In 1993, while working in Belfast and Dublin to finish my PhD from the University of Texas-Austin, I was fortunate enough to receive an offer to teach Irish literature and post-colonial literature and theory here at Manoa. Coming to Hawai'i from Ireland, I wanted both to continue my research on Ireland and to learn more about nationalism and cultural practices in the Pacific. I teach classes in cultural studies, post-colonial literatures, and Irish Studies that attempt both to ground literary and other forms of cultural production--film, video, music, murals, ephemeral materials--in their specific locations and to compare such work across a number of geo-political sites. This comparative approach helps me to understand the the complex cultural legacy of Anglo-American colonialism. I am particularly interested in how insurgent forms of nationalism make use of the cultural terrain to create narratives that forward new visions of the nation and that resist the state and the (all too often) homogenizing forces of global capitalism.
Areas of Interest
post-colonial literatures and theory, Irish literature, cultural studies
Awards
Board of Regents' Award for Excellence in Teaching, 1997
Education
BA, Moorhead State University
MA, PhD, University of Texas, Austin
