2002: BA Hons Anthropology, 2011: M.A. Hospitaller Studies, 2017: PhD History from the University of Malta. My research explores female entrepreneurship in early modern times. Publications 'Magdalene Nuns and Penitent Prostitutes' (BDL: 2013), 'Public Women: Prostitute Entrepreneurs in Valletta, 1630-1798' (BDL: 2018).
Four days after Christmas, on the 29 December 1773, Frà Giuseppe Agius recorded the news of the s... more Four days after Christmas, on the 29 December 1773, Frà Giuseppe Agius recorded the news of the sudden death of a certain Teresin Francesa in his diary. Teresin used to sell embroideries and miscellaneous items next to the main door of the Law Court in Valletta. At first glance this one-line inscription may seem insignificant. However, a closer reading reveals succinct details on one of Valletta's eighteenth century female entrepreneurs.
In early modern Malta, some men resisted patriarchal attitudes which oppressed women. Drawing upo... more In early modern Malta, some men resisted patriarchal attitudes which oppressed women. Drawing upon two cases lifted from primary sources, Dr Christine Muscat argues that written history has largely neglected the voices of men who manoeuvred patriarchal structures to empower women.
Four main Tridentine decrees are generally believed to have transformed female monastic instituti... more Four main Tridentine decrees are generally believed to have transformed female monastic institutions in the Baroque age. This essay takes up the task of engaging with these denominations in an explicit effort to understand whether the late sixteenth-century monastery of Santa Maria Madalena in Valletta portrayed the Counter-Reformation spirit of monastic seclusion and asceticism.
Legal regimes have been used to show how prostitutes were victims of the strictures and structure... more Legal regimes have been used to show how prostitutes were victims of the strictures and structures that controlled them. This paper argues that studying laws as simple responses to some perceived threat offers a blinkered and at times distorted view of the realities of how prostitution was regulated. A more meaningful understanding requires wider questioning. One way of reaching such an understanding is by looking at the ways laws pertaining to prostitution were implemented.
Four days after Christmas, on the 29 December 1773, Frà Giuseppe Agius recorded the news of the s... more Four days after Christmas, on the 29 December 1773, Frà Giuseppe Agius recorded the news of the sudden death of a certain Teresin Francesa in his diary. Teresin used to sell embroideries and miscellaneous items next to the main door of the Law Court in Valletta. At first glance this one-line inscription may seem insignificant. However, a closer reading reveals succinct details on one of Valletta's eighteenth century female entrepreneurs.
In early modern Malta, some men resisted patriarchal attitudes which oppressed women. Drawing upo... more In early modern Malta, some men resisted patriarchal attitudes which oppressed women. Drawing upon two cases lifted from primary sources, Dr Christine Muscat argues that written history has largely neglected the voices of men who manoeuvred patriarchal structures to empower women.
Four main Tridentine decrees are generally believed to have transformed female monastic instituti... more Four main Tridentine decrees are generally believed to have transformed female monastic institutions in the Baroque age. This essay takes up the task of engaging with these denominations in an explicit effort to understand whether the late sixteenth-century monastery of Santa Maria Madalena in Valletta portrayed the Counter-Reformation spirit of monastic seclusion and asceticism.
Legal regimes have been used to show how prostitutes were victims of the strictures and structure... more Legal regimes have been used to show how prostitutes were victims of the strictures and structures that controlled them. This paper argues that studying laws as simple responses to some perceived threat offers a blinkered and at times distorted view of the realities of how prostitution was regulated. A more meaningful understanding requires wider questioning. One way of reaching such an understanding is by looking at the ways laws pertaining to prostitution were implemented.
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Papers by Christine Muscat