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Dr. Susan Flavin
Associate Professor in History, History

Biography

Dr Susan Flavin is an Associate Professor of History at Trinity College Dublin and Principle Investigator for the ERC funded project FOODCULT. She completed her PhD at the University of Bristol, where she was also engaged on the ESRC project Ireland-Bristol Trade in the Sixteenth Century (2006-9). Following a curatorial role at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter, she held posts at Trinity College Dublin (2012-5) and Anglia Ruskin University (2016-8) Susan's research concentrates on the history of trade, consumption and material culture in Early Modern Britain and Ireland. She is the author of Consumption and Culture in Sixteenth-Century Ireland: Saffron, Stockings and Silk. Her work is grounded in interdisciplinary approaches to history and she teaches on topics such as the social and cultural history of food and drink, and gender and domesticity in Early Modern Britain and Ireland.

Publications and Further Research Outputs

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Flavin, Susan; Meltonville, Mark; Taverner, Charlie; Reid, Joshua, Lawrence, Stephen; Belloch-Molina, Carlos; Morrissey, John, Understanding Early Modern Beer: An Interdisciplinary Approach, 2023 Journal Article, 2023 TARA - Full Text URL

Unearthing a new food culture: fruits in early modern Ireland in, editor(s)Valamoti et. al. , Cooking with Plants in Ancient Europe and Beyond: interdisciplinary approaches to the Archaeology of Plant Foods, Leiden, Sidestone Press, 2022, [McClatchie, Flavin and O'Carroll] Book Chapter, 2022

Flavin, Susan, Food and Social Politics in Early Modern Ireland: Representing the Peasant in The Parliament of Clan Tomas, Food and History, 20, (1), 2022 Journal Article, 2022 URL DOI TARA - Full Text

Taverner, C and Flavin, S, Food and Power in Sixteenth-Century Ireland: Studying Household Accounts from Dublin Castle, The Historical Journal, 2022 Journal Article, 2022 URL TARA - Full Text

Flavin, S. M., McClatchie, M., Montgomery, J., An Interdisciplinary Approach to Historic Diet and Foodways: The FoodCult Project, European Journal of Food, Drink and Society, 1, (1), 2021, p1 - 19 Journal Article, 2021 TARA - Full Text URL

Food, Drink and Society in Sixteenth-Century Ireland: Cultures of Consumption in, editor(s)Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, Audrey Horning, Eve Campbell , Becoming & Belonging in Ireland c.1200-1600 , Cork, Cork University Press, 2018, pp212 - 243, [Susan Flavin] Book Chapter, 2018

Domestic Materiality in Ireland, 1550-1730 in, editor(s)Jane Ohlmeyer , The Cambridge History of Ireland, Early Modern Ireland, 1550-1730. Volume 2, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2018, pp321 - 345, [Susan Flavin] Book Chapter, 2018

Susan Flavin, Consumption and Culture in Sixteenth-Century Ireland, Saffron, Stockings and Silk, Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 2014 Book, 2014

The Decorative Arts, Change and Development in the Sixteenth Century in, editor(s)Sam Smiles , West Country to World's End: The South West in the Tudor Age, London, Paul Holberton, 2013, pp25 - 63, [Susan Flavin] Book Chapter, 2013

Susan Flavin, "Consumption and Material Culture in Sixteenth-Century Ireland", Economic History Review, 64, (4), 2011, p1073 - 1427 Journal Article, 2011 URL

Flavin, S., Consumption and Material Culture in Sixteenth-Century Ireland, University of Bristol, 2011 Thesis, 2011 TARA - Full Text

Flavin, S. and Jones, E.T., Bristol's Trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601: the Evidence of the Exchequer Customs Accounts , Dublin, Four Courts Press, 2009 Book, 2009 URL

Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications

Taverner, C. and Flavin, S., 'FoodCult Exhibition', Online Exhibition, Trinity College Dublin, 2021, - Exhibition, 2021

Susan Flavin, Food, Culture and Identity in Early Modern Ireland: An Interdisciplinary Approach', IPMAG XIX Borders and Boundaries in Post-Medieval Ireland, Eniskillen, 02/19, 2019 Oral Presentation, 2019 URL

Susan Flavin, Pots and Bones Workshops, 13/09/19, 2019, Long Room Hub Meetings /Conferences Organised, 2019

Susan Flavin, Food, Culture and Identity in Early Modern Ireland: An Interdisciplinary Approach', IEHCA, Cinquième Conférence Internationale d'Histoire et des Cultures de l'Alimentation, IEHCA, Tours, France, 06/19, 2019 Oral Presentation, 2019 URL

Susan Flavin, 'Food and the Lower Orders in Early Modern Ireland: Sources, Problems and Possibilities' , Tudor and Stuart Ireland, Long Room Hub, 17/08/19, 2019 Oral Presentation, 2019 URL

Food, Drink and Society in Sixteenth-Century Ireland: Cultures of Consumption in, editor(s)Eve Campbell, Elizabeth FitzPatrick, Audrey Horning , Becoming & Belonging in Ireland c.1200-1600 , Cork, 2018, pp212 - 243, [Susan Flavin] Book Chapter, 2018

Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, Becoming & Belonging in Ireland c.1200-1600 , Cork, Cork University Press, 2017, 212 - 243pp Book, 2017

Flavin, S., 'Changing consumption patterns in sixteenth-century Ireland: evidence from the Bristol customs accounts', Centre for Irish Programmes, Boston College, Dublin, October, 2013, Irish Historical Society Invited Talk, 2013

Flavin, S., Review of A Calendar of Material relating to Ireland from the High Court of Admiralty, 1641-1660 , by Murphy, E. , Irish Studies Review, 20, (4), 2012 Review, 2012

Flavin, S., Consumption and Culture in Sixteenth-Century Ireland, Institute of Historical Research Seminar Series: Economic and Social History of the Premodern World, 1500-1800, University of London, October, 2011, Institute of Historical Research Invited Talk, 2011

Flavin, S., Review of The Great Parchment Book of Waterford , by Byrne, N.J. , Irish Economic and Social History , 2010 Review, 2010

Flavin, S., Consumption and Material Culture in the Celtic Sea Region in the Sixteenth Century, University of Bristol, Departmental Seminar Series, University of Bristol, 8 February, 2009, Dr Evan Jones Invited Talk, 2009

Flavin, S., The Use and Misuse of 'Particular' Customs Accounts and Port Books as a Source for British Maritime History in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries', International Maritime Economic History Association , National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, June 2008 Conference Paper,

Flavin, S., Irish Material Culture and the Bristol Customs Accounts, 'Sea, Sky and Bogs': the Environmental History of Ireland and Beyond, Trinity College Dublin, November 2007 Conference Paper,

Flavin, S., 'Irish Material Culture in the Sixteenth Century; the Evidence from the Bristol Customs Accounts' , The Celtic Sea World, 1400-1600, University of Bristol, September 2008 Conference Paper,

Flavin, S. and Jones, E.T., The Celtic Sea World, 1400-1600, September 2008, University of Bristol Meetings /Conferences Organised,

Flavin, S., Saffron, Stockings and Spectacles: Irish Participation in the Sixteenth-Century World of Goods, The Archaeology of Mercantile Capitalism: Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology , Manx Museum, Isle of Man, September 2011 Conference Paper,

Research Expertise

Projects

  • Title
    • Food, Culture and Identity in Ireland, c. 1550-1650 (FoodCult)
  • Summary
    • FoodCult is a five-year project funded by the European Research Council. This Digital Humanities project will develop a ground-breaking interdisciplinary approach, merging micro-historical analytical techniques with cutting edge science, computer technology and experimental archaeology, to examine what was eaten, where, why and by whom, at a level of detail previously deemed impossible for this period in Irish history. Specific lines of investigation include (i) quantitative analysis of elite household accounts, (ii) GIS mapping of archaeological assemblages, (iii) isotope analyses to investigate human mobility and diet, (iv) organic residue analysis to explore the relative role of dietary fats and changes in the material culture of food, (v) experimental brewing to replicate and analyse the components of sixteenth-century beer, (vi) zooarchaeological analysis to assess relative production and consumption of animal products, (vii) qualitative analysis of historical sources to understand food identities and interactions in early modern Ireland.
  • Funding Agency
    • ERC
  • Date From
    • 01/02/19
  • Date To
    • 31/01/23

Recognition

Awards and Honours

ERC Starting Grant FOODCULT Project 2019

Memberships

Post Medieval Archaeology Society