A researcher, writer and educator, Susan works internationally. Her book, The Shawlies: Cork's Women Street Traders and the 'Merchant City' 1901 - 1950 (Four Courts Press, Dublin), examines how government policies designed to protect citizens and revitalise cities actually worked to criminalise and marginalise the poor women who sold food and clothing in the street market that was Cork's Coal Quay. Her articles and book reviews are found on leading social science blogs including the London School of Economics Review of Books, Discover Society, and Sociological Review. Her research and reviews have been published in international peer-reviewed publications.
Susan's lifelong concern with social justice issues, and interests in social policy and power imbalances, comes through in her writing and presentations. The broader topics she covers include women in the margins, gentrification and the displacement of the poor, food insecurity and class inequalities. She uses Michel Foucault's methods to 'emancipate histories', using archival materials to unearth and re-examine injustices of the past, and retell them from the perspective of those who were once silenced. She has also used insights culled in the classroom to write about power imbalances at work in schools and curricula, addressing the iconic question posed by Paul Willis: "Why do working-class kids get working-class jobs?"
At present Susan is working on projects that include urban change in the MENA and archival research methods. She is currently working on her next book, 'a certain class of business', a historical study of women street traders.
Susan's lifelong concern with social justice issues, and interests in social policy and power imbalances, comes through in her writing and presentations. The broader topics she covers include women in the margins, gentrification and the displacement of the poor, food insecurity and class inequalities. She uses Michel Foucault's methods to 'emancipate histories', using archival materials to unearth and re-examine injustices of the past, and retell them from the perspective of those who were once silenced. She has also used insights culled in the classroom to write about power imbalances at work in schools and curricula, addressing the iconic question posed by Paul Willis: "Why do working-class kids get working-class jobs?"
At present Susan is working on projects that include urban change in the MENA and archival research methods. She is currently working on her next book, 'a certain class of business', a historical study of women street traders.
PHOTO CREDITS:
Shawlies Tribute on Pope's Quay. Photograph by Susan (Cork, 2013)
Wallpaper: Wooden Cobblestones, Passage Saint-Maur, Paris Photographer: Poulpy
Link to photo: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wooden_Cobblestones,_Passage_Saint-Maur,_Paris_-_01.jpg
Link to license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.enNo changes have been made. Licensing terms allow for the copying and redistribution of the photograph in any medium or format.
PHOTO CREDITS:
Shawlies Tribute on Pope's Quay. Photograph by Susan (Cork, 2013)
Wallpaper: Wooden Cobblestones, Passage Saint-Maur, Paris Photographer: Poulpy
Link to photo: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wooden_Cobblestones,_Passage_Saint-Maur,_Paris_-_01.jpg
Link to license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.enNo changes have been made. Licensing terms allow for the copying and redistribution of the photograph in any medium or format.
Disclaimer: The views expressed on this site are my own.
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