Katherine O’Donnell – författare

Between 1922 and 1996, over 10,000 girls and women were imprisoned in Magdalene Laundries, including those considered ‘promiscuous’, a burden to their families or the state, those who had been sexually abused or raised in the care of the Church and State, and unmarried mothers. These girls and women were subjected to forced labour as well as psychological and physical maltreatment. Using the Irish State’s own report into the Magdalene institutions, as well as testimonies from survivors and independent witnesses, this book gives a detailed account of life behind the high walls of Ireland’s Magdalene institutions. The book offers an overview of the social, cultural and political contexts of institutional survivor activism, the Irish State’s response culminating in the McAleese Report, and the formation of the Justice for Magdalenes campaign, a volunteer-run survivor advocacy group.Ireland and the Magdalene Laundries documents the ongoing work carried out by the Justice for Magdalenes group in advancing public knowledge and research into Magdalene Laundries, and how the Irish State continues to evade its responsibilities not just to survivors of the Magdalenes but also in providing a truthful account of what happened. Drawing from a variety of primary sources, this book reveals the fundamental flaws in the state's investigation and how the treatment of the burials, exhumation and cremation of former Magdalene women remains a deeply troubling issue today, emblematic of the system of torture and studious official neglect in which the Magdalene women lived their lives.The Authors are donating all royalties in the name of the women who were held in the Magdalenes to EPIC (Empowering People in Care).

Towards the end of the 20th century, the decades of abuse and neglect perpetrated in Ireland's comprehensive carceral network began finally to be exposed. The mistreatment endured by children and others on the margins of Irish society, notably women, in these orphanages, reformatory schools, industrial schools, psychiatric hospitals, County Homes, Mother and Baby Homes, adoption agencies and Magdalene Laundries now attracts increasing investigation and scholarship. Bringing together contributions from leading experts across a broad range of disciplines, including history, philosophy, law, archaeology, criminology, accounting and architecture, this book offers a comprehensive exploration of the Magdalene system through a close study of Donnybrook Magdalene Laundry in Dublin. To date, the Justice for Magdalenes Research group has recorded the names of 315 women and girls who died at Donnybrook Magdalene Laundry. By focusing on this one institution—on its ethos, development, operation and built environment, and the lives of the girls and women held there—this book reveals the underlying framework of Ireland's wider system of institutionalisation. The analysis includes a focus on the privatisation and commodification of public welfare, reproductive injustice, institutionalised misogyny, class prejudice, the visibility of supposedly 'hidden' institutions and the role of oral testimony in reconstructing history. In undertaking such a close study, the authors uncover truths missing from the state's own investigations; shed new light on how these brutal institutions came to have such a powerful presence in Irish society, and highlight the significance of their continuing impact on modern Ireland.

Towards the end of the 20th century, the decades of abuse and neglect perpetrated in Ireland's comprehensive carceral network began finally to be exposed. The mistreatment endured by children and others on the margins of Irish society, notably women, in these orphanages, reformatory schools, industrial schools, psychiatric hospitals, County Homes, Mother and Baby Homes, adoption agencies and Magdalene Laundries now attracts increasing investigation and scholarship. Bringing together contributions from leading experts across a broad range of disciplines, including history, philosophy, law, archaeology, criminology, accounting and architecture, this book offers a comprehensive exploration of the Magdalene system through a close study of Donnybrook Magdalene Laundry in Dublin. To date, the Justice for Magdalenes Research group has recorded the names of 315 women and girls who died at Donnybrook Magdalene Laundry. By focusing on this one institution—on its ethos, development, operation and built environment, and the lives of the girls and women held there—this book reveals the underlying framework of Ireland's wider system of institutionalisation. The analysis includes a focus on the privatisation and commodification of public welfare, reproductive injustice, institutionalised misogyny, class prejudice, the visibility of supposedly 'hidden' institutions and the role of oral testimony in reconstructing history. In undertaking such a close study, the authors uncover truths missing from the state's own investigations; shed new light on how these brutal institutions came to have such a powerful presence in Irish society, and highlight the significance of their continuing impact on modern Ireland.

Between 1922 and 1996, over 10,000 girls and women were imprisoned in Magdalene Laundries, including those considered ‘promiscuous’, a burden to their families or the state, those who had been sexually abused or raised in the care of the Church and State, and unmarried mothers. These girls and women were subjected to forced labour as well as psychological and physical maltreatment. Using the Irish State’s own report into the Magdalene institutions, as well as testimonies from survivors and independent witnesses, this book gives a detailed account of life behind the high walls of Ireland’s Magdalene institutions. The book offers an overview of the social, cultural and political contexts of institutional survivor activism, the Irish State’s response culminating in the McAleese Report, and the formation of the Justice for Magdalenes campaign, a volunteer-run survivor advocacy group.Ireland and the Magdalene Laundries documents the ongoing work carried out by the Justice for Magdalenes group in advancing public knowledge and research into Magdalene Laundries, and how the Irish State continues to evade its responsibilities not just to survivors of the Magdalenes but also in providing a truthful account of what happened. Drawing from a variety of primary sources, this book reveals the fundamental flaws in the state's investigation and how the treatment of the burials, exhumation and cremation of former Magdalene women remains a deeply troubling issue today, emblematic of the system of torture and studious official neglect in which the Magdalene women lived their lives.The Authors are donating all royalties in the name of the women who were held in the Magdalenes to EPIC (Empowering People in Care).

An innovative and groundbreaking study into women’s contribution to the development of religious, metaphysical, and political concepts in early modern Europe.By examining the engagement of women in both the daily practice of religion, and theological and political discussions following the Reformation, this collection expands our understanding of women’s position in post-Reformation churches and their participation in theological debates.What role did women play in these congregations and what social interactions did they have with each other and their male fellows? What literary genres did they choose to convey new ideas and new approaches to religion and society? Did religious authorities use universal strategies when dealing with religious dissent, or was there a gendered bias towards dissenting women? A team of scholars from philosophy, early modern studies, intellectual history and theology address these questions and more, providing a multidisciplinary exploration of women’s active participation in religious communities. Focusing on their contribution to foundational Enlightenment concepts, they shed light on the development of democracy, egalitarianism, freedom of conscience and of expression, and tolerant co-existence.Covering countries such as Britain, the Netherlands, France, and Italy between 1500 and 1700, this is a much-needed comparative overview. We see how a different approach to the history of European women and their religious engagement can challenge the accepted view of an avowedly secular Enlightenment.

An enlightening, entertaining look at what the term lesbian really meansand what it means to be a lesbianTwenty-First Century Lesbian Studies focuses on the field’s institutionalization into the humanities and social sciences, examining how the term lesbian is used in activist, community, and cultural contexts, and how its use impacts the lives of women who have chosen it as an identity. The book’s contributors include many of the world’s foremost experts in lesbian studies, as well as scholars whose primary research is in bisexuality, transsexuality and transgender, intersex, and queer theory. The innovative essays touch on five individual themesGenealogies, Readings, Theories, Identities, and Locationsas they explore the past, present, and future of lesbian studies.Twenty-First Century Lesbian Studies places the term lesbian at the center of analysis, whether as a concept, a category, an identity, a political position, or an object choice. The book’s cutting-edge essays examine the various meanings of lesbian; the risks taken by women who live and/or act, write, and speak as lesbians; current genealogical myths; and the lives, studies, and activism of lesbians who represent a range of geographical and historical contexts. The book presents research produced outside the United States/United Kingdom, two places which tend to dominate the field, and essays that focus on areas, such as medieval studies, that are often ignored in theoretical discussions. Twenty-First Century Lesbian Studies considers these questions:does the term lesbian still have relevance as an identity descriptor or political position? who does lesbian include and/or exclude? how does intersectional thinking impact the way we formulate lesbian identities? are we now post-lesbian? what, if anything, defines the field of lesbian studies? what is the current state of the field? what is the possible future of the field? what current topics should be most important to practitioners? how is work that falls under the lesbian studies umbrella connected to efforts in the areas of feminism, LGBT, intersex, and queer straight studies? and many moreTwenty-First Century Lesbian Studies is an enlightening, entertaining, and essential read for academics and students working in all disciplines in the social sciences and humanities, and for the lesbian/queer population, in general.

An enlightening, entertaining look at what the term lesbian really meansand what it means to be a lesbianTwenty-First Century Lesbian Studies focuses on the field’s institutionalization into the humanities and social sciences, examining how the term lesbian is used in activist, community, and cultural contexts, and how its use impacts the lives of women who have chosen it as an identity. The book’s contributors include many of the world’s foremost experts in lesbian studies, as well as scholars whose primary research is in bisexuality, transsexuality and transgender, intersex, and queer theory. The innovative essays touch on five individual themesGenealogies, Readings, Theories, Identities, and Locationsas they explore the past, present, and future of lesbian studies.Twenty-First Century Lesbian Studies places the term lesbian at the center of analysis, whether as a concept, a category, an identity, a political position, or an object choice. The book’s cutting-edge essays examine the various meanings of lesbian; the risks taken by women who live and/or act, write, and speak as lesbians; current genealogical myths; and the lives, studies, and activism of lesbians who represent a range of geographical and historical contexts. The book presents research produced outside the United States/United Kingdom, two places which tend to dominate the field, and essays that focus on areas, such as medieval studies, that are often ignored in theoretical discussions. Twenty-First Century Lesbian Studies considers these questions:does the term lesbian still have relevance as an identity descriptor or political position? who does lesbian include and/or exclude? how does intersectional thinking impact the way we formulate lesbian identities? are we now post-lesbian? what, if anything, defines the field of lesbian studies? what is the current state of the field? what is the possible future of the field? what current topics should be most important to practitioners? how is work that falls under the lesbian studies umbrella connected to efforts in the areas of feminism, LGBT, intersex, and queer straight studies? and many moreTwenty-First Century Lesbian Studies is an enlightening, entertaining, and essential read for academics and students working in all disciplines in the social sciences and humanities, and for the lesbian/queer population, in general.

Weaving Transnational Solidarity from the Catskills to Chiapas and Beyond analyzes the grassroots, economic justice work of three groups-two Mexican organizations, Jolom Mayaetik, Mayan women's weaving cooperative, and K'inal Antzetik, NGO in the highlands of Chiapas, and an informal, international solidarity network. The book provides scholar-activist, ethnographic case study data which contributes to understanding collective organization, and indigenous rights.

'A heartfelt celebration of all kinds of queer love' ― Alice Linehan, Gay Community News A ground-breaking Irish lesbian love story, set across the decades from the 1980s AIDS crisis to the 2015 marriage referendum.Ro McCarthy, single in her fifties and working a quiet job, is sustained by her love of books and her deep friendships. Although she still doesn’t approve of marriage – not even for the straights – she is canvassing for yes in the 2015 marriage equality referendum. But, as the ghosts of her activist past join her on the campaign trail and her eagerness to confront a familiar discrimination turns to obsession and fury, Ro must finally face the long-buried trauma and loss of her youth. Thirty years earlier, Ro is a young Cork woman living her best life in Boston, undocumented and working multiple jobs, making life-long friends, and falling in love with Jenny. Soon, however, the young gay men who have become Ro’s new family – from Ireland and elsewhere – begin to die. Shocked and grieving, she finds purpose in AIDS activism and a community that is loving and living against all odds. In the wake of this macabre heyday which Ro just about survives, her charged entanglement with Jenny will bear witness to the resistance and survival of an invisible generation of warriors. Slant is a headbutt to the heart, told from within a protective community, that will reveal and celebrate all the kinds of love needed to sustain a life.