Final Call for Papers

The Ninth Conference of

TOWARDS 2016: OLD AND NEW IRELANDS

5-8 JUNE 2013, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, GALWAY

Keynote Lectures: Professor Diarmaid Ferriter (Professor of Modern Irish History, University College Dublin) and Dr. Alan Ahearne (Member of the Commission of the Central Bank of Ireland and Special Advisor to former Irish Minister for Finance (2008-2011) Brian Lenihan)

Confirmed Participating Artistes: Director and Novelist Neil Jordan; Novelist and playwright Patrick McCabe; Theatre director and Druid Theatre co-founder Garry Hynes.

1916 was a crucial moment in the development of modern Ireland. The year is famously associated with the Easter Rising that provided an inspirational event for the emergence of the independent Irish Free-State in 1922. However, for Unionists in Ireland, 1916 is remembered for quite a different military encounter, the Battle of the Somme, which continues to hold an important place in constructions of Unionist identity. Beyond the political sphere, 1916 marked the publication of James’ Joyce’s first novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and was the setting for Sean O’Casey’s seminal play The Plough and the Stars as well as one of W.B. Yeats’ most anthologized poems, ‘Easter 1916’. Indeed, 1916 also saw the foundation of Ireland’s first indigenous film company, The Film Company of Ireland, whose co-founder James Mark Sullivan was arrested after the Rising and charged with complicity. 1916 was also the year in which Ireland was aligned to Greenwich Mean Time for the first time, supplanting Dublin Mean Time, bringing the island temporally closer to the rest of the United Kingdom in the same year that would mark an important point in the changing political relationship between the UK and Ireland. As we approach the centenary of 1916, the continuing resonance of events in that year to contemporary Ireland was evident in the November 18 2010 editorial of The Irish Times the day after it was announced Ireland was to receive a financial bailout from the EU and IMF. ‘Was it for this?’, the editorial asked, ‘the men of 1916 died’ thus highlighting the gendering of commemoration. This conference invites contributions on the theme of ‘TOWARDS 2016: OLD AND NEW IRELANDS’ from a variety of perspectives and disciplines including history, gender studies, politics, economics, diaspora studies, cultural geography, digital culture, literature, theatre, folklore, film and media studies, language, sociology, philosophy, psychology, trauma studies, theology, ecocriticism, sport and cultural studies. This is in line with the concern of EFACIS to develop, in a European context, teaching and research in Irish Studies as an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary field of study. It is envisaged that a series of publications further to this conference will be published to coincide with the centenary in 2016.

Themed Panels already proposed:

Old and New Marginalities in Contemporary Irish Literature and Film: The Materiality of Nationalities and Ethnicities (Convenor: Prof. Sarah Heinz and Mark Schmitt (University of Mannheim, Germany) at sarah.heinz@uni-mannheim.de)
The Irish Economy after the Crisis (Convenor: Prof. Dr. Jan Van Hove (KU Leuven, Leuven Centre for Irish Studies) at jan.vanhove@econ.kuleuven.be)
On the Road to 2016: Commemoration and ‘New Ways to Kill Your Father’ (Convenor: Prof. Hedda Friberg-Harnesk (Mid Sweden University) at hedda.friberg@miun.se)
The Backward Look in Contemporary Irish Fiction (Convenor: Prof. Sylvie Mikowski (Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne) at sylvie.mikowski@univ-reims.fr)
Trauma, Resilience and Transformation (Convenor: Prof. Dr. Patrick Luyten (KU Leuven, Leuven Centre for Irish Studies) at patrick.luyten@ppw.kuleuven.be)
Ireland and Europe, then and now (Convenor: Prof. Karin Fischer (University of Orléans, France) at Karin.Fischer@univ-orleans.fr)
Irish sport, 1916-2016: contested space and competing identities (Convenor: Dr. Philip Dine (NUI, Galway) at philip.dine@nuigalway.ie)
Human, Cultural and Spatial Connections in Post-conflict Northern Ireland (Convenor: Dr. Fabrice Mourlon at fabricemourlon@me.com)
Marking, Commemorating, Celebrating the Decade of Centenaries in Museums (Convenor: Dr. Karine Bigand (Aix-Marseille Université, France) at karine.bigand@univ-amu.fr)
Old or New Ireland? Situating John McGahern (Convenor: Dr. Eamon Maher (IT Tallaght) at eamon.maher@ittdublin.ie)
“A stone in the midst of all” - Ecocritical Discourses in Ireland (Convenor: Dr. Tina-Karen Pusse (NUI, Galway) at Tina-Karen.Pusse@nuigalway.ie)
Teanga agus Cultúr na Gaeilge 1916-2016: i dtreo na ‘nGaeilgí’? (Tionólaí: Dr Jeannine Woods, (OÉ, Gaillimh) ag jeannine.woods@nuigalway.ie)
Visions of another Ireland: marginal spaces in Irish film (Convenor: Dr. Conn Holohan, (NUI, Galway) at conn.holohan@nuigalway.ie)

Deadline for Themed Panel Proposals: 1st February 2013. See www.conference.ie for further info

Abstracts: If you would like to propose a paper (in English or Irish, not exceeding 20 minutes), please submit your title and an abstract of 250 words accompanied by a short biographical sketch as a PDF document. In addition to the presentation of papers we invite contributions to alternative forms of debate and discussion: e.g. proposals for themed panels, poster sessions etc.

Deadline for submission of proposals and abstracts: 1st February 2013. For abstract submission, please see www.conference.ie

Five EFACIS Postgraduate Scholarships to the value of €200 each are available to participate in the EFACIS 2013 Conference. Further information is available on the conference website at www.conference.ie

For further information please contact: Dr. Seán Crosson, Huston School of Film & Digital Media, National University of Ireland, Galway. Ireland E-mail: sean.crosson@nuigalway.ie Tel: +353 (0) 91495687

NB: Only paid-up members of EFACIS (Download EFACIS Flyer as DOC) are eligible to read papers at this conference. Membership subscriptions for EFACIS may be taken out or renewed with conference registration. Membership of EFACIS is €30 for individuals, €15 for graduate/postgraduate students and membership through institutional affiliation (institutes and research centres). To join EFACIS beforehand, please contact the EFACIS Treasurer, Mark Schreiber, schreiber@anglistik.uni-siegen.de