Comhfhios Conference

Boston College, Saturday 8^th February 2025

I would like to extend my gratitude to the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen’s University Belfast for the generous financial support which enabled me to travel to Boston and present at Comhfhios on Saturday 8^th February 2025. As my first postgraduate conference in 2023, and my final one in 2025, it felt like a natural bookend to attend and present at this conference for a third time.

Thanks to this funding, I was able to attend a stimulating day of panel presentations discussing various approaches to ‘Hibernia Beyond Humans’ and aspects of environmental humanities. Particular highlights included the provocative explorations of ‘themeparking’ across Ireland to manipulate the human environment for tourism; the use of ‘marginalised’ creatures in contemporary literature to reflect the marginalised groups of the human population; and the keynote paper from Malcom Sen discussing environmental citizenship and poetics.

In addition to witnessing some inspiring papers, this funding gave me the opportunity to present an emerging aspect of my research. The conference theme encouraged me to think about the adaptability of my thesis ideas and consider how some of these aspects could be extrapolated. My research generally focuses on contemporary women's short stories from Ireland (both North and South) and the way in which they have presented various feminist issues such as abortion and gendered violence. In the paper I presented, I used the opportunity to question how some of my arguments about the form’s suitability as a form of activism could perhaps be applied to other thematic concerns—namely, the environmental crisis. Using Jan Carson’s titular short story from her most recent collection, Quickly, While They Still Have Horses (2024), this paper suggested that the short story form is able to capture the urgency of the climate crisis. I began by noting Nixon’s (2011) theory of ‘slow violence’ and the representational challenges he notes. This then allowed me to argue that the short story meets many of these needs in its intrinsic brevity which creates an increased pace and sense of urgency; its episodic nature which does not demand peripheral considerations of cause and consequence—thus rendering it suitable for ongoing crises; and its recalcitrance that necessitates reader participation and reflection on the crisis’ long-term effects. This was then applied to key passages from Carson’s short story which I closely analysed, before making a few brief conclusions.

This was a really useful paper for me to write and present as it raised some ethical questions for me in terms of furthering this research in the future— perhaps for postdoctoral projects. For example, how can writers speak on behalf of/advocate for the non-human? How to represent the “trauma” of the non-human?

It was also useful to get questions and feedback from the attendees at the conference (who a mixture of students and academic staff).The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and validating—with many attendees commenting on the value of the research, the refreshing enthusiasm for the short story form, and agreeing with my contention that the form can be suitable for the representation of other crises—such as the environment. They also recognised the importance of raising the ethical concerns stated above but assured me that these were not an obstacle for further research, but an avenue to explore and consider further. These may even shape some of the research questions for future projects.

The conference was also a platform for valuable discussions, networking opportunities, and the exchange of innovative ideas and research in the breaks between sessions and at the evening’s drinks reception.

Highlights included:

• Conversations with various postgraduate students at BC who I had met at previous conferences. We were able to follow-up with our respective progress and share the similarities and differences of our experiences in the UK and US.
• Speaking with Guy Beiner—the Director of Irish Studies at BC—about the strengthening relationship with QUB and BC. We discussed my paper, and my research more generally, and also opportunities for the future. Guy encouraged me to look at postdoctoral IRC opportunities.
• Speaking to teaching members of staff at BC who encouraged me to design a syllabus for the Irish short story to share with departments as this is something that has fallen off the radar in recent years—despite the form’s popularity.

There is a wonderful relationship between QUB and BC, and I am so happy to see that this is also strengthening at postgraduate level too. I hope this continues and future PhD students are also able to benefit from travelling to Boston for this conference. It has given me so much confidence as a scholar in a welcoming and unintimidating environment. 

Once again, thank you for this generous support.

Lucy Cullen

 

 

 

 

 

Institute of Irish Studies