Deirdre McAlister
Assistant Professor
- Email: deirdre.mcalister@zu.ac.ae
- Telephone: +9712 599 3384
- Address: Abu Dhabi - Khalifa City, FF2048
Introduction
I have a diverse and extensive background in education with over twenty-two years of teaching experience in further/continuing and university education in Ireland and the UAE. I hold a PhD in Archaeology/Anthropology, an MA/PGD in Adult and Community Education, and a Double First-Class Honours bachelor's degree in History and English Literature. I was awarded a post-graduate scholarship from the Irish Research Council for my PhD (2009).
I have been an Assistant Professor at Zayed University in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences since 2019. Prior to this, I held various faculty positions, including Assistant Professor at the Higher Colleges of Technology Abu Dhabi Men’s and Women’s Colleges, where I served as course team leader for courses including Globalization and the Gulf and Global Media Trends. In 2015, I worked as faculty at ADVETI with Emirati adult learners returning to education. Before I moved from Ireland to Abu Dhabi, I was faculty and Team Leader at the Adult Education Centre Laois-Offaly Education and Training Board, working with marginalized community groups returning to education. My career in academia began as an Associate Lecturer at Maynooth University in Ireland, directly after graduating in 2002, where I worked as a history tutor and adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Adult and Community Education and Department of History in both graduate and undergraduate programmes.
Qualifications
PhD (Title of Thesis) National University of Ireland, Maynooth – 2009
MA/PGD Adult and Community Education National University of Ireland Maynooth – 2012
Bachelor of Arts Degree (History and English) – 2002 (Double first-class Honours)
FHEA – 2017
Knowledgeworkx ICI (Inter-Cultural Intelligence) Certification- 2016
CELTA – 2014
Previous Positions (UAE)
2016-2019. Assistant Professor - Higher Colleges of Technology Abu Dhabi Women’s College/Men’s College.
2015-2016. Faculty - Abu Dhabi Vocational Education Technology Institute, Abu Dhabi.
Memberships
Society for the Study of Childhood in the Past (SSCIP), Peer Reviewer – Editorial Board
American Anthropological Association
Association of Middle East Anthropologists
Royal Society of Antiquaries, Ireland
National Institute of Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA)
Languages
English, German
Informal Interests
Developing fluency in Arabic and Irish (Gaelic) languages
UAE culture
Reading
Arabic rap and hip-hop in social activism
Music
Volunteering
Research and Professional Activities
Research interests include historical, socio-cultural, and contemporary studies of Ireland and the UAE. Specializations include gender and age/childhood in the past, age and gender theory in the archaeological record, childhood, family and kinship, material culture of childhood, archaeology of women and children, Early Medieval Irish society, and the origins and development of urbanization. This has expanded into aspects of childhood, age, and gender in the Gulf pre- and post-unification. Other areas of interest include identity/ethnicity studies, neurodiversity in learning and psychology of thinking, anthropological and sociological theory in popular cultures, with a focus on the ethnography and cultural change in the UAE.
Current Projects
Humanistic teaching and learning in the Emirati classroom. Recent research and publications explore the importance of liberal arts, humanities, and social sciences in 21st-century tertiary education.
Keywords:
Age and gender theory, childhood in the past, family and kinship, material culture of childhood, archaeology of women and children, Early Medieval Ireland, globalization, media influence urbanization, ethnographic research, cultural change in the UAE, comparative socio-cultural studies between Ireland and the Gulf.
Teaching Areas
My teaching philosophy is informed by the work of Carl Rogers and Jack Mezirow with a focus on transformative learning providing learning environments conducive for developing creativity, critical thinking and personal and intellectual growth in learners.
Undergraduate courses taught at ZU include Popular Cultures, Cities Culture and Sustainability, Bedouin Society, Legacy of Sheikh Zayed, Introduction to Culture and Society, Critical Thinking, Politics of Identity, European History, World History, European History
McAlister, D & Carberry, D. (2024) "Education for Life and Work: The Significance of Liberal Arts/Humanities and Social Sciences for 21st-century Learning" Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability. (Forthcoming 2024)
Deirdre McAlister, Empathy, Genuineness and Autonomy in the Emirati Classroom (in submission)
Deirdre McAlister, The Archaeology of Women and Children in Early Medieval and Medieval Ireland (book, Forthcoming 2025).
