Dr. Catriona Paul

Biography

My research interests - American history, the American West, human-animal histories and, more recently, histories of race in the US - reflect both my life experiences and my teaching focus.

As a student, I worked with horses in different parts of the United States and New Zealand - in a 3-day event yard in Pennsylvania, a ranch in Colorado, a trekking centre north of Auckland - experiencing very different equestrian and cultural traditions. I completed a history degree at Edinburgh University, a PGCE at Durham University and an M.Phil in American Studies at the University of Glasgow. I also worked a semester as a T.A. at the University of Oklahoma where I was first introduced to environmental history and the history of the American West.

Formal education and holiday jobs combined when it came time to define my PhD at the University of Dundee. My topic - to explore the role of horses in early Kentucky, 1770-1830. Awarded a PhD studentship by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK), and forming part of a project dedicated to the trans-Appalachian West, my research revealed horses at the heart of Indian-settler relations, informing the economic viability of the state, and providing a social focus in the performance of mastery that took place around the early horse racing grounds. A 6-month fellowship at the Kluge Center, Library of Congress, and shorter periods at the Filson Historical Society in Louisville, Ky. and the Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort, Ky. made the research possible.

Upon completion of my PhD, a post-doc at Edinburgh University, "Between Apes and Angels: Humans and Animals, 1500-1850" allowed me to pursue the field of human-animal studies further before I took up a lecturing post at Edinburgh College. Relocating to Ireland in 2019, I have since taught undergraduate and masters courses at Mary Immaculate College and am now delighted to be with UL. My research focus continues to be the role of horses and other animals in the United States of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and I am beginning to explore how this knowledge may be applied here in horse-focused Ireland.