Margo Shea

EDUCATION:

• B.A., Urban Studies, University of Pennsylvania 
• M.A., History, University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Ph.D., History, University of Massachusetts Amherst 

TEACHING & RESEARCH AREAS:

• public history
• history & memory
• local and community history
• heritage & place-making
• urban history 
• Northern Ireland & Modern Ireland 

I supervise the student-led Historical Association, a campus group open to all lovers of history.  I also oversee the History Department internships program and provide advising and academic oversight for the graduate certificate in Public History. I serve on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts History Alliance and am chairperson of the Communications and Nominations committees.

You can find my homepage with course syllabi, information on public history projects and an active blog by clicking here. Learn more about my research, teaching and community engagement interests by clicking here.  You can learn more about my forthcoming book, Derry City, by clicking here.

• Derry City: Memory and the Roots of Political Struggle 1896-1969 Notre Dame University Press 2020
• “Around Here: the Places Project -- A People’s Map of the South Cumberland Plateau” Sextant Volume XXV, No.1 Spring 2019
• “Participatory Methods and Community-Engaged Practices for Collecting, Presenting and Representing Cultural Memory” in Danielle Drozdzewski and Carolyn Birdsall, eds. Doing Memory Research Differently: New Methods and Approaches Palgrave Macmillan, 2019
• “Troubling Heritage: Intimate Pasts And Public Memories At Derry/Londonderry’s 'Temple' in Emotion, affective practices and the past in the present  London: Routledge, 2018
• “Feminist Oral History Practice in an Era  of Digital Self-Representation” in Katrina Srigley, Stacey Zembrzycki, and Franca Iacovetta, eds., Beyond Women’s Words: Feminisms and the Practices of Oral History in the Twenty-First Century London: Routledge, 2018
• “Resuscitating the Promise: Reflections from The Nation’s First National Historic Site on Meeting the Demands for Inclusive, Innovative and Collaborative History” (with co-authors Maryann Zujewski and Jonathan Parker) The Public Historian: Special Centennial Issue on the National Park Service,  Volume 38, No. 4, 2016
• “There Were Streets: Urban Renewal and the Early Troubles in Derry, Northern Ireland” in Delia Wendel and Fallon Samuels Aidoo, eds., Spatializing Politics: Essays on Power and Place Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2015
• “Honest Talk About Failure” The American Historian: The Magazine of the Organization of American Historians, 2015
• Book Review, Lee Smithey, Unionists, Loyalists and Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland, Oxford, New Hibernia Review, 2013
• Book Review, Edward Daly, A Troubled See: Memoirs of a Derry Bishop The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies, Vol. 37, No. 1/2, 2013
• “Whatever You Say, Say Something: Remembering for the Future in Northern Ireland” International Journal of Heritage Studies Volume 16 (4/5), 2011
• Building Citizens: A Critical Discussion and Reflection Guide for Community Service Participants Walt Whitman Center, Rutgers University (with Kevin Mattson) 

"Democratizing the Historical Research Process: Strategies and Tools" IMLS Community Anchors Training, Noah Webster House, West Hartford, CT

“Community, Memory and Dislocation in the Wake of the Catholic Church's Sexual Abuse Crisis” Memory Studies Association Annual Meeting, Madrid, Spain

“Oral History: Purpose &  Methods" Half Day Workshop, Sewanee Black History Project, University of the South, Sewanee, TN

“Out of the Spotlight: Grappling with Loss in the Wake of the Catholic Church’s Sex Abuse Crisis,” National Council on Public History Annual Meeting On-the-Fly, , Hartford, CT

"Derrymandered: Responses to Redistricting in Derry City 1922-1945," American Conference of Irish Studies Annual Meeting, Boston, MA

“Feminist Oral History in the Digital Age” Oral History Association Annual Meeting, Concordia University, Montréal, QC, Canada

"Collaboration is Key: Benefits and Challenges of Creating Partnerships between Local History Organizations and Graduate Programs." Massachusetts Historical Alliance, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA

“Power Struggles in Public History” National Council on Public History annual meeting, Las Vegas, NV (paper accepted but not presented due to family emergency)

“Building the Geo-Humanities: Constructing a Field” American Association of Geographers annual meeting, New Orleans LA  (paper accepted but not presented (paper accepted but not presented due to family emergency)

“The Places Project: A People’s Map of the South Cumberland Plateau” Grundy County Historical Society, Tracy City, TN

“Personal Geographies, Community Histories and Public Life”  South Cumberland VISTA Training, Sewanee, TN

“Crowd-Sourced Community Mapping: The Places Project and the Power of Place Memory and Place Attachment:” National Council on Public History Annual Meeting, Indianapolis, IN

“Participatory Methodologies in the Study of Cultural and Community Memory” Panel: Doing Memory Research Differently, American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting,Boston, MA

“Place-Based Research and Education: Theories, Practices and Purposes” National Humanities Center online webinar

“Introduction to the Spatial Humanities: Querying Space and Place in Teaching and Research” with Richard Apgar, Center for Teaching, University of the South

“Questions that Matter: Does Community Engagement Serve Social Justice?” Invited Lecture, Center for Community Engagement, University of the South, Sewanee, TN

Collecting and Curating Memoir  and the Practice of Public History” Panel: Teaching Memory Studies, Modern Languages Association Annual Meeting, Philadelphia

“Valuing Local History and Historic Preservation” Keynote Address, Grundy County Historical Society Annual (Christmas) Meeting

“Community Engagement in the Wake of the 2016 Presidential Election: What Does Trump’s Victory Mean For Our Work?” Invited Workshop, Office of Community Engagement, University of the South, Sewanee, TN

“Landscape, Memories, and Quiet Histories: Interpreting the Campus of the Highlander Folk School, Monteagle, TN” National Council on Public History Camping Con, Cades Cove, TN

“One Space, Many Places: The Places Project” Spirit of Place Colloquium, Greenfield Community College, Greenfield, MA

“Community Engagement as Process: Story, Narrative and Social Justice”  University of the South’s Community Engagement House

“Community Engaged Teaching: What You Need to Know,” Invited Lecture, American Association of Geographers Faculty Development Alliance Workshop, Knoxville, TN

“Stories, Rhymes, Rituals, Memories: Performing Faith, Family and Community in Partitioned Northern Ireland 1922-1945,” American Conference of Irish Studies – New England Regional Meeting, Community College of Rhode Island

“Place and Memory: Social Constructions, Physical Manifestations” Invited Speaker, A Park for Every Classroom Teacher Workshop, National Park Service Salem Maritime National Historic Site

“Dealing with Difficult Knowledge in Interpretation” Invited Speaker, Interactive Interpretative Training, National Parks Service Salem Maritime and Saugus Ironworks

Working Group, “Best Practices for Establishing a Public History Program” National Council on Public History Annual Conference, Ottawa, Ontario

“There Used to Be Streets: Reinterpreting the Beginnings of the Northern Irish Troubles” Canadian Association of Irish Studies Annual Meeting

Creative, engaged public history is my passion.