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Canadian Association for Irish Studies
Association canadienne d’études irlandaises
Newsletter Vol. 26, No. 1 Spring 2012
FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK
I have just returned to Halifax after attending
the American Conference for Irish Studies
International Meeting in New Orleans over
the St. Patrick’s Day weekend. It was a
fascinating and enjoyable experience: my first
participation in an ACIS conference and my
first trip to NOLA. The conference was
grand; the French Quarter partied and rocked;
the company, including CAIS/ACEI members
Simon Jolivet and Andrea Walisser, was very
pleasant. Our long time CAIS/ACEI
colleague — and current ACIS President —
Sean Farrell added to the fun and the occasion
by singing at the start of the ACIS business
meeting and lunch. Overall, there were so
many positives about the conference with one
smallish reservation: the thirteen concurrent
sessions at any given time. It was difficult not
to feel overwhelmed by the number of
sessions and challenges in selecting how best
to use one’s time.
I look forward to seeing many of you at our
upcoming conference and AGM at the
University of Ottawa. I can guarantee you one
thing. There won’t be thirteen parallel
sessions on the go at any one time.
Thankfully! No promises about singing
though.
Conference 2012
Cultures and Contexts in Ireland's Diasporas
This year Ottawa is hosting for the third time
the CAIS/ACEI annual conference, to be held
at the University of Ottawa from June 20 to
23. Centrally located, the University is near
the Byward Market with its many restaurants
and pubs, and close to such major tourist
attractions as Parliament Hill and the
UNESCO world heritage site Rideau Canal.
Thanks to the hospitality of Ambassador Ray
Bassett there will be a reception at the Irish
Embassy on Wednesday evening. Music and
readings by local authors of Irish origin will
be held on Thursday and Friday evenings and
the banquet will be held on Saturday evening
at the Irish Cultural Centre in the former St.
Brigid's Church. As per CAIS tradition the
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banquet will conclude with entertainment
provided by conference attendees so anyone
who can play an instrument or carry a note is
welcome to participate.
For a campus map please go to:
http://uottawa.ca/maps
Conference Registration form is available at
the CAIS website: www.irishstudies.ca
Please submit the registration form for the
conference as soon as possible. Registrations
will be acknowledged in a timely manner.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
In keeping with the theme of the conference,
we are very excited and pleased to announce
that our three keynote speakers are all
acknowledged leaders in the field of diaspora
studies.
Cecil
Houston is
Dean of the
Faculty of
Arts and
Social
Sciences at
the
University of
Windsor.
Well known
to CAIS
members, he has agreed to deliver the second
annual Mariana O'Gallagher lecture, named in
honour of our late colleague and friend who
was a passionate pioneer of the study of the
Irish in Quebec. He is the co-author with
William J. Smyth of two of the seminal books
on the Irish in Canada, The Sash Canada
Wore: a historical geography of the Orange
Order in Canada and Irish Emigration and
Canadian Settlement: patterns, links, and
letters.
Kerby Miller is the Curator's
Professor at the
University of
Missouri. He has
written a number
of major works
on Irish
immigration to
North America.
Ireland and Irish
America:
Culture, Class,
and
Transatlantic Migration is a collection of
essays spanning the range of his career. Irish
Immigrants in the land of Canaan: Letters
and Memoirs from Colonial and
Revolutionary America, 1675-1815 won the
James S. Donnelly Sr. prize, presented by the
American Conference for Irish Studies for
books on history and the social sciences.
Emigrants and Exiles: Ireland and the Irish
Exodus to North America won awards for the
best book in American social history and the
best book in American immigration and
ethnic history; it was also a finalist for the
Pulitzer Prize in History.
Maria Eugenia Cruset is Chair of the
Irish Lecture at the
National
University of La
Plata in Argentina
and Director of the
Migration Network
at Santiago de
Chile University in
Chile. She is an
expert on the Irish
diaspora in South
America. She has
recently edited a collection entitled Migration
and New International Actors: An Old
Phenomenon Seen With New Eyes, which
includes two of her own papers on the Irish
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diaspora. Her other publications include
Diplomacia de las Naciones sin Estado y de
los Estados sin Nacion: Argentina e Irlanda:
Una Vision Comparativa.
ACCOMMODATION
On campus – residence 90 University
$115.00 including breakfast
website: http://ottawaresidences.com/
email: [email protected]
phone: 613 562-5885
There are a number of hotels within a 10-15
minute walk of the campus.
Novotel - 33 Nicholas St.
$150.00
website: http://novotel.com/ottawahotel
phone: 613 230-3033
Les Suites – 130 Besserer St.
from $174.00
website: http://les-suites.com/
phone: 613 232-2000
Quality Hotel Downtown - 290 Rideau St.
$169.00
website: http://qualityinn.com/
phone: 613 789-7511
Swiss Hotel – 89 Daly Ave.
from $128.00
website: http://swisshotel.ca/
phone: 1-888-663-0000
The 2012 CAIS/ACEI annual conference
committee is chaired by Paul Birt, holder of
the Chair of Celtic Studies at Ottawa U, with
Fred McEvoy, treasurer, Sheila Scott and
Rosemary O'Brien.
Oral History: ‘The Afterlife of
Ireland's Civil War: Memories &
Silences at Home and in Exile’
I am looking for people in Ireland and among
the Irish Diaspora with family connections to
the Irish Civil War (1922-23) to be
interviewed for an oral history on how
families, communities, and later generations
remember this important conflict. If you had
family (perhaps a grandparent) involved in
the conflict on either side, I would be very
interested in meeting you. What was the
impact of the civil war on your family? How
is it remembered? Have any stories been
passed down? In Ireland, I am especially
interested in civil war memories in and about
Counties Kerry, Cork, Clare, and Limerick,
among other places. Beyond Ireland, I am
eager to interview Irish-Americans and Irish-
Canadians related to IRA veterans who
emigrated in the aftermath of the conflict.
Interviews will be recorded to audio or video
or written down, according to your wishes.
You will be given a copy of the interview
recording. The project has been approved by
Concordia University’s Human Research
Ethics Committee, and all interviewees will
be informed in advance about conditions and
options of participation.
For more information please contact:
Professor Gavin Foster, School of
Canadian Irish Studies, Concordia
University, 1455 de Maisonneuve W., H-
1001, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3G
1M8; tel. 514 848-2424 x 5117; email:
[email protected]
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Celtic Studies at St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto
The Home Rule Crisis of 1912 A one-day conference
Speakers to include: Leigh-Ann Coffey, Simon Jolivet, Jane McGaughey, Edmund Rogers. Alumni hall, St. Michael’s College. Info: 416 926-7145. Saturday, May 26, 9:00–4:30
Our biggest news is the retirement of Ann
Dooley, who has done so much to give the
Program its distinctive character and its
international reputation. She was sent off in
style with a farewell party in December.
However, she can still be found in her office
most days, and students continue to come by
to visit her, so to our delight we don’t really
feel that she has left us.
Sean Conway joins us this term to teach
our fourth-year seminar on The Irish and
Scots in Canada. The course has already
broken all records for our fourth-year
seminars, with thirty students enrolled. Sean
took his M.A. in History at Queen’s
University Kingston, served as M.P.P. for
North Renfrew for twenty-eight years, and
was Minister of Education, Minister of
Colleges and Universities, and Minister of
Mines and Government House Leader. Sean
is an enthusiastic supporter of the Program,
and with his deep roots in the Irish of the
Ottawa Valley, his wide knowledge of the
field, and his entertaining anecdotes, he will
give his students an unforgettable learning
experience.
Other courses beginning this term are
Intermediate Irish Language II taught by
Daithí Ó Ceallacháin, our visiting instructor
provided by the Ireland Canada University
Foundation. Daithí also organizes
conversation groups for students to practice
their language skills, and in March he is
planning some events for a Seachtain Gaeilge.
We also welcome Dan Brielmaier from the
Centre for Medieval Studies who is teaching
Celtic Spirituality, and Sarah O’Connor, this
year’s Armstrong Visiting Scholar, has a large
and enthusiastic class for Contemporary
Celtic Cinema.
We are happy to report that we have signed
a five-year agreement with the St. Andrew’s
Society of Toronto, enabling us to invite a
speaker from Scotland each year, and
providing a summer scholarship for a student
who wishes to study in Scotland.
The Annual Day at the Races hosted by
The Ireland Fund of Canada in support of the
Celtic Studies Artist-in-Residence Program
will be held on a Friday at the beginning of
June, date to be confirmed.
Jean Talman/David Wilson
(with thanks to Irish Connections)
Round the Block
Rebecca Graff-McRae has just been offered
a 2-year SSHRC postdoctoral fellowship at
the University of Alberta, in the Department
of Political Science, working with Siobhan
Byrne under the auspices of the Peace and
Conflict Studies program.
Rebecca writes, “My research will be based
on a comparative study of the 2006 and 2011
commemorations of the 1981 Hunger Strikes,
with particular
attention to the
shifting language
deployed by Sinn
Fein in changing
political contexts. I
will also be
working with
Heather Zwicker in
the Department of
English, charting the intersection of Sinn Fein
political rhetoric with recent films and novels
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about the Hunger Strikes. My objective in this
project is to analyze and theorize the
relationship between commemorative events,
political discourse, and processes of conflict
transformation”.
Rebecca will take up her fellowship on May
1, and CAIS members can contact her about
the project via her new email
<[email protected] > after that date.
Ivan Coyote visits
Mount Royal University
The English Department at Mount Royal
University hosted the multi-talented writer
and performer Ivan Coyote as part of its
Writer in Residence Program, January 23-26.
Ivan Coyote draws on her upbringing in
Whitehorse, Yukon, growing up queer in a
small community, and urban life in
Vancouver. As she said in an interview in
Mount Royal University’s Face Time
newsletter, “Growing up in an Irish-Catholic
working class family in Whitehorse,
storytelling was in my blood.” Her
performances feature both spoken word and
music, and she is an accomplished fiddle and
penny whistle player. Before coming to
MRU this year, Ivan had a successful tour in
Belfast and other parts of Northern Ireland.
Ivan spent her week in Calgary visiting a
variety of English and writing classes,
speaking about the writing process, life
writing, her fiction and non-fiction, including
her recent novel, Bow Grip, identity, and
post-colonial issues. While her public
performance on Jan 26 did not feature music,
she held a packed auditorium spellbound with
short stories drawn from kitchen table
reminiscences of her parents, aunts and
grandparents, and her own life. While her
Irish roots are only one aspect of her work,
her stories emphasized the importance of
everyday life stories, the role that storytelling
plays in preventing alienation and bullying,
and promoting not merely tolerance, but
celebration of difference. Her performance
and visit showed in subtle ways how the Irish
diaspora in Canada continues to enhance our
culture in new ways relevant to many
Canadian communities.
Ivan’s visit was supported by funding from
the Mount Royal University VP Academic
Office and the Department of English.
CAIS members interested in Ivan’s work can
visit her website: www.ivanecoyote.com
Newsletter Editor’s Note An aide memoire. This newsletter aspires
to become a useful means of communication
among members of CAIS/ACEI. To this end,
we encourage members to contribute to the
newsletter, short pieces (150-300 words)
under the following thematic sections:
General Member News – personal,
professional, major events.
Graduate Students Corner – undergraduate
students too!
Reviews – books, theatre, film, community
events: short notes or notices of things
coming up.
Scholarly Notes and Queries – short pieces
of scholarly interest that are not long enough
for CJIS
Opinion Pieces
French and Irish Language Contributions
Notes from the Back Room
Firstly, and most importantly, a hearty thanks
to our members for continuing to support
CAIS/ACÉI in its endeavours to cultivate and
sustain a Canadian-based community of Irish
Studies. Members of the executive have stated
in the past that the great strength of our
membership lies in its diversity. We pride
ourselves in our accessibility to everyone
interested in Irish Studies while maintaining a
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valuable network for academics and other
professionals.
CAIS/ACÉI is both here for you and here
because of you. Your membership keeps us
going; your input keeps us vital. Online
membership is simple. On our website, click
“Join CAIS” on the top of the page. The
confirmation page can be printed as a receipt.
And be sure to let me know about any
questions or concerns or ideas you might have
regarding membership!
Sandra Murdock,
CAIS/ACÉI Secretary/Treasurer
[email protected]
Congratulations & Félicitations
Simon signs his work
Our colleague Simon Jolivet’s work, Le vert et le
bleu, continues to pile up the plaudits.
Immediately following their Annual General
Meeting, last December, Irish Heritage Quebec
presented a plaque to Dr. Simon Jolivet in
recognition of his impressive contribution to the
study of Irish nationalism in the province of
Quebec during the period 1898 to 1921, and for
his excellent book Le Vert et Le Bleu.
Joe Lonergan, President, Irish Heritage Quebec
makes the presentation.
Simon’s book is one of four short-listed by the
Canadian Federation for the Humanities and
Social Sciences for the Canada Prizes in the
Humanities and the Canada Prizes in the Social
Sciences. Awarded annually to one work in
French and one in English in each category, the
prizes are a benchmark for outstanding scholarly
work in the humanities and social sciences. The
prize, worth $2500, will be announced on March
30.
Hot on the heels, the Assemblée Nationale du
Québec announced that Simon’s book is to be
awarded the Prix de l'Assemblée nationale du
Québec for the best book touching upon a
political theme that had been published in 2011.
Here's what they say about this award : "Les Prix
de la Présidence de l'Assemblée nationale
récompensent la qualité et l'originalité d'une
œuvre portant sur la politique québécoise."The
award will be presented at the National Assembly
of Québec on April 4th.
Simon Jolivet, Le vert et le bleu: Identité québécoise et identité irlandaise au tournant du XXIe siècle (Montreal: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal)
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Obituary: Brian John
Professor Brian John died early in the
morning of January 23, 2012 after a
thankfully brief battle with cancer.
Always kind and loving with his close and
extended family in Canada and Britain, he
leaves behind, among others, his wife
Margaret, daughter Andrea and son Paul, their
respective spouses, Richard Braha and Ying
Su, as well as grandchildren, Paul and Nicole.
Born in 1935 in Pembroke Dock, Wales,
Brian was a graduate of Bangor University,
where he met his loving and much-loved wife
of 54 years, Margaret. A former president of
the Canadian Association for Irish Studies, he
taught English at McMaster University for
over 30 years, specializing in Anglo-Irish
literature and modern British poetry, and
publishing three books of criticism.
But along with a literary sensibility, Brian
John had a social conscience: as the long-
standing Myanmar (Burma) coordinator for
Amnesty International Canada, he worked
determinedly to realize a better world where
respect for human rights is foremost. His
voice will be missed.
Brian’s works included Supreme Fictions:
Studies in the work of William Blake, Thomas
Carlyle, WB Yeats and DH Lawrence;
The World as Event: Poetry of Charles
Tomlinson and Reading the Ground: The
Poetry of Thomas Kinsella, which was
described by Seamus Deane as “The most
sustained careful and sympathetic reading of
Kinsella’s poetry. Brian John has the
necessary patience and scruple that Kinsella
demands; he also has the gift of bringing to us
the rich reward that Kinsella finally yields”.
IRISH EMBASSY NEWSLETTER As reported in a previous issue, the Irish Embassy is publishing an occasional pdf newsletter, to keep you up to date with Embassy activities and with important developments in Ireland and here
in Canada. If you wish to receive the Embassy of Ireland newsletter, please contact them at:
[email protected]
One of my enemies ended my life Sapped my world-strength, afterward soaked me Wetted in water Set me in sun, where soon I lost The hairs which I had. And then The hard knife-edge cut me. Fingers folded me, and feather of bird Traced all over my tawny surface With drops of delight. Then for trappings a man Bound me with board, bent hide over me, Glossed me with gold, and so I glistened Wondrous in smith-work, wire encircled. Say what I am called Useful to man. Mighty my name is A help to heroes and holy am I.
It’s (always) that time
If you have been dilatory, distracted, distraught or otherwise disengaged, please take a moment to renew your membership in CAIS/ACEI now. Two issues of the Journal and two issues of the Newsletter each year.
one year membership
three year membership
Regular $75 $200
Family (two or more at the same address)
$110 $300
Students $35 $90
Seniors $75 $200
It’s easy, go to the website and complete the form and send your cheque to: Sandra Murdock, CAIS/ACEI Secretary-Treasurer, Department of Anthropology Memorial University of Newfoundland St John's, NL, A1C 5S7 http://www.irishstudies.ca/join-cais/
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The Virtual Archive of the
Annals of the Grey Nuns Minister for Arts, Heritage and the
Gaeltacht launches Virtual Archive of Famine Stories - The Typhus of 1847 /
Le Typhus de 1847
Jimmy Deenihan TD Minister for Arts,
Heritage and the Gaeltacht, recently launched
a unique virtual archive of famine stories at
the University of Limerick. The archive
translates the French language annals and
pays tribute to the French-Canadian Sisters of
Charity, or Grey Nuns, who cared for the Irish
Famine emigrants in the fever sheds of
Montreal during the summer of 1847 and
provided homes for Irish widows and
orphans. These annals contain extensive and
highly evocative eyewitness accounts of the
suffering of famine migrants in 1847. Speaking at the event, Minister Deenihan
said; "These annals contain extensive and
very moving eyewitness accounts of the
suffering of famine migrants in 1847. Written
in French and mostly unpublished until now
they were largely unknown to both scholars
and the general public. As Chair of the
Famine Commemoration Committee it is my
role to ensure that the commemorations
undertaken in Drogheda and Boston this year
honour the victims of the Famine and also all
those who selflessly assisted them at that
time."
The archive consists of numerous eye
witness accounts and first hand testimonials
about the suffering of Irish emigrants in the
fever sheds of Montreal in 1847, and of the
harrowing experiences of the priests and nuns
who went to their aid and sought to provide
homes for stricken widows and orphans. Dr Jason King, University of Limerick is
the lead researcher on the project. He explains
the significance of the archive; ""The Typhus
of 1847 / Le Typhus de 1847" virtual archive
makes accessible the stories of individuals
and members of religious communities who
risked their own lives to care for and provide
comfort for Famine Irish emigrants in
Montreal in 1847. It provides a record not just
of the hardships and suffering experienced by
the Famine emigrants, but also a moving
tribute to those who sought to help them." The Great Irish Famine of 1845-1850 was
the greatest social calamity in terms of
mortality and suffering that Ireland has ever
experienced. During those years, over one
million people perished from hunger or, more
commonly, from hunger-related diseases. In
the decade following 1846, when the
floodgates of emigration opened, more than
1.8 million people emigrated, with more than
half fleeing during the famine years. The main annal in the archive is that of
the Grey Nuns of Montreal which has been
published in French in La Revue Canadienne
under the title "Le Typhus de 1847" in 1898;
the UL virtual archive is making this material
accessible as it is largely unknown in the
English speaking world. The virtual archive can be accessed here:
www.history.ul.ie/historyoffamily/faminearchive/ The event was also attended by
representatives of the Québec Government
Office, London and the Embassy of Canada in
Ireland. The project has been funded by the
Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty
Teaching and Research Boards, University of
Limerick.
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School of Canadian Irish Studies 2011-2012
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
The School of Canadian Irish Studies is
very pleased to
announce the
appointment of Dr. Jane
McGaughey to a new
position in Irish
Diaspora Studies,
beginning in July 2012.
The Principal, Faculty,
Staff and Students of
the School extend a
warm welcome to Dr.
McGaughey and look forward to her
participation in the further development of
Canadian Irish Studies at Concordia. In the
fall 2012 semester, Dr. McGaughey will teach
a course on Irish Diasporic Dispersal and
Settlement. Below is a brief outline of Dr.
McGaughey's career and scholarly interests.
Originally from Kingston, Ontario, Jane
McGaughey completed her PhD at Birkbeck
College, University of London in 2008. Her
thesis examined the relationship between
public masculinities and warfare in Ulster
before, during, and after the First World
War. Her first book, Ulster's Men: Protestant
Unionist Masculinities and Militarization in
the North of Ireland, 1912-1923 will be
published by McGill-Queen's University
Press on 1 April, 2012. Other publications
include articles on Ulster masculinities during
the Home Rule Crisis and along the Western
Front, Irish veterans' bodies as sites of
cultural construction, and transatlantic
influences on Canadian masculinities since
1756. She has written reviews for the Journal
of British Studies, Labor History, Recherches
sociologiques, and Cercles - Revue
pluridisciplinaire du monde anglophone.
Jane's research interests include the Irish
Diaspora in Canada, America, Newfoundland,
and Britain, the Orange Order's construction
of public masculinities, and Ireland's various
portrayals in popular culture. Previously, she
taught at Roehampton University, Birkbeck
College, and the Royal Military College of
Canada, and was the 2009-10 National
Endowment for the Humanities Faculty
Fellow at the Keough-Naughton Institute for
Irish Studies at the University of Notre
Dame. Her current research focuses on the
Irish in Canada and Newfoundland, in
particular the gendered connections between
Orangemen across the North Atlantic world;
she is also exploring the impact of the Irish
Diaspora on the creation of Canadian political
identities, and the cultural geography of
"Canadian Irishness" in the twenty-first
century.
News from the School of Canadian
Irish Studies
In anticipation of the launch of the Major in
Canadian Irish Studies in Fall 2012, the School
is planning to offer a stimulating list of
courses in the coming academic year. For
further information contact Matina
Skalkogiannis at 514 848-2424, ext. 8711 or email: [email protected] [.]
Courses in the 2012 winter semester
Irish Language & Culture I (professor to
be announced)
Irish Language & Culture II (professor to
be announced)
Contemporary Irish Literature (Prof.
Michael Kenneally)
The Irish in Canada (Prof. Gearóid Ó
hAllmhuráin)
Research Methods in Irish Studies (Prof.
Gavin Foster)
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The Troubles in Northern Ireland (Prof.
Gavin Foster)
Irish Literary Revival (Prof. Susan Cahill)
Diasporic Transformation & Integration
(professor to be announced)
The Irish Home: Food, Space and Agency
(Prof. Rhona Richman Kenneally)
Contemporary Irish Women’s Writing
(Prof. Susan Cahill)
Scholarships for Students in Canadian
Irish Studies
A series of scholarships worth $25,000 will
be made available for incoming students who
enroll in the programs offered by the School (Major, Minor, Certificate) as well as
Graduate Studies. Check the School’s
website for current information and the list
of this year’s winners: cdnirish.concordia.ca
O’Brien Visiting Scholar 2012
The School of Canadian Irish Studies will
welcome Dr. Ruth Barton from Trinity
College Dublin who will teach two courses
for the School in Fall 2012: Gender and Irish
Cinema and Cinema of the Celtic Tiger. Ruth
Barton is the author of numerous books and
articles on Irish cinema, including: Jim
Sheridan, Framing the Nation, Dublin: Liffey
Press, 2002; Keeping it Real, Irish Film and
Television, London and New York: Wallflower
Press 2004 (as co-editor); Irish National
Cinema, New York and London: Routledge,
2004; Acting Irish in Hollywood, Dublin and
Portland, Or: Irish Academic Press,
2006; Screening Irish-America, Dublin and
Portland, Or: Irish Academic Press, 2009. (as
editor).
International Conference in July 2012
The School of Canadian Irish Studies and
Concordia’s Department of Design and
Computation Art will be hosting the Annual
Conference of the International Association for
the Study of Irish Literature (IASIL) organized by
Dr. Michael Kenneally, Dr. Rhona Richman
Kenneally and Dr Susan Cahill. The IASIL
Conference will be held from July 30 to August 3,
2012, with the theme Weighing Words:
Interdisciplinary Engagements With and Within Irish
Literatures. Keynote speakers include Joep
Leerssen, Gerardine Meaney, and David Lloyd.
Participating Writers will include: Anne Enright,
Claire Kilroy, Leontia Flynn, Kevin Barry, and
distinguished Irish-Canadian novelist, Jane
Urquhart. A post-conference excursion is being
planned to Quebec City and Grosse Ile. More
info: http://iasil2012.com
CONFERENCES
2012 IASIL Conference
Weighing Words: Interdisciplinary
Engagements With and Within Irish
Literatures
The International Association for the Study of
Irish Literatures Annual Conference will take
place 30 July-3 August 2012. Hosted by the
School of Canadian Irish Studies &
Department of Design and Computation Arts
at Concordia University, Montreal.
Participating writers will include Claire
Kilroy, Leontia Flynn, Anne Enright,
Kevin Barry as well as distinguished Irish-
Canadian novelist, Jane Urquhart.
Keynote lectures will be given by Joep
Leerssen, Gerardine Meaney and David
Lloyd.
A special concert of Irish and Quebecois
music will take place, and a post-conference
tour to Quebec City and Grosse Ile is being
planned.
For further information please contact the
School of Canadian Irish Studies via email:
[email protected] . Or see our
website: http://iasil2012.com/
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Behind the Lines:
Women, War and Letters 1880-1920 University of Limerick, 9-10 June 2012
PLENARY SPEAKERS
Professor Lucy McDiarmid (Montclair State University)
Professor Matthew Campbell (University of York)
The aim of this conference is to interrogate the literary tropes and political constructions through which women’s writing conceptualises conflict. In Ireland, to engage with national politics and national conflicts in the period between the Land War and partition was to find oneself grappling with gendered norms and expectations, through which distinctive modes of patriotic action could be validated or naturalised, but also re-interpreted or condemned. At the same time, in an international context, imperial and colonial conflicts of the late nineteenth-century opened up new conceptions of space and national identity, while in the early twentieth century the First World War produced a sustained literary re-evaluation of cultures of militarisms and masculinity. These political events were, however, taking place alongside a series of other conflicts, conflicts centred around disruptions of norms of gendered behaviour and class alignments, as well as disruptions of literary norms with the rise of Modernism. What meanings accrue to these colliding agendas, needs, and practices? How can we discover them?
Contact: [email protected] Conference organisers: Professor Margaret Mills Harper (UL), Dr. Tina O’Toole (UL), Dr. Muireann O Cinneide (NUIG).
THE NORTH: Exile, Diaspora,
Troubled Performance, 8-9 June 2012 The 9th annual Irish Theatrical Diaspora
Conference will take place in June 2012 in Derry/Londonderry, hosted by the School of Creative Arts at the University of Ulster, in the former Foyle Arts Centre and previous home of Field Day Theatre Company.
The conference aims to build upon the scholarly work already done by the Irish Theatrical Diaspora project, and to extend it in an exploration of performances of ‘The North’. Tracing the trajectories of emigrants from the North of Ireland to Scotland, Newfoundland, New England and Canada, the conference aims to analyze and explore performative and theatrical representations of ‘The North’ and the northerly migration of peoples. This migration stretches back to the Flight of the Earls and the Famine, and also includes recent historical events such as the exiling of individuals and families by paramilitary groups during and after the ‘Troubles’; movements of population within Northern Ireland in response to violent sectarianism, and economic and cultural migration. It further aims to recognize Northern Ireland’s history of immigration, most famously of the Chinese community which established itself in Belfast in the early 1960s, and the recent establishment of Central and Eastern European communities, which are slowly reshaping Northern Ireland’s cultural landscape and conception of diversity.
‘Performance’ in this case includes theatre, dance, spectacle, and all aspects of the performing arts, as well as extra-theatrical activity – such as parades and community gatherings – that foreground ‘the North’ in some way. Keynote speakers TBA. Contact: Dr. Lisa Fitzpatrick, School of Creative Arts University of Ulster, Foyle Arts Building Northland Road, Derry BT48 7JL [email protected]
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Book Notices
Ulster's Men Protestant Unionist Masculinities and
Militarization in the North of Ireland, 1912-23
Jane G.V.
McGaughey
Heroism,
propaganda,
unionism, and
violence in
Ireland during
the Great War.
Cloth CA $95.00 |
US $95.00
From violence in the trenches, to the struggle
for independence and the eventual partition of
the country, Ireland's cultural history is
indelibly marked by the shadow of the Great
War. As the war raged on, the nine-county
province of Ulster - refashioned in 1921 as
the six counties of Northern Ireland - was
flooded with images of masculine military
heroism. Soldiers, veterans, and paramilitaries
became the most visible and potent
incarnation of manhood on the streets of
Belfast and Derry.
In Ulster's Men, Jane McGaughey provides an
historical glimpse into the unionist ideals of
manliness in Northern Ireland, delving into
the power dynamics of political propaganda,
military service, fraternal societies, and
paramilitary violence. Drawing upon
depictions of men found in war diaries, police
reports, government documents, and the
popular press, McGaughey presents unionist
masculinities as far more than the monolithic
stereotype of dour austerity and misplaced
loyalty.
An exploration of the history of gender
representation through the mirror of Northern
Ireland's tortuous past, Ulster's Men weaves
together images of Edwardian heroism,
imperial patriotism, the fellowship of men in
uniform, and the chaotic hostilities of war.
Genre and Cinema: Ireland and Transnationalism Edited by Brian Mcllroy (University of
British Columbia)
Re-issued in paperback.
This volume takes a broad critical look at
Irish and Irish-related cinema through the lens
of genre theory and criticism. Secondary and
related objectives of the book are to cover key
genres and sub-genres and account for their
popularity. The result offers new ways of
looking at Irish Cinema.
Reviewed by Heather Macdougall in the
Canadian Journal of Film Studies, 17.1,
Spring 2008.
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Breaking ground, finding graves: reports on the excavations of burials by
the National Museum of Ireland, 1927-
2006 in 2 volumes
Edited by Mary Cahill & Maeve Sikora
(Dublin: Wordwell, 2012; €50).
Breaking ground, finding graves is a two-
volume monograph that gathers together over
400 reports on excavations of burials carried
out by or on behalf of the National Museum
of Ireland between 1927 and 2006. Although
many burial sites excavated by the Museum’s
staff have been published already, a
significant number have remained
unpublished until now.
None of the sites reported here were
selected for excavation. They were all found
accidentally by people engaged in some form
of earth-moving activity, from changing the
position of a shrub in a garden at Lisnakill,
Co. Waterford, to semi-industrial activity in
quarries such as Martinstown, Co. Meath.
The monograph is structured
chronologically. The earliest burials date from
the Neolithic, through the Bronze Age and
Iron Age to the early medieval, late medieval
and post-medieval periods. Those sites for
which little or no detail is available or which
were not inspected are collated in the form of
an inventory. Brief introductions to each
chapter are intended to place the reports
within the wider context of the burial
practices of the period in question. Each
report includes an introduction, a description
of the grave(s), descriptions of objects,
comment, a report on human remains and any
other relevant specialist reports. Osteological
reports commissioned for many of the sites
provide extraordinary new information on
diet, disease and causes of death over a period
of almost 5,000 years.
The monograph also includes some 113
specially commissioned radiocarbon dates
from 74 sites and is illustrated with some 412
location maps and site plans, 239 charts/tables
and 130 photographs.
Volume 1 covers the Neolithic and Bronze
Age.
Volume 2 covers the Iron Age, early
medieval, late medieval, post-medieval and
later periods. It also includes an inventory of
sites where human remains have been
recorded.
Mary Cahill is an Assistant Keeper in the
Irish Antiquities Division of the National
Museum of Ireland, specialising in the Bronze
Age, particularly the archaeology of
prehistoric goldwork and the history of
collections.
Maeve Sikora is an Assistant Keeper in
the Irish Antiquities Division of the National
Museum of Ireland, specialising in early
medieval collections and the archaeology of
burial in Ireland.
NEW ONLINE IRISH HISTORY
MAGAZINE
Vol. 2, No. 1 appeared online in January
2012: the lead article by Richard McElligot
looks at the crisis in the GAA in the 1890s. www.scolairestaire.com
Blog: http://scolairestaire.wordpress.com/
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Border States in the Work of Tom
Mac Intyre: A Paleo-Postmodern
Perspective
by Catriona Ryan
This work
analyses the
prose and drama
of Tom Mac
Intyre and the
concept of
paleo-
postmodernism.
It examines how
Mac Intyre
balances
traditional
themes with
experimentation,
which is
unusual. This dissertation argues that Mac
Intyre's position in the Irish literary canon is
an idiosyncratic one in that he combines two
contrary aspects of Irish literature: between
what Beckett terms as the Yeatsian
'antiquarians' who valorize the 'Victorian
Gael' and the 'others' whose aesthetic involves
a European-influenced 'breakdown of the
object' which is associated with Beckett. Mac
Intyre's experimentation involves a
breakdown of the object in order to uncover
an unconscious Irish mythological and
linguistic space in language. Thus the project
considers how Mac Intyre incorporates
Yeatsian revivalism with postmodern
deconstruction in his drama and short stories.
Dr Catriona Ryan is a post-doctoral research
associate at Swansea University. She undertook
her MPhil at the National University of Ireland,
Cork and has recently completed her PhD at
Swansea University. She has published an essay
on the work of Tom Mac Intyre in Strays from the
Ether: The Theatre of Tom Mac Intyre edited by
Bernadette Sweeney and Marie Kelly (Carysfort
Press: Dublin, 2010).
Conquest and Land in Ireland:
The Transplantation to
Connacht, 1649-1680
By John Cunningham
Mid-seventeenth century Ireland experienced
a revolution in landholding. Coming in the
aftermath of
the devastating
Cromwellian
conquest, this
seismic shift in
the social and
ethnic
distribution of
land and
power from
Irish Catholic
to English
Protestant
hands would
play a major
role in shaping
the history of the country. One of the most
notorious elements of the Irish land settlement
was the scheme of the transplantation to
Connacht, which aimed to expel the Catholic
population from three of the country's four
provinces and replace them with a wave of
Protestant settlers from England and further
afield. Brought to the forefront of attention by
nationalist scholars in the nineteenth century,
the transplantation is one of the best-known
but conversely least understood episodes in
Irish history. Yet it has been relatively
neglected by recent historians, a gap in the
scholarship which this book remedies. It
situates the origins of the transplantation in
the heat of conquest, reconstructs its
implementation in the turbulent 1650s and
explores its far-reaching outcomes. It thus
enables the significance of the transplantation,
and its relevance to wider themes such as
colonialism, state formation and ethnic
cleansing, to be better understood.
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John Cunningham is IRCHSS Government of
Ireland Postdoctoral Mobility Fellow in the
Humanities and Social Sciences, Trinity College
Dublin/Albert-Ludswigs-Universität Freiburg.
List Price: $90. The publishers are pleased to offer this
title to the members of the Canadian Association of
Irish Studies at a 25% discount. Please use the
promotion code $12041 when ordering.
www.boydellandbrewer.com/default.asp
David A. Wilson,
Thomas D'Arcy
McGee, Volume 2:
The Extreme
Moderate, 1857-
1868 (McGill-
Queen’s University
Press, 2011)
If you enjoyed the
first instalment of
David Wilson’s
Thomas D’Arcy
McGee biography, you’ll want to take a look at
this second and concluding volume. Picking-up
the story from McGee’s 1857 arrival in Montreal,
the author remains fundamentally sympathetic to
his subject while avoiding the temptation to don
blinkers. As the introduction puts it: ‘In the pages
that follow, the reader will find numerous
examples of McGee cutting moral corners to
attain his political objectives’.
With a trajectory that runs all the way from
Irish republican revolutionary to ‘father of
Canadian confederation’, McGee’s story has
plenty of drama. And in a dramatic finale, he was
assassinated while walking home from the
Canadian House of Commons in the early hours
of 7 April 1868. The following week, on what
would have been his 43rd birthday, his funeral in
Montreal was the largest British North America
had ever seen.
Psychologically, McGee was on the run when
he arrived in Montreal in 1857. After escaping
from Ireland in 1848, he became a prominent
Irish-American Catholic advocate. But
disillusionment followed. Not only was the
United States rife with what he saw as anti-Irish
discrimination, it was also a place where Irish
Catholic immigrants were likely to lose their
moral footing and their faith. And as Catholicism
was the paramount thing in McGee’s life, this just
wasn’t on. So he looked north for somewhere
that might provide the social and political space
to nourish Catholic values. Denominational
schools were a big part of the attraction.
In Wilson’s telling, this search for space had
wider implications for subsequent Canadian
history. McGee’s principle of maximum freedom
of belief was to extend to all religious groups,
thereby helping ‘to open the door for modern
multiculturalism’. After entering politics, McGee
became the main spokesman for ‘a new northern
nationality’. Politically, it was to be expressed as a
‘federal arrangement that would encompass all
the British colonies in North America and take
over the Hudson’s Bay Company’s territories in
the West’. But security required a blend of
maximum legislative autonomy with membership
of the British Empire. The man who had been a
vigorous Anglophobe had come to see things in a
different light. In effect, British power was to be
the guarantor of the new country’s independence
from the United States. It was a startling journey
for someone who had previously embraced the
idea of American annexation of Canada.
Irish readers will be particularly interested in
the chapters dealing with McGee and Fenianism.
It was to be the issue that cost him his life. At the
end of the American Civil War, the Fenian
Brotherhood looked to the thousands of Irish-
American ex-Union army soldiers as a potential
strike force. And the British colonies in Canada
were perceived as a soft target. Invasion and
conquest might impel Britain to do a deal on
Ireland. Or it might trigger war between Britain
and the United States, thereby curtailing the
ability to suppress a Fenian uprising in Ireland.
Three such invasion attempts were made in
1866; all fizzled out. But as a vociferous critic of
the Fenians, McGee made bitter enemies in some
segments of the Irish-Canadian Catholic
community. While traditional Canadian
historiography tends to see the Fenian threat as
external, Wilson notes that they had the
sympathy and support of a significant minority of
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Irish-Canadian Catholics, including Patrick Boyle’s
Irish Canadian newspaper. Actual Fenian
membership may have been no more than 3,500,
but the number of fellow travellers extended
substantially beyond that. Indeed, the Fenians in
Montreal reckoned that they could draw on the
support of a quarter of the city’s (mostly
Catholic) Irish-born population.
The rhetorical war started in earnest in the
spring of 1864 when McGee described Fenian
leader John O’Mahony as ‘incurably insane’ and
the Irish Canadian struck back by characterising
McGee as a ‘truckling traitor’. Then in May 1865,
while back in Ireland in an official Canadian
government capacity, McGee upped the ante by
describing the Fenians as ‘Punch-and-Judy
Jacobins’. And although he concurred with the
decision to commute the capital sentences
imposed on captured Fenians in the aftermath of
the failed invasions, he also publicly declared that
‘those men deserve death’.
By the time of his assassination, McGee’s
political star was in decline. The intricate
balancing effort required to construct the first
post-confederation federal cabinet saw him left
on the sidelines, and his personal re-election fight
in Montreal was much closer than he had
anticipated—the battle against Fenianism having
cost him the support of the majority of Irish-
Canadian Catholics in his constituency. Inevitably,
the aftermath of his murder created its own
controversy. Patrick James Whelan, an Irish
immigrant tailor, was convicted and hanged. But
was he guilty? Reviewing the evidence, Wilson
concludes that under ‘the criminal law criterion
of reasonable doubt, he should have been
acquitted’. By the same token, under ‘the civil
law criterion of the balance of probabilities, he
was involved in the murder of Thomas D’Arcy
McGee, either as the assassin himself or as an
accomplice of the assassin, and he should have
been found guilty’. All in all, it’s a gripping story.
A native of Dublin, Pat Murphy has lived in Toronto since 1965 and writes a regular column for Troy Media. Review reprinted, with permission, from History Ireland.
"L'Irlande a élu un poète
à la tête de l'Etat"
par Alexandra Slaby, maître de conférences à
l'université de Caen Basse-Normandie et l'auteur
de L'Etat et la culture en Irlande préfacé par
Michael D. Higgins (Presses Universitaires de
Caen, 2010).
Michael D. Higgins, né en 1941, ancien
professeur de sociologie à l'université de
Galway, a publié plusieurs recueils de poésie.
C'est l'intellectuel de la classe politique
irlandaise. Il fut aussi le premier ministre
irlandais de la culture, ministère qu'il créa de
toutes pièces dans les années 1990. Il a
toujours été proche du monde de la culture
qui le tient en affection ; il l'a bien servi en
tant que ministre, et il en a reçu un soutien
décisif lors de sa campagne présidentielle.
Brillant, passionné, orateur exceptionnel,
Michael D., comme on le surnomme
familièrement, a une personnalité et un style
uniques qui le démarquent dans la classe
politique irlandaise. A l'heure où l'Irlande a
perdu sa souveraineté économique, le choix
de Michael D. pour ce poste certes
honorifique mais à haute valeur symbolique
est un geste fort. L'Irlande a choisi un homme
de culture pour se représenter ; elle a élu son
barde.
En Irlande, Michael D. est connu pour ses
talents oratoires et ses références
philosophiques quelque peu en décalage avec
le pragmatisme et l'opportunisme ambiants.
Député et sénateur, le Parlement offre une
tribune à ses discours passionnés non
seulement sur la culture, mais aussi l'actualité
internationale, l'éducation, et de manière
générale les questions sociétales. Une
chanson lui est même consacrée, "Michael D.
rocking in the Dáil". Excentrique, fougueux,
enflammé, il n'est pas toujours compris dans
les années 1990. On est peu réceptif à ses
références philosophiques, on critique son
indépendance d'esprit, sa passion, et une
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conception un peu trop… française de son
rôle de ministre de la culture. Dans le monde
anglophone en effet, l'idée d'un ministère de
la culture a longtemps fait peur, et on y a
préféré des structures de soutien moins
directes. Mais de l'eau a coulé sous les ponts
de la Liffey, ses idées ont fait leur chemin
dans l'esprit des Irlandais, et surtout, il a été
épargné des affaires de corruption qui ont
entaché la vie politique irlandaise et précipité
le pays dans la crise dont il essaie de sortir
actuellement.
Socialiste ? Travailliste ? Centriste ?
"Traditionnaliste critique", selon l'écrivain et
intellectuel Declan Kiberd? Il n'est pas aisé de
le placer sur un échiquier politique irlandais
unique en Europe, où les deux partis
principaux ne se divisent pas sur des
questions sociétales, mais opposent les
défenseurs et les détracteurs du traité de
partition de l'Irlande en 1921. Dans ce pays, la
gauche s'est développée en proximité plus ou
moins étroite avec le parti Fianna Fáil dont il
partage l'idéologie républicaine et une partie
de l'électorat. Dans sa propre vie, Michael D.
Higgins grandit par ailleurs dans un milieu
familial Fianna Fáil, et dirigea dans sa
jeunesse des branches locales de ce parti. Il
connut la pauvreté et la séparation au sein de
sa famille. Un bienfaiteur le repéra et lui
assura les moyens de faire des études à
l'université de Galway et c'est là qu'il
s'investit dans des activités politiques et
littéraires et fut invité à rejoindre le parti
travailliste dont il se sentait proche par sa
propre expérience. Le parti travailliste
irlandais est actuellement perçu comme étant
un parti de centre gauche. Pour toutes ces
raisons, et dans un pays où la politique est
essentiellement locale et une affaire de
personnes, il est écouté et estimé bien au-delà
des limites de son parti. Aujourd'hui, il n'est
plus le président du parti travailliste, mais le
président de tous les Irlandais.
Michael D. amène avec lui une vision de la
société qui repose sur l'accès à une culture
commune. Influencé par Raymond Williams,
il œuvre à l'avènement de cette culture
commune, seul passeport pour la citoyenneté,
une culture non-utilitariste qui ne se réduit pas
au divertissement, qui transcende clivages
idéologiques et hiérarchies, une culture
indigène vigoureuse et confiante, émancipée
de la colonisation de l'imagination opérée par
la culture de masse en provenance des
grandes puissances voisines. Une culture qui
transcende le clivage savant-
étranger/populaire-indigène dans un pays où
le théâtre et la poésie sont un bagage culturel
communément partagé, et où les arts
traditionnels sont aussi savants. Les Irlandais
doivent se réapproprier leur "espace culturel",
redevenir les auteurs de leurs propres
représentations.
Ministre de la culture dans les années
1990, il met cette définition de la culture en
application dans les médias et le cinéma. On a
pour la première fois une politique qui
s'intéresse au cinéma comme art et non
comme industrie. Le rôle de service public
des médias est renforcé par voie législative, la
loi de censure est abrogée, et une chaîne de
télévision gaélique est créée pour donner voix
aux populations gaélophones de l'ouest de
l'Irlande. Lors de la présidence irlandaise de
l'Union européenne en 1996, Michael D.
défend la notion d'exception culturelle et de
service public. Fort de sa conviction que
l'accès à la culture est un droit, il double le
budget pour la culture entre 1993 et 1997 et
est à l'initiative de projets d'envergure tels que
la restauration et le développement des
institutions culturelles nationales. Il met en
place des mécanismes fiscaux pour
encourager la production cinématographique.
Dans son souci de faire accéder le plus
grand nombre à la culture, il est aussi le
premier à formuler une politique de protection
du patrimoine. Il apporte un soutien
significatif aux arts visuels, support artistique
privilégié pour les Irlandais qui veulent
renouveler leur image aux yeux de l'étranger.
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S'ensuit une sorte de deuxième renaissance
culturelle pour l'Irlande, dont le festival
"L'Imaginaire irlandais" qui s'est tenu en
France en 1996 avec grand succès en fut un
témoignage retentissant qui chercha à
représenter une culture nourrie par une
synergie fructueuse de tradition et de
modernité.
La culture n'est pas soumise à l'économie ;
au contraire, l'espace culturel est plus large
que l'espace économique et l'englobe. Il faut
investir dans la culture surtout en période de
non-croissance. Tels sont les propos que
Michael D. tenait lors des réunions des
ministres de la culture en Europe dans les
années 1990. Les orientations récentes de la
politique économique irlandaise lui ont donné
raison : les deux réunions en 2009 et 2011 du
Global Irish Economic Forum ont confié à la
culture la mission de sortir l'Irlande de la
crise. C'est à la culture de régénérer
l'économie et de redonner confiance aux
investisseurs étrangers dans la "marque de
fabrique" irlandaise; ainsi est né "Imagine
Ireland", quinze ans après "L'Imaginaire
irlandais", campagne ambitieuse de promotion
de la culture irlandaise aux Etats-Unis, et qui
pourrait venir prochainement en Europe.
Alors que se clôt un chapitre de l'histoire
de l'Irlande où clientélisme et recherche de
profit primaient toute autre considération dans
le discours politique, on peut se réjouir de
l'élection à la magistrature suprême d'un des
derniers grands orateurs de ce pays, et du
retour dans le débat public des idées et d'une
vision.
(Originally published in Le Monde,
November 8, 2011)
President: Pádraig Ó Siadhail (until 2012), D’Arcy McGee Chair of Irish Studies, Saint Mary’s University [email protected]
Secretary-Treasurer: Sandra Murdock (until 2012), Memorial University [email protected]
Past-President: Danine Farquharson, Memorial University [email protected]
Members at Large:
Michele Holmgren, Mount Royal University [email protected]
Jerry White, Dalhousie University, [email protected]
Rebecca Graff-McRae, Queen’s University Belfast, [email protected]
Heather Macdougall, Concordia University [email protected]
CJIS Editor: Rhona Richman Kenneally, Concordia University [email protected]
Communications Officer: Jean Talman [email protected]
Newsletter Editor: Michael Quigley [email protected]
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