58³Ô¹Ï

Dr Sarah Leith

Associate Lecturer in the History of Scotland and the Wider World, c.1707-c.1914

Email

sjhl@st-andrews.ac.uk

 

Biography

An historian of modern Scotland, I am especially interested in cultural history and the history of ideas. My research lies at the intersection of politics and culture, and I focus upon Scottish identity, print culture and environmental thought. Place, Culture and Scottish Nationalism: Agnes Mure Mackenzie in Modern Scotland, my first monograph, is forthcoming with Edinburgh University Press. The book explores the intellectual and political thought of the Scottish Literary Renaissance, and includes my reevaluation and reintroduction of Muriel Mackenzie, a Scottish Nationalist thinker, writer and historical novelist. I received my AHRC-funded PhD from the University of 58³Ô¹Ï in 2021.

My articles have been published within Burns Chronicle, Northern Scotland,  and Scottish Literary Review, while my book reviews have appeared within Northern Scotland and The Scottish Historical Review. I have also contributed pieces to edited collections and to the forthcoming Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Scottish Literature, including entries about organisations (Saltire Society and Scottish PEN), Scottish institutions (law, church and university) and writers (for example, Willa Muir, Neil Gunn and William Hutchison Murray.) 

Between 2024 and 2025, I was co-investigator for a Royal Society of Edinburgh-funded Small Research Grant project entitled 'A History of the Saltire Society: Setting and Achieving National Cultural Priorities'. My chapter for the edited collection resulting from this project is forthcoming. Additionally, I am a member of the Steering Group of the AHRC-funded .

From 2018 to 2025, I was for the Institute of Scottish Historical Research. As Communications Officer for the School of History, I was the editor of the 2023 and 2024 editions of the School's alumni magazine, The 58³Ô¹Ï Historian.

Previously, I have been employed as a Lecturer and Research Assistant at the University of Glasgow, working within its School of Critical Studies and its Centre for Robert Burns Studies. I have also been a Research Assistant for the University of 58³Ô¹Ï School of History's and projects. My blog posts for these 58³Ô¹Ï projects may be read via the previous links, while contributions to other projects may be found at , and the . 

As well as editing magazines and writing blog posts, my public engagement activities have included talks given at the Advocates Library (2025), the Saltire Society (2025) and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club's World Golf Musuem (National Sporting Heritage Day Lecture 2024). I have also been heavily involved with the School of History's Women's History Month, co-organising 2024's 'Changing Experiences: Early-career Women Historians at 58³Ô¹Ï, from the 1920s to now', amongst other activities. In 2024, I also co-organised, a collaboration between the School of History at the University of 58³Ô¹Ï and the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London; this event explored ways in which to conduct public history.

Teaching

Sub-honours

MO1008: Themes in Late Modern History (c.1776-2001)

HI1801: Scotland's History: Kingdom, Nation, People

MO2008: Scotland, Britain and Empire, c.1707-2000

HI2001: History as a Discipline: Development and Key Concepts

Honours

MO3264: Microhistories of a Global Nation: Scotland, c.1707-c.1843 (module co-ordinator)

HI4101: Communication in History (module co-ordinator)

HI4999: Honours Dissertation in History

HI4998: Honours Project in History

Postgraduate

SC5204: Building Britain: The Construction and Deconstruction of Britishness, 1707-2000

MO5152: Global Times - Plural Spaces 2

MO5602: Directed Reading in Modern History

HI5107: Directed Reading in Transnational History

MO5999: Dissertation for MLitt Programmes

MSt (Res) (primary supervisor)

I am undertaking the Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP).

Selected publications

• Dodd, L., Broun, D., Cairns, R., Finlay, J., Leith, S. & Sherrard, H., 30 Mar 2026, In: Journal of Legal History. 47, 1, p. 124-127

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Abstract › peer-review

• Leith, S., 28 Mar 2025, (Accepted/In press) Wiley Blackwell encyclopedia of Scottish literature. Carruthers, G. & Hansen, M. (eds.). Wiley-Blackwell

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary

• Open access
  Leith, S. J. H., 19 Oct 2025, In: Studies in Scottish Literature. 50, 1, p. 24-36

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Leith, S., 9 Sept 2025, (In preparation) Wiley companion to post-War British and Irish literature and culture. Bradford, R., De Ornellas , K. & Howells, D. (eds.). Wiley-Blackwell

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

• Leith, S., 3 Nov 2025, (Accepted/In press) Wiley Blackwell encyclopedia of Scottish literature. Carruthers, G. & Hansen, M. (eds.). Wiley-Blackwell

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary

• Leith, S. J. H., 10 Nov 2025, In: Burns Chronicle. 134, 2, p. 188-204

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Leith, S. J. H., 28 Mar 2025, (Accepted/In press) Wiley Blackwell encyclopedia of Scottish literature. Carruthers, G. & Hansen, M. (eds.). Wiley-Blackwell

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary

• Leith, S., 3 Nov 2025, (Accepted/In press) Wiley Blackwell encyclopedia of Scottish literature. Carruthers, G. & Hansen, M. (eds.). Wiley-Blackwell

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary

• Leith, S. J. H., 27 May 2025, (Accepted/In press) Scottish magazines and political culture, 1968-1999. Bell, E., Hames, S. & Petrie, M. (eds.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

• Leith, S., 19 May 2025, (Accepted/In press) Wiley Blackwell encyclopedia of Scottish literature. Carruthers, G. & Hansen, M. (eds.). Wiley-Blackwell

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary