Women in Northern Ireland Cultural Studies
and Material Conditions by Megan
Sullivan In this examination of the cultural production of critically acclaimed women novelists, filmmakers, nonfiction writers and dramatists in Northern Ireland, Megan Sullivan insists that their work demonstrates that the Irish political struggle takes place in the material conditions of women’s lives--in the home, within the family, and on the street. While writers about Northern Ireland traditionally discuss public events, Sullivan argues that no permanent solution to the troubles will be possible until the public deals with such issues as housing, poverty, unemployment, and domestic violence. Because the plight of Northern Irish prisoners has been an important component of the peace process, she uses prison as a metaphor and as a point of departure to discuss patriarchy in general. Incorporating material
that has been difficult to access for most North American
readers, and focusing on issues that have only recently
been studied, Women in Northern Ireland maps a
new direction for the intersection of Irish studies and
cultural studies. Megan Sullivan,
assistant professor of humanities and rhetoric at Boston
University, has published articles in Eire Ireland,
New Hibernia Review, Irish Literary Supplement, and Irish
Review.
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"Sullivan's book is refreshing, accessible, academically informed, and pragmatic. She does not shy away from presenting possibilities for women achieving justice as women within the Northern Irish conflict." -- Sojourner: The Women's Forum
"Sullivan is among those emerging feminist cultural critics who are breaking a critical silence: her study of fiction, films and plays by Northern Irish women not only charts new territory in Irish studies, it also provides a model for doing Irish cultural criticism."--Katherine Kirkpatrick, editor of Border Crossings: Irish Women Writers and National Identity
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