Currently, I’m a PhD candidate at the University of Tübingen. My PhD thesis focuses on the independence of Vermont, the perceptions of authority and measures of control as well as the interconnection to senses of belonging, violence, and cooperation in the second half of the 18^th century when the region was still as borderland a territory of conflict attached to New York.

As assistant researcher and lecturer at the University of Tübingen, I have taught several undergraduate courses on American history touching upon a range of issues and timeframes.

Both of my master’s degrees – one in American Studies and the other in History - I received from the University of Munich. Further, I received my bachelor’s degree in North American studies (major) and Language, Literature, and Culture (minor) from the University of Munich.

The Dark Side of Belonging: Violence and Place-Making on the New Hampshire Grants

Abstract: In 1772 John Munro, justice of the peace for Albany, described in a letter to the New York governor the discontent, threats, and violence he encountered at the hands of settlers as a result of executing his office. His tale reflects experiences of various other New York officials during the 1760s and 1770s who were responsible for serving New York authority in the so-called New Hampshire Grants – a borderland region to the northeast of New York. These conflicts originated in the controversy over the boundary between the colonies of New York and New Hampshire and with it the question of who had the right to jurisdiction. Once the British Crown settled the case in favor of New York in 1764 the conflict turned from an intercolonial rivalry over territory to violent discontent among the inhabitants and proprietors growing progressively into a local revolutionary movement. The eventual result was the founding of the independent state of Vermont.

While the prime focus in the sources concentrates on land titles and questions regarding the right to land possession there is a deeper layer to the conflict. The archival records reveal forms of identification, expressions of threat, in- and exclusion, attachments and affiliations – or in summary a variety of notions of belonging and place-making. The very question of spatial belonging forced and conditioned deliberations on social order and positionality. Further, the violence which ensued was a result of the debates over political authority, cultural origins and migration histories incorporating questions concerning belonging. It enforced perceptions of social and geographical place. The purpose of this paper is to detangle the dynamics of social and spatial place-making and the interdependence between belonging, rejection of governmental authority and violence. Considering Floya Anthias ideas on belonging, the paper highlights how notions of belonging in conjunction with violence and mechanisms of control serve to further socio-cultural differences, alienation and sustain, even foster, resistance.