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Biography

Victoria McAlister is a historian and archaeologist specializing in the landscapes and material culture of pre-modern Ireland. She joined the History Department in 2022, having previously been at Southeast Missouri State University. Her current book manuscript, The Insular Globe: Animals and Landscapes of Colonization, Ireland c. 700-1700, examines the landscape changes associated with colonization and the transition of medieval to modern. In 2025-26 she will complete this book as a Long-Term Fellow at the Folger Library.

This work benefits from the digital heritage project Human-Environmental Exchanges in the Landscapes of Medieval Ireland on which she is co-Principal Investigator. This study uses photogrammetry data collected from drone flights combined with the historical record to trace the remnants of the Middle Ages in modern-day landscapes; explaining why some landscape remnants are particularly resilient in an era of mechanized and intensive land use. She is the editor of Eolas: The Journal of the American Society of Irish Medieval Studies and of the Environment, Production, and Exchange, 1100-1550 section for Routledge Resources Online. In addition, she has produced The Great Castles of Europe for The Great Courses (2024), which is available to stream. Her research has been supported by the National Humanities Center, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Philosophical Society, and the Castle Studies Trust. 

Selected Publications

• Victoria L. McAlister, 鈥溾�楾hey live on beasts only, and live like beasts鈥�: Archaeological and Historical Reassessment of Agriculture in Later Medieval Gaelic Ireland in a European Context.鈥� In Brendan Kane and Patrick Wadden, eds., An Eoraip: Ireland in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Brill, 2025).
• Victoria McAlister, 鈥淩esidence at Kilcolman Castle: Gender and Material Culture in Castles,鈥� Virtual Reality tour and teaching resources for Thomas Herron, ed., Castle to Classrooms: Developing Spenser鈥檚 Kilcolman Castle in Virtual Reality (2024) available at https://go.wondavr.com/R2NcRAf8Qkb
• Victoria L. McAlister and Linda Shine, eds., Rethinking Medieval Ireland and Beyond: Lifecycles, Landscapes, and Settlements (Brill, Explorations in Medieval Cultures Series, 2023).
• Victoria L. McAlister and Jennifer Immich, 鈥淲hat is Lost can be Found: History and Geographic Information Systems as Tools for Identifying Deserted Rural Medieval Settlement.鈥� In McAlister & Shine, Rethinking Medieval Ireland and Beyond.
• The Irish Tower House: Society, Economy and Environment c. 1300-1650 (Manchester University Press, hardback 2019, paperback 2021).
• Victoria L. McAlister, 鈥淐astles and Connectivity: Exploring the Economic Networks between Tower Houses, Settlement, and Trade in Late Medieval Ireland,鈥� Speculum: The Journal of the Medieval Academy of America 91:3 (July 2016), 631鈥�59.
• Vicky McAlister and Terry Barry, eds., Space and Settlement in Medieval Ireland (Four Courts Press, 2015).

Recent Book Reviews

• Review of Richard C. Hoffmann, 鈥淭he Catch: An Environmental History of Medieval European Fisheries鈥� (Cambridge University Press, 2023). H-Environment, H-Net Reviews. April 2025, https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=59729
• Review of Anastasija Ropa and Timothy Dawson, eds., 鈥淭he Horse in Premodern European Culture鈥�; Anastasija Ropa and Timothy Dawson, eds., 鈥淓choing Hooves: Studies on Horses and Their Effects on Medieval Societies.鈥� Speculum, 99:4 (2024), 1348鈥�50.
• Review of Tracy Collins, 鈥淔emale Monasticism in Ireland: An Archaeology鈥� (Cork University Press, 2021). The Medieval Review. December 2022, https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/tmr/article/view/36001/39007
• Review of Nicholas Terpstra and Colin Rose, eds. 鈥淢apping Space, Sense, and Movement in Florence: Historical GIS and the Early Modern City鈥� (London: Routledge, 2016). H-Environment, H-Net Reviews. October 2020, .

Awards and Honors

• Long-Term Fellow, Folger Library, 2025-26
• Donnelley Family Fellowship, National Humanities Center, 2021-22
• Excellence in Promoting Experiential Learning Award, Southeast Missouri State University, 2019
• Award for Teaching Excellence, Southeastern Medieval Association, 2017
• College of Liberal Arts Honors Award for Outstanding Teaching, Southeast Missouri State University, 2017

Recent Lectures and Presentations

• 鈥淭he Lived Experience of the Forgotten: Identifying Vernacular Settlement of Medieval Ireland with the HELM Project鈥� (with Jennifer Immich), 60th International Congress on Medieval Studies, 2025.
• 鈥淢ultidisciplinary Methodologies in Archaeology: Digital Analysis of Settlement in the Landscapes of Medieval Ireland鈥� (with Jennifer Immich), Society for American Archaeology, 2025.
• 鈥淢istakes Maketh the Methodology: Developing a Replicable Interdisciplinary Process with GIS for Identifying Deserted Medieval Settlements in Ireland鈥� (with Jennifer Immich), American Society for Environmental History Presents series, 2025.
• 鈥淒igitizing Deserted Medieval Rural Settlement: Drone Data, GIS, and the HELM Project鈥� (with Jennifer Immich), American Society for Environmental History, 2024.
• 鈥淒eploying Drones: The HELM Project and Recreating the Landscapes of Medieval Ireland鈥� (with Jennifer Immich), North American Conference on British Studies, 2023.
• 鈥淐olonized Cattle in a Complex Landscape: Livestock Experiences of Medieval Ireland,鈥� 58th International Congress on Medieval Studies, 2023.
• 鈥淐olonizing and Colonized Animals in the Landscapes of Medieval Ireland,鈥� Medieval Academy of America, 2023.