Profile
Annadís Greta Rúdólfsdóttir
Birth:
1964
Training Location(s):
PGCert, University of the West of England (2003)
PhD, London School of Economics (1997)
MSc, London School of Economics (1990)
BA, University of Iceland (1989)
Primary Affiliation(s):
University of Iceland (2015–present)
University of the West of England (2000–2009)
Psychology’s Feminist Voices Oral History Interview:
Career Focus:
Discourse analysis, social psychology, qualitative research, gendered relations
Biography
Annadís Greta Rúdólfsdóttir was born on May 13, 1964, in Reyjavik, Iceland. Growing up, she did not envisage herself in academia. Her decision to pursue a degree in psychology was determined somewhat by chance: narrowing her interests to psychology or sociology, she left the rest to a coin toss, resulting in a BA in Psychology from the University of Iceland. Although feminism characterized her social life and identity, she had not yet conceptualized the nexus between critical feminist psychology and politics, viewing them instead as separate pursuits. Reflecting back, Rúdólfsdóttir explains how she had initially embraced a positivist sensibility, one in which ‘truth’ could be discovered using the correct research tools.
Upon completing her BA in 1989, Rúdólfsdóttir moved to the UK, where she was able to combine her interests in psychology and sociology through the pursuit of an MSc in Social Psychology at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Her time at LSE developed her understanding of psychology’s role in knowledge production and its related injurious consequences for women. It was through this confluence of psychology and politics that Rúdólfsdóttir’s feminist standpoint emerged. Her MSc thesis at LSE focused on the social representation of the Miss Iceland contest: interviewing beauty queens, administering public surveys, and analysing videos and media discussions. This work introduced her to various qualitative research methodologies and feminist texts. It further developed her feminist research orientation, earned her the highest grade in the department, and resulted in the publication of her thesis.
Seeing the clear relevance and impact of her work, Rúdólfsdóttir returned to the LSE in 1991 to pursue a PhD in social psychology. Interested in power relations in the context of gender, she became acquainted with Foucauldian discourse analysis, applying this as a theoretical framework in her dissertation on changing constructions of femininity and masculinity. Focusing on the Icelandic context specifically, she conducted interviews with women and analyzed obituaries written between 1922 and 1992. Given that obituaries are a common practice in Iceland regardless of socioeconomic status, this facilitated the analysis of a diverse sample of publications. Furthermore, this research provided fecund ground to examine the generational tensions and ideologies operating through changing gender roles, womens’ sense of self-development and agency over time, and broader conceptions of health.
In 1996, Rúdólfsdóttir returned to Iceland where she accepted a postgraduate research fellowship at the Women’s and Gender Research Institute at the University of Iceland. There, she assisted in creating the first Gender Studies (then known as Women’s Studies) program. In 1999, she briefly returned to LSE where she lectured to cover for colleagues on maternity leave. Shortly thereafter, she became pregnant and gave birth to two sons. Between 2000 and 2009, she worked as a Senior Lecturer in social psychology at the University of the West of England, where she further honed her understanding of feminist and qualitative research methods. Rúdólfsdóttir returned to Iceland in 2009, where she was a studies director at the United Nations University Gender Equality Studies and Training Programme, a cooperative project between the University of Iceland and the foreign ministry that prepared education for students from Africa, from Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda, and Afghanistan. In 2015, she took a position as Assistant Professor in Research Methodology at the University of Iceland’s Faculty of Education, where she remains today. At present, Rúdólfsdóttir is an Associate Professor and chairs the Doctoral Board at the School of Education, and continues to maintain a strong network of feminist friends in the UK.
Rúdólfsdóttir’s current projects strive to extend research on discourses of motherhood in the United Kingdom and the United States to include Nordic countries. With similarly intensive ideas of motherhood across the three regions, juxtaposed with Nordic countries’ unique cultural understandings of shared parenting and institutional implementations of social support programs for women in working outside of the home, she highlights the need to address discourses of motherhood in a dialogical manner. Through discourse analysis, she has examined the ways gender relations influence structural and institutional spheres, including the family, media, and health care. To illustrate this, she has researched institutional discourses about motherhood, such as women’s experiences with pregnancy and young mothers’ education. Inspired by feminist literature like Sara Ahmed’s Living a Feminist Life (2017), Rúdólfsdóttir continues to seek out and incorporate other intersectional methods (e.g. story completion methods) into her work.
Likewise, her advice to other feminist psychologists is to “… become a feminist killjoy who doesn't burn yourself out.” When asked where she would like to see psychology improve, she highlights the importance situating psychological theories within their historical context to better grasp their role in shaping politics. Additionally, she advocates for the necessity of instruction in qualitative research methods in psychology, which she describes as closely intertwined with feminist methods. Through her scholarship, Annadís Rúdólfsdóttir calls attention to a host of interrelated societal issues, highlighting where change is needed to cultivate a more equitable world.
By Lucy Xie (2023)
To cite this article, see Credits
Selected Works
Rúdólfsdóttir, A.G (2000). ‘I Am Not a Patient, and I Am Not a Child’: The institutionalization and experience of pregnancy. Feminism and Psychology, 10 (3): 337-350. [Special Issue on Motherhood].
Rúdólfsdóttir, A.G (1999) A Feminist Psychologist in Iceland (1999) Commentary in The Psychology of Women Section Review, 1:1 47-48.
Rúdólfsdóttir, A.G (1997). Aldrei þú á aðra skyggðir: Staða sjálfsins í minningargreinum og viðtölum. (“You never cast your shadow on anyone”: The position of the self in obituaries and interviews). In Helga Kress and Rannveig Traustadóttir (Eds) Íslenskar kvennarannsóknir: Erindi flutt á ráðstefnu í október 1995. Reykjavík: Rannsóknastofa í kvennafræðum.
The Construction of Femininity in Iceland (1997) thesis submitted for PhD examination in London School of Economics and Political Science. External examiners: Professor Ian Parker, and Prof. Valerie Walkerdine
The Social Representation of the Miss Iceland Beauty Contest in Iceland. London School of Economics and Political Science, 1990.
Annadís Greta Rúdólfsdóttir
Birth:
1964
Training Location(s):
PGCert, University of the West of England (2003)
PhD, London School of Economics (1997)
MSc, London School of Economics (1990)
BA, University of Iceland (1989)
Primary Affiliation(s):
University of Iceland (2015–present)
University of the West of England (2000–2009)
Psychology’s Feminist Voices Oral History Interview:
Career Focus:
Discourse analysis, social psychology, qualitative research, gendered relations
Biography
Annadís Greta Rúdólfsdóttir was born on May 13, 1964, in Reyjavik, Iceland. Growing up, she did not envisage herself in academia. Her decision to pursue a degree in psychology was determined somewhat by chance: narrowing her interests to psychology or sociology, she left the rest to a coin toss, resulting in a BA in Psychology from the University of Iceland. Although feminism characterized her social life and identity, she had not yet conceptualized the nexus between critical feminist psychology and politics, viewing them instead as separate pursuits. Reflecting back, Rúdólfsdóttir explains how she had initially embraced a positivist sensibility, one in which ‘truth’ could be discovered using the correct research tools.
Upon completing her BA in 1989, Rúdólfsdóttir moved to the UK, where she was able to combine her interests in psychology and sociology through the pursuit of an MSc in Social Psychology at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Her time at LSE developed her understanding of psychology’s role in knowledge production and its related injurious consequences for women. It was through this confluence of psychology and politics that Rúdólfsdóttir’s feminist standpoint emerged. Her MSc thesis at LSE focused on the social representation of the Miss Iceland contest: interviewing beauty queens, administering public surveys, and analysing videos and media discussions. This work introduced her to various qualitative research methodologies and feminist texts. It further developed her feminist research orientation, earned her the highest grade in the department, and resulted in the publication of her thesis.
Seeing the clear relevance and impact of her work, Rúdólfsdóttir returned to the LSE in 1991 to pursue a PhD in social psychology. Interested in power relations in the context of gender, she became acquainted with Foucauldian discourse analysis, applying this as a theoretical framework in her dissertation on changing constructions of femininity and masculinity. Focusing on the Icelandic context specifically, she conducted interviews with women and analyzed obituaries written between 1922 and 1992. Given that obituaries are a common practice in Iceland regardless of socioeconomic status, this facilitated the analysis of a diverse sample of publications. Furthermore, this research provided fecund ground to examine the generational tensions and ideologies operating through changing gender roles, womens’ sense of self-development and agency over time, and broader conceptions of health.
In 1996, Rúdólfsdóttir returned to Iceland where she accepted a postgraduate research fellowship at the Women’s and Gender Research Institute at the University of Iceland. There, she assisted in creating the first Gender Studies (then known as Women’s Studies) program. In 1999, she briefly returned to LSE where she lectured to cover for colleagues on maternity leave. Shortly thereafter, she became pregnant and gave birth to two sons. Between 2000 and 2009, she worked as a Senior Lecturer in social psychology at the University of the West of England, where she further honed her understanding of feminist and qualitative research methods. Rúdólfsdóttir returned to Iceland in 2009, where she was a studies director at the United Nations University Gender Equality Studies and Training Programme, a cooperative project between the University of Iceland and the foreign ministry that prepared education for students from Africa, from Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda, and Afghanistan. In 2015, she took a position as Assistant Professor in Research Methodology at the University of Iceland’s Faculty of Education, where she remains today. At present, Rúdólfsdóttir is an Associate Professor and chairs the Doctoral Board at the School of Education, and continues to maintain a strong network of feminist friends in the UK.
Rúdólfsdóttir’s current projects strive to extend research on discourses of motherhood in the United Kingdom and the United States to include Nordic countries. With similarly intensive ideas of motherhood across the three regions, juxtaposed with Nordic countries’ unique cultural understandings of shared parenting and institutional implementations of social support programs for women in working outside of the home, she highlights the need to address discourses of motherhood in a dialogical manner. Through discourse analysis, she has examined the ways gender relations influence structural and institutional spheres, including the family, media, and health care. To illustrate this, she has researched institutional discourses about motherhood, such as women’s experiences with pregnancy and young mothers’ education. Inspired by feminist literature like Sara Ahmed’s Living a Feminist Life (2017), Rúdólfsdóttir continues to seek out and incorporate other intersectional methods (e.g. story completion methods) into her work.
Likewise, her advice to other feminist psychologists is to “… become a feminist killjoy who doesn't burn yourself out.” When asked where she would like to see psychology improve, she highlights the importance situating psychological theories within their historical context to better grasp their role in shaping politics. Additionally, she advocates for the necessity of instruction in qualitative research methods in psychology, which she describes as closely intertwined with feminist methods. Through her scholarship, Annadís Rúdólfsdóttir calls attention to a host of interrelated societal issues, highlighting where change is needed to cultivate a more equitable world.
By Lucy Xie (2023)
To cite this article, see Credits
Selected Works
Rúdólfsdóttir, A.G (2000). ‘I Am Not a Patient, and I Am Not a Child’: The institutionalization and experience of pregnancy. Feminism and Psychology, 10 (3): 337-350. [Special Issue on Motherhood].
Rúdólfsdóttir, A.G (1999) A Feminist Psychologist in Iceland (1999) Commentary in The Psychology of Women Section Review, 1:1 47-48.
Rúdólfsdóttir, A.G (1997). Aldrei þú á aðra skyggðir: Staða sjálfsins í minningargreinum og viðtölum. (“You never cast your shadow on anyone”: The position of the self in obituaries and interviews). In Helga Kress and Rannveig Traustadóttir (Eds) Íslenskar kvennarannsóknir: Erindi flutt á ráðstefnu í október 1995. Reykjavík: Rannsóknastofa í kvennafræðum.
The Construction of Femininity in Iceland (1997) thesis submitted for PhD examination in London School of Economics and Political Science. External examiners: Professor Ian Parker, and Prof. Valerie Walkerdine
The Social Representation of the Miss Iceland Beauty Contest in Iceland. London School of Economics and Political Science, 1990.