ACIS
NEWSLETTER
ACIS BOOK AWARDS FOR BOOKS PUBLISHED IN 1999
The American Conference for Irish Studies will sponsor four prizes for scholarly books on Irish subjects published worldwide in 1999. The awards serve to promote and recognize excellence in Irish Studies Scholarship.
Guidelines
* Books must be submitted for one prize only.
* All books submitted for the year 2000 awards must have a publication date of 1999.
* Copies of the books nominated must be sent to each of the members of the appropriate committee (listed below) by 1 May 2000.
* Fiction, poetry, and anthologies of literature are not eligible.
The prize-winning books will be announced in November 2000. Please do not send copies of books to ACIS officers. For more information contact ACIS President Nancy Curtin at curtin@fordham.edu
BOOK PRIZE COMMITTEES
The James S. Donnelly , Sr. Prize for a Book in History or Social Sciences
*Lisa Bitel (Chair), Department of History, 3001 Wescoe Hall, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045
*Elizabeth Malcolm, Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool, 1 Abercromby Square, Liverpool L69 3BX, UK
*Marilyn Cohen [Montclair State University], 308 North Mountain Ave., Upper Montclair, NJ 07043.
The Michael J. Durkan Prize for a Book on Language or Culture
*Colin A. Ireland (Chair), Resident Director, Beaver College Center for Education Abroad, 6 Clare Street, Dublin 2, IRELAND
*William Kelleher, Department of Anthropology/109 Davenport Hall, University of Illinois, 607 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801
*Bill Williams, The Union Institute, 440 E. McMillan St., Cincinnati, Ohio 45206-1925
The Robert Rhodes Prize for a Book on Literature
*Michael Patrick Gillespie (Chair), Department of English, Marquette University, PO Box 1881, Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881
*Maureen Murphy, 243 Gallon Wing, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY 11550
*Sandra F. Siegel [Cornell University] 218 North Corn Street, Ithaca, New York 14850
The Donald Murphy Prize for a Distinguished First Book
*Guinn Batten (Chair), English Department, Box 1122, Washington University, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130
*Vera Kreilkamp, Humanities Division, Pine Manor College, 400 Heath Street, Chestnut Hill, MA 02167
*Sean Farrell Moran, Department of History, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan 48309-4401
ACIS BOOK AWARDS - 1999 (for books published in 1998)
The James S. Donnelly. Sr. Prize
Jews in Twentieth Century Ireland (Cork University Press)
By Dermot Keogh
The Michael J. Durkan Prize
Decolonisation and Criticism (Pluto Press)
By Gerry Smyth
The Donald Murphy Prize
The IRA and Its Enemies: Violence and Community in Cork, 1916-1923 (Oxford University Press)
By Peter Hart
President's Report
Dear Fellow Members,
Your new Executive Committee has been hard at work preparing guidelines and new initiatives for your consideration at out next general business meeting at Limerick, and you can now keep abreast of our labors by accessing the new ACIS Web site - www.acisweb.com. We decided we required a permanent address to serve as a more immediate media for communication between the executive committee and the general membership. Our gratitude to Johann Norstedt for managing the previous Web site is enormous. Coordinating the official ACIS Web site will become a permanent responsibility of the ACIS Secretary. And we are especially grateful to Kathryn Conrad for getting it started and assuming this responsibility.
The new Web site has raided the old for links and has added many more. We expect it will provide an excellent research tool for those interested in Irish Studies. But we also intend to use it as an archive for newsletters, conference programs, minutes, and approved policies and procedures. In other words, we are developing it as a resource for both promoting Irish Studies in general, but also as a supplement to the Newsletter in making accessible to all members information having to do with the activities, policies, and procedures of the ACIS. We urge you to contact Secretary and Web "master" Kathryn Conrad with any suggestions on how to advance both missions via the Web site.
You will find on the new Web site the names and addresses of the Executive Committee and a list of its working subcommittees currently exploring new initiatives. Please feel free to contact members of the relevant committees. We are eager for member input into our deliberations. For example, as mandated by the Annual Business Meeting at Roanoke, the Executive Committee has appointed a committee of itself to review the ACIS By-Laws and report its recommendations for action to the general meeting at Limerick. The Committee is chaired by new Midwest Representative Seán Farrell Moran, and consists of Vice-President Michael Patrick Gillespie and Arts Representative Stephen Watt, with the affiliation of all the regional representatives and the ex-officio participation of the President. The By-Laws are posted on the Web site. The committee is eager to hear from you and can be contacted via the Web site.
Our Finance Committee, Treasurer Monica Brennan, History Representative Timothy Meagher, and Western Regional Representative Audrey Eyler are considering ways in which we can apply a surplus in our treasury to the promotion of Irish Studies. Your ideas on spending initiatives will be most welcome to the committee.
As of this writing, the Executive Committee is considering two committee reports. The first concerns our election procedures and the second addresses the continuation of the ACIS Annual and further publishing initiatives that might be sponsored by the organization. Both these reports will be available on the Web site, with dissenting opinions, by January 15, and will, of course, be published in the spring Newsletter. And both reports, as well, will be submitted for membership review at Limerick.
All of this is in the way of making your Executive Committee even more responsible to the membership. And we are also taking steps to learn more about the membership of ACIS and the institutional base of Irish Studies in North America. You will have received with your membership renewal request a survey we urge to return. With this information we will be able to build a statistical profile of ACIS membership, necessary information to advancing Irish Studies and formulating initiatives that best serve our membership.
You will see elsewhere in this Newsletter that preparations for our next annual meeting hosted by the University of Limerick are well underway. We have accepted as well the invitation of Fordham University to host the 2001 annual meeting in New York City. Interest in hosting future annual meetings has been expressed by Marquette University and the College of St. Thomas. Any other more than welcome site proposals or queries should be submitted to Vice-President Michael Gillespie.
You will also see here that the 1999 book prizes have been awarded, and we all heartily congratulate the winners for so superbly defining excellence in Irish Studies. You will also note that a fourth prize has been added, sponsored by much-esteemed former president Maureen Murphy in honor of her mentor and equally esteemed former president Robert Rhodes.
Finally, I wish to thank all of you for electing an executive committee that I have been privileged to work with over the past half-year. We are striving to justify your confidence in us as responsible stewards of the organization. But to make sure we are on the right track, do keep tabs on us via the Web site - www.acisweb.com.
Yours collegially,
Nancy Curtin
LIMERICK 2000
Preparations for ACIS Limerick 2000 (June 26-July 1, 2000) are now proceeding apace. The Program Committee is finalizing the selection of panels and individual papers. The President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, has agreed to be patron of the conference. She has been invited to perform the official opening on Tuesday evening, June 27th, prior to a gala concert in the University Concert Hall at UL featuring the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Professor Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin (Director of the Irish World Music Centre at UL), and a presentation of music and song associated with the life and work of James Joyce, introduced by Senator David Norris.
The plenary speakers (in order of appearance and with provisional titles of their papers) are: James S. Donnelly, Jr., Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison, on "The Troubled Contemporary Irish Catholic Church"; David Lloyd, Hartley Burr Alexander Chair in the Humanities, Scripps College, on "Connolly and the Turning of Times: National Marxism and the Taking Back of History"; Pat O'Connor, Professor of Sociology & Social Policy, University of Limerick, on "Ireland: a man's world?"; and Monica McWilliams, Professor of Social & Community Sciences, University of Ulster at Jordanstown, on "The Role of Women in Northern Ireland Politics."
ACIS Limerick 2000 will commence with a reception on the evening of Monday June 26th and the final event will be a banquet in the Bunratty Fitzpatrick Hotel on Saturday, July 1st at which the guest speaker will be Professor Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh of NUI Galway, a distinguished and eloquent native of Limerick City, well-known to members of ACIS.
Registration and Accommodation
The local conference organisers have appointed Limerick Travel to receive registration and accommodation reservations. The principal location for accommodation is Kilmurry Village at the University of Limerick. This village consists of terraced houses with 6 or 8 single study/bedrooms and a large kitchen/living room and two bathroom facilities in each house. For participants preferring hotel accommodation, special rates have been negotiated in hotels in Limerick City (Jurys Hotel and Jurys Inn). Delegates will be able to pay for registration and accommodation by credit card.
The conference fee is IRpunt 135.00 (IRpunt 100.00 for graduate students) with an additional IRpunt 25.00 for the banquet. The fee includes lunch and morning and afternoon teas/coffees each day (Tuesday thru Saturday); the reception (Monday) and gala concert (Tuesday); supper on Tuesday and Thursday evening; a choice of excursion (food not included) on Wednesday afternoon and access to various sites in Limerick City on Friday. The fee also includes a contribution to local organization costs.
Excursions
Excursions currently being planned for Wednesday 28th June include (a Companions= Program is also in preparation):
*The Burren - landscape and heritage
*South Galway - Coole Park, Kiltartan Cross and Thoor Ballylee
*East Clare - Killaloe, Tuamgraney and Iniscealtra
*The Monastic Midlands - Terryglass, Clonmacnoise and Clonfert
*Birr Castle (Ireland's Scientific Heritage) and Roscrea
*The Heart of Tipperary - The Rock of Cashel, the Bolton Library in Cashel and Holycross
*Listowel - the north Kerry writers
*The Cork Gaeltacht of Cúil Aodha/Baile Bhuirne
The afternoon of Friday June 30th is being kept free to allow participants to spend some time in Limerick City. Options available will include visits to various sites (e.g. St. Mary's Cathedral, King John's Castle and The Hunt Museum) or an exploration of the urban geography of Frank McCourt's Limerick.
ACIS Limerick 2000 Website
A Website for ACIS Limerick 2000 is in preparation and will be "live" early in December 1999. The Web address is http://www.ul.ie/~acis2000. A short version of the conference program will be included; there will also be a cross-reference to the Limerick Travel Web site and accommodation reservations will be accepted by e-mail. A draft conference programme for ACIS Limerick 2000 and accommodation and registration information will be mailed to ACIS members in mid-January 2000.
For further inquiries, contact the conference organizer: Liam Ó Dochartaigh, ACIS 2000, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland. Phone: 353-61-202322. Fax: 353-61-202556. E-mail: liam.odochartaigh@ul.ie
REGIONAL MEETINGS
New England
The Regional was held on October 1 and 2 at Westfield State College and Elms College, Massachusetts. Hosts were Cathy Shannon and Tom Moriarty. The conference theme was "Is the Past Prologue? Ireland and the Diaspora Face the New Millenium." There were 73 registrants for the conference. Twenty-three papers were presented, and there were two keynote addresses. The first was by Joe Lee on the topic "Does the Irish Past Have a Future?" The second was by Margaret MacCurtain on the topic, "Celebrating Peig Sayers." Approximately fifty members of the local community came to hear the keynote addresses. At the business meeting, two items were agreed on unanimously: 1) When there is more than one person running for elective office, balloting will be conducted by mail; 2) Next year's New England Regional Meeting will be held at Holy Cross College, Worcester, Massachusetts. Both the Irish and British Consuls for the Boston area were present for both days of the Conference.
Mid-Atlantic
The Regional took place on Friday and Saturday, October 29-30, at the Univ. of Delaware, Newark. The event featured a bravura performance by Prof. Joe Lee of Univ. College Cork and NYU, our keynote speaker, on Friday afternoon, followed by a reception hosted by the Consulate General of Ireland, New York City. Over twenty institutions were represented on Saturday by speakers delivering papers or serving on panels, many of whom were graduate students. At the business meeting after lunch on Saturday, the College of Mount St. Vincent, New York City's bid was accepted for hosting the Regional in the Fall of 2000, and a committee consisting of Maureen Murphy and John Harrington, with Robert Mahony (Regional Rep.) as chair, was appointed to receive suggestions by regional members for revisions of the national ACIS By-Laws. These will be codified and presented to the next national meeting, in Limerick next June. The day ended with a reception hosted by Dr. Peter Smyth, Director of the Northern Ireland Bureau. Thanks to the University of Delaware and the able on-site meeting coordinator, Dr. John Patrick Montano, as well as to the Irish Consulate General and the Northern Ireland Bureau, for their assistance.
Southern
It's full steam ahead for the Carnival Ecstasy Cruise/Conference February 4-7, from Miami to Nassau (and back). Keynote speakers/performers include Brian McGinn on "The Irish in South America," poet Cathal Ó Searcaigh and sean nós singer/ethnomusicologist Lillis Ó Laoire, as well as ACIS poets Nat Anderson, Kathryn Kirkpatrick and John Menaghan. John Countryman and Charlotte Headrick will give a dramatic reading of Gardner McKay's Sea Marks. For further information, contact Richard Bizot, English Dept., Univ. of North Florida (Rbizot@gw.unf.edu) or conference organizer/ACIS Newsletter editor, Jim Doan (doan@polaris.nova.edu).
NEW ILS E-MAIL ADDRESS
Please send articles, reviews and noteworthy items for the Irish Literary Supplement to the Editor, Robert Lowery, at IrLitSup@cs.com.
NEW CHAIRS
Villanova University has announced the endowment of the Charles Heimbold Chair of Irish Studies. The position is for a Spring semester appointment during each academic year. The Chair will be inaugurated in the Spring 2000 semester, with poet and editor Peter Fallon as the first recipient, to be followed in Spring 2001 by poet Nuala NiDhomhnaill. Inquiries regarding future appointments should be directed to Jim Murphy, Director of Irish Studies, Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085.
CALLS FOR PAPERS - CONFERENCES
AHA
Tim Meagher, History Discipline Representative (meagher@cua.edu) is looking for suggestions for panel topics and participants for the ACIS session at the American Historical Association in Boston in the year 2001. Do not forward individual paper topics: the AHA will not accept proposals for individual papers, but only complete panels. Tim will submit only one session proposal on behalf of ACIS for AHA. Others can, of course, propose their own sessions to the Association as well.
California Celtic Colloquium
The 22nd annual California Celtic Colloquium, with the sponsorship of the UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, will be held March 16-19 (Thursday through Sunday) on the UCLA Campus. Featured speakers whose participation has been confirmed will include Máire Herbert (NUI Cork) and Katharine Simms (Trinity College). The conference will feature a variety of papers; a concert at 2 on Saturday, March 18; the traditional banquet on Saturday evening (location and price to be determined); and a "conference within a conference" in celebration of St. Patrick's Day (Friday, March 17), under the sponsorship of the UCLA Center for Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Studies, entitled "The Gaelic Literary Imagination in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries," featuring talks by William Gillies (University of Edinburgh), Mícheál Mac Craith (NUI Galway), Catherine McKenna (CUNY Graduate Center), and Máirtín Ó Briain (NU1 Galway). The St. Patrick's Day talks will be held at the William Andrews Clark Library in Los Angeles (2520 Cimarron St.). Admission to the conference presentations and concert on March 16 and 18-19 (all in Royce 314 on the UCLA campus) is free, although there will probably be a registration fee for the Clark event, which will include lunch and refreshments.
We welcome abstracts for papers (twenty minutes in length) on topics pertaining to Celtic Studies. An abstract should fit on a single double-spaced page. The deadline for submission is January 15. Please send abstracts to: AUCCS 22" Program Committee c/o Prof. Joseph Nagy, Dept. of English, UCLA, Box 90095-1530, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1530; e-mail: jfnagy@humnet.ucla.edu; fax (c/o Nagy, 310-206-5093). Those submitting abstracts will hear from the organizers by Feb. 1. For more information, please contact Professor Nagy.
CSANA
The AD 2000 meeting of the Celtic Studies Association of North America (CSANA) will be held in St. Louis from 23-26 March, at the Best Western Inn at the Park. One-page abstracts (with time and equipment requests) should be sent to the following address by 15 January 2000: Prof. Toby D. Griffen, 1919 Meadow Lane, Edwardsville, IL 62025-5520; e-mail: tdg@dubricius.net or fax: 619-692-0349. The seminar will be on Conall: the text is available at http://www.dubricius.net/seminar.html
Conference of Gaelic Linguistics 2000
The Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of Limerick, Ireland will be hosting "Comhdháil do Theangeolaíocht na Gaeilge" on 14 and 15 April 2000, the fifth conference in the series. Papers would be welcome from scholars specialising in aspects of the linguistics of Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx, with the conference focus being on the linguistics of Gaelic: Irish, Scottish or Manx. Any linguistic field is included.
Abstracts are now invited. Please send the title and a short summary (max. 300 words), in any of the three Gaelic languages or English, to the Conference Secretary before 1 February 2000. Further information is available from the conference website at: http://www.ul.ie/~neylonm/comhdhail.html and from the Conference Secretary: Tadhg Ó hIfearnáin, Ollscoil Luimnigh / University of Limerick, tadhg.ohifearnain@ul.ie
Canadian Association for Irish Studies, Conference 2000
One of the themes of the 2000 Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities is "Globalization." We'd like to pick up on that, and propose "Ireland and Internationalism" as the theme of this year's Canadian Association for Irish Studies Annual Conference to be held on 25-27 May 2000, at the University of Alberta, Edmonton.
We are open to a wide variety of presentations, from re-considerations of the influence of the French Revolution on the United Irishmen to Samuel Beckett's reception in France to the role of European unification on contemporary Irish politics or economics. We'd be especially interested in some of the following topics:
*Ireland in the face of the European Union or other multinational consolidations
*Irish Gaelic in the context of "Minority Languages" (comparisons with French in Canada? Cree in Canada? Spanish in Texas? Gaelic in Scotland? Hindi in Pakistan?)
*Ireland and the broader post-colonial context (comparisons with India? Nigeria? Iceland? Nunavut?)
*Irish women's movements in the context of international feminisms
*Immigration/emigration and the transformation of Irish culture
*Ireland's translation into Qubec French, or Ireland's translation into Canadian English
*Writers, artists and other intellectuals in exile
*The internationalisation of the Irish stage
*Irish cinema in the face of Hollywood, or Irish cinema's debt to
European funding agencies
*Traditional and contemporary Irish music and its influences on and from music abroad
*This visual arts in Ireland and their relationship to contemporary
developments elsewhere
*Old Irish texts in a broad medievalist context
*Comparative Celtic Literature; how is Irish literature related to work in Scots, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, Cornish or Breton (we are hoping to organise a joint panel with the Canadian Comparative Literature Association on this topic).
These are just suggestions; we are hoping that the membership will propose ideas for papers that broadly and creatively interpret the concept of "Internationalism." We also hope that members will want to propose and/or organize panels.
Please send a 300 word abstract, in English or French, by 15 January 2000 to: Canadian Association for Irish Studies, Conference 2000, c/o Jerry White, Department of Comparative Literature, Religion and Film/Media Studies, University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E6, Canada. Ph: 780-432-2988. Fax: 780-492-2715. E-mail: gswhite@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca
Terms of Empire: Landscape and Writing, 1800 to the Present
The Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies, University of Aberdeen, will host an international and multidisciplinary conference 9-11 June 2000. Plenary speakers are Mary Conde (Queen Mary and Westfield College, Longon) and Angela Smith (Stirling). Themes include: cities and settlements; the politics of locale; regional rivalry; terror and territory; landscapes of desire; cartography and writing. Other topics will, of course, also be considered providing they address the overall conference theme.
E-mailed abstracts are welcome. Papers should be 20 mins long.
Contact Glenn Hooper (g.hooper@abdn.ac.uk) for further details, or write: Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies, Humanity Manse, University of Aberdeen, 19 College Bounds, Aberdeen, AB24 3UG, Scotland.
Nineteenth-Century Studies in the Twenty-First Century
A symposium on "Nineteenth-century Studies in the Twenty-first century" will be held at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, on 23-24 June 2000 [the weekend before the ACIS meeting] under the auspices of the Society for the Study of Nineteenth-Century Ireland. The purpose of this two-day symposium is to provide a forum for discussion and debate regarding current trends and potential future developments in the study of nineteenth-century Ireland. Panels will focus on the areas of political and social history, literature and cultural studies, anthropology and social sciences. Speakers will include Joep Leerssen, Larry Taylor, Gary Owens, Jane Gray, Joan Vincent, Sean Ryder, Colin Graham, Claire Connolly, Peter Gray and Jacinta Prunty. For further information, contact Dr. Margaret Kelleher, English Dept., National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Co. Kildare; tel: 011-353-1-7083451; e-mail: margaret.kelleher@may.ie
IASIL 2000
The 2000 Conference of the International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures (IASIL) will be held at Bath Spa University College, 24-28 July. Papers are invited which explore the conference theme, AIrish Literatures: Borders and Border Crossings,@ from a variety of angles: examining, for instance, regional literatures; the fixing and transgression of national, cultural and sexual identities; new methodological approaches which cross the borders between traditional disciplines; border dialogues with writing from other countries. To mark its bicentenary, papers are particularly welcome which look at the literary consequences and treatment of the Act of Union. Proposals of no more than 500 words (max) should be sent by 15 January to: Dr. Neil Sammells, Faculty of Humanities, Bath Spa University College, Newton Park, Bath BA2 9BN: fax: 01225-875503; tel: 01225-875662; e-mail: n.sammells@bathspa.ac.uk
Carleton Summer School
Aug 7-11, 2000. Prof. Robert Welch, University of Ulster at Coleraine, and Senator David Norris, Dublin, will be the keynote speakers on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. Dr. Jack Johnston, Clogher Historian, will direct the Carleton Country tour on Wednesday morning and afternoon. Leon MacCauley, poet and broadcaster, will direct an audience participation event, Your Book and Mine, on the 19th-century novel on late Wednesday afternoon. A harp recital and vocal events will be held at the historic Forth Chapel, Clogher, on Wednesday evening. Gordon Brand speaks on Thursday morning An evening of ballads, songs, and readings will be held at Mc Sorley's Tavern, Clogher, on Thursday evening. Prof. Owen Dudley Edwards, Edinburgh Univ., will be the final key note speaker on Friday afternoon.
Interested parties may contact Dr. Robin Marsh, Director of the CSS, at 3 Viewfort, Killymeal Road, Dungannon BT71 6LP, N. Ireland, tel 011-44-1868-722964.
Central New York Conference on Language and Literature
The Central New York Conference on Language and Literature will hold its tenth anniversary conference on 29-31 October 2000 in Cortland, New York. The Chairs of the following standard sessions of Irish interest are seeking papers from faculty and qualified graduate students:
Modern Irish Drama. Kathryn Farley: 807 Church St. #509, Evanston IL 60201. K-Farley@nwu.edu
Mod. Irish Fiction. Joseph Schneider: 18 Turning Mill Lane, Randolph MA 02368. jschneid@curry.edu
Modern Irish Poetry. Robert Rhodes: English Dept., Cortland College, SUNY, P.O. Box 2000, Cortland NY 13045. no e-mail
Contemporary Irish Literature. Bridget Matthews-Kane: 380 Sunderland Rd. #24B, Worcester MA 07604. MathKane@aol.com
Irish Women Writers. Sigrid M. King: 3611 Melwood Ave., Pittsburgh PA 15213. sking@carlow.edu
James Joyce. Del Janik: English Dept., Cortland College, SUNY, P.O. Box 2000, Cortland NY 13045. janikd@cortland.edu
Yeats. Staci O'Brien: W37153 E. Madison St., Oconomowo WI 53066. slobrien@uwm.edu
Special-session proposals on Irish-literature subjects are welcome. To receive an application sheet, please contact the director, Alex Gonzalez: gonzalez@cortland.edu Please note that there will likely be at least one Irish-literature session at each conference time slot and that other sessions of related interest will be held, such as Colonial and Postcolonial Literature, Autobiography, The Novel, etc.
JOURNALS - GARM LU
A Canadian Celtic Arts journal published by the students in the Celtic Studies Programme at St. Michael's College, University of
Toronto, is now accepting submissions of essays, fiction, poetry, art and drama that is Celtic in theme, form or content. Submissions in English or any Celtic language are welcome.
Submissions can be sent to: Garm Lu, Celtic Studies, St. Michael's
College, 81 St. Mary Street, Toronto, ON M5S 1J4. E-mail: garmlu@hotmail.com Phone: (416) 783-1905. Visit the Garm Lu Web site at: www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Hall/1927
Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies - 2000 Special Issue: Ireland and Postcolonialism
Pushed to the margins by the United Kingdom and "British" literature, Ireland appears once again to be marginalized within Anglophone postcolonial literature and theory. At times, scholars in Irish Studies and in Postcolonial Literature and Theory reject Ireland's candidacy for postcolonialism. Issues of race, color, economics and class can be seen to separate the Irish from India, South Africa, Nigeria, and the Caribbean--cultures less controversially considered postcolonial.
Yet, many of the important concepts of postcolonial theory -- hybrid identity, dual language, exodus/return, collaboration/revolt, gender's double disenfranchisement -- can be fruitfully applied across cultures.
In this issue we wish to examine the relationship of Ireland and postcolonialism by asking scholars to interrogate Ireland's position within [and without] postcolonial studies and to respond to the question "To What Extent is Ireland Postcolonial?" Hence, we are soliciting articles that examine the relationship of Irish Studies and Literature to postcolonial issues. We are especially interested in interdisciplinary examinations of race, gender, politics, history, culture and literature.
We suggest -- although we are not limited by -- these themes:
* The difficulty of reading Ireland as postcolonial
* Intersections between postcolonial cultures
* Identity/Race/Ethnicity: i.e. "whiteness" and "blackness"
* Colonial and postcolonial patriarchies and women's movements
* Postcolonial narrative theory
* Journeys: travel/exile/expulsion/return
* Collaboration: "The Big House"
* Metaphors and icons of nation
Please send two copies of your article by February 15 to:
Helen Thompson Caitriona Moloney
Dept. of Languages and Literature Dept. of English
Alabama State University Bradley University
P.O. Box 271 1501 W. Bradley Ave.
Montgomery, AL 36101-0271 Peoria, IL 61625
DrHelenT@worldnet.att.net or cmoloney@bradley.edu
E-mail queries but no e-mail submissions please.
ACIS Annual, Volume III
ACIS members are invited to submit proposals for contributions to the third volume of the ACIS publication series: Language and Tradition in Ireland: Continuties and Displacements. Ireland claims two major literatures as its own. Literature in Irish constitutes the oldest vernacular literature in Western Europe and Irish writers have produced the richest literature in English in the twentieth century. Yet the terms Irish and English are both contested in Ireland because language, history, culture, and the very idea of nation are themselves contested as they are in many countries with a polarized history. This volume will explore continuities and fractures, linkages and displacements, across Ireland=s divided linguistic and cultural heritage. Submissions related to all facets of language, literature, history, and culture are welcome.
Topics may include folklore, multilingualism, transculturation, and translation. Celtic Studies topics and studies of literature in Irish of all periods related to these issues are especially encouraged, as are theoretical essays on questions ranging from the stability and evolution of tradition across linguistic boundaries to the definitions of history in a multicultural community.
Interested scholars are invited to send abstracts of 500-750 words -- articulating their intended arguments -- by May 1, 2000. Authors of selected abstracts will be expected to submit completed essays by Nov. 1, 2000 (Samhain). For further information, contact: Maria Tymoczko, 28 Pomeroy Terrace, Northampton, MA 01060, 413- 586-3908, 413-584-5495 (fax), tymoczko@complit.umass.edu or Colin Ireland, Beaver College CEA, 6 Clare St., Dublin 2, Ireland, 353-1-676-8875, 353-1-676-4181 (fax), cireland@beaver.ie.
Fellowships and Scholarships at QUB
The Institute of Irish Studies at The Queen's University of Belfast, offers two, one-year senior visiting research fellowships open to
researchers in any field of Irish Studies. Candidates must be established scholars of senior standing with a strong publications record. Senior fellowships have a current value of ,16,500.
Additionally, up to three one-year fellowships are available, with an annual value of ,12,500, normally held by post-doctoral candidates continuing their studies to prepare materials for publication. The Mary McNeill Scholarship in Irish Studies, open to American or Canadian students enrolled in the one-year MA degree in Irish Studies at Queen's carries a value of ,2,500.
Summer School
Plans are firmly in place for an annual summer school in Irish Studies with an added dimension from a Northern Irish perspective. This 3-week summer school will be based at the Institute of Irish Studies, QUB and is expected to take place at the end of July to early August 2000.
Please contact Ms. Catherine Boone, The Institute of Irish Studies,
The Queen's University of Belfast, 8 Fitzwilliam Street, Belfast BT9 6AW,
Northern Ireland; phone 011-44-1232-273386, fax 01144-1232-439238; e-mail:irish.studies@qub.ac.uk;
Web site: http://www.qub.ac.uk/iis