Preserving sociability: negotiation and mediation in transatlantic Puritan correspondence networks, 1625-1649

Hall, Sarah (2019) Preserving sociability: negotiation and mediation in transatlantic Puritan correspondence networks, 1625-1649. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

This thesis offers a new perspective of puritan sociability from 1625-1649 in England and New England. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis, this thesis builds on our understanding of puritanism as inherently dynamic and develops the existing picture of the tools and mediums that puritans used to overcome the fragmentary potential they have often been remembered for. Exploring processes of mediation and negotiation in correspondence, this study examines the informal mechanisms utilised to overcome discord and distance in the early and midseventeenth century transatlantic. Crucially, the use of social network analysis brings to light the active roles played by the laity in the construction and maintenance of their communities and networks. In using letters, this work also highlights the extratextual life of correspondence, emphasising the vital structural roles played by bearers and also providing access to oral patterns of negotiation that were later reported in letters. Engaging with letters reveals the lesser known informal, quotidian practices of mediation and negotiation that took place alongside the discussions in print and pulpit. In doing so, this study demonstrates that notions of trust, evaluations of credibility and social credit, and conceptions of spiritual brotherhood underpinned and informed puritan sociability in this period.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of History
Depositing User:	Jennifer Whitaker
Date Deposited:	05 Mar 2020 09:49
Last Modified:	10 Dec 2022 01:38
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/74436
DOI:

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