In this blog series, our members share a selection of sources and explain why they recommend them. It might be a useful resource, a future reference, a source of inspiration or an opportunity to challenge what we view a source to be. This selection has been made by Áine McKenny, PhD Researcher and CDH Social Media Assistant. watch - Mad, Bad & Dangerous: A Celebration of ‘Difficult’ Women. This is a series that features interviews with influential Irish women, all of whom are over the age of Seventy. Each episode is a beautiful reflection of lives filled with challenges, accomplishments and important lessons in resistance and solidarity. listen - Cursed Objects. A podcast that takes an object and provides a cultural analysis of how such an object came to be. Objects include a Van Gough ‘Earaser’, a Keep Calm and Carry On Poster, Poirot DVD Box Set and Playmobil riot police toys. This podcast, a collaboration of Dr Kasia Tee and Dan Hancox, is incredibly researched, insightful and hilarious.visit - extraORDINARYwomen at the Linen Hall Library. Whenever I'm in Belfast, I always make a trip to the Linen Hall Library. They have a selection of their collection digitised and available as online exhibitions. The one I recommend, extraORDINARYwomen, is a focus of my research and is an interesting example of how an archive is developing access to its collections. read - Inventory by Darran Anderson. This book explores childhood, family, place and conflict, amid growing up in Northern Ireland during the Eighties/Nineties. This exploration is done through objects - floppy disk, football, petrol bomb, map - and the moments & memories that define them. Also, read - Thin Places by Kerri ní Dochartaigh. This book combines memoir, nature and history to explore their life growing up in Northern Ireland. It is a powerful reflection on trauma, identity and our connection to place. Reading these books reinvigorated my research and allowed me to think more creatively about my writing. If you would like to contribute to this series, please get in touch.

 

Links:

Mad, Bad and Dangerous 

Cursed Objects 

extraORDINARYwomen

Inventory by Darran Anderson

Thin Places by Kerri ní Dochartaigh