Parratt, Catriona M. 1956-

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Parratt, Catriona M. 1956-

PERSONAL:

Born 1956. Education: University of Birmingham, B.A., 1977; University of Windsor, M.HK. (human kinetics), 1985; Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1994.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Iowa City, IA. Office—Department of Health and Sport Studies, University of Iowa, E112 Field House, Iowa City, IA 52242-1111; fax: 319-335-6669. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Academic. University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, teaching assistant, 1982-84, research assistant, 1984, lecturer, 1985; Ohio State University, Columbus, research assistant, 1987, teaching assistant, 1988-89; University of Iowa, Iowa City, visiting lecturer, 1989-94, assistant professor, 1995-2001, associate professor, 2001—.

MEMBER:

North American Society for Sport History, Association of Sport Historians, American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.

AWARDS, HONORS:

John R. Betts Lecture, North American Society for Sport History, May, 2003.

WRITINGS:

More Than Mere Amusement: Working-Class Women's Leisure in England, 1750-1914, Northeastern University Press (Boston, MA), 2001.

Contributor to periodicals, including Journal of Sport History, International Journal of the History of Sport, and Sport History Review. Contributor to books, including Sport and Identity in the North of England, edited by Jack Williams and Jeff Hills, University of Keele Press (Keele, England), 1996; and The Golden Age c. 1850-1870, edited by Ian Inksert, Ashgate (London, England), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS:

Catriona M. Parratt is an academic whose research focuses on sports and leisure activities, primarily in mid-Victorian England. Her other research interests include history of sport in the Western world and history of women in sport. Parratt was educated in England, Canada, and the United States in the fields of sport sciences and human kinetics. In 2001 Parratt published her first book, More Than Mere Amusement: Working-Class Women's Leisure in England, 1750-1914. The book argues two central theses. The first of these is that leisure activities help to reinforce gender hierarchies, inequalities, and identities. The second is that leisure activities were often exclusive of working-class women's involvement. Parratt focuses mainly on working-class women in England around the time of the Industrial Revolution and divides the book chronologically between the period of 1750 to 1914.

Reviews of More Than Mere Amusement were mixed. John K. Walton, reviewing the book in the Journal of Social History, called the book "a valuable contribution" for the time period it covers. He did mention, though, that the work "is at times a rather literal-minded book, prone to over-simplification and even distortion." Kathleen E. McCrone also reviewed the work. In her Canadian Journal of History review, she had hoped that the "impeccable" book would have discussed bicycling more than it did. Nevertheless, McCrone concluded: "Very well-written and replete with clever analyses and insights, More Than Mere Amusement fills a major gap in working-class, leisure, and women's history, contributes to several fields pertaining to cultural and gender studies, and moves the frontiers of these fields forward substantially."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Canadian Journal of History, August, 2003, Kathleen E. McCrone, review of More Than Mere Amusement: Working-Class Women's Leisure in England, 1750-1914, p. 349.

Journal of Social History, winter, 2003, John K. Walton, review of More Than Mere Amusement, p. 507.