.webp)
‘From Suffrage to Sisterhood’
For Senia Pašeta, who is the Burns Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies at Boston College this semester, the role of women in modern Irish political history is a font of considerable scholarship and a source of endless fascination.
A professor of modern history at the University of Oxford, Pašeta studies the intersection of Irish women’s political and social activism with the Irish nationalism that took root in the late 19th century, and ultimately sparked Irish independence from Great Britain in 1922. These strands in Irish history are at once complementary and contrary, she says.
“As the 19th century came to an end, you saw Irish women—with advances in access to education and greater roles in local government—become increasingly active in the nationalist movement,” explained Pašeta. “There were women like Constance Georgine Markievicz—better known as Countess Markievicz—and Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington who were prominent in areas like suffrage, social reform, and trade unionism. The Irish Women’s Franchise League, which was founded by Sheehy-Skeffington and her husband, and the paramilitary organization Cumann na mBan were very popular. But the Irish feminist and Irish nationalist movements were diverse and complex creeds, with various social and political agendas and shifting networks of supporters.
“So, on the one hand, feminist ideas and activism were important to the evolution of modern Ireland. Yet for most of the country’s history, the feminist movement and its agenda was considered in conflict with Irish traditions and institutions.”
Pašeta will discuss her research on the continuity and transformation in Irish feminism at the fall Burns Scholar Lecture on September 30 in the Burns Library Thompson Room at 6 p.m. (preceded by a 5 p.m. reception). “From Suffrage to Sisterhood: A History of Feminism in Modern Ireland” is free and open to the public.
.webp)
Boston College Burns Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies Senia Pašeta studies the intersection of Irish women’s political and social activism with the Irish nationalism that took root in the late 19th century.
A collaboration between the Irish Studies Program and University Libraries, the Burns Visiting Scholars Program brings academics, writers, artists, journalists, librarians, and notable public figures to campus for a semester or, in some cases, a full academic year. In addition to giving public lectures, Burns Scholars teach courses and work with the resources of the Burns Library in their ongoing research, writing, and creative endeavors related to Irish history, art, and culture.
Pašeta’s publications include Modern Ireland: A Very Short Introduction, Irish Nationalist Women 1900-1918, and Before the Revolution: Nationalism, Social Change and Ireland’s Catholic Elite, 1879-1922. Her current book project scheduled for release next year, Political Women in Ireland, 1880-1918, is a more expansive survey of women’s multifaceted political activism, its historical foundations, and adaptation to wider political challenges.
The opportunity to do research in Burns Library’s world-renowned archives of Irish history and politics, therefore, comes at an ideal time, she noted.
“I am very grateful to BC for hosting me as the Burns Scholar,” said Pašeta, who is also working on a history of feminism in modern Ireland for the Royal Irish Academy and co-editing a Handbook of Women’s Suffrage in the UK. “Burns has an excellent collection on Irish women’s history, and I look forward to exploring it throughout the fall. This is all really like detective work: You never know what you might find.”
Pašeta is teaching the undergraduate course Women in Ireland, 1880-1945: The Rights and Duties of Citizenship, which focuses on women’s participation in the political, cultural, and social life of Ireland from the late 19th century until the end of World War II. The class explores how Irish women were shaped by internal political developments as well as international ideas and movements, using secondary literature and materials such as pamphlets, newspapers, letters, and interviews to survey themes including war, revolution, feminist activism, cultural expression, leadership, remembrance, and resistance.
One of the more fascinating aspects of this period, according to Pašeta, is how Irish Catholic and Protestant women overcame sectarian differences and worked together on some important issues—albeit except the nationalism question—far more effectively than Catholic and Protestant men.
“What’s also interesting is the continuity: Women learned quickly that while the politics might have changed after independence, the culture didn’t, so they went back to basics and resumed their activism, and you see some of these prominent names appearing again, like Markievicz and Sheehy-Skeffington.”
An Australian native born to Croatian parents, Pašeta started out as an English major and was drawn to the works of James Joyce, especially his short story “The Dead,” parts of which drew inspiration from Joyce’s personal relationships with the Sheehy and Skeffington families—in fact, the character of Miss Ivors is said to be based on Hannah Sheehy-Skeffington’s sister.
“The scenes and dialogues in ‘The Dead’ are reflective of a growing middle class of Irish Catholics, which was fascinating to me, and I wanted to learn more about this world,” she said. “So now, I have my students read ‘The Dead’ to get a sense of the period on a more personal, everyday level.”
Pašeta holds a doctorate from the Australian National University and was a junior research fellow at Merton College (Oxford) and the Irish Government senior scholar at Hertford College (Oxford).