Background
Mary Nash was born on January 10, 1947, in Limerick, Ireland.
Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 585, 08007 Barcelona, Spain
University of Barcelona
College Rd, University College, Cork, T12 K8AF, Ireland
National University of Ireland, University College, Cork
Mary Nash was born on January 10, 1947, in Limerick, Ireland.
Nash graduated from the University College of the University of Ireland in Cork in 1967, and in 1975 she obtained a licentiate in philosophy and letters at the University of Barcelona. She then received her doctorate in modern history there in 1977 with the thesis La mujer en las organizaciones políticas de izquierdas en España, 1931-1939.
She was also distinguished with an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Granada in 2010.
Nash devoted her career to teaching at the University of Barcelona, where she first started as an assistant professor in 1976, in 1984 she was appointed as an associate professor, and since 1991, she has been working as a professor of contemporary history and department head there. Besides, she is one of the directors of Arenal, Journal of Women's History.
From 1982 to 1991, Nash was also one of the founding directors of the Women's Historical Research Center at the University of Barcelona and was a visiting professor at various colleges and universities, including New York University, University of California - Berkeley, University of Amsterdam, Duke University and University of Alberta.
Nash is known as the author of numerous books and academic articles on history. Her initial research was on women in the Second Republic and the Spanish Civil War (Defying Male Civilization Women in the Spanish Civil War, 1995; Rojas. Las mujeres republicanas en la guerra civil española, 1999/2006).
Drawing from the methodologies of social history, gender studies and cultural history, her most groundbreaking work since 2007 has led to a critical review of gender agency in the context of social and political upheaval while also leading to new insights on the gender development of citizenship, political culture, work and the changing boundaries of public and private: Ciudadanas y protagonistas históricas. Mujeres republicanas en la II República y la Guerra Civil, 2009; Trabajadoras. Un siglo de trabajo femenino en Cataluña, 2000.
In recent years Nash has reoriented her research to the late Franco period and the democratic Transition in Catalonia focusing on identity politics, social movements and the development of gendered political culture (Dones en transició. De la legitimidad politica a la legitimitat feminista: les dones en la Barcelona de la Transició, 2007; Feminismos en la Transición, 2009).
Nash is a member of the International Federation of Societies for Research in Women’s History and Asociación Española de Investigación de Historia de las Mujeres.
Nash was first married to Robert Tomas. The couple has produced one child, Fiona. However, the marriage ended in a divorce and she married Richard Bristow.