Susan Rosenkranz earned her PhD in History from Florida International University, after spending more than two decades in the world of media, working for networks including CBS and HBO. Before returning to academia, she wrote, directed, and produced “Circus of Hope,” a full-length documentary focusing on The Troubles in Northern Ireland, and filmed on location in Belfast in the years immediately preceding the ceasefire. She is currently at work on a new documentary, “Say Something: Belfast Revisited.” which examines the impact of the Troubles on the youth of Belfast and showcases how a new generation is finding its voice — artistically, socially, and politically.
Her 2013 dissertation, entitled “To Hold the World in Contempt”: The British Empire, War, and the Irish and Indian Nationalist Press, 1899-1914, was one entry in a series of works addressing the role of Irish and Indian newspapers in forwarding nationalist movements in Ireland and India. The dissertation used the prism of Britain’s imperial wars to illustrate the increasingly persuasive role of the press in achieving nationalist aims, and offered the first comparative analysis of the major nationalist press organs in India and Ireland. Related academic papers include “Publish or Perish: The Role of the Native Press in Promoting National Identity in Ireland and India,” presented in Galway at the 2004 India and Ireland conference; “Breathing Disaffection: The Impact of Irish National Journalism on India’s Native Press;” “The Perfect Place to Become Violent: The Playboy Riots in America,” presented at the 2013 ACIS South conference; “Baying at the British: Griffith, Cuchulain, and the Power of Irish Myth,” presented at the 2014 ACIS South conference; and “Selling War, Selling Papers: The Irish and Indian Nationalist Press and the Coverage of Britain’s Imperial Conflicts,” presented at the 2014 ACIS Dublin conference.
As an Adjunct Professor at both Florida International University and Florida Atlantic University, Dr. Rosenkranz taught survey courses in World History, European History, and American History. In addition, as a teacher of European History in the International Baccalaureate program, she taught the complex history of both the 1916 Easter Rising and the subsequent Irish War of Independence.