UW Professor Receives International Literary Book Award

Julia Obert, a University of Wyoming Department of English professor, received the Michael J. Durkan Prize for Books on Language and Culture at the recent American Conference for Irish Studies (ACIS) national meeting in Limerick, Ireland.

Her book, “The Making and Unmaking of Colonial Cities: Urban Planning, Imperial Power, and the Improvisational Itineraries of the Poor,” published by Oxford University Press, was cited as a “highly original book” that “exemplifies the richness of transdisciplinary enquiry for the expanded field of Irish Studies.”

The book compares how the urban landscapes of Belfast, Northern Ireland; Windhoek, Namibia; Bridgetown, Barbados; and Hanoi, Vietnam, were subjected to the “weaponization of urban infrastructure by ruling regimes.”

Obert says these histories amount, largely, to often brutal exercises of colonial power.

“But, my book also notes the ways in which individual pedestrians have sometimes been able to contest that power by navigating space in subversive ways,” she says. “The book suggests that bodies can move against the authority of repressive regimes, at least to some degree, even when that authority is quite literally set in stone.”

ACIS, of which Obert has been a member for 15 years, cited her book as an example of hybrid methodologies, where “analysis of literary texts from each city considerably deepens its architectural, comparative and theoretical arguments.”

“I am deeply honored to have been recognized by an organization that I respect and cherish so much,” Obert says. “What a thrill it is to have written something that the members of that community think is worthwhile. I am incredibly grateful to have such a supportive professional community behind me and my work.”

Obert, also assistant chair of the UW Department of English, studies postcolonial literature and theory; Irish literature, poetry and poetics; 20th century British literature; and critical theory. Her first book, “Postcolonial Overtures: The Politics of Sound in Contemporary Northern Irish Poetry,” was published by Syracuse University Press in 2015. She received the UW College of Arts and Sciences Extraordinary Merit in Research Award in 2023 on the strength of this book.

She now is working on two additional book projects: “Vulnerable Soundscapes: Archives of Climate Grief” and “Irish Joy: Resistant Affects in Contemporary Irish Literature.” Her essays have appeared in a number of postcolonial studies, Irish studies and theory journals, and in various edited volumes.

For more information, email Obert at jobert@uwyo.edu.

About the American Conference for Irish Studies

ACIS is a multidisciplinary scholarly organization with approximately 800 members in the U.S., Ireland, Canada and other countries around the world and is the oldest and largest academic organization dedicated to the study of Ireland and the Irish worldwide. ACIS was founded in 1960 as the American Committee for Irish Studies.

ACIS has held meetings annually since, which are generally hosted in the U.S. by an academic institution, although approximately every fourth year ACIS gathers in an overseas location.