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Department of Geography

Staff Profile

Professor Peter Atkins, MA, PhD (Cantab)

Professor in the Department of Geography
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 33 41865
Fax: +44 (0)191 33 41801
Room number: 228

Contact Professor Peter Atkins (email at p.j.atkins@durham.ac.uk)

Biography

Peter was an undergraduate and postgraduate in the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge. He then taught at the University of Leicester and the University of Wales, Swansea before joining the staff at Durham in 1980. He is currently a Professor of Geography.

Peter's main research interests are the geographies of food and drink. The main approach throughout his career has been historical, and he has recently been developing interdisciplinary and international perspectives with colleagues in the International Commission for Research on European Food History. Peter is Senior Vice-President of the ICREFH.

In addition to the historical work, Peter has maintained strong links with South Asia, especially Bangladesh. Research here has recently included work on problems of drinking water quality. He is always pleased to consider applications for PhD research on South Asia.

Peter's most recent book is Liquid Materialies, published in January 2010 by Ashgate. This is a new type of food history that takes seriously the stuff in foodstuffs.

Future plans include a number of books and papers on constructions of 'quality' in food and drink and associated state interventions since 1850. Peter is also editing a history of animals in the city.

Research Groups

Selected Publications

Journal papers: academic

Books: authored

Books: edited

Books: sections

  • Atkins, P.J. Lobbying and resistance with regard to policy on bovine tuberculosis: an inside/outside model of Britain, 1900-1939. In: Worboys, M. & Condrau, F. Tuberculosis Then and Now. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press; 2010:189-212.
  • Oddy, D.J. & Atkins, P.J. Conclusion. In: Oddy, D.J., Atkins, P.J. & Amilien, V. The Rise of Obesity in Europe: a Twentieth Century Food History . Farnham, England: Ashgate; 2009:223-233.
  • Atkins, P.J. Famine. In: Kitchin, R. & Thrift, N. International encyclopedia of human geography. Oxford: Elsevier; 2009:14-20.
  • Oddy, D.J. & Atkins, P.J. Introduction. In: Oddy, D.J., Atkins, P.J. & Amilien, V. The Rise of Obesity in Europe: a Twentieth Century Food History. Farnham, England: Ashgate; 2009:1-11.
  • Atkins, P.J. & Stanziani, A. From laboratory expertise to litigation. The municipal laboratory of Paris and the Inland Revenue laboratory in London, 1870-1914: A Comparative Analysis. In: Van Damme, S. & Rabier, C. Fields of expertise: a comparative history of expert procedures in Paris and London, 1600 to present. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press; 2008.
  • Atkins, P.J. A tale of two cities: a comparison of food systems in London and Paris in the 1850s. In: Atkins, P.J., Lummel, P. & Oddy, D.J. Food in the City in Europe since the Late Eighteenth Century. Farnham, England: Ashgate; 2007:25-38.
  • Atkins, P.J. & Oddy, D.J. Conclusion. In: Atkins, P.J., Lummel, P. & Oddy, D.J. Food and the City since the Late Eighteenth Century. Ashgate; 2007:251-253.
  • Atkins, P.J. & Oddy, D.J. Food and the city. In: Atkins, P.J., Lummel, P. & Oddy, D.J. Food and the City in Europe since 1800. Ashgate; 2007:1-10.
  • Atkins, P.J. Le concept de lait sain en Grande-Bretagne et sa mise en oeuvre, 1900-1960. In: Audoin-Rouzeau, F. & Sabban, F. Un aliment sain dans un corps sain: perspectives historiques. Presses Universitaires Francois-Rabelais; 2007:273-287.
  • Atkins, P.J. The Empire Marketing Board. In: Oddy, D.J. & Petráňová, L. The diffusion of food culture in Europe from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Academia Press; 2005:248-255.
  • Atkins, P.J. Edmund Charles Tisdall (1824-1892). In: Matthew, C. New Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press; 2004:839-840.
  • Atkins, P.J. Sir William Price (1865-1938). In: Matthew, C. New Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press; 2004:325-326.
  • Atkins, P.J. Is it urban? The relationship between food production and urban space in Britain, 1800-1950. In: Hietala, M. & Vahtikari, T. The Landscape of Food: The Food Relationship of Town and Country in Modern Times. Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society; 2003:133-144.
  • Atkins, P.J. Milk consumption and tuberculosis in Britain, 1850-1950. In: Fenton, A. Order and disorder: the health implications of eating and drinking in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Tuckwell Press; 2000:83-95.
  • Atkins, P.J. The pasteurisation of England: the science, culture and health implications of milk processing, 1900-1950. In: Smith, D. & Phillips, J. Food, science, policy and regulation in the 20th century. Routledge; 2000:37-51.
  • Atkins, P.J. A séance with the living: the intelligibility of the north Korean landscape. In: Smith, H. North Korea in the New World Order. Macmillan; 1996:196-211.
  • Atkins, P.J. Causey Arch and the industrial revolution in North East England. In: Sargent, J. & Wiltshire, R. Geographical Studies and Japan. Japan Library; 1993:182-184.
  • Atkins, P.J. The dialectics of environment and culture: kimilsungism and the north Korean landscape. In: Mukherjee, A. & Agnihotri, V.K. Environment and Development: Views from the East and the West. Concept; 1993:309-332.
  • Atkins, P.J. Edmund Charles Tidsall (1824-1892) milk retailer and wholesaler. In: Jeremy, D.J. Dictionary of Business Biography. Butterworths; 1986:534-536.
  • Atkins, P.J. Edwin White (1873-1965) milk wholesaler and retailer. In: Jeremy, D.J. Dictionary of Business Biography. Butterworths; 1986:7740776.
  • Atkins, P.J. The production and marketing of fruit and vegetables 1850-1950. In: Oddy, D.J. & Miller, D. Diet and Health in Modern Britain. Croom Helm; 1986:102-133.
  • Atkins, P.J. Joseph Herbert Maggs (1890-1964) dairy company chairman. In: Jeremy, D.J. Dictionary of Business Biography. Butterworths; 1985:79-80.
  • Atkins, P.J. Leonard Maggs (1890-1959) dairy company chairman. In: Jeremy, D.J. Dictionary of Business Biography. Butterworks; 1985:81-82.
  • Atkins, P.J. Sir William Price (1865-1938) milk retailer and wholesaler. In: Jeremy, D.J. Dictionary of Business Biography. Butterworths; 1985:769-771.
  • Atkins, P.J. Arthur Saxby Barham (1865-1952) milk wholesaler and retailer. In: Jeremy, D.J. Dictionary of Business Biography: a Biographical Dictionary of Business Leaders Active in Britain in the Period 1860-1980. Butterworks; 1984:156-157.
  • Atkins, P.J. Sir George Barham (1836-1913) milk wholesaler and retailer. In: Jeremy, D.J. Dictionary of Business Biography. Butterworths; 1984:157-161.
  • Atkins, P.J. Sir Robert Butler (1866-1933) milk and dairy products wholesaler and retailer. In: Jeremy, D.J. Dictionary of Business Biography. Butterworths; 1984:531-533.
  • Atkins, P.J. The growth of London's milk trade c. 1845-1914. In: The European cities and technology reader. Routledge/Open University; 1978:208-226.

Essays in edited volumes

Book chapters: online

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Supervises