Her work on the representation of outsiders such as Jews, Turks and pirates in
Renaissance literature and culture has cast light on the complex and contradictory nature of contemporary attitudes to "others". She argues that allegorical allusions to domestic English political issues are important as well as the dominant view that literary representations played an important role in the shaping of a national consciousness. Her examination of two
early modern English "Turk" plays, ''
Lust's Dominion and The Turke'', notes the insight they provide to the domestic concerns of the culture they were produced within, including their negative depiction of Islamic men and their contribution to contemporary anti-Muslim sentiment.
Hakluyt Editorial Project In May 2008, a major interdisciplinary conference entitled
Richard Hakluyt 1552–1616: Life, Times, Legacy was convened by Jowitt and several colleagues, jointly organised by the
National Maritime Museum, the Centre for Travel Writing Studies,
Nottingham Trent University and the
National University of Ireland, Galway. This meeting examined the significance of the works of the 16th century English writer
Richard Hakluyt (1553—1616), best known for his promotion of
English settlement of North America. A major aim of the conference was to bring together a network of scholars to prepare a new edition of Hakluyt's
Principal Navigations, and a project was subsequently established to produce a multi-volume
critical edition on this work. In parallel, Jowitt co-edited a collection of 24 essays on Richard Hakluyt that was published in 2012. == Professional recognition ==