Flinders hosts first Australian Irish Studies conference in Adelaide

Flinders is sponsoring and hosting the 22nd Australasian Irish Studies conference from today until Friday 2 December.

The event, which is taking place in Adelaide for the first time, is being held at Victoria Square.

Keynote speakers include Professor Fitzpatrick from Trinity College Dublin, and Professor Melanie Oppenheimer and Dr Maggie Ivanova from Flinders.

The conference theme is Change, Commemoration, Community, a theme that is particularly resonant in this year of 2016, which marks the first year of Ireland’s Decade of Centenaries, and when there is a focus on commemorating and celebrating the centenary of the Easter Rising, and the events of the Great War.

Papers to be presented at the conference include ones that focus on events and consequences of the 1916 Rising, but also more broadly on themes such as the diaspora, the Irish language, religion, migration, literature, drama and creativity.

Professor David Fitzpatrick will explore what he calls ‘four fallacies’ concerning the Easter Rising: that it constituted a popular ‘rising’, that it occurred at Easter, that it was heralded by the ‘Proclamation of the Irish Republic’, and that all was ‘changed utterly’ as a result.

Professor Oppenheimer will look at one of the lesser known stories of the aftermath of the 1916 Rising and the Civil War period, namely the Irish White Cross and the role played by Áine Ceannt, widow of Easter Rising leader Eamonn Ceannt.

Dr Ivanova will focus on the controversies and personality conflicts surrounding the premier of August Strindberg’s play Easter (Påsk, 1900) in Dublin in March 1916.

The event is being run under the auspices of the Irish Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand and is co-sponsored by the Ireland 1916-2016 Centenary Programme.

Event home page: http://www.flinders.edu.au/ehl/firth/firth-conferences/22nd-australasian-irish-studies-conference/

Conference program: http://www.flinders.edu.au/ehl/firth/firth-conferences/22nd-australasian-irish-studies-conference/program.cfm

Register here: http://www.flinders.edu.au/ehl/firth/firth-conferences/22nd-australasian-irish-studies-conference/registration.cfm

Special rates are available for students and for those who want to come for just one day.

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