Diana Paton

• History of the Caribbean
• slavery in the Caribbean
• gender history
• Obeah

Diana Paton FRHistS
Born	1969 (age 55–56)
Nationality	British
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Warwick Yale University
Institutions	The Queen's College, Oxford Newcastle University University of Edinburgh

Diana Paton, FRHistS (born 1969) is a British historian and academic. She specialises in the history of the Caribbean, including slavery, crime and punishment, gender history, and religion. Since 2016, she has been William Robertson Professor of History at the University of Edinburgh. She previously worked at The Queen's College, Oxford and Newcastle University, where she rose to be Professor of Caribbean History before moving to Edinburgh.

Education

Paton studied at Warwick University (BA) and Yale University (PhD). ^[1] Her doctoral thesis was submitted in 1999, and was titled "No bond but the law: punishment and justice in Jamaica's age of emancipation, 1780-1870". ^[2]

Academic career

Paton began her academic career as a junior research fellow at The Queen's College, Oxford. In 2000, she joined Newcastle University as a lecturer. ^{[3] [4]} She was promoted to Reader in Caribbean History in 2008, and to Professor of Caribbean History in 2015. ^[3] In July 2016, she moved to the University of Edinburgh where she had been appointed to the William Robertson Chair of History. ^{[3] [4]}

She is an elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS) ^[5] and an editor of History Workshop Journal . ^[6]

Selected works

• Paton, Diana (2001). "Punishment, Crime, and the Bodies of Slaves in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica" . Journal of Social History. 34 (4): 923–954. doi:10.1353/jsh.2001.0066. ISSN   0022-4529. JSTOR   3789424. PMID   18754158. S2CID   29531689.
• Paton, Diana (2004). No bond but the law: punishment, race, and gender in Jamaican state formation, 1780-1870. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN   0822334011.
• Scully, Pamela; Paton, Diana, eds. (2005). Gender and slave emancipation in the Atlantic world. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN   0822335816.
• Paton, Diana (2012). Obeah and other powers: the politics of Caribbean religion and healing. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN   978-0822351337.
• Paton, Diana (2015). The cultural politics of Obeah: religion, colonialism and modernity in the Caribbean world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-1107025653.
• Paton, Diana; Smith, Matthew J., eds. (2021). The Jamaica reader: history, culture, politics. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN   978-1478010494.

References

1. "CANCELLED: Inaugural Lecture - Professor Diana Paton". School of History, Classics & Archaeology. The University of Edinburgh. 23 September 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
2. Paton, Diana (1999). "No bond but the law: punishment and justice in Jamaica's age of emancipation, 1780-1870". ResearchGate. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
3. "About our staff: Professor Diana Paton". School of History, Classics & Archaeology. The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
4. "Projects: William Robertson Chair of History, The University of Edinburgh". Syllogism. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
5. "Fellows - P" (PDF). Royal Historical Society. January 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
6. "Editorial Board, History Workshop Journal". Oxford University Press. Retrieved 11 June 2025.