Clodagh Guerin

Biography

Clodagh Guerin is a PhD candidate at the School of English, Irish, & Communication. Her research interests include Refugee studies, refugee world literature, human rights literature and postcolonial literature.

Project Title

Decolonising the Real: Re-Imagining Sociality and Temporality in Contemporary Refugee Literature.

Project Description

My research aims to answer the question of:  "How do refugee writers offer an alternative horizon of social relationality, social conscience and morality that reaches beyond the confines of the nation and time, to create more just and ethical representations of the displacement experience?".

My analysis of refugee literature aligns with other critical movements that challenge “normative” hegemonic thought, such as queer, black or indigenous studies. The dominant global rhetoric surrounding the refugee subject has turned even further to the sinister in recent decades. In Ireland and abroad, in light of the growing global levels of displacement and a concerning in tandem rise of far-right rhetoric, the refugee subject in popular discourse is being scrutinised. Host societies perceive and portray refugees as a threat to national security, as well as national and cultural identity.  

Refugee studies, which I read as a sub-field of postcolonial studies, is a multidirectional and interdisciplinary field on account of the geographical, political, historical, ethical, economic, ecological and social factors that influence human displacement and resettlement.  

Supervisors

Dr Yianna Liatsos.

Professional Memberships

Postgraduate Caucus Co-Chair for the Irish Association of American Studies (2025-2027).

Recent and Upcoming Publications: 

Contact Us

Email: eic@ul.ie ,
Phone: +353 61 202218,
Postal Address: School of English, Irish, and Communication, ER3019, University of Limerick, Ireland

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