Dr Niall Whelehan
Senior Lecturer
History
Personal statement
My research and teaching focus on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and themes of migration, political violence, nationalism, colonialism and radicalism, mainly relating to Ireland and the Irish diaspora. I completed my doctorate at the European University Institute, Florence. Before coming to Strathclyde, I worked at Bielefeld University, Germany, NUI Glaway and the University of Edinburgh.
My recent book Changing Land: Diaspora Activism and the Irish Land War (NYU Press, 2021) is based on research supported by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Intra-European Fellowship and examines radical networks in Ireland and Irish migrant communities in Scotland, England, the United States and Argentina. My first book, The Dynamiters: Irish nationalism and political violence in the wider world, 1867-1900, appeared with Cambridge University Press in 2012.
My present project is a book length study of Irish migration to Argentina and the south Atlantic world more widely in the long nineteenth centiry, and in particular of John O'Dwyer Creaghe, an Irish emigrant who became a leading figure in the Argentine anarchist movement. I am also working on a project on excess mortality in nineteenth century Ireland.
I am part of the Modern Irish History Group at Strathclyde. I teach classes on the history of the Irish diaspora, the global history of terrorism, Irish nationalism and radicalism, and Ireland and colonialism, at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. I am the Head of the History Subject Area at Strathclyde.
Along with teaching and research, I’m committed to public history and have contributed pieces to the Irish Times and RTE Brainstorm. I am interested in the interpretation of history through music and film. For a number of years I organised the series 'Screening Irish History', which has run at the Glasgow Film Theatre, the CCA Glasgow and Edinburgh’s Filmhouse.
I am presently working on a collaborative project between historians and composers and songwriters on the interpretation of primary historical sources through music. The project is called 'Bring Your Own Hammer' and the first album of original compositions is released in March 2024.
Links:
http://strathclyde.academia.edu/NiallWhelehan
https://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/departmentofhumanities/history/modernirishhistory/
Publications
- Landlords, radicals and Irish emigrants in Argentina
- Whelehan Niall
- (2022)
- Land and feminism : Marguerite Moore and the Ladies' Land League
- Whelehan Niall
- 30 (2022)
- Changing Land : Diaspora Activism and the Irish Land War
- Whelehan Niall
- The Glucksman Irish Diaspora Series The Glucksman Irish Diaspora Series (2021)
- Book review: Ribbon Societies in Nineteenth-Century Ireland and its Diaspora by Kyle Hughes and Donald M. MacRaild
- Whelehan Niall
- Irish Economic and Social History Vol 48, pp. 163-165 (2021)
- https://doi.org/10.1177/03324893211052455h
- Migrant textile workers and Irish activism in victorian Dundee
- Whelehan Niall
- (2021)
- Saving Ireland in Juteopolis : gender, class and diaspora in the Irish Ladies' Land League
- Whelehan Niall
- History Workshop Journal Vol 90, pp. 74-95 (2020)
- https://doi.org/10.1093/hwj/dbaa022
Teaching
I teach undergraduate and postgraduate modules on the history of Ireland and Irish migration, and the history of political violence and terrorism.
I welcome applications from potential PhD students who wish to work on areas of:
- modern Ireland and the Irish diaspora
- migration
- terrorism and political violence
- Ireland and empire
- Cinema and Irish history
Professional Activities
- My Grief on the Sea, by Bring Your Own Hammer
- Recipient
- 27/3/2024
- European Social Science History Conference 2021
- Speaker
- 2021
- Terrorism and Transnationality
- Invited speaker
- 2021
- 30th anniversary Reflections on JJ Lee's Ireland 1912-1985: Politics and Society
- Organiser
- 2019
- Scotland and the Global Irish Revolution
- Invited speaker
- 2019
- A Global History of the Irish Revolution 1916-23
- Invited speaker
- 2019
Projects
- The 'Conquest of the Desert': Irish and British migrants and colonial violence in nineteenth-century Argentina.
- Whelehan, Niall (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2023 - 31-Jan-2024
- The 'Conquest of the Desert': Irish and British migrants and colonial violence in nineteenth-century Argentina
- Whelehan, Niall (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2023 - 31-Jan-2025
- Hear the Hammers Ring: Shipyard Workers, Literary Culture and Communities in Clydeside and Belfast, 1840-1914
- Whelehan, Niall (Co-investigator)
- AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award 2021-2025. This supervisor-led studentship application was led by Prof. Kirstie Blair, with myself as second supervisor, and the Scottish Maritime Museum. The student (Ronan McGreechin) was selected after interview. (£72K).
- 01-Jan-2021 - 01-Jan-2025
- Bring your own Hammer: History, Music and Migrant Lives
- Whelehan, Niall (Principal Investigator)
- This project combines music, digital technologies and primary historical sources to engage with new audiences through the creation of an original song-cycle and website on the topic of migration. External collaborators include the musicians, the Verdant Works Museum, Scotland, the Irish Emigration Museum, Dublin, the University of Limerick, and the Irish Consulate General, Scotland. The reach and significance of the project’s impact will be substantial, aiming to change perceptions of Irish migration in profound ways. This project aims to be one of the three History impact case studies for the next REF cycle.
- 01-Jan-2020 - 31-Jan-2025
- Emigrant Irishwomen and Dundee’s Textile Industry, 1830-1930
- Whelehan, Niall (Principal Investigator)
- 50% share on successful supervisor-led AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award studentship application, £72K. The studentship began on 1 October 2019, the student selected after interview is Niamh Coffey. (Co-supervised with the University of Edinburgh).
- 01-Jan-2019 - 30-Jan-2023
- Diaspora, Colonialism, Anarchism and the Transnational Life of an Irish Doctor in South America
- Whelehan, Niall (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2019 - 30-Jan-2022