The Future of Irish Studies

Wednesday 12 June 2024 at 6:00PM (AEST) on Zoom
Larmor Lecture Theatre, Queen’s University Belfast

Conference co-hosted by The Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies, University of Notre Dame, The Institute of Irish Studies, QUB, and The Mitchell Institute.

What is the future of Irish Studies? How will the study of Ireland and the Irish develop in an environment of ever-declining academic resources and ever-fewer academic appointments? How do we justify ourselves, both to society and to the academy? What even is Irish Studies? Is it a discipline, a subfield, an anachronism, or simply a convenient portmanteau into which the various disciplines interested in the island and its peoples are placed? Are Literature, History, and the Irish language still central, as has long been the case in North America? What about geography, anthropology, archeology, linguistics, political science, law, or sociology? What do emerging disciplines have to contribute, and how can they be encouraged to do so? Is there a future in common action, common programs, or common institutions? What should those look like, who should be involved, and how should they be maintained? What are the issues that will shape future research? Does renewed post-Brexit attention to the constitutional question, as well as relationships both north and south and east and west, augur a revival of interest in the island as a whole? What is happening now? What should come next? How should it be supported? Join the University of Notre Dame’s Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies, and Queen’s University Belfast’s Institute of Irish Studies and Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, to consider these and other issues facing our profession and discipline(s).

Graduate students and early-career researchers who wish to be considered for financial support for attendance should contact irishstu@nd.edu.

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