DrArlene Crampsie

I am an historical geographer whose research interests lie at the intersection of Irish political, socio-cultural and environmental geographies with a particular focus on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. My research focuses on understanding the evolution of everyday lives and landscapes through archival and oral history methodologies and can be seen to focus on three key areas: People, power and politics, 1801 – 1925; Social and cultural geographies of place & identity; and Environmental History where my work highlights the importance of interdisciplinary engagement and emphasises the need to foreground human narratives of the impacts of past climate events to build resilience to future climate change.

I maintain my interest in historical geography which arose from my PhD thesis entitled 'Governmentality and Locality: An Historical Geography of Rural District Councils in Ireland, 1898 - 1925'. I am particularly interested in combining empirical research on the local manifestation of state power with theoretical approaches to power and the role of the state - in particular governmentality, central-local relations and colonial and post-colonial theories. Furthering this, I am currently undertaking research specifically related to the Decade of Commemorations, 1912 - 1923, collaborating with Dr Jonathan Cherry (St Patrick's College, Drumcondra) on an examination of the geography of the signing of the Ulster Covenant / Declaration, while I have also embarked on an analysis of the impact of the political events of this period on the social and cultural landscapes of Ulster.

My postdoctoral research on the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) Oral History Project developed my interest in social and cultural geographies. My research here comprises an examination of the contextual geographies of changing sporting and community landscapes within which the GAA has developed and which the GAA has itself created. I am also investigating the role of the GAA in identity formation at a range of scales in Ireland and in Irish communities abroad. This research has led me to engage with a wide range of research methodologies in particular those of the digital humanities, through the creation of an accessible digital archive and database for the materials collected as part of the GAA Oral History Project, and oral history.

I was Principal Investigator on the IRC Coalesce funded Irish Droughts: Environmental and Cultural Memories of a Neglected Hazard project from 2019 - 2022. This project brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars from human and physical geography and environmental history to examine droughts in Ireland from the medieval period to the present. We are working jointly with project collaborators in stakeholder water management organisations in Ireland and Canada to apply this learning to current and future drought management planning in order to learn from the past to better prepare for future climate extremes.

I brought my interests in heritage, local landscapes and community into conversation as Co-PI of Coastal Uplands: Heritage and Tourism (CUPHAT)/. This ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) project is a collaboration between Aberystwyth University, UCD and the Dyfed Archaeological Trust. It seeks to build a regenerative tourism approach working closely with local communities and stakeholders to develop heritage based tourism in four areas bordering the Irish Sea - the Wicklow Mts and the Blackstairs Mts in Ireland and the Cambrian Mts and Preseli Mts in Wales.

This work has led me to furthe community engagement based research with work ongoing on two projects linked to intangible cultural heritage - Athrú, a collaboration with Kilkenny County Heritage Office, funded by Creatitv Ireland examining the risks posed to intangible cultural heritage through climate change and a College of Social Sciences Seed funded project exploring the potential applicatons of Geomythology within Geoparks.