Events

 Education

 

 

Irish Studies Centre

The main purpose of the Irish Studies Centre at London Metropolitan University is the promotion of Irish Studies through teaching, research, documentation and community liaison.

Founded by Professor Mary Hickman in 1986, the Irish Studies Centre is based in the Institute for the Study of European Transformations and aims to increase the understanding and appreciation of the Irish contribution to all aspects of economic, cultural, political and social life.

As well as teaching and research, it achieves this through a number of other activities including an annual Cultural Programme, its holding of the Archive of the Irish in Britain, its publications and its international links with Irish academics, researchers and politicians.

http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/irishstudiescentre/irishstudiescentre_home.cfm

Community celebration of Michael Davitt 1846-1906


2006 is the centenary of the death of Michael Davitt, one of the great figures in Irish history.
For details of individual events that took place in the Spring of this year visit www.ihihc.co.uk

President Mary McAleese visited Haslingden over the Easter weekend to unveil a plaque and attend an exhibition in honour of Michael Davitt.

Irishness in Britain

The May 2006 issue of Irish Studies Review is well worth looking at. It is dedicated to the concept of 'Irishness in Britain'. There is an introductory thematic overview by guest editor Aidan Arrowsmith from Metropolitan University, Manchester which introduces the other articles, all of which deal with aspects of the 'otherness' of the Irish, seen as threatening in England since the time of Geraldus Cambrensis.

From various authors we get:
- a complex sociological analysis of class, gender, sexuality and generation;
- anti-Irish racism in Scotland;
- interviews and group discussions with emigrant women in London;
- a search for emigrants' writings as a source of experience;
- analysis of Desmond Hogan's London Irish narratives;
- social memory, amnesia in a globalising socio-economic context;
- photography as a memory aid.

Irish Studies Conference

The annual National Irish Studies Conference took place at Manchester Town Hall on Saturday 10th March 2007.

The conference was a social and educational event celebrating Irish culture and heritage. The day comprised key note lectures as well as workshops including:

The Second-Generation Irish Experience in Memoir and Fiction : Dr Liam Harte

The Normans in Ireland: Mervyn Busteed

The North West & North East Passage - Circumnavigation of the North Pole :Jarlath Cunnane

Magdalen Asylums in Ireland - A Misunderstood History? : Maria Luddy

Celtic Year - A Spiritual Dimension: Mrs Mary J Warrener

The Great Book: ‘an Leabhar Mor’ :Niall Murphy

New Ireland Conference

A conference is to be held from 14th - 16th September on the theme of change on the island of Ireland.

It's been organised by the Institute of Irish Studies and the Department of Politics at Liverpool University together with the British Association for Irish Studies.

There will be contributions from a variety of disciplines and topics are likely to include:

Language, Literature and Identities
The Irish Language Past and Present
Northern Ireland Society 'After The Troubles'
Diasporic Versions of Identity

Anyone wishing to attend should contact:
Mervyn Busteed,
Geography Discipline,
School of Environment and Development,
Mansfield Cooper Building,
University of Manchester,
Manchester M13 9PL.

Tel : 0161 928 8861

Or go to:

School Visits to the Irish Centre

Margot Ryan of the Irish World Heritage Centre in Cheetham Hill has provided us with details of an excellent initiative aimed at raising the profile of Irish culture in Manchester schools:

The Irish Centre provides educational resources and facilities for schools who may wish to bring their students for a day trip to the Irish World Heritage Centre. They also offer pre and post visit support to schools. A school visit consists of a number of sessions and workshops, with lunch and refreshments provided throughout the day. The sessions include:

• an info-hunt around the building to allow the children an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the building as opposed to giving them a traditional guided tour.
• an object appreciation workshop where the children get the chance to handle some of the artefacts from the Irish Centre's collection and begin to ask themselves questions about them.
• artists and musicians provide workshops on Irish themed art and traditional Irish music.

By the end of their visit, the children will have produced either a piece of art inspired by Irish heritage or a tune on the tin whistle. The Irish Centre has had visits from over 20 schools in Manchester and would love to hear from schools that have not yet visited. Some of their recent funding has been provided to help them encourage both Catholic and non-Catholic schools to visit the centre.

For further information please email mryan@iwhc.com or phone 0161 202 1200.

Those Bold Fenian Men: Remembering the Manchester Martyrs

A major history conference took place at the Working Class Movement Library in Salford on Saturday 24th November which will look back at the events in November 1867 when three Irishmen were hanged in public outside Salford prison, convicted of the murder of police Sergeant Brett during the rescue of two Fenian prisoners from a prison van on Hyde Road, Manchester. The men maintained their innocence to the end and became known as the Manchester Martyrs. It was one of the most controversial judicial and political episodes in the fraught and sometimes bloody relationship between Britain and Ireland.

This conference explored the political and historical resonances of the episode and the diverse ways in which the men have been remembered over the past 140 years. The conference is entitled "The Bold Fenian Men: Remembering the Manchester Martyrs" and has been organised jointly by the Working Class Movement Library and Dr Christine Kinealy. It was sponsored by DION fund through the Irish Embassy in Britain and the University of Central Lancashire.

Speakers included:
  • Christine Kinealy, a Professor of History at the University of Central Lancashire and Drew University, USA. She has written on Irish history, specialising in the history of the Famine.

  • Eileen Murphy, a playwright and theatre director. Her work includes two plays on the Manchester Martyrs.

  • Bernie Murphy, a singer from Manchester who is active in campaigns in support of asylum seekers.

  • Michael Herbert, the author of The Wearing of the Green: a Political History of the Irish in Manchester.

  • Tristram Hunt, a lecturer in history at Queen Mary, University of London. He recently presented a TV series on Protestantism and is writing a biography of Frederick Engels.

  • Roger Swift, a Professor of History who has written extensively on the Irish in Britain.

Celtic Cultures

There are a series of evening public lectures at Manchester Metropolitan University on Celtic Cultures.

The Celts: Their Origins and Early History
Damian Taylor
Thursday 24th January 2008

Celticity, the Welsh language and varieties of national tradition in Wales
Marion Loeffler
Thursday 31st January 2008

Irish Mountain Names and their Significance in Celtic Culture
Paul Tempan
Thursday 7th February 2008

The Celtic Myth and its Lessons for Archaeology
Patrick McCafferty
Thursday 14th February 2008

Is Scotland Celtic? Nation, Culture and Multiculturalism Today
Murray Pittock
Thursday 21st February 2008

Looking at the Mermaid: Contemporary Celtic Culture in Kernow (Cornwall)
Alan Kent
Thursday 28th February 2008

The venue for the lectures is Room 1:04, Geoffrey Manton Building, Manchester Metropolitan University, Rosamond Street West, Manchester M15 6LL

Time: 7.00pm to 8.45pm Voluntary contribution: one pound

These Celtic lectures are part of a series which include four talks on Africa in the world system and two presentations on the black community in inner city Britain.

Full details go to www.mmu.ac.uk/sas/cpo/multicultural