Sinead Pembroke: Industrial and Reformatory schools in Ireland: the afterlife for victims of abuse

Описание: This seminar was recorded while Sinead was in the process of completing her PhD.

In relation to her thesis "Irish State Reformatory/Industrial schools: the social consequences for former residents" her research profile notes "This study will make an important contribution to our understanding of Irish reformatory and industrial schools. It will focus on two aspects: the specific way in which the reformatory and industrial schools developed under the Catholic Church and the effect they had not only on the individuals resident in these institutions but also on their families and their next of kin.

I will use qualitative interviews to enquire into what happened in these state-funded institutions and how those who attended interpret what happened to them. My in-depth interviews will be complimented with an autobiographical approach. My father will provide an account of his time before and after attending an institution along with an account of my experience of my father as a parent. This will serve to compliment the other research. It will offer the reader identification with the protagonist allowing them to relive the experiences both before and after the institution and the affect it had on family life. There are 128 state institutions listed on the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002. I shall interview a sample of fifty men who attended a state-funded reformatory or industrial school.

The purpose of this project is to provide a historical context of the Irish reformatory and industrial school system and the relationship with the Catholic Church. This in turn will demonstrate how unique Ireland is in relation to other countries where these institutions existed but not under the administration of a religious order. I will then look at what happened to a sample of men who attended a reformatory or industrial school in Ireland using qualitative interviewing. The effects encountered will be in relation to the individual but also looking at how they entered into emotional relationships with their siblings and romantic relationships with their spouses or partners. This study will look at the way in which they believe the effect of their institutionalisation has had on them.

Biographical Note:

I completed my Undergraduate degree in Sociology and Politics in UCD. Immediately after finishing I moved onto completing a master degree in Sociology also in UCD. I am now beginning my PHD in the UCD sociology department, which acts as testimony that I find the UCD Sociology department to have the best reputation and qualities for what I need when completing such a mammoth task. I am just finishing first year and hoping to continue to enjoy it for the next two years!"

Her research profile is available here: http://www.ucd.ie/sociology/graduatep... (09/10/2012)