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.

Programme

0900-0915 Welcome and Introduction:

Professor Patrick Griffin (University of Notre Dame)Professor Peter Gray (Queen’s University Belfast)

0915-1030 Global Irish Studies

Chair: Professor Colin Barr (University of Notre Dame)

Panellists: Professor Guy Beiner (Boston College)

Professor Hedwig Schwall (KU Leuven)

Professor Ian McBride (University of Oxford)

1030-1100 Coffee/Tea

1100-1215 Disciplinary Irish Studies

Chair: Professor Eve Patten (Trinity College Dublin)

Panellists: Professor Alvin Jackson (University of Edinburgh)

Professor Dominic Bryan (Queen’s University Belfast)

Professor Anne Goarzin (Université Rennes 2)

1215-1315 Lunch Break

1315-1430 Organizing Irish Studies

Chair: Professor Patrick Griffin (University of Notre Dame)

Panellists: Professor Michael Brown (University of Aberdeen)

Professor Eugenio Biagini (University of Cambridge)

Dr Luz Mar González-Arias (University of Oviedo)

1430-1500 Coffee/Tea

1500-1630 The Future of Irish Studies

Chair: Professor Jane Ohlmeyer (Trinity College Dublin)

Panellists: Professor Peter Gray (Queen’s University Belfast)

Professor Matthew Reznicek (University of Minnesota)

Dr Siobhra Aiken (Queen’s University Belfast)

Professor Dianne Hall (Victoria University, Melbourne)

1630-1645 Closing Remarks

Professor Richard English (Queen’s University Belfast)

Professor Colin Barr (University of Notre Dame)