores the origins of our deeply held notions of the traditional nature of Christmas and demonstrates how they were shaped by English modernity.
Neil has also published a series of related chapters and articles on Christmas, including a gendered reading of the relationship between fathering practices and the emergence of the modern Santa Claus icon, an analysis of trans-national cultural transfer in the development of Christmas rituals and an exploration of the role of the Protestant Churches in the development of the modern English Christmas.
Neil’s work on Christmas and religion has led him to a new project examining the cultural, social and political experiences of English Christian clerics in the twentieth century. The project addresses major issues including secularisation, the decline of civil society and the role of religion in the national culture. Notions of authority and leadership will also be explored, particularly in new and developing urban contexts: inner cities, housing estates, new towns and suburbs.
Neil welcomes enquiries from potential PhD students interested in the social, cultural and political history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain, particularly topics dealing with processes of modernisation and secularisation and the development of urban, civic and consumer cultures.
View Neil Armstrong's Publications on TeesRep