Participant Info

First Name
Sonja
Last Name
Tiernan
Affiliation
Royal Irish Academy
Website URL
https://www.ria.ie/staff/dr-sonja-tiernan/
Keywords
Ireland, women, gender, sexuality, revolution and rebellion in Ireland
Additional Contact Information

Personal Info

Photo
About Me

I graduated from University College Dublin, where I completed a Higher Diploma, a Masters Degree and was awarded a PhD in 2007. Before moving to New Zealand to take up the Eamon Cleary Chair of Irish Studies and co-direct the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Otago, I was Head of Department of History & Politics at Liverpool Hope University. I have held fellowships at the National Library of Ireland, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Notre Dame, the School of Irish Studies at Concordia University, and the Moore Institute at the National University of Ireland Galway.

Funding from internationally bodies includes, the Department of Foreign Affairs Ireland, the Irish Research Council, the National Endowment of the Humanities USA, the Royal Irish Academy, Trinity College Hub and the Canadian Irish Studies Foundation.

My research area is modern Irish and British social history, especially gender and women’s history. I am a peer reviewer for UCD Press, Manchester University Press, Routledge and the journals Irish Historical StudiesHistory Research and Women’s History Review and an editorial board member of journals Breac: A Digital Journal of Irish Studies and Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Feminist Studies in Culture and Politics.

My publications appear in leading journals and I have authored and edited eleven books. Recent monographs include; Irish Women’s Speeches in two volumes published by University College Dublin Press (2021 & 2022) and The History of Marriage Equality in Ireland, was published by Manchester University Press in 2020.

A report authored by me and funded by the Irish Embassy in New Zealand, Mapping the Irish Community and People of Irish Heritage was published in December 2020.

Recent Publications

Monographs

Edited Collections

Edited Texts

Journal Articles

Book Chapters

  • ‘Gender and labour: “make men of you all,”’ in , John Cunningham, Francis Devine and Sonja Tiernan, Labour History in Irish History, (Dublin: Umiskin Press, 2023), 333-48.
  • ‘Nan Joyce and traveller rights activism,’ in eds., John Cunningham, Francis Devine and Sonja Tiernan, Labour History in Irish History, (Dublin: Umiskin Press, 2023), 306-10.
  • ‘Irish Christmas pie: “a dainty dish to set before a king?,”’ in ed Salvador Ryan, Christmas and the Irish: A Miscellany (Dublin: Wordwell Press, 2023), 166-69.
  • ‘“Two girls in silk kimonos” Constance and Eva Gore-Booth: childhood and political development,’ in eds., Mary O’Dowd and Siobhán Fitzpatrick, Sisters: Nine Families of Sisters Who Made Their Mark on Irish Life (Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 2022), 125-46.
  • ‘The (Out)Law of foreign adoption in Ireland: Jane Russell and her Irish baby,’ in ed., Salvador Ryan, Birth and the Irish: A Miscellany (Dublin: Wordwell Press, 2021), 281-84.
  • ‘“The mouthpiece of the ordinary woman”; empowering women through The Irish Housewife magazine,’ in eds., Mark O’Brien and Felix Larkin, Periodicals & Journalism in Twentieth-Century Ireland 2: a variety of voices (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2021), 203-19.
  • ‘“No Conscription Now! Or after the harvest”: Remembering Women and anti-conscription in Ireland and England,’ in ed., Oona Frawley, Women and the Decade of Commemorations (Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2021), 107-23.
  • ‘Sesame Street, Drag Queens and Religion: marriage for same-sex couples in Ireland,’ in ed., Salvador Ryan, Marriage and the Irish: A Miscellany (Dublin: Wordwell Press, 2019), 258-60.
  • ‘“The Revolt of the daughters?” The Gore-Booth Sisters,’ in eds., Alan Hayes and Marie Meagher, A Century of Progress? Irish Women Reflect (Galway: Arlen House, 2016), 65-86.
Media Coverage
Experienced contributor to radio, documentaries, TV, newspapers and magazines. Recent example Marriage Equality and the Oireachtas, Oireachtas TV, 25 May 2025. https://vimeo.com/1086752725/dcdc4a7b47
Country Focus
Ireland
Expertise by Geography
Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom
Expertise by Chronology
Modern, 20th century, 21st century
Expertise by Topic
Gender, Human Rights, Politics, Public History, Rebellion & Revolution, Sexuality, Women, World War I