Women's Studies Research Groups

We have established two Women's Studies Research Groups which build on and develop the specific interests of Women's Studies faculty. One group is concerned with issues of women, migration, multiculturalism and feminist visions of human rights and the second group focuses on themes of gender, memory and modernity. The work of these groups is in its initial stages but will involve a number of specific projects, seminars and collaborative initiatives.

Women and global belonging:
migration, multiculturalism, and feminist
visions of human rights

The overarching questions that underpin the work of the Women and global belonging research group fall into two broad categories:

I.  Impact of 'globalisation' and notions of 'the global' on key discourses, categories of analysis, and in women's lives:

• How are discourses of gender, race and ethnicity, culture, class, economy and citizenship being refigured in the context of 21st century globalising forces and trends?
• What are the implications for diverse, concretely-situated women? 
• In what ways is the gendered public-private divide being recast and with what implications for the meanings and roles of work, families, friendships, and social networks?

II. Implications for feminist analysis and politics:

• What are the new feminist groupings, politics and analyses emerging globally in an era of intensified globalisation? 
• What are the implications of these trends for the development of feminist thinking and practice in Ireland?

In addressing these questions the group's work is organised around three cross-cutting research themes:

(i) Global culture, economy and migration

Research within this theme aims to understand the position of diverse women vis-a-vis the global economy with a special focus on the ways in which the global division of labour and gender-segregated labour markets shape women's life chances. It is also concerned with the re-working of gender by notions of 'the global'. Projects around this theme explore new and evolving patterns of gendered migration globally and the increasing cultural significance of migration in figuring gender, nation, citizenship and cultural identity.

(ii) Gendered configurations of 'home' and belonging

Traditionally, women have been integrally linked to territorialized narratives of nation and 'home.' As the role and meaning of the 'nation' is contested in the face of globalising trends, the work of the group around this theme identifies new gendered configurations of 'home' and belonging.  Specifically, projects consider the kinds of 'homes' and modes of belonging that are available to women in this so-called global age.

(ii)  Multiculturalism and transnational politics

A third core research theme considers the implications for diverse women of emerging definitions and experiences of the 'multicultural nation.' Projects in this area consider the implications for women of the interplay between culturally-specific claims to group rights and claims to universal human rights. Work on this theme also looks at the impact and role of international organisations (e.g. UN, International Labour Organisation, EU) and of transnational non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and social movements, as local-global arenas wherein new forms of cross-borders political identity, belonging and action occur.

Gender, Memory and Modernity

The Gender, memory and modernity research group is concerned with investigating four main themes: the changing relationships between modernity, gender and memory; life-narratives, memory and gender identity; shifting sites and techniques of memory (e.g. media and confession/testimony); the gendered uses of memory in individual and collective practice.