Rachael A. Young (she/her)

Postdoctoral Fellow and Program Coordinator in Irish Studies

Photo of Rachael A. Young (she/her)

Rachael A. Young (she/her)

M.Phil, Ph.D.

Contact

Connolly House

Email: youngrp@bc.edu

ORCID 0000-0001-9784-3052

Education

  • B.A., Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 2013
  • M.Phil, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin Ireland, 2016
  • Ph.D., Boston College, 2023

Courses

Instructor of Record:

Ireland Since the Famine, 1845 to Present

Modern History I: 1400-1800

Modern History II: 1800-Present

Atlantic History I 1400-1800

Atlantic History II 1800-Present

 

Teaching Assistant or Grader:

Europe in the World I

Europe in the World II

Atlantic Worlds I

Atlantic Words II

Asia in the World I

Asia in the World II

America in the Vietnam War

US Foreign Policy

Research Interests

Modern Ireland, Northern Ireland, the Troubles, modern Britain, race in Britain, murals, community art, uprisings, hunger strikes, protest, activism, 1980s, Thatcher's Britain

Advisor

Rob Savage

Curriculum Vitae

Department

History

Current Research

Rachael's dissertation is a comparative analysis of community murals painted in Belfast and Brixton during the 1980s. She examines murals painted in Belfast after the 1981 hunger strike in the nationalist/republican community and murals painted in Brixton after the 1981 anti-police uprisings in the Black community. She argues that after these very public clashes with representatives of Thatcher's government, the nationalist/republican community in Belfast and the Black community in Brixton used murals as a less violent, but no less visible tool to protest, what they believed to be, injustices committed by the British government. Each community used murals as a visual tool to challenge the law-and-order narrative of the Thatcher government, instead presenting a counter-narrative to tell their own story and better their communities.

Fellowships and Awards
  • Larkin Dissertation Research Fellowship, American Conference for Irish Studies, 2021
  • North American Conference for British Studies Dissertation Fellowship runner-up, 2020
  • Donald J. White Teaching Excellence Award for Graduate Teaching, Boston College, 2020
  • Joint Recipient of the O’Reilly Finley Fellowship, Boston College, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
  • Boston College Irish Studies Fellow, Boston College, 2017
    Temple University Achievement Scholarship, Temple University, 2009-2013
  • Adele Dalsimer Fellow, Boston College, 2022-2023

Publications

“‘We can’t keep painting over our problems’: Murals, Social Media, and Feminist Activism in Ireland”, Éire-Ireland, 56, no. 3 & 4 (Fall/Winter 2021): 320-345

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