Sarah Bolster

Informed by a broad interest in military material culture and the lived experiences of military personnel, my research explores the social and domestic histories of Irish military barracks in the twentieth century.

Using photographs, architectural plans and drawings, maps, departmental files, inventories, and military publications from the Defence Forces Archives, I examine barracks as liminal spaces: sites of training, discipline and authority, but also lived domestic environment shaped by routine, hierarchy, community and identity. My work considers how military spaces structured everyday life and how inhabitants negotiated privacy, belonging and individuality within these highly regulated institutional settings.

Drawing from material culture studies, architectural history, spatial theory, and social history, I investigate the relationship between people, objects and space within military environments. I am particularly interested in how architectural layouts, interiors, furnishings, and personal possessions can reveal the nuanced relationship between institutional control and personal agency. By focusing on the ordinary and often overlooked dimensions of military life, I seek to humanise military history and reveal barracks as complex social environments shaped by wider dynamics of community, gender and identity.