Julia Schmidt

In God we Trust? Support Networks of Unmarried Women in Colonial Cape Town

The project focuses on the visibility of unmarried women in early colonial Cape Town, addressing their complex social realities within a society heavily influenced by the Dutch Reformed Church. It is part of the joint project "Economies of Trust? A New Digital Infrastructure on the Urban Poor in the Cape Colony," funded by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung.

Unmarried women, whether they were free, manumitted, or enslaved, occupied a precarious social position in 18th century colonial Cape Town due to their lack of a male guardian. Premarital or extramarital sexual relations posed a threat to their honor. Enslaved women faced an additional layer of exclusion, as they were forbidden from marrying.
Through analyzing petitions that unmarried women made to the church council, together with baptismal registers and membership lists, the project uncovers the social networks of these women. Taking an intersectional approach, the project shows how different intersections of gender, religious belonging and legal status determined the social position of an unmarried woman in the Cape colony. In centering the experiences of unmarried women, the project highlights the support networks the women established, the strategies they employed to position themselves within different communities, and how they navigated the social dynamics and power structures of the colonial context.

2021–2026
PhD in History, Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies, Bonn University, Germany [Dissertation: Antonia Forster 1758-1823. Eine Intellektuelle Biographie]

2019–2020
MA in Public Archaeology, University College London, UK [Thesis on: Development-led Archaeology and Public Benefit A case study of effectiveness]

2016–2019
BA in History and Prehistoric Archaeology, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

2018–2019
ERASMUS+ Scholarship, Uppsala Universitet, Sweden

since 2026

Postdoctoral researcher with the project "Economies of Trust? A New Digital Infrastructure on the Urban Poor in the Cape Colony", funded by the Gerda Henkel foundation. Subproject "In God we Trust? Support Networks of Unmarried Women in Colonial Cape Town." 

2021-2025
Doctoral researcher, BCDSS, Bonn University, Germany

2019
Student Assistant at the Eurasia Department, German Archaeological Institute, Berlin

2017–2018
Student Assistant at the Eurasia Department, German Archaeological Institute, Berlin

since 2026

Postdoctoral Stipent of the Gerda Henkel foundation within the project "Economies of Trust? A New Digital Infrastructure on the Urban Poor in the Cape Colony," subproject "In God we Trust? Support Networks of Unmarried Women in Colonial Cape Town." 

2019–2020
Funding by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), Master abroad (Jahresstipendium für Graduierte aller wissenschaftlichen Fächer)

2018–2019
ERASMUS+ Scholarship, Uppsala Universitet, Sweden