I am an environmental historian working at the intersections of animal history and frontier.
I am a PhD student in my first year at the University of Cambridge, where I will produce an environmental history of the expedition of Thomas de Grey, Sixth Baron Walsingham through Northern California and Southern Oregon (1871-1872) through the lens of animal history. I am in my third term as a member of the editorial team at the Network in Canadian History and Environment (NiCHE) working on The Otter blog, and run the Predator Microhistory Network, an interactive GIS project, with Dr Jessica DeWitt. I am a recent graduate of Glasgow University (M.Res., English Literature, 2019). I create, cultivate, edit and write in Cambridge, England where I live with my partner Nathanial and am managed by two beautiful cats. A list of work can be found here. She/Her.
The scope of my research interest lies principally in long nineteenth century histories which challenge and expand our understanding of the relationships between settlers, environment, and nonhuman beings to consider their greater ecological context. My favourite projects walk with predator histories and microhistories, both to do better service by them and as a means to explore the pathways and patterns by which human ideas about what we broadly conceive of as “nature” are formed, transmitted, and changed over time (including through examinations of gender, folklorics, and ocassionally, through ecocritical approaches). At NiCHE, I curate work which considers historical and folkloric multi-species connections. My work at Glasgow University evolved my Victorianism towards centering ecocritical approaches to reading and re-reading fictions and their afterlives for multispecies and environmental connection. Prior to my time at Glasgow, I worked as an English, Writing, and Creative Enrichment tutor in the Academic Resource Center for the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation in Brooks, California.
Thank you for your interest in my work and in our field. It is a special community I feel very fortunate to be a part of. I look forward to learning with you!
Instagram: @carolinecorinne.
Twitter (X): @c_the_abbott.
Bluesky: @carolineabbott.bsky.social.
With collaborative inquiries, or to pitch for The Otter, please contact me.
¿Tienes preguntas sobre historia ambiental o NiCHE? Hablo (y escribo) un poquito Español!
—
Tha mi ag ionnsachadh cànan mo sheanmhair.
Sto imparando la lingua di mia nonna.