Sonja Tiernan
{{Short description|Irish professor of Irish history in New Zealand}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=February 2024}}
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| thesis1_title = The literary life of Eva Gore-Booth (1870-1926)
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Sonja Tiernan is an Irish–New Zealand academic, and is a full professor at the University of Otago, specialising in modern Irish history and gender politics.
Academic career
Tiernan is originally from Dun Laoghaire, Dublin.{{Cite web |date=2020-03-28 |title='Our first wedding anniversary will be spent in lockdown - but we know we're lucky' |url=https://www.independent.ie/world-news/our-first-wedding-anniversary-will-be-spent-in-lockdown-but-we-know-were-lucky/39077607.html |access-date=2024-02-02 |website=Independent.ie |language=en}} She completed a PhD titled The literary life of Eva Gore-Booth (1870-1926) at the University College Dublin.{{Cite thesis|title=The literary life of Eva Gore-Booth (1870-1926)|type=PhD thesis|last=Tiernan|first=Sonja|date=2007|publisher=University College Dublin|url=http://library.ucd.ie/iii/encore/record/C__Rb1684098}} Tiernan was an associate professor at Liverpool Hope University before she was appointed the Eamon Cleary Professor of Irish Studies at the University of Otago in 2019.{{Cite news |last=Gibb |first=John |date=2019-02-16 |title=New chair of Irish Studies appointed |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/new-chair-irish-studies-appointed |access-date=2024-02-01 |work=Otago Daily Times |language=en}} Tiernan is Co-Director, with Professor Liam McIlvanney, of the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies.{{Cite web |last=Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies |date=2022-11-04 |title=Professor Sonja Tiernan |url=https://www.otago.ac.nz/ciss/people/professor-sonja-tiernan |access-date=2024-02-01 |website=www.otago.ac.nz |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=McPhee |first=Elena |date=2019-07-26 |title=Irish ambassador visits uni centre |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/campus/university-of-otago/irish-ambassador-visits-uni-centre |access-date=2024-02-02 |work=Otago Daily Times |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Studies |first=Centre for Irish and Scottish |date=2019-09-27 |title=Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies |url=https://www.otago.ac.nz/ciss |access-date=2024-02-02 |website=www.otago.ac.nz |language=en}}
Tiernan's research focuses on modern Irish history, including gender politics and social history. She has published several books on Irish women, including a biography of writer and activist Eva Gore-Booth, a history of marriage equality in Ireland, and two volumes of Irish women's speeches. When the first volume of speeches was published, it sold so well it had to be reprinted four times in the first month.{{Cite web |last=Lewis |first=John |date=27 December 2021 |title=Book about the role of women's words in history proving a hit |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/campus/book-about-role-women%25E2%2580%2599s-words-history-proving-hit |access-date=2024-02-01 |website=Otago Daily Times |language=en}} The book includes speeches by 33 women, including a speech by trade unionist Harriet Morison.
After arriving in New Zealand, Tiernan was commissioned by the Embassy of Ireland to research historical and cultural links between New Zealand and Ireland. Her study included what is probably the first translation of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic into Maori.{{Cite news |last=Gibb |first=John |date=2021-01-20 |title=Study of NZ links to Ireland |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/study-nz-links-ireland |access-date=2024-02-01 |work=Otago Daily Times |language=en}}
Honours and award
In 2018 Tiernan was awarded the inaugural Library Research Award by the Keough-Naughton Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame.{{Cite web |title=All news |url=https://www.hope.ac.uk/news/allnews/research-award-for-associate-professor-sonja-tiernan.html |access-date=2024-02-01 |website=www.hope.ac.uk}}{{Cite web |last=Humanities |first=Division of |date=2020-02-13 |title=Research award for co-director of Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies |url=https://www.otago.ac.nz/humanities/news/research-award-for-co-director-of-centre-for-irish-and-scottish-studies |access-date=2024-02-01 |website=www.otago.ac.nz |language=en}}
Selected works
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= Books =
- Sonja Tiernan, [http://digital.casalini.it/9780719094996 Eva Gore-Booth : An image of such politics]. Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2016 - 296 p. - ISBN 9780719094996 . Casalini id: 5245790
- Tiernan, S. (2021). Irish women's speeches: Voices that rocked the system. Dublin, Ireland: University College Dublin Press, 370p.
- Tiernan, S. (2022). Irish women's speeches (Vol. II): A rich chorus of voices. Dublin, Ireland: University College Dublin Press, 300p.
- Tiernan, S. (2020). History of marriage equality in Ireland: A social revolution begins. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 192p.
= Journal articles =
- Sonja Tiernan, ‘The Politics of Lesbian Fiction: Sonja Tiernan Interviews Novelist Sarah Waters’, Irish Feminist Review 2 (2006), 148–64 (p. 149)
- {{CiteQ|Q124398085}}
- {{CiteQ|Q124398081}}
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- {{CiteQ|Q124398079}}
- {{CiteQ|Q124398078}}
- {{CiteQ|Q56454287}}
References
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Category:New Zealand academics
Category:New Zealand women academics
Category:21st-century Irish historians
Category:Alumni of University College Dublin
Category:Academic staff of the University of Otago
Category:Irish emigrants to New Zealand
Category:Irish expatriate academics
Category:Irish women historians