Sophie Cooper

@sophcocooper.bsky.social

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Social historian of gender, migration & public space | Nuns | Ireland & its diaspora | Senior Lecturer @QUBLiberalArts | Forging Identities in the Irish World @EdinburghUP 2022 | She/her.

Photo of house roofs at night. In the background you can see the flames and smoke of two bonfires
Two potatoes hanging from string. Pinned to the wall behind is a handwritten note which says The Irish Question with a line drawing of a shamrock behind
Gorgeous blue sea with an island in the background. Floating in the sea is a person but all you can make out is their sunhat and feet sticking out of the water.
A little wooden droplet shaped bauble which says Give Blood, Save Lives hanging on a tree
A group of students standing (photo is taken from the back) looking at a wall of political posters
Slide showing the magnificent interior of St Josephat's Basilica (est. 1901). Inset is a photograph of the Chicago Post Office
A man in a turtleneck top standing in front on a PowerPoint- the title slide is Carma, Carma, Carma, Carma, Carma, Carmelian: Adjusting Behaviours of the Irish Carmelite Diaspora within their missions
A green hardback book with a photograph of milk bottles on the front
A grave marker which says "GARDNER. The precious dust beneath that lies shall at the call of Jesus rise to meet the bridegroom in the skies that day we'll meet again. NO MORE INTERNMENTS."
Inside of a 19th century library with a beautiful domed yellow ceiling
Photo of 'A production from National Theatre' on a big screen
A stained glass triptych window with St Patrick in the middle and the regimental crest of the Royal Irish Rifles on either side
Two ruined houses in a field looking out over the sea.
Very long stalk of rhubarb on a glass outdoor table
View up the garden. There's an apple tree, rhubarb and sweet peas growing. There's washing drying on the line and the lawnmower is still out.
The question is which 3 Irish Historical figures are you having for lunch? Conor firstly outlines his considerations - are they all from the same time, if not, that could slow conversation down. He answers by saying he'd go back to 1911-13 and have lunch with Helena Moloney, Thomas MacDonagh, and Joseph Mary Plunkett
Group of graduating students standing just off a lawn all smiling in their gowns.
A bowl of strawberries and raspberries
Feeling Sites of Commemoration programme featuring Maja Hultman, Liam Campbell, Olwen Purdue, Andrew Newby, and Robyn Atchenson
Clip from a BBC article on the campaign to stop people groping the Molly Malone statue. This section is entitled 'Just a tradition' and there's a group from New Jersey, one of them says "I can see the vulgarity of it but it's just a tradition, it's just what you do, so you do it". Another added, "It's fine. You're not taking her clothes off, you're touching an area of her body that's beloved."
Two women smiling at a table. One is holding up a book.
Census return for the South Belfast Workhouse. The inhabitants were only recorded by their initials and then their religion, place of birth, occupation, and then their diseases
A big tree with a park field behind, people are laying around and playing ball games. Blue sky. Just a gorgeous "summer" scene
Two books - Clair Wills' 'Missing Persons, Or My Grandmother's Secrets' and Maeve Brennan's 'The Visitor'
A landscape scene - sheep in a green field to the forefront, then an estuary, then a hill with houses on
A hazy blue sky over a beach with the tide out. You can see the sea in the background.
Photo from an aeroplane window looking out at a blue sky with a few clouds
A statue of a righteous angel standing on a collapsed one in a white marble nothing hall
Blue but cloudy sky. Underneath are very high grilled windows. It looks very modernist and angular.
Looking out over forests and a sky that seems to extend forever
Excerpt from the article which mentions that Republicans displayed a poster at Hegseth's confirmation hearing which suggested that DEI has killed military standards - a poster in which Republicans misspelled the word "military" as "miltary".
3 pieces of A3 paper stuck on a white board. Each page has a time period in US history - 1750-1800, 1800-1830, 1830-52 - on it and a range of handwriting detailing big events
Stack of 7 books largely on Irish (and Irish American) history but also on the architecture of education and financing cotton
On the left, a close up on the head and torso of the McCracken sculpture, on the right, Winifred Carney's head and hat
Dusk on the beach. Heavy clouds above and lots of grass in amidst the beach and sea
BBC news article from 13 December 2024 A doctor believed to be the last remaining orthopaedic surgeon in northern Gaza has been killed by Israeli tankfire, according to Palestinian officials. Dr Sayeed Joudeh died on Thursday while he was on his way to work. He was a surgeon at Kamal Adwan and al-Awda hospitals in northern Gaza. The Israeli military said it was unaware of the incident, but it was investigating. The grandfather had come out of retirement to help during the war. Last month speaking at a press conference at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, he held up a placard that read "Save US". It didn't work.
Conclave film poster
A painted wooden candle and two felt baubles
Slide: what is a sheep? (There are then 2 photos, 1 of a short woolled sheep, 1 of 3 long woolled sheep)
The Oxford Handbook of Religion in Modern Ireland book with a glass of wine and a log fire in the background
Chocolate cake with "Let them eat [cake]" on in chocolate drops
Two paragraphs from the Guardian article. It explores the lack of care or action by sporting bodies, especially football organisations, in countering the death of 344 Palestinian footballers since last October or the destruction of Jenin's football stadium, among many other things.
Abstract. During the nineteenth century female Irish religious orders established missions across the Irish diaspora which were designed with flexibility and adaptation in mind. The Sisters of Mercy’s personal letter networks allowed these women, who were often very young, to continue their religious and technical “apprenticeship” while abroad. These letters enabled women in the diaspora to maintain a sense of consistency and belonging across the oceans: with their sisters in Ireland and elsewhere in the world on an ethnic and institutional level. Engaging with these letters as both intimate conversations and professional reflections presents opportunities for investigating how long-distance institutional memory was developed and a continuing connection to Ireland and Irishness maintained. This article moves the focus of ethnic culture brokers from the priest and bishop to the formal and informal networks of women religious who worked within a system designed for men. In doing so, it demonstrates that these letters provided an important extra layer to public global Irish networks, a layer which acted as both a whisper network and an opportunity for reflection on efficient methods for varied work in large, fluctuating, and cross-class ethnic communities
Poster for Irish Nuns Abroad: Shapers of a Transnational Imagined Community. Thursday 19th October, St Mary's Church, Haddington Road, Dublin at 7pm.