Dr Rachel Chin

  • Researcher Development Specialist (Writing and Communication) (Research Services)
  • Lecturer in War Studies (History)

email: Rachel.Chin@glasgow.ac.uk
pronouns: She/her/hers

Room 401, 1 University Gardens

Import to contacts

ORCID iDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369

Biography

My research focuses on 20th century Franco-British relations, in particular through the lenses of conflict and empire. My book, War of Words: Britain, France and Discourses of Empire during the Second World War (Cambridge University Press, 2022), explores the role of rhetoric as a strategic policy tool in the context of clashes over French imperial territory during the Second World War. My research on historic and contemporary Franco-British relations has appeared in The Conversation, Britain and the World, The European Review of History and the Journal of Contemporary History. I am currently embarking on new research examining the rhetoric around empire and imperial migration in the 19th and 20th century. This includes an RSE-funded project exploring the Chinese community in British Jamaica.

As a Writing Specialist with the Research Culture & Researcher Development team I coordinate non-discipline specific writing support for PGRs and Research Staff. This includes running a series of four academic writing workshops, hosting in person and online writing retreats and offering 1:1 writing support sessions for PGRs. Find out more about academic writing support. Find out more about or annual two-week writing festival Write of Spring.

Research interests

Research Interests

  • Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Imperial History (France and Britain)
  • Imperial Violence
  • The Second World War
  • Franco-British Relations
  • Migration, particularly in relation to empire 
  • Chinese migration to the Caribbean 
  • History and Memory

Current Projects

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2025 | 2024 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2018 | 2017
Number of items: 14.

2025

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 and Huneke, Samuel (Eds.) (2025) Reimagining Citizenship in Postwar Europe. Cornell University Press. ISBN 9781501779190

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2025) Empire and Global France during the Second World War. In: Middell, Matthias (ed.) French Globalization Projects. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, pp. 427-446. ISBN 9783666302176

2024

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2024) When you don’t know what to write. [Website]

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2024) So what? Supporting PGRs to write about why their research matters. [Website]

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2024) Researchers as writers. [Website]

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2024) La politique britannique et la construction d'une identité française libre: 1940-1941. In: Cornil-Frerrot, Sylvain, Faucher, Charlotte, Humbert, Laure, Piketty, Guillaume and Vaisset, Thomas (eds.) Françaises et Français libres: Une identité née de la pluralité. Presses Universitaires de Rennes. ISBN 9782753597068

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2024) H-Diplo Roundtable XXV-16 on Faucher, Propaganda, Gender, and Cultural Power. H-Diplo, XXV(16), pp. 5-8. [Book Review]

2022

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2022) War of Words: Britain, France and Discourses of Empire During the Second World War. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY. ISBN 9781009181013 (doi: 10.1017/9781009180993)

2021

Pastor-Castro, Rogelia and Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2021) France and the UK: behind two men scoring political points are teams of diplomats behaving like grown ups. Conversation, 3 Dec.

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2021) History and foreign policy: Franco-British cooperation towards Greek independence 1828-1830. Britain and the World, 14(2), pp. 151-173. (doi: 10.3366/brw.2021.0370)

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2021) Researching the History of Education and Education Reform in Britain Using Primary Source Documents. Documentation. Research Methods Primary Sources. (doi: 10.47594/RMPS_016).

2020

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2020) After the fall: British strategy and the preservation of the Franco-British alliance in 1940. Journal of Contemporary History, 55(2), pp. 297-315. (doi: 10.1177/0022009419846951)

2018

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2018) The Levant mandates and Charles de Gaulle's provisional government: power, culture and messages of imperial reform. European Review of History: Revue europeenne d'histoire, 25(2), pp. 312-329. (doi: 10.1080/13507486.2017.1409701)

2017

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2017) 'The real question at issue': Mers el-Kébir and the rhetoric of imperial confrontation in July 1940. In: Thomas, Martin and Toye, Richard (eds.) Rhetorics of Empire: Languages of Colonial Conflict After 1900. Series: Studies in imperialism. Manchester University Press: Manchester, pp. 91-107. ISBN 9781526120489

This list was generated on Wed Jun 18 14:48:16 2025 BST.
Number of items: 14.

Articles

Pastor-Castro, Rogelia and Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2021) France and the UK: behind two men scoring political points are teams of diplomats behaving like grown ups. Conversation, 3 Dec.

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2021) History and foreign policy: Franco-British cooperation towards Greek independence 1828-1830. Britain and the World, 14(2), pp. 151-173. (doi: 10.3366/brw.2021.0370)

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2020) After the fall: British strategy and the preservation of the Franco-British alliance in 1940. Journal of Contemporary History, 55(2), pp. 297-315. (doi: 10.1177/0022009419846951)

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2018) The Levant mandates and Charles de Gaulle's provisional government: power, culture and messages of imperial reform. European Review of History: Revue europeenne d'histoire, 25(2), pp. 312-329. (doi: 10.1080/13507486.2017.1409701)

Books

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2022) War of Words: Britain, France and Discourses of Empire During the Second World War. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY. ISBN 9781009181013 (doi: 10.1017/9781009180993)

Book Sections

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2025) Empire and Global France during the Second World War. In: Middell, Matthias (ed.) French Globalization Projects. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, pp. 427-446. ISBN 9783666302176

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2024) La politique britannique et la construction d'une identité française libre: 1940-1941. In: Cornil-Frerrot, Sylvain, Faucher, Charlotte, Humbert, Laure, Piketty, Guillaume and Vaisset, Thomas (eds.) Françaises et Français libres: Une identité née de la pluralité. Presses Universitaires de Rennes. ISBN 9782753597068

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2017) 'The real question at issue': Mers el-Kébir and the rhetoric of imperial confrontation in July 1940. In: Thomas, Martin and Toye, Richard (eds.) Rhetorics of Empire: Languages of Colonial Conflict After 1900. Series: Studies in imperialism. Manchester University Press: Manchester, pp. 91-107. ISBN 9781526120489

Book Reviews

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2024) H-Diplo Roundtable XXV-16 on Faucher, Propaganda, Gender, and Cultural Power. H-Diplo, XXV(16), pp. 5-8. [Book Review]

Edited Books

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 and Huneke, Samuel (Eds.) (2025) Reimagining Citizenship in Postwar Europe. Cornell University Press. ISBN 9781501779190

Research Reports or Papers

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2021) Researching the History of Education and Education Reform in Britain Using Primary Source Documents. Documentation. Research Methods Primary Sources. (doi: 10.47594/RMPS_016).

Website

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2024) When you don’t know what to write. [Website]

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2024) So what? Supporting PGRs to write about why their research matters. [Website]

Chin, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-3369 (2024) Researchers as writers. [Website]

This list was generated on Wed Jun 18 14:48:16 2025 BST.

Teaching

HIST4273 (The Second World War in History and Legacy)

HIST5069 (Theory and Reality in Western Warfare)