A LEADING academic on the Irish in Britain has been awarded a grant to support new research on how key historical moments have impacted on the Irish Diaspora in Britain and the US.
Professor Mary Hickman from the Centre for Irish Studies at St Mary’s University, Twickenham has received a British Academy grant to support her latest project.
Professor Hickman, who teaches on St Mary’s MA Irish Studies programme, will spend part of the coming term working in the Ireland House Oral History archives at New York University (NYU).
Collected since 2005, these interviews by Irish migrants and multi-generational Irish Americans will be analysed to help give an insight into changing identities.
“I’m delighted to receive this award,” said Professor Hickman. “It allows me access to some untapped archives that I want to feed into my next project which compares the changing formation of diasporic Irishness at crucial moments in the history of the USA and Britain.”
Well known for her academic publications and public advocacy on the political rights of the Irish Diaspora, Professor Hickman’s latest co-edited book called Women and Irish Diaspora Identities is published this month by Manchester University Press.
