| PhD Fellow | |
| Home institution: | |
| Time at IEG: | 2025, 2026 |
| Funding: | IEG Fellowship |
| Research topic: | The Nature of Home: Shifting landscapes in the resettlement of Palatine communities in Ireland and North America |
| "In the early spring of 1709, an unprecedently large and disjointed mass of people started the long and hazardous journey from the Palatinate to London driven by rumours of a free passage to the large and lush expanses of land in Queen Anne of England’s North American colonies. After much deliberation, the colonial authorities decided to extend their charity to the Protestants amongst the group, settling some in County Limerick, Ireland and others in New York Province. This PhD project is driven by the following question: how have pre- and post-migration encounters with the landscape shaped the reconstruction of a sense of home for Palatine communities in Ireland and North America? To frame my research, I analyse homemaking through the lens of three interrelated spatial processes: ‘placing’ the landscape, ‘naming’ the landscape and ‘practising’ the landscape, each studied through the lens of a different primary source, namely maps, toponyms and entangled materialities – the cross-fertilising and critical analysis of which contributing to recover the voices silenced by the dominant historical record. Although this research project is taking place more than 300 years after the arrival of the German migrants in Ireland and North America, local Palatine communities are still very much vocal and vibrant in both landscapes. The interdisciplinary echoing of different temporalities and primary sources from the 18th and 21st centuries allows me to develop an analysis of Palatine identity that goes beyond that of a fixed historical diaspora and acknowledges the fluidity and dynamism flowing through the shared values, memories and heritages underpinning this living community." |
