Top: Rosalind Solomon's “Mother, Daughter, Maid” (1964) 

Bottom: Still from Pat Murphy’s "Maeve" (1983)

Acts of generosity are a kind of social glue that cement bonds between different individuals and ultimately support community formation. Why, then, does gift-giving in Irish and South African writing from 1980 to 2002, fail to generate cross-cultural understanding and social cohesion?  

My research explores how representations of monetary gift-giving and acts of hospitality reveal how Irish and South African communities understand and respond to difference, whether this be ethnic, racial, gendered, or national difference. While I focus on the nation-state as the dominant model of community in these postcolonial countries, I approach this matter through the microcosm of friendship. 

My research draws on a variety of disciplines such as history, philosophy, economics, political science, socioology, and cultural studies. It is invested, though, in the belief that literature is a unique space for pushing against the limits of belonging and imagining more capacious forms of community. Key questions include:

• How do the deeply embedded colonial histories of these two countries inform the dominant models of community and belonging?

• Why are some forms of work percieved as acts of generosity and others as paid or transactional labor?

• How do the abstract conceptions of friendship, generosity, and community conceived of by philosophers like Jaques Derrida, Emmanuel Levinas, and Jean-Luc Nancy, fit into the realities of our lived and embodied experiences?

• How does literature (as a genre and a discipline) contribute to discussions of postcolonial identity and belonging? 

"It is true that storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it"                                                  - Hannah Arendt

As a Peace Corps volunteer, I worked with my host community in Chiriquí, Panama to identify priorities centered around environmental conservation and economic development. This required a multiple-month listening tour where I focused on integrating into the town's social fabric. It was an opportunity to learn by by visiting residents, attending events, and observing the daily routines and rituals of the residents.

Some knowledge was more difficult to obtain than other forms: identifying concrete infrastructure like the town’s various water sources was simple compared to unpacking social dynamics and histories. After all, people are complicated and messy things! 

La Reina de Carnavales