Please join the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies and the University of Galway for the symposium, "Representing the Global Irish Working Class: National and International Contexts and Dialogues." The symposium will take place on 11 - 12 June at the Druid's Mick Lally Theatre.
Shifts in global politics and economics over the last number of decades have changed the face of Irish society, culture and identity, while also transforming class structures across the island. Ireland now exercises political and cultural influence on the world stage, while multinational corporations continue to affect the quality of life and access to opportunity in Ireland’s major cities. At the same time, immigration, secularisation and increased social liberalism have reshaped national identity and facilitated the growth of a more multicultural but also more socially stratified Ireland. The concurrent rise in digital technologies and streaming services has enabled Ireland to transcend outdated images and stereotypes through nuanced cultural representations. Yet even within this globalised visibility, questions of who benefits from economic and cultural globalisation remain pressing. As the Irish working class gain visibility through literary awards, bestselling novels, hit television dramas and Hollywood films, this has yet to translate into tangible benefits and structural change for the communities represented.
Globalisation has not only transformed Irish culture and society, it has redefined what it means to belong to the Irish working class — a class that now exists and operates both within and beyond national borders. This symposium aims to expand understandings of class in Ireland and bring local conditions into dialogue with global issues and international contexts.
This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. For queries or further information, please contact conference organisers Dr. Ciara McAllister (Ciara.mcallister@universityofgalway.ie) or Ariel Clark- Semyck (aclarkse@nd.edu).
Schedule
Day 1: Mick Lally Theatre
9:00 - 9:15 - Registration Check-in
9: 15 - 10:30 am - Panel 1
|
Olivier Coquelin |
University of Caen |
Working-Class Politics from Below: Irish “Sovietism” and Media Representation, 1918-1923 |
|
Constantin Torve |
Queen’s University Belfast |
Class formation, 19th century political mobilisation and protest |
|
Struan Kennedy |
Peace and Justice Scotland |
For the Few, Not the Many: Misrepresentations in the Loyalist Landscape |
10:30 - 11:00 am - Coffee Break
11:00 am - 12:15 pm - Panel 2
|
Zara Meadows |
Queen’s University Belfast |
Working-Class Ekphrasis in Matthew Rice’s Plastic |
|
Claire Creedon |
Queen’s University Belfast |
Form and Readability in Anna Burns’ Milkman |
|
Oana Spătăriuc |
Babes-Bolyai University |
Class, Gender, Nationality and Disability in Pádraic Ó Conaire’s Exile |
12:30 - 1:30 pm - Keynote Lecture by Michael Pierse, Queen's University Belfast
Out of Kilter: Radical Perspectives in Irish Emigrant and Diaspora Working-Class Writing, from Robert Tressell to Lee Dunne
1:30 - 2:30 pm - Break
2:30 - 3:45 pm - Panel 3
|
Paul Murphy |
Queen’s University Belfast |
Of Irish Dissent: Class, Culture, and Performance in Ireland and its Diaspora |
|
Keith Hennessy |
University of Liverpool |
Migration, identity, and class in James Hanley’s The Furys Saga |
|
Clare Brannigan |
University of Galway |
Representations of Irish domestic servants in fiction of the interwar period |
4:00 - 5:15 pm - Panel 4, Working-Class Women in Irish Theatre: Emerging from the Silence
Clara Mallon, Fiona Charleton, and Cathy Leeney
Day 2: Mick Lally Theatre
9:00 - 10:30 am - Panel 5
|
Rebecca Steinberger |
Misericordia University |
“I’m a working-class fella with a middle-class palate”: KNEECAP, Resistance, & Resilience in Contemporary Ireland |
|
Holly Foskett |
Independent Scholar |
Cultural Policy, Inclusion and Working-class Participation in the Arts |
|
Brian Kelly |
Kings College London |
TINA (There is No Alternative), Post-Crash Irish Novel, and the Working Class |
|
Andrew Mullan |
Queen’s University Belfast |
Transatlantic Comparisons of Working-Class Literature in the Neoliberal City |
10:30 - 11:00 am - Coffee Break
11:00 am - 12:00 pm - Derry after Derry Girls: A Conversation with Cultural Practitioners in Derry
12:15 - 1.30 pm - Panel 6, The Irish Working Class Beyond National Borders
|
John Hill |
Royal Holloway, University of London |
Television Drama and the Northern Ireland Working Class |
|
Maria McGarrity |
Long Island University |
Relocating Ireland’s Labor: Brian Campbell’s Voyage of No Return in the 20th Century Atlantic World |
|
Emma Penney |
Atlantic Technological University |
From Harlem to Kilbarrack: Mapping Transperipheral Feminisms |
1:30 - 2:30 pm - Break
2:30 - 3:45 pm - Panel 7
|
Ana-Maria Somesan |
Babes-Bolyai University |
Winning the Cultural Sphere: Kneecap, ‘C.E.A.R.T.A’, and Working‑Class Irish‑Language Rap |
|
Teresa Dunne |
University of Galway |
Irish Masculinities and British (Irish) Working-Class Autobiographical Literature |
|
Niamh MacGloin |
University of York |
Identity and migration in Dónall Mac Amhlaigh’s Exiles |
4:00 - 5:30 pm - Writers' Readings & Roundtable with Emmet Kirwan, Fran Lock, Lisa McInerney, and Scott McKendry
Originally published at irishstudies.nd.edu.