Frances M Clarke

Associate Professor Frances M Clarke specializes in 19th-century U.S. history at the University of Sydney's Department of History. Her research examines the American Civil War, war trauma, childhood history, and intersections of gender/race.

She teaches courses including 'A House Divided: The American Civil War', 'Race & Gender in America', and graduate seminars on war trauma. Honors include the 2024 Lincoln Prize and Grace Abbott Book Prize for Of Age: Boy Soldiers and Military Power in the Civil War Era.

Research interests focus on:

• Experiences of underage soldiers
• Gold Star Mother pilgrimages
• War memorialization politics
• Medicalization of trauma

Publications analyze war's cultural impact through legal, medical, and social lenses. Collaborative projects investigate court-martial trials, military justice evolution, and post-war social reconstruction. Supervised over 40 honors students and 10 doctoral candidates studying war memory, gender, and social justice.