Bridget Byrne
Bridget Byrne is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester. Her Bridget's main research interests are in the area of citizenship, race, class, gender and education.
Her book White Lives. The Interplay of 'race', class and gender in everyday life (Routledge 2006) was based on extensive research on the construction of white identity in Britain, looking at the experience of white mothers of young children in two areas of London. This also involved examining the changing constructions of British and English national identities.
Making Citizens: Public Rituals and Personal Journeys to Citizenship (Palgrave, 2014) was based on research funded by Leverhulme Fellowship and a small grant from the British Academy. It examined the representations of nation and migration in citizenship ceremonies across the UK and in Australia, Canada, the USA, the Netherlands and Ireland. It also explored new UK citizens' experiences of migration and perceptions of whether they were welcomed to the UK.
In an ESRC-funded project Bridget (working with Carla deTona) examined parental approaches to secondary school choice in order to explore the ways in which space and locality impact on identity, in particular through research on the racialised and classed nature of school catchment areas. Alongside various articles, this research is currenlty being written up in a book: All in the Mix: race, class and school choice (MUP, 2018)
Bridget is co-investigator in CoDE (Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity and Inequality), funded by the ESRC.
Her book White Lives. The Interplay of 'race', class and gender in everyday life (Routledge 2006) was based on extensive research on the construction of white identity in Britain, looking at the experience of white mothers of young children in two areas of London. This also involved examining the changing constructions of British and English national identities.
Making Citizens: Public Rituals and Personal Journeys to Citizenship (Palgrave, 2014) was based on research funded by Leverhulme Fellowship and a small grant from the British Academy. It examined the representations of nation and migration in citizenship ceremonies across the UK and in Australia, Canada, the USA, the Netherlands and Ireland. It also explored new UK citizens' experiences of migration and perceptions of whether they were welcomed to the UK.
In an ESRC-funded project Bridget (working with Carla deTona) examined parental approaches to secondary school choice in order to explore the ways in which space and locality impact on identity, in particular through research on the racialised and classed nature of school catchment areas. Alongside various articles, this research is currenlty being written up in a book: All in the Mix: race, class and school choice (MUP, 2018)
Bridget is co-investigator in CoDE (Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity and Inequality), funded by the ESRC.
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Byrne focuses on the experience of white mothers and their children, as a key site in the reproduction of class, race and gender subjectivities, offering a compelling account of both the experience of motherhood and ideas of white identity.
Byrne's research is unique in its approach of exploring whiteness in the context of practices of mothering. She adopts a broad perspective, and her approach provides a suggestive framework for analyzing the racialization of everyday life. The book's multi-layered analysis shifts expertly from intimate acts to those which engage with local and national discourses in more public spaces.
Reconsidering white identities through white experiences of race, White Lives encompasses many disciplines, making valuable reading for those studying sociology, anthropology, race and ethnicity, and cultural studies.
Winner of the BSA Philip Abrams Memorial Prize 2007
Britain. This study examines the texts of the ‘local welcome’ which is given by a local dignitary at every ceremony as a moment of invention of tradition and of narrating citizenship and thereby narrating the nation-state. The study explores how and what the speeches tell us about understandings of citizenship and its relationship to diversity. It explores how history is also represented within the speeches. Finally, the study interrogates the texts’ telling of a multi-cultural story.
Byrne focuses on the experience of white mothers and their children, as a key site in the reproduction of class, race and gender subjectivities, offering a compelling account of both the experience of motherhood and ideas of white identity.
Byrne's research is unique in its approach of exploring whiteness in the context of practices of mothering. She adopts a broad perspective, and her approach provides a suggestive framework for analyzing the racialization of everyday life. The book's multi-layered analysis shifts expertly from intimate acts to those which engage with local and national discourses in more public spaces.
Reconsidering white identities through white experiences of race, White Lives encompasses many disciplines, making valuable reading for those studying sociology, anthropology, race and ethnicity, and cultural studies.
Winner of the BSA Philip Abrams Memorial Prize 2007
Britain. This study examines the texts of the ‘local welcome’ which is given by a local dignitary at every ceremony as a moment of invention of tradition and of narrating citizenship and thereby narrating the nation-state. The study explores how and what the speeches tell us about understandings of citizenship and its relationship to diversity. It explores how history is also represented within the speeches. Finally, the study interrogates the texts’ telling of a multi-cultural story.