- Our People
- Political Science & Sociology
Dr Anne Byrne M.A.
Contact Details
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Biography:
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Working in the School of Political Science and Sociology, I am a writer, teacher and photographer whose work is inspired by narrative inquiry, collaborative community based methodologies, ethno-biographic inquiry frames and the creative force that comes from the juxtaposition of history and story, image and text, art and ethnography. Epistolary narratives, women's writing lives, and the consequences of biographic and anthropological representational practices are one part of a present preoccupation. I am a member of the Advanced Research Consortium on Gender, Culture and the Knowledge Society (see http://www.genderarc.org/), and part of the 'Gender, Discourse, Identities' research cluster. |
Research Interests
| Dr Anne Byrne is a sociologist with research interests spanning self and social identity, singleness studies, social exclusion, rurality, participative research methodologies, group work and community relations. I have published on identity, single women, rural lives, poverty, feminist research methodologies and on aspects of the history of social anthropology in Ireland. Current research interests include socio-biography, auto/biography, art, archives and visual ethnography, working with photographs, diaries and letters of family and community life in Ireland across the twentieth century. My current
research ‘Narratives of Ireland’ involves a number of anthropological and
biographical projects including a
socio-biography of women’s lives based on women’s non-literary ‘autobiographies’
in the twentieth century, a visual ethnography of an Irish village, I am a writer whose work is inspired by narrative
inquiry, collaborative community based methodologies, ethno-biographic inquiry
frames and the creative force that comes from the juxtaposition of history and
story, image and text, art and ethnography. Epistolary narratives and the
consequences of biographic and anthropological representational practices are
one part of a present preoccupation. I am working on a number of 'Narratives of Ireland' projects that flow from these frames: 1. Writing Women's Lives An enduring scholarly interest in voice and personal narratives over the lifetime of my career has led to a current focus on women’s non-literary, non-fiction writing (eg. memoir or auto/biography). Letters, diaries, published and unpublished auto/biographies are an underexamined ‘resource’ and topics of investigation in their own right, that can help to understand women’s private and public lives in the change from ‘tradition’ to ‘modernity’. Women’s emerging and changing sense of self are traced in their epistolary narratives, diaries and autobiographies. National and international archival sources previously worked with, demonstrate how women write about aspirations and reflections on changes in maternal duties in the home, employment opportunities, education, the repression or liberation of sexuality, thoughts on motherhood, friendships and intimacy, political activity, farm life and experiences of institutionalisation for example. Differences in marital status, class, urban or rural settings and financial (in)dependence create furrows in women’s stories, marking how a life could be lived and on whose terms. These ‘documents of life’ troubling as they may be in terms of referentiality or truth status nonetheless provide a path to understanding how social change is negotiated by women as they write about negotiating power and authority in the family, community and with the state. Women’s capacity for agency and the consequences of this for future generations can also be traced in this form of inquiry. In these ‘found texts’, women write about the significant, personal and immediate events of their time creating a narrative path to the social, cultural, economic and political conditions in which women make their lives and in which future lives are made. 2. Social Anthropology in the South Galway and Clare The Harvard Irish Survey (1930-1936) made a significant impact on Irish archaeology, sociology and anthropology, marking the first appearance of an American interdisciplinary research team in Europe. Its influential publications set the terms of debate for years, shaping theoretical, methodological and empirical work in Irish archaeology, anthropology and ethnographic sociology.Through archival research and specifically working with the unpublished social anthropological diaries and letters of the Survey (Arensberg and Kimball), we can speculate on the theoretical, methodological and ideological constraints placed a range of anthropological data and narratives collected but not published. Materials on religious life, social and political conflict were observed by the anthropologists but not fully drawn upon in subsequent publications. Questions are raised concerning political and research relations at the site of research (at the level of church, state, community and household) as well as the relationship of the Irish study to the agendas of social anthropology, ethnography and sociology. The impact of field work and methodological practices on local communities and their descendants is also a concern. Anthropological and ethnographic research can be acquisitive and eroding. Little is returned while narrative traces and memories of the research and researchers still remain. The contemporary consequences of historical accounts of rural life on the making and shaping of Irish rural identity are also interrogated. Asking, from the perspective of the present, what can we learn from studying the archives of the past, the project examines the argument for a reflexive, participative anthropological practices. Specifically, the impact of working with anthropological field diaries and images with the sucessors of the communities studied is discussed, focussing on the methods, ethics and politics of returning archives of the past to the present. Beginning with the archives of the Harvard Irish Mission, the Rinnamona Research Group organized a community based exhibition of documents, photographs and rural artifacts pertaining to rural life in the 1930s (in association with the X-PO Kilnaboy project). How contemporary communities interact with visual and textual archives is significant. A key premise of this project is that research done in the community is returned to the community, is accessible and can be deployed to expand on community knowledges of people, place and land. 3. Living Images, Living Villages This is a visual ethnographic study of village life in contemporary Ireland.
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Book Chapters
| Byrne, Anne (1993) 'Revealing Figures - Statistics and Women' In: Smyth, A (eds). Irish Women's Studies Reader. Dublin: Attic Press. [Details] |
| Byrne, Anne, Edmondson, R, Fahy, K (1993) 'Rural Tourism and Cultural Identity in the West of Ireland' In: O'Connor, B and Cronin, M (eds). Tourism in Ireland - A Critical Analysis. Cork Ireland: Cork University Press. [Details] |
| Anne Byrne and Madeleine Leonard (Editors) (1997) 'Single Women in Irish Sociological Writing' In: Women in Irish Society: A Sociological Reader. Belfast, Northern Ireland: Beyond the Pale. [Details] |
| Byrne, A. (1999) 'Familist Ideologies and Difficult Identities' In: Cohen, M.; Curtin, N (eds). Reclaiming Gender: Transgressive Identities in Modern Ireland. St. Martins Press/Macmillan. [Details] |
| Byrne, A., Lentin, R. (2000) 'Introduction:Feminist Research Methodologies in the Social Sciences in Ireland' In: (Re)searching Women: Feminist Research Methodologies in the Social Sciences in Ireland, Institute for Public Administration, Dublin. Dublin, Ireland: Institute for Public Administration. [Details] |
| Byrne, A. (2000) 'Researching One An-Other' In: Byrne, A.; Lentin, R (eds). Researching Women: Feminist Research Methodologies in the Social Sciences in Ireland, Instituture for Public Administration, Dublin. [Details] |
| Byrne, A., Edmondson, R., Varley, T. (2001) 'Arsensberg and Kimball and Anthropological Research in Ireland: Introduction to the Third Edition' In: Arensberg, C.; Solon, K (eds). Family and Community in Ireland, CLASP. Clare, IRELAND: CLASP. [Details] |
| Byrne, A. (2005) 'Single Women In Ireland' In: Pelan, R.; Hayes, A (eds). Women Emerging: A Decade of Irish Feminist Scholarship. [Details] |
| Byrne, A. (2005) 'Rural Women in Ireland' In: Pelan, R.; Hayes, A (eds). Women Emerging: A Decade of Irish Feminist Scholarship. [Details] |
| Byrne, A. (2005) 'Equality in Local Development' In: Pelan, R.; Hayes, A (eds). Women Emerging: A Decade of Irish Feminist Scholarship. Women's Studies Centre Galway. [Details] |
| Byrne, A. (2008) 'Women Unbound: Single Women in Ireland' In: Yans-McLoughlin, V.; Bell, R (eds). Women Alone. USA: Rutgers University Press. [Details] |
| BYRNE, A., Shorthall, S. (2009) 'Gender and Sustainability in Rural Ireland' In: McDonagh, J.; Shorthall, S.; Varley, T (eds). A Living Country side-The politics of sustainable rural development. UK: Ashgate:Aldershot. [Details] |
Edited Books
| Byrne, Anne and Leonard, Madeleine (Ed.). (1997) Women in Irish Society: A Sociological Reader. Belfast, Northern Ireland: Beyond the Pale. [Details] |
| Byrne, Anne and Lentin, Ronit (Ed.). (2000) Researching Women: Feminist Research Methodologies in the Social Sciences in Ireland. Dublin, Ireland: Institute of Public Administration, Dublin. [Details] |
Peer Reviewed Journals
| Byrne, Anne (1991) 'Working with Rural Women'. Phoebe: An Interdisciplinary Journal Of Feminist Scholarship, Thoery And Aesthetics, 3 (1):5-14. [Details] |
| Byrne, A. (1991) 'Statistics - What do they tell us about Women?'. Ucg Women'S Studies Review, 1 :1-13. [Details] |
| Byrne, A. (1992) 'Academic Women's Studies in the Republic of Ireland- Some Pedagogical and Ideological Issues'. Women's Studies Quarterly, :15-27. [Details] |
| Byrne, A. (1995) 'Making Development Work for Women'. UCG Women's Studies Review, 3 :201-213. [Details] |
| Byrne, A., Owens, M. (1996) 'Family, Work and Community'. UCG Women's Studies Review, 4 :77-94. [Details] |
| Byrne, A., Byrne, P., Lyons, A. (1996) 'Inventing and Teaching Women's Studies: Considering Feminist Pedagogy'. Irish Journal of Feminist Studies, 1 (1):78-99. [Details] |
| Byrne, A., Owens, M. (1998) 'Gendering Rural Development'. Administration, 46 (3):37-52. [Details] |
| Byrne, A. (2000) 'Singular Identities: Managing Stigma, Resisting Voices'. Women's Studies Review, 7 :13-24. [Details] |
| Byrne, A (2003) 'Developing a sociological model for researching women's self and social identities'. European Journal Of Womens Studies, 10 :443-464. [Details] |
| Anne Byrne and Deborah Carr (2005) 'Caught in the Cultural Lag: The Stigma of Singlehood'. Psychological Inquiry, 16 (2,3):84-91. [Details] |
| Byrne, A., Canavan, J., Millar, M. (2009) 'Participatory research and the Voice Centered Relational Method of data analysis: Is it worth it?'. International Journal Of Social Research Methodology, 12 (1):67-77. [Details] |
| Byrne, Anne (2011) 'Echanges épistolaires en anthropologie : l’enquête Harvard-Irlande/ Letters in anthropological research: the Harvard-Irish Survey (1930-1936)'. Ethnologie Française, 4 (2):241-252. [Details] |
| Byrne, Anne and Deirdre O'Mahony (2011) 'Family and Community: (Re)Telling Our Own Story'. Journal Of Family Issues, 4 (2):241-252. [Details] |
Other Journals
| Macken Walshe, Aine (Lead Author), Byrne, A (et al.) (2010) 'Understanding and facilitating farmer’s adoption of technologies' T-Research (Teagasc) 5 (3) :34-35. [Details] |
Conference Publications
| Byrne, A, Divilly, B, Jones, T. (1987) Gender and the Development of the Young Adult in Physical Education Physical Education Association of Ireland Annual Conference proceedings [Details] |
| Byrne, Anne (1991) Working for the Health of Rural Women The Future for Health Promotion, Centre for Health Promotion Studies, UCG, Galway , pp.77-97 [Details] |
| Byrne, Anne (1995) Unequal development - the case of rural women in Ireland Equality Policies and Social Change in Ireland, North and South [Details] |
| Byrne, Anne (1995) Issues for Irish Feminist Pedagogy . In: Lentin, R eds. In from the shadows: UL Women's Studies Collection , pp.24-40 [Details] |
Published Reports
| Byrne, Anne (1987) Adult Education Courses in and through the medium of Irish in Gaeltacht Areas. AONTAS, Dublin Ireland. [Details] |
| Byrne, Anne et al. (1988) Profiles of Poverty: Family poverty in the West of Ireland. Combat Poverty Agency, Dublin, Ireland, Dublin, Ireland. [Details] |
| Byrne, Anne (1989) The Socio-Economic Status of Single Women in Ireland: national expert advisor contribution to a report for the European Commission. University of Bath, England, University of Bath, England. [Details] |
| Byrne, Anne (1989) Report on the Tribunal on Women's Poverty. Combat Poverty Agency, Dublin Ireland. [Details] |
| Byrne, Anne (1989) Women and Poverty: The Statistics of Low Pay, Social Welfare and Health. Council for the Status of Women, Dublin Irealnd. [Details] |
| Byrne, A, Laver, M, Forde, C, Cassidy, L, Keane, M, O'Conneide, M (1991) North-West Connemara: A Baseline Study of Poverty. Social Sciences Research Centre, UCG, Galway, Ireland. [Details] |
| Byrne, A, Owens, M, Lymer, B (1995) Rural Women's Research Project: Final Report Republic of Ireland. Co-operation North/UCG Women's Studies Centre, Dublin. [Details] |
| Byrne, Anne, Keher-Dillon, N. (1996) Academic don't have babies: An Examination of Maternity Leave among Female Academics. Irish Federation of University Teachers/SSRC NUIG, Dublin. [Details] |
| Byrne, Anne (1996) Rural Gender Equality (Towards Gender Equality in Integrated Local Development). Area Development Management, Dublin. [Details] |
| Byrne, A, Canavan, J, Millar, M (2003) Researching Our Lives: Developing Inclusive Research Methodologies, Testing the Voice Centered Relational Method of data analysis in a collaborative project on early school leaving. Combat Poverty Agency Research Initiative Series, Dublin. [Details] |
Book Review
| Byrne, Anne (1991) Review of Women and Poverty (Mary Daly). Published in Irish Journal of Sociology, Vol 1, 1991, 163-164. Book Review [Details] |
| Byrne, Anne (1991) Review of The Emigrant Experience (Gearoid O Tuathaigh et al. ). Published in The Irish Reporter. Book Review [Details] |
| Byrne, Anne (1996) Review of Marital Breakdown and family Law in Ireland (Fahy, T and Lyons, M 1995). Published in Irish Journal of Sociology, Vol 6, 1996, 220-223. Book Review [Details] |
| Byrne, Anne (2002) Review of Contesting politics: women in Ireland, north and south (Galligan, Y, Ward, E and Wilford, R 1999) Published in Gender and Society. Book Review [Details] |
Media
Byrne, A, Moroney, M, Whelan, F, Roche, S, Ruane, J, Whelan, F (Rinnamona Research Group) (2008) Month long multi-media exhibition, Successors Read Predecessors at the X-PO Kilnaboy Co Clare. See http://x-pokilnaboy.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_archive.html. Media  [Details] |
Non Published Reports
| Byrne, A., Canavan, J., & Millar, M. (2004) Developing inclusive research methodologies: testing the voice centred relational method of qualitative data analysis in a collaborative research project on early school leaving. Political Science and Sociology, NUI, Galway; Child & Family Research and Policy Unit, WHB/ NUI Galway. Non Published Reports [Details] |
Honours and Awards
| Year: 2003. Title: Associate Felllow of Masculinities, Femininities and Sexualities Seminar, 2003-2004 Institute for Research on Women, Rutgers State University of New Jersey. |
| Year: 1992. Title: Artist-in-Residence, Visiting Professor Irish Studies Programme,Villanova University, PA, USA. |
| Year: 1995. Title: Visiting Scholar; EOTVOS Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary. |
| Year: 2006. Title: Senior Research Fellow, Narrative of Ireland Project (IRCHSS) |
| Year: 2003. Title: Senior Research Fellow RCHA : Gendered Passages in Historical Perspectives: Single Women 2003-2004 Project |
| Year: 2012. Title: Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for Life History and Life Writing Research, University of Sussex |
Associations
| Association: Irish Journal of Sociology (Sociological Association of Ireland), Function/Role: Member of the Editorial Advisory Board (current) |
| Association: Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain, Function/Role: Ordinary member (current) |
| Association: Auto/Biography Study Group (British Sociological Association UK), Function/Role: ordinary member (current) |
Conference Contributions
| SAI Annual Conference 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989. (1986) Conference Organising Committee Member. [Conference Organising Committee Member], Sociological Association Annual Conferences, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, Various throughout Ireland , 02-MAY-86 - 05-MAY-89. |
| Byrne, Anne (2004) The Irish-American Research Connection: The Harvard-Irish Mission 1930-1936. [Invited Lecture], Rutgers Centre for Historical Analysis Seminar, Rutgers, New Jersey, USA, Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA , 01-JAN-04 - 01-JAN-04. |
| Byrne, Anne (2006) Singleness Repertoires. [Invited Lecture], Research Seminar, Centre for Research on Families and Relationships, University of Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh, Scotland , 02-OCT-06 - 02-OCT-06. |
| Byrne, Anne (2008) Narratively Engaged Community Research: Sucessors Read Predecessors. [National Refereed Conference Paper], ESRC Narrative Studies Seminar 6 Narrative Studies Modes and Methodologies:New Developments, University of Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh, Scotland , 02-JUN-08 - 02-JUN-08. |
| Byrne, Anne (2008) Narratives of Ireland: The Harvard-Irish Survey 1930-1936 - Successors Read Predecessors. [National Refereed Conference Paper], Sociological Association of Ireland, Annual Conference, NUIG, Galway, 2008, Galway, IRELAND , 01-MAY-08 - 01-MAY-10. |
| Byrne, Anne and Lounasmaa, Aura (2011) The Power of Story and Family Mystery: Teaching narrative in the undergraduate Social Science Classroom. [International Refereed Conference], Narrative Studies Conference, 26-28 May 2011 Tampere, Finland, Finland , 26-MAY-11 - 28-MAY-11. |
| Byrne, Anne (2012) Relational Sustainability. [Invited Oral Presentation], Irish Rural Studies Conference, RERC/ICERTS, Athenry , Galway, RERC/ICERTS, Athenry , Galway. IRELAND , 01-SEP-12 - 01-SEP-12. |
Committees
| Committee : Burren Spring Conference, Co Clare, IRELAND. Organising Committee (2005-2011) |
| Committee : Global Project for Safe Motherhood, NUIG/Development Co-Operation Ireland. |
| Committee : An Coiste Feabhais Acaduil/Committee on Academic Quality Improvement, NUIG (1998-2000) |
| Committee : NUIG Access Programme Steering Group (1998-2002) |
| Committee : Faculty of Arts (Vice Dean 2000-2003) |
| Committee : NUIG Research Ethics Committee (2005-11) |
| Committee : Women's Studies Centre (University College Galway, Ireland) Chairperson 1991-1992 |
| Committee : Irish Sociological Association Executive Committee (Vice-Chairperson 1988-1990) |
| Committee : MACNAS Community Arts and Theatre Company, Board member 2005-2007 |
| Committee : WISE (Women's International Studies Europe) Irish National Representative (1990-1995) |
| Committee : National Ad-Hoc Advisory Group on Gender in Local Development (Area Development Management) 1993 |
| Committee : National Distance Education Council (1993-2002) |
| Committee : Health Status and Health Gain, NUIG Consultative Study on Health Inequalities (2002-2004) |
| Committee : Galway Traveller's Support Group (2002-2004) |
| Committee : Women's Health Council, Board member (2003-2006) |
Education
| Year 2000 Institution: University of Limerick, Ireland Qualification: Phd Subject: 'Single Women's Identities in Contemporary Irish Society', Department of Government and Society, University of Limerick. |
| Year 1978 Institution: National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, Ireland. Qualification: BACHELOR OF ARTS Subject: Sociology |
| Year 1982 Institution: University College Galway, Ireland Qualification: Masters of Arts Subject: Sociology, , 'Female Poverty and the Irish Social Welfare System.' |
Outreach Activities
| 2003. External Assessor, Galway-Mayo Women's Network (Domestic Violence Research). |
| 2009. External Assessor, Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Post Graduate Fellowship Evaluation. |
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2010. Facilitation of Collective
Biographies Workshop, Moments of
Beauty/Water with Galway City Museum Artist in Residence. |
| 2008. Reviewer for Andrew Mellon Foundation Scholarship Programme. |
Reviews
| International Journal Of Social Research Methodology: Reviewer. |
| Ucg Women'S Studies Review: Editor. |
| Irish Journal Of Sociology: Editor. |
| Journal Of Gender Studies: Reviewer. |
| Women'S Studies International Forum: Reviewer. |
Teaching Interests
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My teaching is animated by active involvement in research, through
participating and contributing to community development work and through my own
professioanl development and training. My teaching interests are in collaborative, critical and creative research methodologies (eg socio-biography, visual ethnography, narrative inquiry, art, archives and documents of life); group work for professional community development workers; the sociology of Ireland; gender and auto/biography. |
Recent Postgraduates
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I have
supervised more than 25 postgraduate theses in Community Development (CD),
Rural Development (RD) and Social Work (SW.) Fiona Neary. The
Principle of Participation and Agency Growth. 1992 (CD)
Alice Freely.
Contribution of Social Employment Schemes to Community Development. 1992 (CD)
Hilary Curley.
Broadening The Benefits : A Community Approach to Rural Tourism.' 1994 (CD)
Ann Nolan. The
Young Single Homeless and Temporary Accommodation. 1994 (CD)
Noirin Clancy
Personal Development as a Tool for Empowering Rural Women. 1995 (RD)
Fionnula Kenny.
Limits to Representation in a Patriarchal Society. 1995 (CD)
Caoimhe Gleeson.
Women, Income and Credit: A Panacea for the Alleviation of Poverty or the Same
Old Story?’. 1996 (CD)
Paula Leonard.
Women’s Groups and Social Exclusion: A Case for Politicisation and Feminist
Ideology. 1996 (CD)
Sheila McNasser.
Earning Credibility and Keeping Afloat: the Rightful Place of Community
Enterprise Within Sligo County Enterprise Board's Structures. 1997 (CD)
Deirdre
O'Connor. Adult Education and Gender Equality: An Analysis of a Cross Section
of Adult Education Programmes. 1998 (CD)
Jennifer Wallace
Creative Evaluation, Capturing the Spirit of Community Arts. 1998 (CD)
Veronica
MacNamara. Educational Disadvantage and Early School Leaving. 2001 (CD)
Martha
Gallagher. Re-Visiting the Significance of Joining the Irish Country Women’s
Association in 1950s and 1960s. 2001 (RD)
David Rynne Path
Dependency and Community Development 2008 (CD)
Edel McCool My
Voice, My Experience: Adult reflections on the childhood experience of the
biological child of foster carers 2008 (SW) Linda Knott, ‘ A
Relationship they would rather avoid‘. Motherhood and Drug Use- the
professional experiences of Social Workers’ . 2008. (SW) Anne Cassidy,
‘Just Good Women? The Little
Sisters of the Assumption Bohermore Community Development Project’. 2008. (CD) Ciara Coy, Writing
in Community 2011 (CD) |
Current Postgraduate Students
| Tanya Watson, Doctorate - Ph.D.(Arts) - Supervisor |
| Jacqueline O Toole, Doctorate - Ph.D.(Arts) - Supervisor |