Staff Profiles

Introduction

I am primarily a social historian and my work focuses on the history of eighteenth-century leisure culture in the British Empire and transatlantic world. My research examines  spaces of sociability and performative display within the context of masquerades and fancy dress entertainments. I began my post as Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in May 2022 after completing my PhD at Newcastle University and working as an adjunct history lecturer in the USA (Arrupe College of Loyola University Chicago and National Louis University.

I am currently working on my first monograph on the eighteenth-century British masquerade. This work examines a wide range of textual and material sources that have been under-represented in an effort to construct a comprehensive, interdisciplinary social history of the entertainment and re-evaluate its place within elite sociability and leisure culture. 

I completed my doctorate at Newcastle University in 2020, and have taught courses on the history of Britain, North America, and global history in the USA (Arrupe College of Loyola University Chicago, National Louis University, and Moraine Valley Community College) and the UK (Newcastle University).  

Research Interests

• Leisure Culture and the Consumer Revolution, 1700-1810

• Material Culture and Dress History

• Colonialism, Empire, and Appropriation

• Enlightenment

• The Transatlantic World 

Education

• PhD History, Newcastle University

• MA History, University College London

• BA (Hons) History, Loyola University Chicago

Professional Affiliations

• British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies: Communications Officer and Member
• North American Conference on British Studies: Postgraduate and Early Career Representative and Member
• Royal Historical Society: Associate Fellow

Current Research

My current project, 'The Roots of Cultural Appropriation in Eighteenth-Century Leisure Culture', is funded by the Leverhulme Trust and examines issues of race, empire, and otherness within the context of leisure culture in the British Empire from 1750 to 1850. It examines how the commercialisation of costumed entertainments (masquerades and fancy dress balls) was instrumental in establishing and spreading practices of cultural appropriation. These leisure activities were crucial in expanding racialised stereotypes beyond the professional stage and print culture and into leisure culture, transforming the audience from passive observers into performers who could shape and perpetuate appropriation through participation and embodiment. Exploring these early roots of cultural appropriation responds to the need to decolonise practices in researching and teaching history and presents new interdisciplinary approaches to eighteenth-century studies that better reflect the tensions and complexities of histories of race and racial prejudice. 

I am also in the process of writing an open-access volume for Cambridge University's Elements series entitled, The Domino and the Eighteenth-Century British Masquerade: A Social Biography of a Costume. This volume presents new cultural, social, and economic perspectives on the eighteenth-century London masquerade through an in-depth analysis of the classic domino costume. Constructing the object biography of the domino through material, visual, and written sources brings together various experiences of the masquerade and expands the existing geographical, chronological, and socio-economic scope of the entertainment beyond the masquerade event itself.

Previous Research

My doctoral thesis and published work focus on the masquerade as an elite space of sociability where fashionable display, recognition, and conspicuous consumption were used to reinforce rather than transgress social identities and status hierarchies in Britain and its North American colonies. Although current scholarship constructed the masquerade as a potential space for social mixing, my work argues that the masquerade operated predominately as a space of elite sociability throughout the eighteenth century. It engages with a wide-range of textual and material sources to construct a comprehensive social history of this vibrant form of entertainment and to re-evaluate its place within elite sociability and leisure culture.

Awards 

British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, Career Development Award (£1500), March 2021

British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, Conference Award (£100), January 2017, 2018, 2020

Midwest Conference on British Studies, Walter L Arnstein Prize for Best Postgraduate Paper, September 2019

British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, President's Prize for Best Postgraduate Paper, February 2018

Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Georgian Papers Programme Fellow , July 2018

Institute of Historical Research, Friends Bursary (£450), 2017, 2018

Royal Historical Society, Postgraduate Research Fund (£750), 2017, 2018

American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, Travelling Jam-Pot Award ($300), 2017, 2018, 2019

Economic Historical Society, Research Fund (£330), 2017

• Kobza Meghan. The Domino and the Eighteenth-Century British Masquerade: The Cultural Biography of a Costume. Cambridge University Press, 2022. In Preparation.
• Kobza M. Women in Wartime: Theatrical Representations in the Long Eighteenth Century By Paula R. Backscheider [Book review]. Gender and History 2023, 35(2), 759-760.
• Kobza M. The Habit of Habits: Material Culture and the Eighteenth-Century London Masquerade. Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 2021, 50(1), 265-293.
• Kobza M. Dazzling or Fantastically Dull? Re-Examining the Eighteenth-Century London Masquerade. Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 2020, 43(2), 161-181.
• Kobza Meghan. George IV, Prince of Wales, and the Habits of the Masquerade. London: Georgian Papers Programme, 2019. Available at: https://georgianpapers.com/2019/04/10/george-iv-prince-of-wales-and-the-habits-of-the-masquerade/.