Dr Alborz Dianat will be presenting at the SAH 79th International Conference in Mexico City.

Sister Nesta, Religious Agency and Intersectionality

Despite the conceptual limitations of agency in isolation, this paper argues for its value within an intersectional framework, explored through a case study on the Catholic nun and architect Nesta Fitzgerald-Lombard (1916–2006). Considering literature on religious agency, scholars including Kelsy C. Burke, Talal Asad and Jakeet Singh have observed intentionality in acts of compliance and self-discipline. While Singh argues that this has formed a counterweight to intersectional critiques of oppression and inequality, Paola Rebughini suggests intersectionality can provide a tool to situate agency. This paper works from these perspectives to highlight the conceptual value of agency in conjunction with intersectionality. Expanded to include willful conformity within collectives, agency can capture positive responses while an intersectional framework situates actions within inequal conditions.

One of the first women to study architecture in Ireland, Sister Nesta oversaw numerous architectural projects at her convent in England. While foregrounding her agency, this paper notes the difficulty in ascribing a term presumed to denote individualism and resistance. Sister Nesta worked closely with her community on projects without seeking recognition, resulting in her total absence from architectural histories. Drawing on precedents for the collaborative and anonymised work of Catholic women religious in construction, Sister Nesta belies liberal conceptions of selfhood. Rather than seeking self-empowerment, she was agentic in supressing the desire for recognition, instead reinforcing her religious order’s collective existence and authority. An intersectional approach may valuably concentrate on Sister Nesta’s victimhood as she was constrained from traditional architectural practice due to her gender and evaded broader appreciation due to her ascetic religion. However, using this framework to situate agency reveals the basis for her actions and the productive outcomes, reflected in her exceptional architectural output. The broadened definition of agency and its usage through intersectionality therefore allows individual responses to be situated within oppressive systems.

https://www.sah.org/2026