Research Topics: Maritime and Environmental History, Sustainability
Bio/Research
Bio/Research
My research builds upon the debates in environmental studies regarding the role of
nature and society. My first line of research focuses on the geopolitics of Ireland. This
research explores how the search for identity and power is indelibly inked onto the
both the people and the landscape of Ireland. I have studied how gender intersected
with landscape and the bodies of the Irish during the Tudor era. At once substantive
and symbolic, the linkage of gender and race with landscape raises questions of power,
culture, and identity.
My second research line highlights on American whaling. I am writing a manuscript,
with the working title of Hunting to Hash Tagging: A Critical Analysis of the Progression of America’s Whaling
Culture, which explores four hundred years of American whaling traditions through the lens
of cultural history. The book links transnational politics and economics to the experiences
of Americans—rural and urban, poor and rich—by focusing on their shifting cultural
attitudes towards whales over the centuries.
I am also the Director for Stony Brook University’s International Academic Programs
to Ireland England where students study not only the history of Ireland, but also
use their travel experiences to better understand global environmental issues including
climate change, renewable energy, and ocean resources.
