‘But then there’s always fissures between the rocks; there’s always space for change’: An interview with Kathleen Lynch.

Abstract

Kathleen Lynch is Professor of Equality Studies (Emerita) at University College Dublin, UCD. She played a leading role in establishing the UCD Equality Studies Centre (1990) and the UCD School of Social Justice (2004/5). She has authored many books and articles on all types of equality and social justice issues, especially in education, and more recently on the relationship between care and justice. Her most recent book, Care and Capitalism: Why Affective Equality Matters for Social Justice, was published by Polity Press, Cambridge in 2022. In this interview, she talks about the experiences and ideals that have shaped her work as an activist scholar: from her formative years in the West of Ireland to her collaboration opening spaces for resisting injustice, such as the Centre for Equality Studies and the School of Social Justice at University College Dublin. She also discusses some of the motivations behind her work on care and affective inequality, including her most recent book: Care and Capitalism. The interview was conducted on April 2018, and was subsequently revised for clarity.