The Other 1916 Conference - June 3rd 2016 - IADT Dun Laoghaire, Dublin
The Other 1916 Conference
Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art Design and Technology
June 3rd 2016
Call for Papers
The years 1916-1922 saw the nascent Irish nation take shape between the Easter Rising and the birth of the Irish Free State. The same years also function as a crucible for literary and artistic modernism, in which the relatively lean publication year of 1916 helps forge the explosion of publishing activity associated with modernism's annus mirabilis, 1922. This conference seeks to re-evaluate narratives of 1916 within each of these contexts, with a particular focus on what has often been occluded from each of these narratives.
Specifically, it proposes to explore counter-narratives to the dominant discourses of 1916 in an Irish context. While the events of the 1916 Easter Rebellion occupy a central position in an understanding of Irish identity and the nation state, this dominant discourse often excludes alternative narratives in a broader national and international context. Significantly, 1916 also marked the publication of such key modernist texts as James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ferdinand de Saussure's Course in General Linguistics; it saw the establishment (by James Mark Sullivan and Henry M. Fitzgibbon) of the Film Company of Ireland; and it marked the halfway point of the Great War, with the beginning of Battle of the Somme.
In this way, everyday Irish life in 1916 was influenced by a diverse range of cultural, social, and political factors. Therefore, this conference seeks to re-imagine the narrative(s) of 1916 with reference to these factors, as well as considering a broader European and international modernity through the lens of the intellectual and artistic material produced within that year.
Possible topics can include but are not limited to:
• Concepts of Modernity
• Heritage
• Labour movements
• Gender Identities
• The Family
• Rural and Urban lives
• The Diaspora
• World War 1
• Fashion
• Visual Art
Deadline for receipt of abstracts (maximum 500 words): March 11th 2016.
Presenters will be notified of their acceptance in early April 2016.
Email address: theother1916@gmail.com
Conference organisers: Caitriona Kirby, Dr Jenny McDonnell, Dr Maria Parsons.
Funding for this conference is kindly provided by Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, under the auspices of their 'Ireland 2016' initiative.