22 April 2009

Call for Papers: Fantasy Ireland, Imaginings and Re-Imaginings

Fantasy Ireland, Imaginings and Re-Imaginings

Following the success of the previous six international Irish Studies conferences, the University of Sunderland, in association with NEICN, is soliciting papers for an interdisciplinary conference, which will run from 13-15th November 2009. The conference will begin with a plenary lecture on 13th November; there will be a book launch and wine reception on the Friday evening and a ceilidh and conference banquet on Saturday 14th November.

The conference organisers hope to represent a wide range of approaches to Irish culture from academics and non-academics alike. Performances, roundtables, collaborative projects, and other non-traditional presentations are encouraged in addition to conference papers. We welcome both individual submissions and proposals for panels. As with previous year’s conference, we welcome submissions for panels and papers under the thematic headings of Fantasy Ireland : Imaginings and Re-imaginings in the following areas: Literature, Performing Arts, History, Politics, Folklore and Mythology, Ireland in Theory, Gender and Ireland Anthropology, Sociology, Geography, Tourism, Art and Art History, Music, Dance, Media and Film Studies, Cultural Studies, and Studies of the Diaspora. North American and other international scholars, practitioners in the arts, and postgraduate students are all encouraged to submit proposals to the conference organisers.

Each session will include three or four 20-minute presentations each followed by discussion. A selection of the accepted papers will be subsequently published in the conference proceedings.
The University of Sunderland houses the North East Irish Culture Network, established in 2003 to further the study of Irish Literature and Culture (see www.neicn.com). It has held six previous conferences. Previous speakers include Terry Eagleton, Robert Welch, Luke Gibbons, Ailbhe Smith, Kevin Barry, Siobhan Kilfeather, Shaun Richards, Lance Pettitt, Stephen Regan, Lord David Puttnam, Andrew Carpenter, John Nash and Willy Maley, with readings from Ciaran Carson Medbh McGuckian, Bernard O’Donoghue and Eilis Ni Dhuibhne. In 2008, the English department at Durham was the recipient of a Leverhulme Major Research Grant to sponsor its project ‘Consumer Culture, Advertising and Literature in ireland 1848-1921’.

15 April 2009

Leverhulme: Public Lecture

'The Development of Modern Consumer Culture in Dublin: Department Stores and the Irish Industrial Exhibition of 1853' by Dr Stephanie Rains (NUI Maynooth).

Stephanie is the Subject Leader in the Centre for Media Studies, she also co-ordinate and teach on a number of modules on the BA in Media Studies, as well as co-ordinating the MA in Radio and TV Production. Her research interests include Irish and Irish-American popular culture, including television, film and popular cultural practices such as tourism and shopping. Stephanie's doctoral thesis, completed at Dublin City University in 2003, examined the ways in which late-20thC Irish-American identity was created through the consumption of Irish-themed popular culture. Her book entitled The Irish American in Popular Culture, 1945-2000, was published by Irish Academic Press in 2007.

Stephaine has continued to research 20th century Irish and Irish-American material, but her current research focuses on 19th century Irish popular culture, with a particular emphasis on commodity culture.