Molly Andrews is Professor of Political Psychology and Co-director of the Association for Narrative Research and Practice.

With an interest in the intersection of individual biography and society, for more than three decades, she has been listening to, and writing about, the stories which people tell about their lives, specifically focussing on their perception of the political world and their role within it.

Molly's research explores the implicit political worldviews which individuals impart through the stories they tell about their lives, as well as the wider social and political context which makes some stories more ‘tell-able’ than others.

 
Sossusvlei, Namibia

Sossusvlei, Namibia

 
 

She has conducted research projects in Britain (life histories with lifetime socialists), the United States (analyzing anti-war activism as an expression of patriotism), East Germany (accounting for national identity in the context of the demise of one’s country) and South Africa (examining testimonies before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission). She was co-investigator on the “Narratives of Varied Everyday Lives and Linked Approaches,” (NOVELLA) project. Funded by the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods, NOVELLA explored the everyday practices of families. 

Molly’s work has been translated in to Finnish, Chinese, German, Swedish, German, French and Spanish. In 2008, her book, Shaping history: Narratives of political change (2007 Cambridge University Press)  received the outstanding book of the year award from the American Education Research Association, Narrative and Research Special Interest Group. 

She has a degree in Political Science from Tufts University (Massachusetts), a Masters in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a PhD in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge. 

Molly has been a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy since 2011. She is a recipient of a University Teaching Fellowship from the University of East London, and was nominated for a national teaching award.

 
 

Interests

 

Psychosocial basis of political commitment

Collective memory/ Politics of memory

Gender and aging

Counter-narratives

Feminist methodology

Political psychology of Forgiveness

Psychological challenges associated with acute political change

Patriotism

Life histories

Generations

Journal Editorial Boards

  • Qualitative Psychology, from 2013.

  • Political Psychology, from 2010.    

  • Journal fűr Psychologie: Theorie, Forschung, Praxis, from 2010.

  • Narrative Works: Issues, Investigations, & Interventions, from 2010.

  • Narrative Inquiry from 2019.

  • Journal of Aging and Society from 2018.

  • Journal of Narrative Politics from 2013.

 

Advisory Boards

  • Advisory Board, Paris Centre for Narrative Matters, from October, 2015.

  • Advisory Board, Centre for Interdisciplinary Narrative Studies, Tampere, Finland, from June 2014.

  • Advisory Board ESRC funded project “Understanding the Impact of Physical Activity on Experiences and Perceptions of (Self-) Ageing (everyday title "Moving Stories"), from September 2011-2014.

  • Advisory Board, Youth Empowering Parents (YEP), supported by $63,100 grant from Social Investment Fund of Toronto Community Housing Corporation. Recipient of Intercultural Innovation Award (2011) of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Programme.

  • Advisory board, Major Leverhulme Grant, ‘Gendered Ceremony and Ritual in Parliaments: India, South Africa and Westminster ’ 2007-2011.

  • Advisory board, Major ESRC award programme on Identities and Social Action Programme: Identity, Performance and Social Action: The Use of Community Theatre Among Refugees April 2005 – March 2008

  • Advisory Board for `Surviving prison in later life' (ESRC) 2002-2004

  • Advisory Committee, Clark/Holy Cross Consortium on Narrative (2004 -