Staff profile

Peter was an undergraduate and postgraduate in the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge. He then taught at the University of Leicester and the University of Wales, Swansea before joining the staff at Durham in 1980. He is currently a Professor of Geography.

Peter's main research interests are the geographies of food and drink. The main approach throughout his career has been historical, and he has recently been developing interdisciplinary and international perspectives with colleagues in the International Commission for Research on European Food History. Peter is Senior Vice-President of the ICREFH.

In addition to the historical work, Peter has maintained strong links with South Asia, especially Bangladesh. Research here has recently included work on problems of drinking water quality. He is always pleased to consider applications for PhD research on South Asia.

Peter's most recent book is Liquid Materialies, published in January 2010 by Ashgate. This is a new type of food history that takes seriously the stuff in foodstuffs.

Future plans include a number of books and papers on constructions of 'quality' in food and drink and associated state interventions since 1850. Peter is also editing a history of animals in the city.

• 2007: KNOWLEDGE, ETHICS AND REPRESENTATION(£0.00 from The Wellcome Trust)
• 2006: Milk: Pure or Poisonous(£51425.00 from The Wellcome Trust)

Authored book

• Atkins, P.J. (2010). Liquid materialities: a history of milk, science and the law. Farnham: Ashgate.
• Atkins, P.J. & Bowler, I.R. (2001). Food in society, economy, culture, geography. London New York: Arnold.
• Atkins, P.J., Simmons, I.G. & Roberts, B.K. (1998). People, Land and Time. Arnold.
• Raw, M. & Atkins, P.J. (1995). Agriculture and Food. Collins Educational.
• Atkins, P.J. (1990). The Directories of London, 1677-1977. Mansell.

Chapter in book

• Atkins, P.J. (2012). A social history of the science of food analysis and the control of adulteration. In The Handbook of Food Research. Murcott, A. Belasco, W. & Jackson, P. Berg.
• Atkins, P.J. (2012). Animal Wastes and Nuisances in Nineteenth-Century London. In Animal Cities: Beastly Urban Histories. Atkins, P.J. Farnham, England: Ashgate. 19-51.
• Atkins, Peter (2012). Introduction. In Animal Cities: Beastly Urban Histories. Atkins, Peter Farnham, England: Ashgate. 1-17.
• Atkins, Peter (2012). The Charmed Circle. In Animal Cities: Beastly Urban Histories. Atkins, Peter Farnham, England: Ashgate. 53-76.
• Atkins, Peter (2012). The Urban Blood and Guts Economy. In Animal Cities: Beastly Urban Histories. Atkins, Peter Farnham, England: Ashgate. 77-106.
• Atkins, P.J. (2012). Food security, safety, and crises: 1920-2000. In A cultural history of food in the modern age. Bentley, A. Berg. 6: 69-86.
• Atkins, P.J. (2011). Communal feeding in war time: British restaurants, 1940-1947. In Food and war in twentieth century Europe. Zweiniger-Bargielowska, I., Duffett, R. & Drouard, A. Farnham, England: Ashgate. 139-153.
• Atkins, P.J. (2010). Lobbying and resistance with regard to policy on bovine tuberculosis: an inside/outside model of Britain, 1900-1939. In Tuberculosis Then and Now. Worboys, M. & Condrau, F. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press. 189-212.
• Atkins, P.J. (2009). Famine. In International encyclopedia of human geography. Kitchin, R. & Thrift, N. Oxford: Elsevier. 1: 14-20.
• Oddy, D.J. & Atkins, P.J. (2009). Conclusion. In The Rise of Obesity in Europe: a Twentieth Century Food History . Oddy, D.J., Atkins, P.J. & Amilien, V. Farnham, England: Ashgate. 223-233.
• Oddy, D.J. & Atkins, P.J. (2009). Introduction. In The Rise of Obesity in Europe: a Twentieth Century Food History. Oddy, D.J., Atkins, P.J. & Amilien, V. Farnham, England: Ashgate. 1-11.
• Atkins, P.J. & Stanziani, A. (2008). From laboratory expertise to litigation. The municipal laboratory of Paris and the Inland Revenue laboratory in London, 1870-1914: A Comparative Analysis. In Fields of expertise: a comparative history of expert procedures in Paris and London, 1600 to present. Van Damme, S. & Rabier, C. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press.
• Atkins, P.J. (2007). Le concept de lait sain en Grande-Bretagne et sa mise en oeuvre, 1900-1960. In Un aliment sain dans un corps sain: perspectives historiques. Audoin-Rouzeau, F. & Sabban, F. Presses Universitaires Francois-Rabelais. 273-287.
• Atkins, P.J. (2007). A tale of two cities: a comparison of food systems in London and Paris in the 1850s. In Food in the City in Europe since the Late Eighteenth Century. Atkins, P.J., Lummel, P. & Oddy, D.J. Farnham, England: Ashgate. 25-38.
• Atkins, P.J. & Oddy, D.J. (2007). Food and the city. In Food and the City in Europe since 1800. Atkins, P.J., Lummel, P. & Oddy, D.J. Ashgate. 1-10.
• Atkins, P.J. (2005). The Empire Marketing Board. In The diffusion of food culture in Europe from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Oddy, D.J. & Petráňová, L. Academia Press. 248-255.
• Atkins, P.J. (2004). Sir William Price (1865-1938). In New Dictionary of National Biography. Matthew, C. Oxford University Press. 325-326.
• Atkins, P.J. (2004). Edmund Charles Tisdall (1824-1892). In New Dictionary of National Biography. Matthew, C. Oxford University Press. 839-840.
• Atkins, P.J. (2003). Is it urban? The relationship between food production and urban space in Britain, 1800-1950. In The Landscape of Food: The Food Relationship of Town and Country in Modern Times. Hietala, M. & Vahtikari, T. Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society. 133-144.
• Atkins, P.J. (2000). Milk consumption and tuberculosis in Britain, 1850-1950. In Order and disorder: the health implications of eating and drinking in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Fenton, A. Tuckwell Press. 83-95.
• Atkins, P.J. (2000). The pasteurisation of England: the science, culture and health implications of milk processing, 1900-1950. In Food, science, policy and regulation in the 20th century. Smith, D. & Phillips, J. Routledge. 37-51.
• Atkins, P.J. (1996). A séance with the living: the intelligibility of the north Korean landscape. In North Korea in the New World Order. Smith, H. Macmillan. 196-211.
• Atkins, P.J. (1993). The dialectics of environment and culture: kimilsungism and the north Korean landscape. In Environment and Development: Views from the East and the West. Mukherjee, A. & Agnihotri, V.K. Concept. 309-332.
• Atkins, P.J. (1993). Causey Arch and the industrial revolution in North East England. In Geographical Studies and Japan. Sargent, J. & Wiltshire, R. Japan Library. 182-184.
• Atkins, P.J. (1986). Edwin White (1873-1965) milk wholesaler and retailer. In Dictionary of Business Biography. Jeremy, D.J. Butterworths. 5: 7740776.
• Atkins, P.J. (1986). Edmund Charles Tidsall (1824-1892) milk retailer and wholesaler. In Dictionary of Business Biography. Jeremy, D.J. Butterworths. 5: 534-536.
• Atkins, P.J. (1986). The production and marketing of fruit and vegetables 1850-1950. In Diet and Health in Modern Britain. Oddy, D.J. & Miller, D. Croom Helm. 102-133.
• Atkins, P.J. (1985). Sir William Price (1865-1938) milk retailer and wholesaler. In Dictionary of Business Biography. Jeremy, D.J. Butterworths. 4: 769-771.
• Atkins, P.J. (1985). Leonard Maggs (1890-1959) dairy company chairman. In Dictionary of Business Biography. Jeremy, D.J. Butterworks. 4: 81-82.
• Atkins, P.J. (1985). Joseph Herbert Maggs (1890-1964) dairy company chairman. In Dictionary of Business Biography. Jeremy, D.J. Butterworths. 4: 79-80.
• Atkins, P.J. (1984). Sir George Barham (1836-1913) milk wholesaler and retailer. In Dictionary of Business Biography. Jeremy, D.J. Butterworths. 1: 157-161.
• Atkins, P.J. (1984). Sir Robert Butler (1866-1933) milk and dairy products wholesaler and retailer. In Dictionary of Business Biography. Jeremy, D.J. Butterworths. 1: 531-533.
• Atkins, P.J. (1984). Arthur Saxby Barham (1865-1952) milk wholesaler and retailer. In Dictionary of Business Biography: a Biographical Dictionary of Business Leaders Active in Britain in the Period 1860-1980. Jeremy, D.J. Butterworks. 156-157.
• Atkins, P.J. (1978). The growth of London's milk trade c. 1845-1914. In The European cities and technology reader. Routledge/Open University. New Series 4: 208-226.

Edited book

• Atkins, P.J. (2012). Animal Cities: Beastly Urban Histories. Ashgate.
• Oddy, D.J., Atkins, P.J. & Amilien, V. (2009). The Rise of Obesity in Europe: a Twentieth Century Food History. Farnham: Ashgate.
• Atkins, P.J., Lummel, P. & Odddy, D.J. (2007). Food and the city in Europe since 1800. Aldershot: Ashgate.

Journal Article

• Atkins, Peter J. (2022). Navy victuallers and the rise of Cheshire cheese. International Journal of Maritime History 34(1): 196.
• Khan, Amanat Ullah, Hassan, Manzurul & Atkins, Peter J. (2014). International curriculum transfer in geography in higher education: an example. Journal of Geography in Higher Education 38(3): 348-360.
• Atkins, P.J. & Robinson, P.A. (2013). Coalition culls and zoonotic ontologies. Environment and Planning A 45(6): 1372-1386.
• Atkins, P.J. & Robinson, P.A. (2013). Bovine tuberculosis and badgers in Britain: relevance of the past. Epidemiology and Infection 141(Special issue 7): 1437-1444.
• Hassan, M.M. & Atkins, P.J. (2011). Application of geostatistics with Indicator Kriging for analyzing spatial variability of groundwater arsenic concentrations in southwest Bangladesh. Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A: Toxic/Hazardous Substances & Environmental Engineering 46(11): 1185-96
• Atkins, P.J. (2011). The material histories of food quality and composition. Endeavour 35(2-3): 74-79.
• Huda, K.M.S., Atkins, P.J., Donoghue, D.N.M.D. & Cox, N.J. (2010). Small water bodies in Bangladesh. Area 42(2): 217–227.
• Atkins, P.J. (2009). The history of food exchanges: a new agenda. Food & History 7(1): 111-124.
• Atkins, P.J. (2008). Fear of animal foods: a century of zoonotics. Appetite 51(1): 18-21.
• Atkins, P.J. (2007). Early experiments with school milk in Britain, 1900-34. Journal of Policy History 19: 395-427.
• Atkins, P.J., Hassan, M.M. & Dunn, C.E. (2007). Environmental irony: summoning death in Bangladesh. Environment & Planning A 39(11): 2699-2714.
• Nadiruzzaman, N. & Atkins, P.J. (2007). Infrastructure and poverty reduction: the Rural Maintenance Programme in Bangladesh. Indian Journal of Landscape Systems and Ecological Studies 30(2): 1-6.
• Atkins, P.J., Hassan, M.M. & Dunn, C.E. (2007). Poisons, pragmatic governance and deliberative democracy: The arsenic crisis in Bangladesh. Geoforum 38(1): 155-170.
• Bourdieu, J. Bruegel, M. & Atkins, P.J. (2007). ‘That elusive feature of food consumption’ historical perspectives on quality, a review and some proposals. Food & History 5(2): 247-267
• Hassan, M.M. & Atkins, P.J. (2007). Arsenic risk mapping in Bangladesh: a simulation technique of cokriging estimation from regional count data. Journal of Environmental Science and Health 42(12): 1719-1728.
• Isalm, T. & Atkins, P.J. (2007). Indigenous floating cultivation: a sustainable agricultural practice in the wetlands of Bangladesh. Development in Practice 17(1): 130-136.
• Atkins, P.J. (2007). Laboratories, laws, and the career of a commodity. Environnment and Planning D: Society and Space 25(6): 967-989.
• Atkins, P. (2007). School Milk in Britain, 1900-1934. Journal of Policy History 19(4): 395-427.
• Hassan, M.M., Atkins, P.J. & Dunn, C.E. (2006). Pattern of groundwater arsenic concentrations in diffrent aquifers. Oriental Geographer 50(2): 1-17.
• Huda, K.M.S., Atkins, P.J. & Dunn, C.E. (2006). Monitoring and spatial mapping of small water bodies using GIS and remote sensing. Oriental Geographer 50(2): 43-52.
• Atkins, P.J., Hassan, M.M. & Dunn, C.E. (2006). Toxic torts: arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh and the legal geographies of responsibility. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 31(3): 272-285.
• Hassan, M.M., Atkins, P.J. & Dunn, C.E. (2006). Social implications of arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh. Social Science and Medicine 61(10): 2201-2211.
• Atkins, P.J. (2005). Mapping foodscapes. Food & History 3(1): 267-280.
• Huda, K.M.S. & Atkins, P.J. (2005). The creation and uses of small water bodies in Bangladesh: case study of Shahjadpur Thana. Indian Journal of Landscape Systems and Ecological Studies 28(2): 1-7.
• Atkins, P.J. (2005). Fattening children or fattening farmers? School milk in Britain, 1921-1941. Economic History Review 58(1): 57-78.
• Atkins, P.J. (2005). The Milk in Schools Scheme, 1934-45: 'nationalization' and resistance. History of Education 34(1): 1-21.
• Atkins, P.J. (2004). The Glasgow case: meat, disease and regulation, 1889-1924. Agricultural History Review 52(2): 161-182.
• Hassan, M.M., Atkins, P.J. & Dunn, C.E. (2004). Suitable arsenic mitigation options in Bangladesh: voices of local people. Indian Journal of Landscape Systems and Ecological Studies 27(2): 1-7.
• Atkins, P.J. (2004). Interdisciplinarity and positionality: case studies from the social sciences. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 29(1): 1-4.
• Atkins, P.J. (2003). Mother's milk and infant death in Britain, circa 1900-1940. Anthropology of Food 2.
• Hassan, M.M., Atkins, P.J. & Dunn, C.E. (2003). The spatial pattern of risk from arsenic poisoning: A Bangladesh case study. Journal of Environmental Science and Health 38(1): 1-24.
• Atkins, P.J., Townsend, J.G., Raju, S. & Kumar, N. (1997). A geography of the sex ratio in India. Espace, Populations, Sociétés 2-3: 167-171.
• Kumar, N., Raju, S., Atkins, P.J. & Townsend, J.G. (1997). Where angels fear to tread? Mapping women and men in India. Environment and Planning A 29(12): 2207-2215.
• Gastoni, M. & Atkins, P.J. (1997). The Maltese food system and the Mediterranean. Geojournal 41(2): 127-136.
• Atkins, P.J. (1993). How the West End has won: the struggle to remove street barriers in Victorian London. Journal of Historical Geography 19(3): 265-277.
• Atkins, P.J. (1992). White poison? the social consequences of milk consumption, 1850–1930. Social History of Medicine 5(2): 207-227.
• Sheub, S.S. & Atkins, P.J. (1991). Crop area estimation: a comparison of remote sensing and census methods. Geography 76(3): 235-239.
• Atkins, P.J. (1991). Sophistication detected: or, the adulteration of the milk supply, 1850-1914. Social History 16: 317-339.
• Atkins, P.J. (1990). The spatial configuration of class solidarity in London's West End, 1792-1939. Urban History Yearbook 17: 35-65.
• Atkins, P.J. (1989). London's suburban directories, 1827 circa 1975. Publishing History 25: 73-88.
• Atkins, P. J. (1989). Operation Flood. Geography 74: 259-262.
• Atkins, P.J. (1989). The Covent Garden Ladies. Factotum 30: 10-11.
• Atkins, P. J. (1989). The compilation and reliability of London directories. London Journal 14(1): 17-28.
• Atkins, P.J. (1989). Eighteenth century London directories. Factotum 28: 12-16.
• Atkins, P.J. (1988). India's dairy development and Operation flood. Food Policy 13: 305-312.
• Atkins, P.J. (1988). London directories: a reassessment. Local Historian 18: 187-189.
• Atkins, P.J. (1988). Redefining agricultural geography as the geography of food. Area 20(3): 281-283.
• Atkins, P.J. (1987). The charmed circle: von Thünen and agriculture around nineteenth century London. Geography 72(2): 129-139.
• Atkins, P.J. (1977). London's intra-urban milk supply, circa 1790-1914. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers New Series 2(3): 383-399.
• Atkins, P.J. (1972). Moated medieval sites. Local Historian 10: 135-138.