Sophia Davis - Island Thinking: Suffolk Stories of Landscape, Militarisation and Identity

Cover image: Sophia Davis

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This book has been a long time in the making. It is largely based on a Ph.D. that I completed back in 2010, and it finally reaching the world owes a lot to Professor Nick Jardine, one of my mentors at Cambridge, who periodically and encouragingly nudged me in this direction. Nick was a wonderful support during writing the thesis, and an inspiring role model in the department, with his enduring capacity to find things fascinating and his devotion to teaching. I am also hugely indebted to Helen Macdonald for sparking my interest in the history of nature conservation and natural history and their weird entwining with military themes. Working with Helen during my M.Phil. both propelled my analytical and writing abilities and emboldened me to do the Ph.D., and it was a joy to have her energy, encouragement and guidance throughout the process of creating that thesis. Although I was based in history and philosophy of science, my work encroached increasingly on the territory of cultural geography, and I benefited greatly from discussions with Michael Bravo over in the geography department at Cambridge. Another cultural geographer to whom I am deeply thankful is Professor Hayden Lorimer, who examined the thesis and gave me a lot of time and support in developing postdoc ideas. Back on home turf, I am very grateful to Professor Simon Schaffer for a particularly helpful chat near the end of the thesis writing process. Simon was another very inspiring presence for me in the history and philosophy of science department through his generosity and openness to discussing with students.

That particular chat took place at the Eagle pub, at the end of our departments street, and where many a lively and thought-provoking discussion took place after our weekly departmental seminar. Both the Eagle and the tearoom up on the top floor of the department were key sites for my own intellectual development, and I am very thankful for having experienced such a warm, open academic atmosphere. My thanks go to Tamara Hug and all the staff at the department for their work in shaping it to be like that, and I greatly appreciated wide-ranging conversations there with my colleagues, particularly Leon Rocha, Rebecca Wexler, Nicky Reeves, Saffron Clackson, Ruth Horry, Josh Nall, Boris Jardine, Nick Tosh and Christina MacLeish. Some of them joined me for various trips to the Suffolk coast, including a field trip to Orford Ness with the departments Cabinet of Natural History, and Boris kindly supplied me with some photos from one of those trips. This book is also the product of explorations in second-hand bookshops, as well as wandering around Suffolk by car and foot.