Brian W. Refford PhD.

38 East Areba Avenue

Hershey, PA, 17033

Home Phone – 717-533-7039

Email – briwref@comcast.net

Education

PhD in History - Lehigh University (May 2005)

Dissertation: The Bonds of Trade: Liverpool Slave Traders, 1695-1775

Examination Fields: Britain, Early America, and 19th Century America

Recent College Teaching Experience

Adjunct Professor of History – Lehigh University, Department of History, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (August 2010 – May 2011) Courses Taught: European History to 1648 (History 11), England since 1688 (History 16), Revolutionary Europe, 1789 – 1870 (History 159)

Adjunct Professor of History –York College of Pennsylvania, Department of History and Political Science, York, Pennsylvania (August 2009 – May 2010) Courses Taught: Western Civilization I (History 219), Western Civilization II (History 220)

Adjunct Professor of History – Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Department of History, Indiana, Pennsylvania (January 2008 – June 2009) Courses Taught: History of the Modern Era (History 195)

Adjunct Professor of History – DeSales University, Department of Humanities, Center Valley, PA (August 2005 – December 2006) Courses Taught: Western Civilization to 1600 (History 201), Western Civilization since 1600 (History 202), and History of the British Isles (History 215)

Adjunct Professor of History –Lehigh University, Department of History, Bethlehem, PA (August 2005 – December 2005) Courses Taught: Revolutionary Europe, 1789 – 1870 (History 159)

Adjunct Professor of History – DeSales University, Department of Humanities, Center Valley, PA (August 2001 – December 2001) Courses Taught: Western Civilization to 1600 (History 201)

Lawrence Henry Gipson Teaching Fellow - Lehigh University, Department of History, Bethlehem, PA (August 2000 - December 2000) Course Taught: American History to 1865 (History 41)

Adjunct Professor of History- Lehigh University, Department of History, Bethlehem, PA (June 2000 - August 2000) Summer Session. Course Taught: American History to 1865 (History 41)

Graduate Teaching Assistant - Lehigh University, Department of History, Bethlehem, PA (August 1997 - May 1999)

Current Research Interests

American and Transatlantic History, Cultural History, Disability History, Digital History

Current Research Projects

At present, I am pursuing a research project that explores the cultural construction of medical professionalism between the 18^th and 19^th centuries, with particular emphasis upon the emerging specialty of neurology. My research examines the numerous ways that cultural perception shaped the attitude of Anglo-American physicians towards epilepsy and epileptics, and shaped their professional judgment. My research project, Degenerates, Lunatics, and Idiots: Cultural Perception, Epilepsy, and Medical Practice in the Anglo-American World, 1700 – 1848, argues that the cultural assumptions of bourgeois medical practitioners defined the clinical treatment accorded epileptics, many of whom – particularly the lower class and indigent – were frequently dismissed as degenerates, lunatics, and idiots.

Additional Professional Experience

Manuscript Review Editor and Board Member, Review of Disability Studies, Center on Disability Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa (2007 - 2014)

Advanced Placement European History Reader – Educational Testing Services, Kansas City, Missouri (2008 - 2014)

Researcher, Curator, and Docent - Chester County Historical Society (1992 - 1994)

Publications

Books

• The Bonds of Trade: Commerce and Community in the Liverpool Slave Trade, 1695-1775 (2008) Doctoral Dissertation published as a book
• Readings in the Western Tradition (2008)
• Degenerates, Lunatics, and Idiots: Cultural Perception, Epilepsy, and Medical Practice in the Anglo-American World, 1700 – 1848 (Pickering-Chatto, in preparation)

Book Chapter

 “A Model of Evolutionary Change: The Case of British Liberalism,” in Themes in Modern European History: Social Movements and Cultural Currents 1789–1945, ed. Vandana Joshi (Orient Blackswan, 2010)

Recent Articles, Reviews & Contributions

• 2010 Book Review, H-Disability, Gayle Davis, “The Cruel Madness of Love,” Sex, Syphilis and Psychiatry in Scotland, 1880 – 1930: The Wellcome Series in the History of Medicine (Rodopi, 2008)
• 2009 Book Review, Journal of British Studies, David Syrett, Shipping and Military Power in the Seven Years War (University of Exeter, 2008); Nicholas Rogers, The Press Gang: Naval Impressment and its opponents in Georgian Britain (Continuum, 2008)
• 2008 Book Review, H-Albion, Vincent Brown, The Reaper’s Garden: Death and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery (Harvard University Press, 2008)
• 2008 Book Review, Journal of British Studies, A. Roger Ekirch, At Day's Close: Night in Times Past (W.W. Norton, 2005)
• 2008 Contributor, Entries for “Suffrage Movement in Britain,” and “Emmeline Pankhurst,” in the International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest: 1500 to Present (Blackwell Publishing, 2009)
• 2008 Contributor, Entry for “Epilepsy” in The Encyclopedia of American Disability History, Susan Burch, editor (Facts on File, 2008)
• 2008 Book Review, Journal of British Studies, John Gascoigne, Captain Cook - Voyager between Worlds (Hambledon Continuum, 2007) 
• 2007 Contributor, Entries for “Beatrice Webb,” and “Sydney Webb,” in The Encyclopedia of the Industrial Revolution in World History (Facts on File, 2010)
• 2007 Book Review, H-Albion, Jeffrey Forgeng, Daily Life in Stuart England - Daily Life through History Series (Greenwood Press, 2007)   
• 2006 Contributor, Entries for “Warren Hastings,” “Enclosure Movement,” “Crop Adaptation in Early Modern England,” “John Wilkes” and the “Expansion of British Power in India” in World History Encyclopedia (Facts on File, 2007)
• 2006 Contributor, Entries for “North Tower - World Trade Center,” and “American Airlines Flight 11,” in One Day in History - September 11, 2001 (Harper, 2007)
• 2006 Contributor, Entry for “Liverpool Slave Trade” in The Encyclopedia of Slavery in the Americas (Facts on File, 2007)
• 2006 Book review, H-Albion, Giles Milton, White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa's One Million European Slaves (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005)   
• 2006 Contributor, Entries for “Liverpool Slave Trade,” “London Slave Trade,” “Slave Ship Captains” and “Zong Affair” in The Encyclopedia of the Middle Passage (Greenwood Press, 2007)
• 2006 Contributor, Entries for “Edward I, Edward II and the Origins of Parliament” and “Lancaster, York and the Wars of the Roses,” in The Encyclopedia of World History (Facts on File, 2008)
• 2005 Contributor, Entries for “British Slave Trade,” “William Davenport” in Encyclopedia of World History, (ABC-CLIO, 2008)
• 2005 Contributor, Entries for “Loménie de Brienne,” Feuillant,” and “Prohibitory Act” in The Encyclopedia of Revolutions, Uprisings, and Popular Movements, (Greenwood Press, 2007)
• 1999 Contributor, Entry for “Jay Treaty,” in Historical Issues Source File (University Publications of America – Lexis-Nexis, 2000)

Recent Presentations (2005 – 2010)

2010 Degenerates and Idiots: Social Class and Epileptology in Modern Britain, 1750 – 1900, History Research Forum – History Symposium, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa

2010 Perceptions of Epilepsy: Idiocy, Criminality, and the Lunacy Act of 1845, Humanities Research Symposium, York College of Pennsylvania, York, PA

2007 American Power and the Post-Soviet Expansion of the European Union, Joel Hyer Lecture, Chadron State College, Chadron, NE

2006 Middling Men of Trade, Patriarchy and the Common Weal in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Liverpool, 1600-1800 at the Middle Atlantic Conference on British Studies, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

2006 A Voyage to Angola: William Earle and the Liverpool Slave Trade, Middle Atlantic American Studies Association, Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg, PA

2005 Merchant Friends and the Social Construction of the Mid-Eighteenth Century Liverpool Slave Trade, Port Histories: British Society and Maritime Culture, Annual Conference of the Regional History Center of the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

Honors and Awards (1997 – 2014)

• Joseph Dowling Award for Best Dissertation of 2005, Lehigh University
• Grant to present a paper at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK
• Lawrence Henry Gipson Teaching Fellowship, Lehigh University 
• Dissertation Research Grant, Department of History, Lehigh University
• Dissertation Research Grant, Lawrence Henry Gipson Institute for Eighteenth-Century Studies, International Black Roots Conference at the University of Liverpool, UK
• Graduate Teaching Assistantship, Lehigh University
• Dissertation Research Grant, Department of History, Lehigh University
• Graduate Assistantship, Department of History, Lehigh University

Professional Memberships

• American Historical Association
• American Planning Association
• Society for Military History
• North American Conference on British Studies
• Middle Atlantic Conference for British Studies
• Disability History Association 
• Center on Disability Studies