Joanna Bourke
Encyclopedia
Joanna Bourke is an historian
and professor of history at Birkbeck, University of London
.
, Solomon Islands
and Haiti
. After home education with her siblings she attended Auckland University, gaining a BA and masters in history. She undertook her PhD at the Australian National University
and subsequently held academic posts in Australia
, New Zealand, and Cambridge
. Joanna Bourke, who describes herself as a "socialist feminist", has written on Irish history, gender history
, working-class culture, war
and masculinity
, the cultural history
of fear
and the history of rape
. She lives in London
.
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and professor of history at Birkbeck, University of London
Birkbeck, University of London
Birkbeck, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It offers many Master's and Bachelor's degree programmes that can be studied either part-time or full-time, though nearly all teaching is...
.
Biography
Born to Christian missionary parents, Bourke was brought up in ZambiaZambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
, Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
and Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
. After home education with her siblings she attended Auckland University, gaining a BA and masters in history. She undertook her PhD at the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
and subsequently held academic posts in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand, and Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
. Joanna Bourke, who describes herself as a "socialist feminist", has written on Irish history, gender history
Gender history
Gender history is a sub-field of History and Gender studies, which looks at the past from the perspective of gender. It is in many ways, an outgrowth of women's history.-Impact:...
, working-class culture, war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
and masculinity
Masculinity
Masculinity is possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or appropriate to a man. The term can be used to describe any human, animal or object that has the quality of being masculine...
, the cultural history
Cultural history
The term cultural history refers both to an academic discipline and to its subject matter.Cultural history, as a discipline, at least in its common definition since the 1970s, often combines the approaches of anthropology and history to look at popular cultural traditions and cultural...
of fear
Fear
Fear is a distressing negative sensation induced by a perceived threat. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger...
and the history of rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
. She lives in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Works
- Husbandry and Housewifery: Women, Economic Change and Housework in Ireland, 1890-1914 Clarendon Press, 1993.
- Working-Class Cultures in Britain, 1890-1960: Gender, Class and Ethnicity. Routledge, 1994
- Dismembering the Male: Men's Bodies, Britain and the Great War. Reaktion Press and University of Chicago Press, 1996.
- An Intimate History of Killing: Face-to-Face Killing in Twentieth Century Warfare, 1999, Granta (Won the Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History for 1998 and the Wolfson Prize for Historical WritingWolfson History PrizeThe Wolfson History Prizes are literary awards given annually in the United Kingdom to promote and encourage standards of excellence in the writing of history for the general public...
in 2000) - Fear: A Cultural History, 2006, ISBN 978-1-59376-113-4
- Rape: Sex, Violence, History, 2007, Shoemaker & Hoard. ISBN 978-1-59376-114-1