We are delighted to hear that our colleague Connal Parr, who is a Vice Chancellor’s Research Fellow in the Humanities here at Northumbria University, has been nominated for the Royal Historical Society’s Whitfield Prize
Connal’s book, Inventing the Myth: Political Passions and the Ulster Protestant Imagination, is an innovative and original exploration of Ulster Protestantism, focusing on the intersections of theatre, culture and politics and highlighting new perspectives which challenge some of the ideas which often circulate about twentieth-century Protestant culture. Here’s a description from the book’s website:
“Through its exploration of class division and drama from the early twentieth century to the present, the book restores the progressive and Labour credentials of the community’s recent past along with its literary repercussions, both of which appear in recent decades to have diminished. Drawing on over sixty interviews, unpublished scripts, as well as rarely-consulted archival material, it shows – contrary to a good deal of clichéd polemic and safe scholarly assessment – that Ulster Protestants have historically and continually demonstrated a vigorous creative pulse as well as a tendency towards Left wing and class politics. St. John Ervine, Thomas Carnduff, John Hewitt, Sam Thompson, Stewart Parker, Graham Reid, Ron Hutchinson, Marie Jones, Christina Reid, and Gary Mitchell profoundly challenge as well as reflect their communities. Illuminating a diverse and conflicted culture stretching beyond Orange Order parades, the weaving together of the lives and work of each of the writers highlights mutual themes and insights on their identity, as if part of some grander tapestry of alternative twentieth-century Protestant culture. Ulster Protestantism’s consistent delivery of such dissenting voices counters its monolithic and reactionary reputation.”
The Whitfield Prize is awarded by the Royal Historical Society for an author’s first book in the field of British or Irish history. You can read more details here
Congratulations, Connal!
Northumbria Englishes 