David Ralph
Assistant Professor
Sociology
Trinity College Dublin
Ireland
Biography
My main research interests are in the fields of migration studies and family studies. Currently I am researching a form of post-crisis migration in Europe that I term "Euro-commuting". By Euro-commuting I mean EU citizens who live in one EU country, but work in another, and circulate back-and-forth between the two. Also, I am working on a project about return migrants to the Republic of Ireland. This involves re-interviewing return migrants I initially interviewed for my PhD dissertation seven years ago. As such, it is a longitudinal study, and seek to examine how return intentions and re-integration experiences shift (or not) over time.
Research Interest
Broadly, my research interests lie in two main areas: migration studies, and family studies. Specifically, my PhD dissertation examined the re-integration experiences of return migrants to "Celtic Tiger" Ireland. It looked at how returnees understood ideas of home, belonging and identity in the wake of re-settlement. Following this, I worked on the "Family Rhythms" project at Maynooth University. This IRC-funded project examined changes and continuity to the Irish family throughout the 20th century. Next, I moved to University College Cork, where I took up a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship to work on the "Euro-commuters" project. There I examined a novel form of post-crisis migration in Europe, whereby EU citizens live in one EU country but work in another, commuting over and back between the two chronically. Presently, I am developing the various strands of this past research agenda into a new project that will investigate contemporary dilemmas around work, career and family for mobile workers in the burgeoning tech sector across Europe. The common thread running throughout all these projects - which is there in my first publication from 2009 and there in my most recent from 2016 - is how issues around family and migration intersect in often irreconcilable ways in the lives of highly mobile population groups.
Publications
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David Ralph, Home is where the heart is? Understandings of home among Irish-born return migrants from the United States, Irish Studies Review , 17, (2), 2009, p183 - 200
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David Ralph and Lynn A. Staeheli , Home and Migration: Mobilities, Belongings and Identities, Geography Compass, 5, (7), 2011, p517 - 530
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David Ralph, An African Land Rush, Dublin Review, 2012, -
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David Ralph, Managing sameness and difference: the politics of belonging among Irish-born return migrants from the United States, Social & Cultural Geography , 13, (5), 2012, p445 - 460
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David Ralph, The Vortex: A visit to the world of positive thinking , Dublin Review, 2012
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Jane Gray, Ruth Geraghty and David Ralph, Young grandchildren and their grandparents: a secondary analysis of continuity and change across four birth cohorts, Families, Relationships and Societies , 2, (2), 2013, p289 - 298
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David Ralph, It was a bit like the passover: recollections of family mealtimes during twentieth century Irish childhoods, Childrens Geographies , 11, (4), 2013, p422 - 435
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David Ralph, Equally at home on Beacon Hill and Hill 16? Transnational identities among Irish-born return migrants from the United States, Global Networks, 14, (4), 2014, p477 - 494
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One of the best members of the family: Continuity and Change in Young Childrens Relationships with their Grandparents in, editor(s)Linda Connolly , The Irish Family , London, Routledge, 2015, [Ruth Geraghty, Jane Gray and David Ralph]
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David Ralph, Work, Family and Commuting in Europe: The Lives of Euro-commuters , London, Palgrave Macmillan , 2015, 1 - 150pp
