A cultural and practising Catholic who grew up in the Irish diaspora community in Greater Manchester, Dr Anna Rowlands, is St Hilda Associate Professor of Catholic Social Thought and Practice at the University of Durham. A political theologian, she is the author of the forthcoming book ‘Towards a Politics of Communion: Catholic Social Teaching in Dark Times’ (Bloomsbury), co-author of ’T&T Clark Reader in Political Theology (T&T Clark) and co-editor of a forthcoming book ‘Oxford Handbook of Religion and Contemporary Migration’ (OUP). She is a researcher on the AHRC/ESRC project Refugee Hosts (www.refugeehosts.org).

Dr Rowlands combines innovative research with a deep engagement with contemporary catholic communities, most recently with the Jesuit Refugee Service UK. She is a member of the Centre for Catholic Studies, Durham University and Founding Chair of the Centre for Catholic Social Thought and Practice. She is a trustee of the William Leech Fellowship in the North East of England, the incoming chair of trustees of The Woman at the Well, a London-based charity that works with women whose lives are affected by prostitution. and a Director of the University of Notre Dame London Gateway.

Dr Rowlands has recently written on the politics of Brexit and COVID-19 from the perspective of her long-standing interest in the works of the Jewish thinkers Hanna Arendt, Gillian Rose, and, most specifically, Simone Weil.

Interview Timestamps

0:00 Alcoholism & Migration: Irish diaspora and the solitary path to an intellectual life 28:06 Appearing on Top of the Pops and singing with the Nolan sisters 31:01 Cambridge: Culture shock, Impendent thinking, and Christian Social Philosophy 44:38 Piecing things Together & The path to academics: Special needs, pastoral care, chaplaincy 1:01:11 The Broken Middle: A PhD, Gillian Rose, and putting things back together 1:09:24 Catholic Social Teaching: social questions and industrial capitalism 1:35:38 Brexit: Simone Weil and The Need for Roots. 1:51:12 Tears at the scared core: Simone Weil and suffering 1:59:59 Technocrats and Mechanisms: The displacement of suffering from political discourse 2:13:11 Marked by death: Suffering and the premature death of two friends 2:19:10 No Christian life outside the Church: Catholicism, The Church and the Christians Life 2:24:19 The North: Southern constructions, distance from power, and Brexit 2:29:25 Identity and Belonging: What did Catholicism ever do for us? 2:34:05 An accidental academic and Anna’s future -- For all things ExtraECC, go to: ExtraECC.com Audio versions of these interviews are at: @extraecc Follow us on FB www.facebook.com/ExtraECC, and Twitter @ecc_extra