Claire Mitchell
BA, PhD (NUI)
Lecturer in Sociology
Room 2.04, 2 College Park East
Ext. 3491; Email: Claire.Mitchell@qub.ac.uk
I joined the School in 2003 after gaining my PhD in Politics from University College Dublin in 2001, and working as Guinness Newman post-doctoral scholar in the Institute for British-Irish Studies, UCD, until 2003.
My research is primarily concerned with religion and politics, and I am particularly interested in religious and political change over time. My PhD used qualitative interviews to explore how far religion continues to intersect with ethnic and political identities in contemporary Northern Ireland, and was published as a book by Ashgate in 2005. This led to a second major project - an exploration of why people's religious beliefs and practices change over the course of their lives. Together with Gladys Ganiel from the Irish School of Ecumenics, 80 life-history interviews with evangelical Protestants have been collected and are currently being analysed. I am also interested in political sociology and have done research on loyalism, former combatants, political attitudes and behaviour.
Teaching Interests
I currently convene a number of modules: 110SOC101 'The individual and society'; 110SOC232 'The sociology of conflict in Northern Ireland'; 210SOC922 'Conflict and change in Northern Ireland: Sociological perspectives'.
Recent Publications
Book
Mitchell, C. (2005) Religion, Identity and Politics in Northern Ireland: Boundaries of Belonging and Belief: Aldershot: Ashgate
Refereed articles
Mitchell, C. and J. Todd (forthcoming, 2007) Between the devil and the deep blue sea: Nationality, power and symbolic trade-offs among evangelical Protestants in contemporary Northern Ireland. Nations and Nationalism 13(4): pp. tbc.
Mitchell, C. (forthcoming 2007) 'The limits of legitimacy: Former loyalist combatants and peace-building in Northern Ireland', Irish Political Studies, 22(2): pp. tbc.
Tilley, J., G. Evans and C. Mitchell (forthcoming 2007/2008) 'The changing determinants of partisanship in Northern Ireland', British Journal of Political Science, issue no. and pp. tbc.
Smyth, L. and C. Mitchell (forthcoming, 2007/2008) 'Researching Conservative Groups: rapport and understanding across moral and political boundaries', International Journal for Social Research Methodology, issue no. and pp. tbc.
G. Ganiel and C. Mitchell (2006) 'Turning the categories inside-out: Complex identifications and multiple interactions in religious ethnography', Sociology of Religion 67(1): 3-21.
Mitchell, C. (2006) 'The religious content of ethnic identities', Sociology 40(6): 1135-1152
G. Ganiel and C. Mitchell (2006) 'Turning the categories inside-out: Complex identifications and multiple interactions in religious ethnography', Sociology of Religion 67(1): 3-21.
Mitchell, C. (2005) 'Catholicism and the construction of communal identity in Northern Ireland', Irish Journal of Sociology 14(1): 110-130.
Mitchell, C. (2005) 'Behind the ethnic marker: Religion and social identification in Northern Ireland', Sociology of Religion 66(1): 3-21. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0SOR/is_1_66/ai_n13819938
Mitchell, C. and J. Tilley (2004) 'The moral minority: Evangelical Protestants in Northern Ireland and their political behaviour', Political Studies 52(4): 585-602.
Mitchell C. (2004) 'Is Northern Ireland abnormal? An extension of the sociological debate on religion in modern Britain', Sociology 38(2): 237-254
Hayward, K. and C. Mitchell (2003) 'Discourses of equality in post-Agreement Northern Ireland', Contemporary Politics 9(3): 293-312
Mitchell, C. (2003) 'From victims to equals? Catholic identification in Northern Ireland after the Agreement', Irish Political Studies 17(1): 51-71
Mitchell C. (2003) 'Protestant identification and political change in Northern Ireland', Ethnic and Racial Studies 26(4): 612-631
Book chapters
Mitchell, C. (forthcoming, 2007) 'Devotion, segregation and identity formation: Religious change and persistence in contemporary Northern Ireland', in C. Coulter and M. Murray eds. Northern Ireland After the Troubles? A Society in Transition. Manchester, Manchester University Press.Research reports
Research reports
Loyalist Conflict Transformation Initiatives (2005) (with Vincent Gribben and Roisin Kelly) Report for OFFDFM.
