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On 4 September 2020 a group of historians, writers and educators from across the world came together online to talk about some of the most inspirational women warriors of the last few centuries.

Dr Matilda Greig

UCD Centre for War Studies

Videos: Wonder Women & Rebel Girls

Free online workshop tells women warriors’ stories

On 4 September 2020 a group of historians, writers and educators from across the world will meet online to talk about some of the most inspirational women warriors of the last few centuries – and the stories we tell about them – in a free online workshop open to the public.

Meeting a female cavalry officer among the ranks of his army was a bit of a surprise for Napoleon, one sunny day in 1806. ‘What!’ he is reported to have exclaimed, ‘You are a woman?’

Today, more than two hundred years later, it shouldn’t be such a surprise: women now serve in combat roles in many armies and female superhero-warriors top the billing in blockbuster Hollywood films, though the battle for acceptance and equal representation carries on.

The online event, ‘Wonder Women & Rebel Girls: Women Warriors in the Media, 1800 to today’, is organised by Dr Matilda Greig from University College Dublin, and opens with a talk by Dr Emma Butcher, recently featured on BBC 2’s ‘Being the Brontës’, BBC Radio 3, and Dan Snow’s History Hit.

The videos of conference papers are now available to watch on History Hub’s Youtube channel. Topics include everything from Furiosa to the French Resistance, Indigenous histories and heavy metal bands. 

Keynote

'War is an Ecstasy, Risk is Wild’: Girls Writing War in the Nineteenth Century by Dr Emma Butcher (Edge Hill University)

Play Video

Panel 1: Gender and Sexuality

Current video

‘Female’ military masculinities: gender non-conforming women warriors and beyond
Dr Catherine Baker (University of Hull)

Panel 2: Nationalism and Propaganda

Current video

French Invasion Heroines and their Afterlives
Professor Alison Fell (University of Leeds)

Panel 3: Activism and Exclusion

Current video

Guerrilla Girls, Wonder Women, and Menstruating Mothers: Iconographies of IRA Women in Armagh Gaol, 1970-1980
Samantha Haddad (New York University)

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Open and Lifelong Learning History Courses

UCD offers a variety of study options and entry pathways, ranging from full-time degrees to short-term courses for pure interest. Lifelong Learning offers all adult learners the opportunity to explore a subject of their choice without the pressure of an examination. Open Learning is a flexible way of studying part-time at UCD. Explore your history options for the coming year.

The murder of Walther Rathenau and the survival of Weimar democracy. Mark Jones on the year 1923

Dr Mark Jones is Assistant Professor in Global History at University College Dublin. A specialist in the history of political violence, war, and revolution, his publications include ‘Founding Weimar. Violence and the German Revolution of 1918-19 (Cambridge University Press, 2016). His latest book is ‘1923: The Forgotten Crisis in the Year of Hitler’s Coup’. This podcast ‘The murder of Walter Rathenau and the survival of Weimar democracy. Mark Jones on the year 1923’ is based on this latest book.

Attendees at the Military Welfare History Conference.

Military Welfare History Network – 2023 Conference Keynotes

The first in-person meeting of the Military Welfare History Network took place in Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin on 7 July 2023. The event, which was co-ordinated by Dr Paul Huddie, comprised two keynotes and four panels, totalling 14 speakers. Conference keynotes by Dr Matthew Neufeld (University of Saskatchewan) and Dr Ke-Chin Hsia (Indiana University Bloomington) were recorded and are now available to podcast.

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