Sonya Orleans Rose (1935 – October 15, 2020) was an American historian and sociologist whose work focused on the

cultural history Cultural history records and interprets past events involving human beings through the social, cultural, and political milieu of or relating to the arts and manners that a group favors. Jacob Burckhardt (1818–1897) helped found cultural history ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

in the 19th and 20th centuries. She was particularly known for her contribution to women's and

gender history Gender history is a sub-field of history and gender studies, which looks at the past from the perspective of gender. It is in many ways, an outgrowth of women's history. The discipline considers in what ways historical events and periodization im ...

Career

Rose was born in 1935 and grew up in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. She received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from

Antioch College Antioch College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection and began operating in 1852 as a non-secta ...

and pursued postgraduate studies in

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

where she earned a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree in 1962 and a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in 1974. Her doctoral dissertation was entitled ''Managing uncertainty: The honeymoon period of new patients on an adolescent ward''. She began her academic career at

Colby College Colby College is a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine, United States. Founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, it was renamed Waterville College in 1821. The donations of Christian philanthropist Gardner ...

in 1974 before moving to the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

in 1993. As well as teaching sociology and

women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on Feminism, feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining Social constructionism, social and cultural constructs of gender; ...

, Rose became increasingly interested in

and, in particular,

in the context of the

in the 19th and 20th centuries. She published ''Limited Livelihoods: Gender and Class in Nineteenth-Century England'' (1992) which explored the relationship between gender and capitalism in a range of industries during the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

. Historian Angela Woollacott notes that according to Rose, class and gender are not separate systems or structures in 19th century industrial England, but the "content of class relations is gendered and the content of gender distinctions and gender relations is 'classed'". She also co-edited ''Gender and Class in Modern Europe'' (1996) and ''Gender, Citizenships and Subjectivities'' (2002). On the basis of an article in the ''

American Historical Review ''The American Historical Review'' is a quarterly academic history journal published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical Association, for which it is an official publication. It targets readers interested in all periods ...

'' in 1998, Rose published a major monograph on the cultural history of the United Kingdom in World War II entitled '' Which People’s War? National Identity and Citizenship in Wartime Britain, 1939–1945'' (2003). The work, focusing on nationalism and class, has been described as "one of the key interventions in the history of wartime Britain." It was inspired by Rose's own experiences in the United States at the time of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

and the outbreak of the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

. After this, she was involved in the "imperial turn" in British historiography and co-edited ''At Home with the Empire: Metropolitan Culture and the Imperial World'' (2006). Before her retirement to the United Kingdom, Rose wrote a synthetic studies of gender history entitled ''What Is Gender History?'' (2010) and co-edited ''The Oxford Handbook of Gender, War, and the Western World since 1600'' (2020).

Death

Rose died on October 15, 2020, in Sarasota, Florida, at the age of 84.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rose, Sonya O. 1935 births 2020 deaths University of Michigan faculty 21st-century American historians American women sociologists American sociologists Antioch College alumni Historians of the United Kingdom American historians of World War II Historians of the British Empire Cultural historians American social sciences writers American women historians Colby College faculty Northwestern University alumni