CAIS 2019 Keynote: Dr. Joanna Bourke A ‘Diabolical Crime’: Sexual Violence in Ireland, 1830s to 1914

Sexual violence is an essentially contested concept. Exploring the competing meanings of violence presents formidable challenges, which increases in difficulty when we wander back in time. What do we find when we explore the different meanings attached to sexual violence in 19th and early 20th century Irish history? How did conceptions of such forms of violence change?

About Joanna Bourke:
Joanna Bourke is a professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London, and a fellow of the British Academy. She is the prize-winning author of 13 books that examine histories of Ireland, modern warfare, military medicine, psychology and psychiatry, violence and emotions, and rape, as well as more than 100 articles in academic journals. Bourke is the principal investigator on a five-year Wellcome Trust-funded project entitled "Sexual Violence, Medicine, and Psychiatry."