Irish Families and Globalization: Conversations about Belonging and Identity across Space and Time
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About the Authors
Stephen Coulter is currently a Lecturer in Social Work and Director of Systemic Psychotherapy training programs at Queens University Belfast. Dr. Coulter has a long career in child and family focused social work roles, and of working therapeutically with victims and survivors of trauma and their families in Northern Ireland. He is interested in how people make meaning in their lives and has taken a lead role in helping social work students at Queens become more “culturally competent” through including consideration of the spiritual and religious dimensions of many people’s experience.
Rosemary Crosse is a Research Fellow and is completing her doctoral studies in the School of Political Science and Sociology at NUI Galway. Her doctoral research examines Irish mothers’ experiences of marital dissolution and the effectiveness of public policy and value of service provision in this area. Her research also focuses on gender inequality and public policy with an emphasis on those parenting alone in contemporary Ireland.
Seán Ó Coistealbha is a native of the Connemara Gaeltacht. He is married to Artist, Lisa Olsthoorn, and they live in An Spidéal, Co. Galway with their five children. Seán formerly worked as a secondary school teacher and spent two years with Údarás na Gaeltachta as a Language and Cultural Officer. He returned to Ireland in 1986, after six years in New Zealand, Australia, and North America. He has worked with Muintearas since 1986 and was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer in 1996. He is very involved in Community Development along the West Coast of Ireland and is also an accomplished actor, both film and stage. Seán has two books of poetry published, “Dídeán” in 2002 and “Stadhan” in 2011.
Leslie A. Koepke is a Professor of Family Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Her scholarship focuses on diverse families and family studies program assessment. Dr. Koepke is a member of Groves Conference on Marriage and Family, was elected to the Board of Directors, and served as President.
Michelle Millar has extensive expertise in funded social policy research and analysis. Dr. Millar is a Senior Lecturer in Public and Social Policy at the School of Political Science and Sociology and Research Fellow at the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre, NUI Galway. She was the principal Investigator of the Child and Family Research Centre study on the Labour Market Needs and Social Inclusion of One Parent Families in Galway City and County project.
Deirdre O’Mahony is an artist, writer, curator, and academic. She is a Lecturer at the Centre for Creative Arts and Media, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology. She has published paper and essays, exhibited in national and international exhibitions, and received numerous arts awards and bursaries, residencies, and international fellowships.
Katrina M. Powell is Associate Professor of English at Virginia Tech and Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. Dr. Powell has written two books about the displacement of families from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia in the 1930s, The Anguish of Displacement (University of Virginia Press) and Answer at Once: Letters of Mountain Families in Shenandoah National Park, 1934-1938 (University of Virginia Press).
Christine A. Readdick is Professor Emerita in Family and Child Sciences at Florida State University. Dr. Readdick studies and writes about the diverse social and physical environments that are supportive of children’s competent development. She has worked with children and their families for over 45 years from Alaska to Florida in a variety of community and geosystem settings. As a child advocate, she helped establish the first Children’s Day in Florida, celebrated on the first Sunday of April each year. She served Groves Conference on Marriage and Family as Chair of the 2008 Annual Conference in Ireland and as President from 2008-2012.
Christopher J. Smith is Professor and Chair of Musicology and founding Director of the Vernacular Music Center at Texas Tech University. Dr. Smith directs the TTU Celtic Ensemble and records and tours internationally with Altramar medieval music ensemble and the Juke Band. He has presented, chaired, and performed hundreds of concerts, colloquia, and scholarly meetings worldwide. His most recent monograph is The Creolization of American Culture: William Sidney Mount and the Roots of Blackface Mintrelsy (Illinois, 2013. He is also a published poet.
Lycia Trouton is an artist who was born in Northern Ireland, but grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. After her art school training she became a Land Artist and worked as an architecture/landscape public art design consultant and community artist in the 1990s. A life-changing turning point came in 1999, the first return to her homeland as a working adult. While working in an interface neighborhood in Belfast, Northern Ireland, she conceived of The Linen Memorial. Dr. Trouton lived in Australia for a decade, 2001-2011. As a doctoral student, Lycia held a research assistantship in textile arts where she explored related cultural studies theory, art history, peace studies, and Irish history. Since then she has held lecturer and visiting artist-educator-researcher posts in as disparate places as Ecuador and the northern Canadian Prairies. Dr. Trouton has received funding from the Canada Council of the Arts; Centre for Image, Performance and Text, University of Wollongong; Canadian High Commission, Canberra; Community Relations Council, Belfast; and Robert and Maureen Trouton.
John Whyte has lived and worked in Rialto in Dublin’s inner city since 1996. In 2003, he was appointed as Chief Executive of the Fatima Regeneration Board, a social partnership structure that was established to oversee the physical, social, and economic regeneration of Fatima Mansions. Following the successful completion of the project, he oversaw the restructuring of the Board into a new organizational entity to manage and develop the community and enterprise facilities that were provided as part of the regeneration. In 2013, John took up a new position with the United Nations Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), where he is currently Project Manager for the reconstruction of Nahr el-Bared Camp in northern Lebanon. This is one of the biggest reconstruction projects ever undertaken by UNRWA and, similar to the Fatima regeneration project, it has placed a central emphasis on engaging with local residents in the rebuilding of their community. This commitment was reflected in the shortlisting of this project for the prestigious Agha Khan Foundation Network (AKDN) Awards in 2013.
Anisa M. Zvonkovic is Professor and Department Head in Human Development at Virginia Tech. Her research is focused on work and family issues, in particular workers with high job demands and their personal lives. The author of 80 journal articles, Dr. Zvonkovic has held a number of professional leadership roles, including current President of the Groves Conference on Marriage and Family, founding member of the Work Family Researchers Network, and Fellow of the National Council on Family Relations.
