Trinity Long Room Hub: Recent Episodes
TLRHub
Established in 2010, the Trinity Long Room Hub, Arts and Humanities Research Institute of Trinity College Dublin is one of five flagship research institutes of the University, and the one dedicated to promoting and facilitating innovative research across its nine Arts and Humanities member Schools.
Recorded 18 June 2026.What does justice look like in a world shaped by growing political division, global conflict, and increasing uncertainty?Join former President of Ireland and Chancellor Dr Mary McAleese, Baroness Helena Kennedy, and Sister Helen Prejean, internationally renowned advocate for criminal justice reform and author of Dead Man Walking, for a compelling conversation on rights, social justice, capital punishment, and human dignity.Moderated by Professor David Kenny of the School of Law and featuring some of the most influential voices in law, human rights, and public life, this timely discussion will explore the future of justice in an increasingly uncertain world.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded May 5th, 2026.Warning: this lecture contains language which may cause offence. The inclusion of these terms is for critical analysis of systemic prejudice, not to cause harm.Part of We Shall Overcome: Civil Rights Struggles in Northern Ireland and the United States, a one day conference organised by the School of Histories and Humanities.During the 1960s, the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland borrowed tactics, the anthem 'We Shall Overcome,' and even its very name for the African American movement for equality. This symposium examines how this connection was formed and what it meant. It will consider both the origins of such connections and their legacy for the present.Sponsored by the Trinity Long Room Hub, UCD Clinton Institute for American Studies, Queen’s University Belfast, and the University of Galway14:30-16:00 Civil Rights Era ConnectionsChair: Peter McLoughlin, QUBSarah Campbell (Newcastle University), ‘'From Derry to Detroit: Bernadette Devlin, Black Freedom Struggles, and the Gendered Politics of Civil Rights'Melissa Baird (Royal Irish Academy), “Berkeley Berry Pickers” versus “Green Orangemen”: Divisions within Irish America to the Northern Ireland civil rights movement’Daniel Geary (TCD), ‘Ulster’s White Negroes: The Politics of a Reverberating Analogy”Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded May 5th, 2026.Part of We Shall Overcome: Civil Rights Struggles in Northern Ireland and the United States, a one day conference organised by the School of Histories and Humanities.During the 1960s, the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland borrowed tactics, the anthem 'We Shall Overcome,' and even its very name for the African American movement for equality. This symposium examines how this connection was formed and what it meant. It will consider both the origins of such connections and their legacy for the present.Sponsored by the Trinity Long Room Hub, UCD Clinton Institute for American Studies, Queen’s University Belfast, and the University of Galway18:00-19:30 A Conversation with Eamonn McCannModerator: Niall Ó Dochartaigh (UCG)Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
The greatest Epic of Modern History”: The Irish revolution in the African American radical press.'Brian Hanley (TCD), 'The last white nation in slavery?': Irish republicans and race in the revolutionary era.'Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded May 5th, 2026.Part of We Shall Overcome: Civil Rights Struggles in Northern Ireland and the United States, a one day conference organised by the School of Histories and Humanities.During the 1960s, the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland borrowed tactics, the anthem 'We Shall Overcome,' and even its very name for the African American movement for equality. This symposium examines how this connection was formed and what it meant. It will consider both the origins of such connections and their legacy for the present.Sponsored by the Trinity Long Room Hub, UCD Clinton Institute for American Studies, Queen’s University Belfast, and the University of Galway16:15-17:30 Twenty-first Century ConnectionsChair: Liam Kennedy, UCDMiriam Nyhan Grey (MIC), 'Black, Brown, and Green Voices: Legacies of the Intersections of African and Irish Identities in the US'Niamh Hamill (Institute of Study Abroad Ireland), ‘Against the Age of Anxiety: Irish Culture and the Work of Overcoming’Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded May 5th, 2026.Part of We Shall Overcome: Civil Rights Struggles in Northern Ireland and the United States, a one day conference organised by the School of Histories and Humanities.During the 1960s, the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland borrowed tactics, the anthem 'We Shall Overcome,' and even its very name for the African American movement for equality. This symposium examines how this connection was formed and what it meant. It will consider both the origins of such connections and their legacy for the present.Sponsored by the Trinity Long Room Hub, UCD Clinton Institute for American Studies, Queen’s University Belfast, and the University of Galway12:15-13:30 Keynote AddressKevin Gaines (University of Virginia), “The World House: Global Dimensions of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement’Annual Lecture in U.S. History sponsored by the University of Dublin FundLearn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded June 23rd, 2026.What will the future of European Research look like in an era of global changes and challenges?Join us on Tuesday, 23 June at 5.45 p.m. in the Trinity Long Room Hub for a panel discussion on the future of research in Europe, following the presentation of the Trinity European Laureate Award for Research to Professor Maria Leptin, President of the European Research Council.Professor Leptin will deliver a Laureate Address on European Research, and the panel will include Professor Luke O’Neill and Government Science Advisor Prof Aoife McLysaght.Dr Diarmuid O'Brien, CEO of Research Ireland, will also deliver a speech during this event.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded June 10th 2026.An engaging conversation with writer Caitríona Lally and Rooney Writer Fellow, Colin Murphy, as they discuss Caitríona’s memoir, Home Economics.This special evening also celebrates the Rooney Writer Fellowship Programme, generously funded by Dr Peter Rooney. Caitríona Lally was the inaugural Rooney Writer Fellow, and Colin Murphy is the current Fellow. Previous fellows include Mark O’Connell, Paul Murray, and poet, pacifist, and fabulist Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe. Caitríona Lally is the author of the novels Eggshells and Wunderland. She received the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature (2018), a Lannan Fellowship for Fiction (2019), and was the inaugural Rooney Writer Fellow at the Trinity Long Room Hub (2021).Colin Murphy is a playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and documentary maker. His recent publication, Colin Murphy’s Political Plays: 100 Years of Irish History, was published by Bloomsbury Methuen.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded April 15th, 2026.Listen back to this inspiring conversation between two trailblazing female academics, Professors Emeritae Eda Sagarra and Corinna Salvadori Lonergan, which took place on 15 April 2026 in Trinity Long Room Hub. The conversation was facilitated by Amberlie Collins, a final year student of Middle Eastern and European Languages and Cultures (MEELC). This event formed part of the 'Languages 250 at Trinity (1776-2026)' programme, throughout 2026, the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies is marking the 250th anniversary of the establishment of Modern Languages in Trinity College Dublin.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded May 21, 2026.A lecture by Professor Michael Cronin, Chair of French 1776, Trinity College DublinThe Trinity Long Room Hub Annual Humanities Horizons Lecture for 2026 was delivered by Prof Michael Cronin, on A STEM Strategy for Modern Languages? Mapping Ireland’s Multilingual Futures.250 years ago the first Chairs in Modern Languages in these islands were established in Trinity College Dublin. The TCD Chairs in French and German are the oldest, continuous Chairs in these languages in the world. But what of the future? How does Ireland build on its pioneering role in modern language education to make modern languages central to social cohesion, psychological wellbeing and economic prosperity on the island? The lecture argues for the benefits of a concerted strategy to make modern languages a strategic asset in the future development of our island community.About Michael CroninMichael Cronin is 1776 Professor of French and Senior Researcher in the Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation. Michael Cronin received his BA from Trinity College Dublin, his MA from University College Dublin and his PhD from Trinity College Dublin. He has taught in universities in France and Ireland and has held Visiting Research Fellowships to universities in Canada, Belgium, Peru, France and Egypt. He is a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin, an elected Member of the Royal Irish Academy and the Academia Europaea, an Officer in the Ordre des Palmes Académiques.Michael Cronin is the author of 13 monographs, the co-editor of seven edited collections and the author of over 150 refereed articles and book chapters. His work has been translated into 16 languages including Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Korean and Modern Greek. Among his published works are Across the Lines: travel, language, translation (Cork University Press, 2000), Translation and Globalization (Routledge, 2006), Translation and Identity (Routledge, 2006), The Expanding World: towards a politics of microspection (Zero Books, 2012), Translation in the Digital Age (Routledge, 2013), Eco-Translation: translation and ecology in the Age of the Anthropocene (Routledge, 2017), Irish and Ecology/An Ghaeilge agus an Éiceolaíocht (FÁS, 2019) and Eco-Travel: journeying in the Anthropocene (Cambridge University Press, 2022). His research interests are in the areas of eco-criticism and bio-cultural diversity.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded 12 May 2026.What will shape the future of Europe in an era of global change?A special public event marking the Trinity European Laureate Awards 2026, presented to European Movement Ireland (accepted by Julie Sinnamon, Chair of its Board) and former MEP and Minister, Frances Fitzgerald, in recognition of their outstanding contributions to civic society, public engagement, and equality across Europe.Following the award presentations, a distinguished panel of speakers explores the future of Europe and the challenges shaping its path in a rapidly changing global landscape. From political and social change within the EU to wider geopolitical pressures, the discussion considers how Europe can respond to uncertainty while strengthening democratic engagement and civic participation.Panel speakers include:Mark Little, journalist and entrepreneurDenise Charlton, CEO of Community Foundation IrelandLearn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded May 14th, 2026.A panel discussion on the Irish anti-apartheid struggle featuring key members of the movement organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub with the Little Museum of Dublin.In conjunction with Together/Apart, a collaborative exhibition between the Little Museum of Dublin and the Centre for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape, the Trinity Long Room Hub hosts a panel discussion on the Irish anti-apartheid struggle featuring key members of the movement.In April 1964, the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement (IAAM) was launched in Dublin by Kader Asmal, a South-African law professor in Trinity College Dublin. Lobbying for improved human rights in South Africa, the Movement raised awareness of the racism experienced by communities and campaigned for the release of political prisoners.Twenty years later, eleven young shopworkers in Dunnes Stores in Dublin, refused to handle South African goods. This simple act led to an almost three-year strike that became a symbol of solidarity in the liberation struggle.Together/Apart invites us to consider the deeper resonances of solidarity that link the peoples of Ireland and South Africa. Beyond the spectre of war and violence, this exhibition asks us to reconsider the meaning of generosity, care and solidarity – ideas that once helped to forge a human chain in the face of apartheid.This panel discussion explores the legacy of the Irish anti-apartheid struggle and asks what we can learn from historical expressions of international solidarity. Join the people who marched, campaigned and advocated for the end of apartheid.Chaired by Prof Patrick Geoghegan, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub, panellists include:Joan Burton, former IAAM Honorary Secretary and Labour Party leaderHugo MacNeill OBE, former Irish rugby international and current Pro-Chancellor of Trinity College DublinMary Manning, activist and former Dunnes Stores strikerRafique Mottiar, former IAAM Treasurer and Vice-ChairDr Connal Parr, historian and author of Solidarity and PressureThe Together/Apart exhibition opens to the public in the Little Museum of Dublin on 14 May 2026 before travelling to South Africa later in the year.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded April 28th, 2026.As part of our ‘Behind the Headlines’ series,this panel examines the Irish government’s plans for an age-related social media ban amid growing momentum for similar measures internationally. Gathering legal, psychology and social research experts, we will look at all aspects of the proposed legislation, including age verification, and the rights and freedoms of under-16 age groups.The panel also discusses the implications of social media use on this group, including what constitutes problematic internet use, and its implications for public health in the context of children and young persons today.The discussion is chaired by Dr Róisín Á Costello, Assistant Professor of Law at Trinity College Dublin and Deputy Director of TriCON, Trinity Centre for Constitutional Law.Panellists:Dr TJ McIntyre, Associate Professor in Law at the School of Law, University College Dublin and Chairperson of Digital Rights Ireland.Dr Ruth Melia, Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology at the University of Limerick.Dr Gretta Mohan, Senior Research Officer in Economic Analysis at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).This discussion is held in partnership with DEMCONEX, The Jean Monnet Centre for Excellence on Freedom of Expression and Democratic Resilience in Europe’s Digital Age. DEMCONEX is a Jean Monnet Centre for Excellence on Freedom of Expression and Democratic Resilience in Europe’s Digital Age is funded by the European Union. The Centre will be hosted by the Law School and the Department of Politics at Trinity College Dublin from 2025-2028 and is focused on research, teaching and public engagement on the Centre’s themes and on European studies.Behind the Headlines is supported by the John Pollard Foundation.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/triniylongroomhub
Recorded April 23rd, 2026.A special public event marking the Trinity European Laureate Award 2026, presented to Danny McCoy, CEO of Ibec, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to European business and economic thought.Following the award presentation and laureate address, a distinguished panel of leaders in economics, finance, and European policy discuss the forces reshaping business today. From the economic consequences of Brexit to the rise of artificial intelligence, global conflict, and the shifting balance of international trade, the conversation explores how businesses and policymakers must adapt to an increasingly uncertain world.Panel speakers include:Dr Frances Ruane MRIA, former Director of the ESRIRichie Boucher, former CEO of Bank of IrelandFrances Fitzgerald, former Tánaiste, Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, and Senior Advisor at Teneo.Chaired by Conor Brophy, Managing Director of Teneo.This timely discussion considers Ireland’s place within Europe’s evolving economic landscape and ask what lies ahead for business, policy, and society.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded April 22nd 2026.Can Ireland protect itself in an era of drone warfare, cyber-attacks and increasing global tensions and is Europe ready for the new security challenges it faces?As Ireland prepares to assume the European Presidency, taking over from Cyprus on 1 July, the Government faces renewed scrutiny over the scale and preparedness of its own defence capabilities in the light of the war in Iran and increasingly fraught geopolitical challenges.Recent changes, including increased defence spending, plans to modernise equipment, and an investment in cyber and maritime surveillance reflect a growing concern about hybrid threats and the protection of critical infrastructure such as undersea cables and airspace.Our upcoming ‘Behind the Headlines’ panel will hear from His Excellency Louis Telemachou, the Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus to Ireland, on Cyprus’s Presidency of the Council of the EU, followed by a panel discussion on the challenge facing Europe at a time of rapid geo-political shifts. This event will be chaired by Professor Patrick Geoghegan, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub.Panel:Caitríona Heinl, Executive Director of The Azure Forum for Contemporary Security Strategy and Adjunct Research Fellow at the School of Politics and International Relations at University College Dublin.Vice Admiral Mark Mellett, DSM, retired Irish Naval Service vice admiral and former Chief of Staff of Ireland's Defence Forces.Dr Rory Rowan, Assistant Professor of Geography at Trinity College Dublin and political geographer and expert on the history of geopolitical thought and Irish neutrality.This event is run in partnership with the Trinity Centre for Digital Security and Societal Resilience, a new multidisciplinary research centre designed to address the technological, economic, governance and societal challenges shaping Ireland’s digital future.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded April 14th 2026.Join Trinity’s Professor of English, Eve Patten, for a discussion on literary character formation with Professor James Chandler, William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of English, Department of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago; Professor Sharon Marcus, Orlando Harriman Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University; and Professor Claire Connolly, Chair of Modern English at University College Cork.This event is organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub in association with the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded April 14th, 2026.A public talk by Gabi Lombardo (European Alliance for Social Sciences and Humanities) organised jointly by the Social Sciences and Humanities Working Group of the Coimbra Group, Trinity Global and the Trinity Long Room Hub.As negotiations for the next Horizon Europe Framework Programme (2028-2034) proceed, the EU must broaden its research priorities beyond economic output and tech-driven competitiveness to include the social dimension of progress. A more inclusive and sustainable research strategy is necessary to address the complex challenges that Europe faces and to secure its social model and global competitiveness.This workshop will explore the debate around the contribution of the research community of social sciences and humanities into the design of European funding - to align EU research with citizen needs and democratic values, and better inform public policies and drive economic growth.About the speaker:Gabi Lombardo (PhD LSE), is Director of the European Alliance for SSH one of the largest advocacy and science policy organizations in Europe. EASSH advocates for an evidence-based approach to policy-making, and researchers’ inclusion in funding design. High-level experience in science policy research and implementation working in international organisations like London School of Economics, European Research Council and Science Europe. She is a member of the CoARA Steering Board and other organisations’ steering boards. She’s an evaluator for the EU, World Bank, and COST. Gabi received the Young Academy of Europe Prize in 2018.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded March 21st, 2026.The Irish Renaissance Seminar (IRS) brings together faculty, postdocs and postgrads from across Ireland working in the field of early modern literary studies. IRS meets twice a year for a one day conference. Trinity will be holding the spring meeting in 2026.Keynote session (Chair Jane Grogan, UCD)Emma Smith (Hertford College, Oxford)Imperial Bibliography: The Shakespeare First FolioLearn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded February 27th, 2026.This two-day symposium explores how musical identities were shaped and reimagined across the Irish Sea. It aims to foster dialogues between scholarship, performance, and artistic practice, providing a platform for re-examining underrepresented strands of cultural history. Main themes include:Repertoire recovery, editorial practices, and historiographical re-evaluationThe careers, contributions, and compositions of female musicians in the Celtic nationsThe cultivation of cultural identities through musicTransnational collaboration and exchangeCross-disciplinary artistic and creative partnershipsApproaches to heritage preservation in the twenty-first century through curation and educationModerator: James Lea, Royal Welsh College of Music and DramaCaroline Heard, ViolinTabitha Selley, CelloAni Glass, Pop ArtistLearn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded 17 February 2026.A seminar by Rian Boyle (TCD) as part of the English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded 10 March 2026.A seminar by Prof Darryl Jones (TCD) as part of the English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded March 10th, 2026.This interactive workshop discusses policy - how it is created, and how it can be shaped and influenced - with former Minister for Education and Skills, Joe McHugh, and Mary Doyle, RIA Secretary for Policy and International Relations and former Assistant/Deputy Secretary in the Departments of the Taoiseach, Education and Skills, and Health and ChildrenThis is the third instalment of our new series, Bridging the Gap between Policy and Research, which explores how scholarship in the Arts and Humanities can shape and inform public policy for the common good.This event is designed to be of interest to anyone who wishes to explore how academic research can be more effectively integrated into national policymaking processes, with a focus on building sustainable, evidence-based partnerships between higher education and the State.The discussion will look at the current disconnects between research outputs and policy implementation.It will also explore lessons that can be learned from crisis-response models (e.g. COVID-19) where collaboration was immediate and highly effective.The objective is to identify feasible pathways and frameworks that could help us better engage more directly with the policymaking process. In doing so, it will help us better understand who to approach when we have relevant research we wish to share, and how to go about shaping and influencing public policy. Joe McHugh is a former Minister for Education and Skills and previously served as Chair of the Committee on European Union Affairs. During his time in public office, he held a number of senior ministerial roles and has been closely involved in European policy and governance at a national level.Mary Doyle is a former Assistant/Deputy Secretary in the Departments of the Taoiseach, Education and Skills, and Health and Children (1992 to 2018). While at the Department of Education and Skills she had responsibility for higher and further education policy, funding and legislation. She is a member of the Board of the Wheel and has been a member of the National Economic and Social Council, the Board of Science Foundation Ireland, the National Statistics Board and a Forum Member of the Economic and Social Research Institute. She holds a degree in European Studies from the University of Limerick and a Master’s in Public Service Management from Trinity College Dublin/Irish Management Institute. She was elected to the Royal Irish Academy in 2022.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded March 10th, 2026.Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Research Fellow Prof James Chandler (University of Chicago, USA) in conversation with Dr Amy Prendergast (School of English).About the Fellow:James Chandler's research and teaching interests include the Romantic movement; the study of lyric poetry; the history of the novel; relations between politics and literature, history and criticism; the Scottish Enlightenment; modern Irish literature and culture; the sentimental mode; cinema studies; and the history of humanities disciplines. He is the William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of English, Department of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded February 2026.In this in-depth conversation, historian and Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub, Prof Patrick Geoghegan, talks with Arthur Edward Guinness, 4th Earl of Iveagh, about his newly published book Guinness: A Family Succession: The True Story of the Struggle to Create the World’s Largest Brewery, co-authored by Dr Antonia Hart.Lord Iveagh shares insights into the history and legacy of the Guinness family – from their humble beginnings in eighteenth-century Ireland to the creation of one of the world’s most iconic brewing dynasties. They discuss family archives, generational stories of ambition and innovation, and how personal history intersects with wider social and cultural change.This conversation traces both the business and human side of the Guinness dynasty and is essential listening for lovers of Irish history, biography and cultural heritage.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded 29th January 2026.Trinity College Dublin marks the 250th anniversary of the establishment of Modern Languages, a historic initiative that led to the creation of some of the oldest continuous Chairs of Modern Languages in the world.This special event, hosted at the Trinity Long Room Hub and organised by the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies, officially launches a year-long programme of commemorative events celebrating the rich legacy and ongoing vitality of Modern Languages at Trinity.The evening featured an address by Minister Thomas Byrne T.D, Minister of State for European Affairs and Defence, followed by an address from Pat Cox, President of the Jean Monnet Foundation and former President of the European Parliament. Also speaking at the event was the Provost Linda Doyle, Mary Cosgrove, incumbent 1776 Professor of German and Professor Michael Cronin, Chair of French 1776 at Trinity’s School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies. Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded February 11th, 2026The recent moves on Venezuela and Greenland by US President Donald Trump have left world leaders once more questioning geopolitical norms and a decades-long alliance between the US and the EU.A direct threat to the territorial integrity of the EU has confirmed for many a move away from a rules-based international order, with some questioning its existence in the first place. In our upcoming ‘Behind the Headlines’ discussion, we will bring together experts from history, law, environmental humanities and political science to discuss the implications of this latest political shock.Panellists include:Professor Daniel Geary, Mark Pigott Professor in U.S. History, Trinity College Dublin.Mairéad McGuinness, Former European Commissioner (2020-2024), and Vice-President of the European People's Party (2025-present).Michael A Becker, Assistant Professor of International Human Rights Law, Trinity College Dublin.Poul Holm, Professor of Environmental History, Trinity College Dublin.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded February 11th, 2026.Continuing our Bridging the Gap series, this seminar explores how researchers, policy-makers and members of the public can work together to translate scientific knowledge into practical, lasting action. Drawing on her experience chairing Ireland’s Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss, and more recently her work as Chair of the Independent Advisory Committee on Nature Restoration, Dr Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin will discuss what insights we can take from examples of deliberative democracy and public engagement. Named a European Young Leader for her work to promote equality, innovation and inclusion in mathematics education, and in light of Ireland preparing to take over the Presidency of the Council of the EU in July, Dr Ní Shúilleabháin will also explore how academia can best contribute to the development of public policy. The seminar will be of interest to researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and anyone interested in connecting research and public participation.Dr Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin is an award-winning science communicator and educator and is Associate Professor in the School of STEM Education, Innovation and Global Studies at DCU. She was appointed by the Taoiseach in 2022 to chair the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss, and in her role as chair of the Independent Advisory Committee on Nature Restoration is contributing to the development of Ireland's Nature Restoration Plan. Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded January 27th 2026.A lecture by visiting research fellow Dr Seçil Yılmaz (University of Pennsylvania) organised by the School of Histories and Humanities. Although syphilis had existed in Ottoman society since the sixteenth century, it became a significant public health concern in the latter half of the nineteenth century as a result of increased mobility, particularly among soldiers, Muslim immigrants, and seasonal workers traveling throughout the Ottoman countryside. The disease provoked fear, shame, and secrecy as Ottoman physicians devised socio-medical regulations and prescriptions that reshaped gender roles and sexual norms in the society. This lecture offers an insight into the perspectives of Ottoman physicians and psychiatrists who aspired to bring love, desire, marriage, and family under the aegis of a developing medical expertise and a vernacular form of sexology.Seçil Yılmaz is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania. She will be based at the Trinity Long Room Hub during her visiting research fellowship in early 2026.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
. The discussion will also address the Cuala Press archives and other Yeats collections held by both universities. Short panel presentations will be given by Angela Griffith, Principal Investigator of Trinity's Cuala Press Project, along with TRIARC Visiting Research Fellow Billy Shortall, who will speak on how Cuala Press prints aimed to cultivate a positive image of Ireland. Trinity professor of English Tom Walker will speak on W.B. Yeats and the visual and applied arts. Boston College's Burns Librarian Christian Dupont will provide an overview of the Boston College exhibition and discuss Lily Yeats's embroidered Stations of the Cross displayed at the 1932 Eucharistic Congress. Laura Shanahan, Head of Research Collections at the Library of Trinity College Dublin, will moderate the discussion among panellists and the audience.Image sourced from TCD Digital Collections - Elizabeth Corbet Yeats : Cuala Press Prints - IE TCD MS 11574/18Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded February 5th, 2026.In this conversation, Prof Patrick Geoghegan (Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub) and Christian Du Pont (Burns Librarian, Boston College) explore the long-standing and evolving collaborations between Trinity College Dublin and Boston College, with a particular focus on the legacy of Cuala Press and the work of the Yeats sisters.They discuss how shared collections, archival partnerships, and transatlantic relationships help preserve and reinterpret Ireland’s literary and artistic heritage, shedding light on the cultural significance of Cuala Press publications, book design, craftsmanship, and the broader networks that continue to shape Irish studies today.A thoughtful exploration of how libraries, archives, and institutions collaborate across borders to keep literary history alive and accessible.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded January 28th, 2026.A lecture by Dr Catherine Swift (MIC Limerick/ Loyola Institute, TCD) organised by the Loyola Institute, Trinity College Dublin.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded January 13th, 2026.Are the recent deadly attacks lawful under international and US domestic law? If they are NOT lawful orders, can US military personnel refuse to follow them? Who makes that decision? The speaker is a retired US Marine Corps lawyer who went on to teach The Law of Armed Conflict at the University of Washington in Seattle for twenty years.Speaker: Rick Lorenz, Senior Peace Fellow with the Public International Law and Policy Group.Discussant: Mike Becker, Assistant Professor of International Human Rights Law, Trinity College DublinDate: 1pm, Tuesday 13 January 2026Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
, offers a timely opportunity to reflect on the everyday rights that matter most to people with dementia and their care partners, as well as the legal frameworks that seek to safeguard those rights.Please join us for a special Human Rights Day event—“Unpacking the Essentials: A Conversation about Human Rights and Dementia”—organised by Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health, Kimberley Benjamin.The event, co-hosted by the Global Brain Health Institute and the Long Room Hub at Trinity College Dublin, will feature an interdisciplinary group of thought-provoking and action-inspiring speakers. It will be an open conversation among persons with lived experience of dementia and human rights lawyers. Our aim is to raise awareness about the connection between human rights and dementia so that the essentials of this community take centre stage.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
in European politics to the stability of the European Union. This lecture is the annual Łukasiewicz Lecture that is organised in memory of Polish logician Professor Jan Łukasiewicz. The event is organised jointly by the Polish Embassy in Dublin and the Trinity Centre for European Studies.Jan Zielonka is Professor of European Politics at the University of Oxford and Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Venice, Cá Foscari. His previous appointments included posts at the University of Warsaw, Leiden and the European University Institute in Florence. His work oscillates between the field of international relations, comparative politics and political theory. Zielonka has produced eighteen books including Counter-revolution. Liberal Europe in Retreat (Oxford University Press, 2018, awarded the 2019 UACES prize for the best book on Europe and translated into Italian, German Polish, Estonian and Korean), Politics and the Media in New Democracies. Europe in a Comparative Perspective (Oxford University Press, 2015), Is the EU doomed? (Polity Press, 2014), and Europe as Empire. The Nature of the Enlarged European Union (Oxford University Press, 2006). Zielonka regularly contributes articles to Die Zeit, NewStatesman, Social Europe, Open Democracy, Il Fatto Quotidiano, L’Espresso, NRC Handelsblad, Diário de Notícias and Rzeczpospolita.Learn more at ww.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded December 2nd 2025.A seminar by Dr Clare Clarke (School of English) as part of the English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series.English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Chiara Mastronardo (TCD) as part of the English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series.English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded November 10th, 2025.Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Research Fellow Dr Anna Deeny Morales (Georgetown University, USA) in conversation with Dr Evangelia Rigaki (Department of Music).Bio:Anna Deeny Morales is a US-based Latina writer who grew up between Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico. Her works in opera and poetry consider everyday family love and children; modes of empathy; patterns of political, religious, and legal violence; and strategies of disappearance. Her operas have been supported by the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Georgetown Americas Institute, and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Recent works include Las Místicas de México, which debuted in 2024 with the IN Series and the Children’s Chorus of Washington. ZAVALA-ZAVALA: an opera in v cuts, with music by Brian Arreola, debuted at the Kennedy Center in 2022 and was performed at Gala Hispanic Theater in 2024. A National Endowment for the Arts Fellow for her translation of Tala (1938) by Nobel Laureate Gabriela Mistral, she has translated poetry by Raúl Zurita, Nicanor Parra, and Amanda Berenguer, among others. Deeny Morales received a PhD in Hispanic Languages and Literatures from the University of California, Berkeley; an MA in Comparative Literature, with an emphasis on Puerto Rican theater, from Dartmouth College; and a BA in English Literature with a minor in Piano Performance from Shepherd University. After college she studied theater and directing at the Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica, Silvio d'Amico, in Rome, Italy. A Fellow in the Humanities in the Center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown University, her monograph, Other Solitudes: Essays on Consciousness and Poetry, is forthcoming in 2026.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded November 25th, 2025.On 1 July 2026, Ireland will take on the Presidency of the Council of the EU for the first time since Brexit. This event, in partnership with the global CEO advisory firm Teneo, will reflect on the last time Ireland held the presidency (in 2013) and debate the challenges and opportunities ahead.The event will reflect on challenges and achievements of the 2013 presidency (including the Multiannual Financial Framework, Erasmus+ and Horizon 2020), and debate the challenges and opportunities of the forthcoming presidency.The inaugural Trinity European Laureate Award will be presented to Enda Kenny, who served as Taoiseach during the presidency, and he will speak on what was achieved during that time. This will be followed by a panel discussion with Dr Brigid Laffan (Chancellor of the University of Limerick), Danny McCoy (CEO of IBEC), and Professor Sineád Ryan (Dean of Research, Trinity College Dublin).This event will also mark the launch of the Trinity Long Room Hub’s programme of events around the EU Presidency.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded 1st December 2025.A discussion with Ambassador Lars Thuesen, Denmark’s Ambassador to Ireland, about Denmark’s European Presidency (ending on the 31st of December), their priorities and vision for Europe, as well as the challenges Europe faces at this pivotal moment. We will also hear from the Minister for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne TD about the objectives and ambitions of the forthcoming Irish Presidency, and Dr Deirdre Foley, Principal Investigator for the TÚS Research Ireland Pathway Project in the School of Histories and Humanities.The bond between Denmark and Ireland stretches back to the age of the Vikings, and today the relationship between Denmark and Ireland is a strong and rewarding one, both politically and economically. Our comparable sizes, shared interests, and historic links make for a solid foundation on which cooperation between our two countries can take place, and there is much that Ireland can learn from looking at how Denmark has approached its Presidency.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded November 19th, 2025.The Trinity Long Room Hub was delighted to launch a new seminar series - Bridging the Gap between Policy and Research - exploring how scholarship in the Arts and Humanities can shape and inform public policy for the common good.The opening seminar, Do the Humanities Actually Matter? Public Policy and the Humanities hears from Peter MacDonagh, a former senior advisor in the Taoiseach’s Office whose career has bridged government and academia, and includes considerable experience in public policy and research in different countries. Speaker:A former senior advisor in the Taoiseach’s Office, Peter MacDonagh has had an unusually broad involvement in public policy development, research funding and participation in pan-EU research programmes. Following studies in history in UCD and Cambridge, he worked for the now Taoiseach Micheál Martin when they developed the foundations for funding research in the Humanities. In government, he was substantially involved in deepening the engagement between academic research and public policy. Subsequently he served on the Board of Science Foundation Ireland, now Research Ireland, and as chairperson of its Grants Awards Committee. He has been involved with a range of large-scale Horizon projects and works on public policy and political research in different European countries.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Artists Thrive in an Unpredictable World (2025), Margaret Heffernan makes the case that creative practice isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. She argues that business structures, government policy, leadership models must give space to ambiguity, flexibility and emotional stamina - the very qualities artists exercise daily.In this unique event, acclaimed author, speaker, and entrepreneur Dr Margaret Heffernan joins eminent historian Roy Foster and broadcaster-actor-comedian Tommy Tiernan to explore how artistic practice offers vital lessons for corporate leaders, policy makers, and culture creators alike. By galvanizing our creativity, Heffernan puts artistic practice firmly at the centre of strategic thinking.For artists, the evening will affirm practice: that creativity, failure and improvisation aren’t just expressive, they are survival tools. For business leaders and corporate or government sectors, this is a call to reframe unpredictability not as a threat, but as entering territory where innovation lives. When organisations embrace uncertainty, they open possibilities. They build resilience.Learn more at www.tcd.ietrinitylongroomhub
Recorded November 14th, 2025.The Pollard Collection of Children’s Books: Past, Present, and FutureProf. Kenneth Kidd, Dr Lydia Ferguson, Laura Shanahan, Dr Jane Carroll, Dr Pádraic WhyteRecorded as part of The Pollard Collection of Children’s Books: A SymposiumThis collaboration between the School of English and Trinity College Library brought together a range of experts to discuss the history, significance, and impact of the Collection.The Collection is one of the most important children's book collections in the world and contains over 12,000 books ranging from the 16thC to the early 20thC amassed over a twenty-year period by Mary ‘Paul’ Pollard, the former Keeper of Early Printed books at Trinity College Library.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded November 14th, 2025.Presentations from Students on the M.Phil. programme in Children’s Literature:Jovyn Anderson, Shumane Cleary, Judit Climent Torras, Alice Andrea Dall’Alba, Cleo Daly, Eryne Decluy-Mason, Isabelle Duffy, Bianca Embrén, Annelise Hoffman, Eva Hughes-Sutton, Susan Stewart, Paulina Tittertington, Jiaying Wu.Recorded as part of The Pollard Collection of Children’s Books: A SymposiumThis collaboration between the School of English and Trinity College Library brought together a range of experts to discuss the history, significance, and impact of the Collection.The Collection is one of the most important children's book collections in the world and contains over 12,000 books ranging from the 16thC to the early 20thC amassed over a twenty-year period by Mary ‘Paul’ Pollard, the former Keeper of Early Printed books at Trinity College Library.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
: imagining Irish landscapes in the Irish history texts of the Pollard School-book collection 1860-1920.Recorded as part of The Pollard Collection of Children’s Books: A SymposiumThis collaboration between the School of English and Trinity College Library brought together a range of experts to discuss the history, significance, and impact of the Collection.The Collection is one of the most important children's book collections in the world and contains over 12,000 books ranging from the 16thC to the early 20thC amassed over a twenty-year period by Mary ‘Paul’ Pollard, the former Keeper of Early Printed books at Trinity College Library.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded November 14th, 2025.Dr Pádraic WhyteThe History of Harry Spencer: Paul Pollard and the beginnings of Irish Children’s LiteratureDr Maggie MastersonPaul Pollard's anti-canon of unknown and uninteresting booksProf. Aileen DouglasThe ‘new literature of animals’ and the Pollard CollectionRecorded as part of The Pollard Collection of Children’s Books: A SymposiumThis collaboration between the School of English and Trinity College Library brought together a range of experts to discuss the history, significance, and impact of the Collection.The Collection is one of the most important children's book collections in the world and contains over 12,000 books ranging from the 16thC to the early 20thC amassed over a twenty-year period by Mary ‘Paul’ Pollard, the former Keeper of Early Printed books at Trinity College Library.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded November 14th, 2025.Emer O’Sullivan graduated from University College Dublin and pursued further studies and academic work at Berlin and Frankfurt universities before being appointed Chair of English Literature at Leuphana University Lüneburg. Writing in both German and English, she specialises in comparative and children’s literature, with particular interests in translation and image studies. Her work has been translated into many languages. A pioneer in comparative children’s literature, she has received international recognition, most recently the IRSCL Honorary Fellowship and the 20th International Brothers Grimm Award in 2025.Recorded as part of The Pollard Collection of Children’s Books: A SymposiumThis collaboration between the School of English and Trinity College Library brought together a range of experts to discuss the history, significance, and impact of the Collection.The Collection is one of the most important children's book collections in the world and contains over 12,000 books ranging from the 16thC to the early 20thC amassed over a twenty-year period by Mary ‘Paul’ Pollard, the former Keeper of Early Printed books at Trinity College Library.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
.About the Research Ireland - Harrison MedalIn 2004 the Harrison Medal was inaugurated by the Society for Musicology in Ireland in honour of Frank Llewellyn Harrison (1905–1987), the Irish musicologist who made a seminal contribution to the study of medieval music (especially music in medieval Britain) and to the study of ethnomusicology. Harrison held positions in Canada and the United States before being appointed to a Lectureship in Music at Oxford in 1952; he was appointed Reader in the History of Music there in 1962. Harrison subsequently became Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Amsterdam in 1970. A detailed account of his career and publications by Robin Elliott is available in EMIR, Vol. 1, pp. 469–471.In 2018 the award was renamed the Irish Research Council - Harrison Medal in recognition of the longstanding contribution towards the funding of the award by the Irish Research Council (IRC). After the IRC had been incorporated into Taighde Éireann / Research Ireland in 2024 the name was adapted to Research Ireland - Harrison Medal. The SMI gratefully acknowledges the support of both the IRC and Taighde Éireann / Research Ireland.The Medal is awarded by the President and Council of the SMI to recognize outstanding achievements and excellence in research in musicology.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded November 3rd, 2025.As we approach the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement on 15 November 1985, Behind the Headlines returns to debate whether this was a crucial stepping stone on the path to peace, or a controversial stumbling block. Bringing together experts from across the island, the panel re-examines the Agreement before the Good Friday Agreement, discusses what was so controversial at the time, and debates its impact and legacy. In particular, it explores the response of Unionist and Loyalist communities in Northern Ireland, the political fallout, and the mass protest campaign that followed. The event was chaired by Professor Lindsey Earner-Byrne, Chair of Contemporary Irish History at Trinity College Dublin. Panel Dáithí Ó Ceallaigh, former Irish ambassador, who played a crucial role in the negotiation of the Agreement. Dr Shelley Deane, expert in Security and International Relations at the School of Law and Government in DCU and member of the ARINS project team. Sam McBride, Northern Ireland Editor, Belfast Telegraph Prof Michael Kerr, Professor of Conflict Studies, Kings College LondonLearn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded November 3rd, 2025.As we approach the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement, Behind the Headlines revisits one of the most significant – and contested – moments in modern Irish history.In this special curated episode, Professor Lindsey Earner-Byrne, Chair of Contemporary Irish History at Trinity College Dublin, speaks with an expert panel ahead of the Behind the Headlines event The Anglo-Irish Agreement: Its Making, Impact, and the People Behind It.Joining her are:Dáithí Ó Ceallaigh, former Irish ambassador, who played a crucial role in the negotiation of the Agreement.Dr Shelley Deane, expert in Security and International Relations at Dublin City University and member of the ARINS project team.Sam McBride, Northern Ireland Editor of the Belfast Telegraph.Professor Michael Kerr, Professor of Conflict Studies at King’s College London.Together, they explore the making of the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, the controversy it provoked, and its lasting legacy on politics across these islands.🎧 Was the Anglo-Irish Agreement a crucial stepping stone on the path to peace — or a political stumbling block? Tune in to find out.The Behind the Headlines series is proudly supported by the John Pollard FoundationLearn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded October 2nd, 2025.Thinking Aloud, Thinking Together is a new series of live and recorded conversations amplifying voices that have been silenced in Irish cultural life. It gives space to artists, writers and thinkers who offer radical new perspectives on existing narratives.Our first conversation takes the form of a podcast series. Entitled 'In the Half Light: Voices from Black Ireland', this podcast is delivered in partnership with the Museum of Literature Ireland and curated by Dr Phil Mullen (Assistant Professor of Black Studies at Trinity College Dublin and a leading researcher on the historical experiences of 'mixed-race' people growing up in Ireland). Using the audio format, Phil has created an anonymised, open space for 'mixed-race' people who grew up in Irish care institutions to explore the impact of their erasure from institutional abuse history and discourse in Ireland. Through this conversation, she aims to undo that erasure, one voice at a time.Phil will be in conversation with journalist and researcher Caelainn Hogan. The conversation will be chaired by writer Eoin McNamee.This event is organised in partnership with the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute and Trinity Research in Social Sciences.SpeakersDr Phil Mullen is Assistant Professor of Black Studies and located in the Department of Sociology. She teaches on the Trinity elective which introduces students to the epistemology of Black Studies as an intellectual pursuit. This is an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary field of knowledge that interrogates historical events that have impacted on those who are racialised as Black, while centring the perspectives of Black people in constructing and deconstructing these events. Sheleads a research project to recover the lived experiences and sociological impact of African students who came to Trinity in the early 20th century, which amplifies our understanding of Blackness in pre-Celtic Tiger Ireland.Caelainn Hogan is a writer and journalist from Dublin. Her first book Republic of Shame investigates the ongoing legacy of Ireland's religious-run, state-funded institutions and the shame-industrial complex that incarcerated women and children. She has written for The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, National Geographic, The Guardian, VICE, Harper's, The Washington Post, The Dublin Review and more.Eoin McNamee is a novelist and screenwriter. His nineteen novels include Resurrection Man and the Blue Trilogy. He has written six Young Adult novels including the New York Times bestselling The Navigator, and three thrillers under the John Creed pseudonym. He wrote the screenplay for the film Resurrection Man directed by Marc Evans and I Want You directed by Michael Winterbottom. His television credits include Hinterland (BBC Wales/Netflix) and An Brontanas (TG4). He has written seven radio plays for BBC R4. He is the Director of the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre and Co-Director of the M.Phil in Creative Writing Course at Trinity College Dublin.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Murakami-Wood. Palgrave, 2008). His forthcoming book on Resilience: Origins and Evolutions (Edward Elgar - 2026) brings together the disparate threads of his nearly 20 years of research on this topic into one volume.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
The Picture of Dorian Gray opens in the studio of Basil Hallward in which the smells of an English garden at the start of summer mingle with the smoke of Lord Henry Wotton's opium-tinged cigarettes. This scent puts Dorian into a trance in which it is difficult, if not impossible for him, to resist the temptations offered: one located in Basil entrancing portrait, the other in Lord Henry’s mind-numbing peons to ever-blossoming youth and beauty. In this noxious atmosphere a new plant will grow, one even more dangerous than those that Hallward already has in the garden: the plant that is Dorian Gray. This talk will look at the ways in which Wilde has carefully used a Victorian language of the flowers throughout his novel as a way to dramatise the struggle between the forces of good and evil over Dorian's soul. English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded October 15th 2025.The Trinity Long Room Hub is delighted to welcome author and historian William Dalrymple to present the 2025 Edmund Burke Lecture, entitled 'The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire', which is supported by a generous endowment in honour of Padraic Fallon by his family.About William DalrympleWilliam Dalrymple is one of Britain’s great historians and the bestselling author of the Wolfson Prize-winning White Mughals, The Last Mughal, which won the Duff Cooper Prize, and the Hemingway and Kapuściński award-winning Return of a King. His book, The Anarchy, was long-listed for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2019, and shortlisted for the Duke of Wellington Medal for Military History, the Tata Book of the Year (Non-fiction) and the Historical Writers Association Book Award 2020. It was a Finalist for the Cundill Prize for History and won the 2020 Arthur Ross Bronze Medal from the US Council on Foreign Relations. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a revolutionary new history of the diffusion of Indian art, religions, technology, astronomy, music, dance, literature, mathematics and mythology, along a Golden Road that stretched from the Red Sea to the Pacific.A frequent broadcaster, he has written and presented three television series, one of which won the Grierson Award for Best Documentary Series at BAFTA. He is the co-host of the Empire podcast, which explores the intricate stories of revolutions, imperial wars, and the people who built and lost empires. He has also won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award, The Sunday Times Young British Writer of the Year Award, the Foreign Correspondent of the Year at the FPA Media Awards, and been awarded five honorary doctorates. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the Royal Asiatic Society and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and has held visiting fellowships at Princeton, Brown and Oxford. He writes regularly for the New York Review of Books, the New Yorker, and the Guardian. In 2018, he was presented with the prestigious President’s Medal by the British Academy for his outstanding literary achievement and for co-founding the Jaipur Literature Festival. He was named one of the world’s top 50 thinkers for 2020 by Prospect.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded September 26th, 2025.Trinity’s Dean of Research, Professor Sinéad Ryan, welcomes Government Science Advisor, Aoife McLysaght, for a lively conversation with Hub Director Patrick Geoghegan on bridging research and public policy. Drawing on her career as a geneticist and public communicator and adviser, Dr McLysaght reflects on how Science and the Humanities can work together to shape understanding and create impact.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded 22nd September 2025.Why are we so drawn to true crime? And what are the ethical stakes behind the stories? Join popular literature experts Clare Clarke, Bernice Murphy, writer Una Mannion (English), and Ailise Bulfin (UCD), whose research focuses on cultural representations of major social issues, for a discussion on the moral complexities of creating and consuming true crime narratives.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded Monday 22nd September 2025.Mary Rogan (Law) discusses her pioneering research on human rights and detention, and how people in prison experience the protection of human rights through monitoring.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded 25th September 2025.Hub Director Patrick Geoghegan speaks with Dr Clare Moriarty (Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Philosophy) on communicating research, public engagement and making big life choices.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded September 25th 2025.Reflecting on her new publication Theology and the University, Fáinche Ryan (Theology) explores whether the university is or could be 'a refuge of truth-telling' (Hannah Arendt).Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded September 24th, 2025.In this joint session chaired by AHSS Faculty Dean Carmel O'Sullivan, Shannon Mora (Digital Humanities) will explore mourning as a social and cultural determinant of health. Sarah Jane Scaife (Drama Studies), Conor McGuckin and Aoife Lynam (Education) will discuss their project ‘Illuminating the Shadows of Grief: Unveiling Adult Experiences of Childhood Bereavement using the Creative Arts.’Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded September 23rd, 2025.James Hanrahan (French) hosts a difficult and timely conversation with Tylor Brand (Near & Middle Eastern Studies), in this festival edition of the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultural Studies Research Seminar.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded September 23rd, 2025.From emojis in online condolences, to legendary goat-riding criminals and mapping wild urban plants, this panel (Shannon Mora, Noel Castro Fernandez, Nicole Basaraba, Ginevra Santivale and Vicky Garnett) explores how plants and animals are featuring across Trinity's digital humanities research. Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded September 24th, 2025.Stephen O'Neill (English) looks at writing and partition in this festival edition of the Modern and Contemporary Irish History Seminar Series, hosted by Carole Holohan (History).Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded September 25th 2025.Why do some creators of Gothic and Horror fade into obscurity, while others become icons? Bernice Murphy (English) chairs a panel with Trinity literary experts Darryl Jones, Orla Donnelly, Dara Downey, and Janice Deitner, each championing an overlooked talent. The event explores literary celebrity, cultural memory, and why some voices are marginalised while others are rediscovered.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded Tuesday, 23rd Setpember 2025.Join Georgina Laragy (History) and Mandy Lee (Medicine) to explore past achievements and future directions for Trinity’s expanding Medical and Health Humanities Network.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded Monday 22nd September 2025.Gina Moxley and the creative team behind I Fall Down: A Restoration Comedy give us a behind-the-scenes look at this punk-feminist production taking place in Trinity as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival. Hosted by the School of Creative Arts Research Forum.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded Tuesday, 23rd September 2025.Join James Joyce expert Sam Slote (English) for a sharp look at censorship, copyright, and Ulysses in this festival edition of the School of English Staff and Postgrad Seminar Series.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded September 24th 2025.How do we locate books in time and place? Nicole Volmering (History) and the Trinity Centre for the Book invite you into the world of early medieval manuscripts for an interdisciplinary showcase exploring how we trace the movement of texts, through language, material, and meaning.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded September 25th, 2025.Library staff share favourite finds from current projects. From autumnal windmills and apples to cartoons, maps and Michael Davitt’s favourite colour, come along for a celebration of the unexpected wonders in the archives.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded Tuesday, 23rd of September 2025.Ben Jonson's claim that "Greek was free from Rime’s Infection" has echoed for centuries, although rejected by some. Leon Wash (Classics) revisits the debate, sharing striking evidence of rhyme in ancient Greek, including a poem about beer among the Celts.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded September 25th, 2025.Franciszek Krawczyk (Education) explores the role of the university in advancing international solidarity, comparing Trinity and the University of Warsaw and their geopolitical positions and legacies.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded Monday 22nd September 2025. The Hub's Behind the Headlines series begins its second decade with a public discussion on the Irish Presidency. The panel is chaired by David Kenny (Law) and features Etain Tannam (Peace Studies), Declan Leddin (History), John Walsh (Education) and Gail McElroy (Political Science).Behind the Headlines is supported by the John Pollard Foundation.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded September 25th, 2025.Should Northern Ireland, or Ireland, have a new flag? David Michell and Etain Tannam (Peace Studies) explore this long-debated idea. A timely conversation on identity, representation, and national symbols.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded September 26th, 2025.What does artificial intelligence mean for research in the Humanities? This panel brings together David Brown (the IRC-funded Empire project), Micheál O'Siochrú (History) and Hub Director Patrick Geoghegan to explore how AI is reshaping research, archives, and the way we think about the future.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded 22nd September 2025.This international history seminar focuses on the US, with Dan Geary (History) discussing 'Forgotten American Liberals: Why American Politics isn't all about Trump'.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded June 14, 2025.Emer McHugh (Queen’s University Belfast): ‘National Questions: Shakespeare and Ireland studies, and where we are now'Final Round Table: Andrew Murphy (Trinity College Dublin), Edel Semple (University College Cork), Ramona Wray (Queen’s University Belfast), Stephen O’Neill (Maynooth University)Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded June 14, 2025.Conrad Brunström (Maynooth University): ‘Shakespeare and Sheridan's Coriolanus: Who banished who?’Ceola Daly (St Cross College, Oxford): ‘“Ó Moeloins” Malone: Ireland's Most Famous Forgotten Shakespearean’Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded June 14, 2025.Eilís Smyth (Trinity College Dublin): ‘The Smock Alley Promptbooks in the 21st Century’Madeleine Saidenberg: (Worcester College, Oxford): ‘Hamlet in Irish Wool: Fashioning an Anglo-Irish Shakespeare, 1721’Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded June 14, 2025.Tara Lyons (Illinois State University): ‘A Colonial Collection? English Drama in the First Duke of Ormonde’s Irish Libraries’Andrew Murphy (Trinity College Dublin): ‘Shakespeare, the Charlemont Library and the Politics of Identity’Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded June 14, 2025.David Dickson (Trinity College Dublin): 'The social backdrop: Eighteenth-century Dubliners'Linzi Simpson: ‘Smock Alley: the rediscovery of Dublin’s oldest surviving theatre’Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded July 22nd 2025.An in conversation event with Prof David Kinley (The University of Sydney) and Prof Blanaid Clarke (TCD) organised by the school of Law.Who cares when corporations kill? The remarkable story behind suing one of the worlds largest asbestos companies for transnational negligence.In Conversation - Professor David Kinley, Chair of Human Rights Law, Sydney Law School, The University of Sydney hosted by Professor Blanaid Clarke, McCann FitzGerald Chair of Corporate Law, Trinity College Dublin, Convenor of the School's Corporate Law, Governance and Capital Markets Research Group.Professor Kinley is the author of In a Rain of Dust: Death, Deceit, and the Lawyer who Busted Big Asbestos (2025).Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded July 2nd, 2025.46th Annual Memorial LectureBarbarous Cuisine: T. S. Eliot in Ireland (1936 & 1940)Fran Brearton - Queen’s University BelfastChaired by Patrick Query, T.S. Eilot Society PresidentFran Brearton is Professor of Modern Poetry at Queen’s University Belfast.Her books include The Great War in Irish Poetry, Reading Michael Longley, and, as editor, The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish Poetry and Incorrigibly Plural: Louis MacNeice and his Legacy. She is a former president of the Robert Graves Society and appears regularly on BBC R4’s ‘In Our Time’ to discuss modern poetry. She was elected to the Royal Irish Academy in 2018.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded May 21, 2025.A keynote lecture for the Global Intersections: Communication and Resilience Across Borders conference, by Chris O’Connell (Trócaire, Policy and Advocacy Advisor in Human Rights and Civil Society Space).The Global Intersections: Communication and Resilience Across Borders conference was hosted by Trinity Centres for Global Intercultural Communications; Forced Migration Studies; and Resistance Studies.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded May 13th, 2025.A seminar by PhD Music students presenting their research, organised by the Department of Music.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded May 13th, 2025.A seminar by PhD Music students presenting their research, organised by the Department of Music.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded May 13th, 2025.A seminar by PhD Music students presenting their research, organised by the Department of Music.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded May 13th, 2025.A seminar by PhD Music students presenting their research, organised by the Department of Music.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded May 8th, 2025.A talk by Dr. Barry Devine as part of the TCD Medical/Health Humanities Seminar Series.Seán O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars is often described as a play about The Easter Rising, but the ever-present spectre of tuberculosis in the play overshadows the politics in favor of more humanitarian concerns in 1916 Dublin.Barry Devine is an Associate Professor of English at Heidelberg University (Ohio). He teaches Irish modernism, critical theory, women's literature, and queer literature.
Recorded April 22, 2025.A lecture by Dr Eilís Smyth (School of English, TCD) as part of the English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series.English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded May 12th, 2025.The Trinity Long Room Hub Annual Humanities Horizons Lecture for 2025 was delivered by Bruce Shapiro, on "The Spectacle of Fearsome Acts": Violence, Journalism and the Democratic Future.Are today’s journalists the unwitting enablers of autocrats or the last bastion of democratic defence? Bruce Shapiro, Executive Director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, reflects on how stories get told amid sweeping catastrophes and surging authoritarianism.The Annual Humanities Horizons Lecture was established in 2013 to provide a significant contribution to reflection on and advocacy for the Arts and Humanities.About Bruce ShapiroBruce Shapiro is Executive Director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, a project of Columbia Journalism School, encouraging innovative reporting on violence, conflict and tragedy worldwide.An award-winning reporter on human rights, criminal justice and politics, Shapiro is a contributing editor at The Nation and U.S. correspondent for Late Night Live on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Radio National. He also teaches ethics at Columbia Journalism School, where he is adjunct professor and Senior Advisor for Academic Affairs. His books include Shaking the Foundations: 200 Years of Investigative Journalism in America and Legal Lynching: The Death Penalty and America's Future.Shapiro is recipient of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies award for "outstanding and fundamental contributions to the social understanding of trauma." He is a founding board member of the Global Investigative Journalism Network.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded March 21st 2025.The annual seminar for the CONUL Teaching and Learning Committee organised by Trinity Library and with a keynote by Dr. John Danaher (School of Law, University of Galway).Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded March 25th, 2025.A lecture by Dr James Wood (University of East Anglia) as part of the English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series.English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded March 14th, 2025.A lecture by Dr Sanjoy Som (scientist at NASA Ames Research Center, USA) organised by Trinity's MPhil in Identities & Cultures of Europe and funded by the Faculty of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences.Come and listen to an astrobiologist working at NASA on how space exploration can reshape human identity in times of crisis. This event explores the relationship between space exploration and human identity in the context of the climate emergency, the new (commercial) space age and the highly unpredictable state of world politics. Dr Sanjoy Som, a scientist based at NASA’s Ames Research Center (California, USA), will delve into this topic in a public lecture, reflecting on how enhanced awareness of the Earth's interconnections with biology and the human civilization it hosts, the vastness of space to which the Earth system belongs, and the depth in time that has led to the present moment can create a sense of identity that can be as strong as cultural identities. Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded April 8th, 2025.A lecture by Dr Dilek Ozturk & Dr Elliott Mills (School of English, TCD) as part of the English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series.This weeks seminar will cover two lecture: Revisiting Brian Friel: Space, Place, and Text & ‘I always make a point of following the works of Mr Eliot’: T.S. Eliot in Flann O’Brien’s Undecidable Modernism.English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded April 9th, 2025.A discussion between Prof Chris Morash (English) and Dr Mark O'Connell (Author and Rooney Writer Fellow, Trinity Long Room Hub) organised by the Library of Trinity College Dublin.Professor Chris Morash, Trinity’s Seamus Heaney Professor of Irish Writing, and prize-winning author Dr Mark O’Connell discuss on the writing of John Banville. This event coincides with the inclusion of works from Banville’s archive, housed in Trinity, in the current exhibition in the Old Library Long Room. On display in the exhibition is the manuscript draft of The Singularities (2022), which – differing from the published text - concludes with the line “at the last inscribe a full, and infinitely full, full stop.”Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded March 20th, 2025.Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Research Fellow Dr Nina Lamal (Huygens Instituut, KNAW, Netherlands) in conversation with Dr Ann-Marie Hansen (Fagel Collection Project Manager, Library, TCD).Bio:Dr Nina Lamal is an early modern historian based at the Humanities Cluster of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) in Amsterdam. Her research focuses on early modern political history, diplomacy, the transnational histories of the book, and digital humanities.She studied early modern history at the KU Leuven. In 2014, she received her PhD from the KU Leuven and St Andrews University for her thesis on Italian news reports, political debates and historical writing on the Revolt in the Low Countries (1566-1648). Her book Italian Communication on the Revolt in the Low Countries was published with Brill in 2023. From 2015-2017, Lamal worked as postdoctoral research assistant at the Universal Short Title Catalogue project (university of St Andrews). In 2017, she moved to the university of Antwerp, after she had obtained a three-year individual postdoctoral fellowship of the Flemish Research Council. From 2020-2024, she was postdoctoral researcher on project Inventing Public Diplomacy in Early Modern Europe and editor of the of the correspondence of Christofforo Suriano, the first Venetian envoy in the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic. (https://suriano.huygens.knaw.nl/).Apart from the digital scholarly edition of Suriano’s letters, her most recent publications include a co-written article with Helmer Helmers on Dutch diplomacy in the seventeenth century, two journal articles: one on foreign powers influencing the first Italian newspapers, and one the role of cross-border printing privileges in the seventeenth-century Low Countries.As a Trinity Long Room Hub Fellow, she will examine how the Fagel library functioned as a tool of statecraft from the Fagel regent family in the eighteenth century. Drawing on recent digitization and cataloguing projects, the proposed research use book historical methods to bring the library into dialogue with the Fagel Archives in The Hague and to study how it was used for political education, referencing and networking.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded March 11th, 2025.A lecture by Prof Jarlath Killeen (School of English, TCD) as part of the English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series.English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded March 11th, 2025.A lecture by Fergus Sheil (Founding Artistic Director of Irish National Opera) for the Music Composition Centre Talks.Fergus is the founding artistic director of Irish National Opera. He has conducted a wide-ranging repertoire of over 50 different operas in performance, recordings and on film. Highlights include Strauss’ Salome, Der Rosenkavalier and Elektra, Rossini’s William Tell and La Cenerentola, Brian Irvine and Netia Jones’s Least Like The Other, Verdi’s Aida, La traviata and Rigoletto as well as Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde.Before founding Irish National Opera in 2018, Fergus was Artistic Director of Wide Open Opera, which he founded in 2012 and Opera Theatre Company. He has produced opera in over 30 venues throughout Ireland as well as bringing productions to the UK (Edinburgh International Festival, Royal Opera House and The Barbican), USA, Holland, Luxembourg and Italy. As conductor, Fergus has worked with major orchestras and opera companies in Ireland as well as fulfilling engagements in the USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia, UK, France, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Malta and Estonia.Fergus Sheil studied music at Trinity College, graduating in 1992. While at TCD he founded the Trinity Orchestra. He currently delivers a module in career development at TCD’s Music Department and in 2023 he was awarded an honorary Doctor in Letters from TCD.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded February 25, 2025.A lecture by Alan Armstrong and Yael Bassan (School of English, TCD) as part of the English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series.This weeks seminar will cover two lectures: Hares Upon Hearthstones – Envisioning the Death of Civilization in Medieval Literature & Cognitive Reading of the Supernatural in Shakespeare’s Plays.English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded February 22nd, 2025.A Keynote Address by Dr Miranda Corcoran (Chairs: Janice Deitner and DaraDowney, TCD),entitled “Lizzie in America: Transatlantic Transformations and the Figure ofElizabeth Style in Shirley Jackson's Fiction.”Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded February 13th, 2025.Pay Attention!: Literary Studies, Neurohumanities and the ‘Distraction Economy’Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Research Fellow Prof Ronan McDonald (University of Melbourne, Australia) in conversation with Prof Christopher Morash (School of English, TCD) and Prof Shane O'Mara (TCIN, TCD).‘Attention studies’ is burgeoning in academic and popular fora, not least because there is a common perception that we live in an era of digital distraction. Drawing on insights from neuroscience, this project considers the relationship between reading and attention in literary studies. It considers how reading orientates our mind, between various affective states that compel or distract: between willed concentration, raptured enchantment or receptive, wide-minded noticing. Opening up a cross-disciplinary conversation between literary studies, psychology and neuroscience, it seeks to provide new purpose and direction for literary studies.About Ronan McDonald:Ronan McDonald holds the Gerry Higgins Chair in Irish Studies at the University of Melbourne. He is widely published in Irish literary studies, with a particular interest in Irish modernism and Irish-Australian literature. He also has a research interest in the history of criticism and the value of the humanities. His books include Tragedy and Irish Literature (2002), The Cambridge Introduction to Samuel Beckett (2007) and The Death of the Critic (2008). Recent edited collections include The Values of Literary Studies: Critical Institutions, Scholarly Agendas (Cambridge University Press, 2015) and Flann O’Brien and Modernism (2014). He is series editor of Cambridge Themes in Irish Literature and Culture. Current projects include an ARC Discovery Project with Prof Katherine Bode and Maggie Nolan, ‘Close Relations: Irishness in Australian Literature’. and a ARC Discovery Project, with Professor Simon During, on 'English: The History of a Discipline, 1920-70'. He is currently working on a book on ‘attention’ in literary studies.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded 13th February 2025.A hybrid seminar by Prof Cathriona Russell (School of Religion, Theology and Peace Studies) as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Seminar Series.Healthcare faces comparable challenges to those of every other sector in society in the context of a changing climate. In relation to ongoing international agreements, healthcare will, for example, have to enact mitigation strategies for net-zero in its contributions to emissions, currently c.4.5% of global GHG emissions.More significantly however healthcare will need to design strategies for adaptation, aiming at resilience in ongoing provision and effectiveness in securing justice; resilience in the face of more extensive and more frequent temperature and precipitation extremes, sea level rise, changes in land-use and food production; and resilience in social conditions, in housing provision, in providing access to health care, in disease prevention, all while demographies continually shift (age and gender, poverty, and displacement)[1].The expected continuing increase in intensity and frequency of adverse events will worsen health outcomes and health inequalities, which themselves are drivers of climate change. If healthcare contributes to the ‘good life’ through its impact on health, then a key measure of its effectiveness will be its commitment to building capability e.g. for preventative medicine (A. Sen), and for ‘living with and for each other in just institutions’ (P. Ricoeur).[1] IPCC, 2023 Summary for Policy Makers, https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-cycle/Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded January 16th, 2025.A hybrid seminar by Dr Tylor Brand (Near & Middle Eastern Studies, TCD) as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Seminar Series.Children were among the most vulnerable groups within the famine that struck Lebanon during World War I, which made them a special focus of humanitarian interventions during the wartime period. However, shifting social perceptions of poverty and vulnerability over the years of the famine altered how people who lived the crisis regarded children, and even the very concept of childhood. Based on memoirs, humanitarian reports, and contemporary accounts, I argue that as a "discourse among adults" (Maksudyan, 2014) childhood in the famine was conceptually fractured and redefined according to famine-specific biases. As a result, a child's identity and social standing made them either worthy of a protected childhood that shielded them from the realities of the famine, or of pity and often revulsion befitting their physical and social misery. Speaker:Tylor Brand is assistant professor in Near and Middle Eastern Studies at Trinity College, Dublin. He specializes in the history of crisis and famine in the Middle East, in particular the famine in Lebanon during World War I. His book, Famine Worlds: Life at the Edge of Suffering in Lebanon’s Great War (Stanford University Press, 2023) examines the intimate effects of famine on the lives and the perceptions of those who endured the crisis in World War I Lebanon.Learn more at www/tcd/ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded 09 December 2024.Emina Ćerimović, Associate Director Disability Rights Division, Human Rights WatchA symposium on food insecurities organised by the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences. Funded in part by the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Events Fund.Learn more at https://www.tcd.ie/triss/people/SADIE/index.php and https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded 09 December 2024.Dr Caroline Jagoe, Associate Professor, Trinity College Dublin, Co-Founder of SADIE A symposium on food insecurities organised by the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences. Funded in part by the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Events Fund.Learn more at https://www.tcd.ie/triss/people/SADIE/index.php and https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded 09 December 2024.Claire O’Reilly Research Fellow Trinity College Dublin & Co-founder of SADIEA symposium on food insecurities organised by the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences. Funded in part by the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Events Fund.Learn more at https://www.tcd.ie/triss/people/SADIE/index.php and https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded 09 December 2024.Dr Brendan Ciaran Browne, Assistant Professor, Trinity College DublinA symposium on food insecurities organised by the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences. Funded in part by the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Events Fund.Learn more at https://www.tcd.ie/triss/people/SADIE/index.php and https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded 09 December 2024.Pratima Gurung, General Secretary of Indigenous Persons with Disabilities Global NetworkA symposium on food insecurities organised by the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences. Funded in part by the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Events Fund.Learn more at https://www.tcd.ie/triss/people/SADIE/index.php and https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded 09 December 2024.Dr Mershen Pillay Associate Professor Massey University & UKZN South AfricaA symposium on food insecurities organised by the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences. Funded in part by the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Events Fund.Learn more at https://www.tcd.ie/triss/people/SADIE/index.php and https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded 09 December 2024.Mohamed Jama, Chairperson National Disability Agency, SomaliaA symposium on food insecurities organised by the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences. Funded in part by the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Events Fund.Learn more at https://www.tcd.ie/triss/people/SADIE/index.php and https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded 09 December 2024.Bulelani Mfaco, Spokesperson for the Movement of Asylum Seekers Ireland (MASI) A symposium on food insecurities organised by the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences. Funded in part by the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Events Fund.Learn more at https://www.tcd.ie/triss/people/SADIE/index.php and https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded 09 December 2024.Kavita Brahmbhatt, Senior Disability Advisor WFPA symposium on food insecurities organised by the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences. Funded in part by the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Events Fund.Learn more at https://www.tcd.ie/triss/people/SADIE/index.php and https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded 09 December 2024.Anne-Laure Duval, Deputy County Director WFP CambodiaOpening Remarks by Karen Williams, Irish Aid, Department of Foreign AffairsA symposium on food insecurities organised by the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences.Funded in part by the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Events Fund.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/triss/people/SADIE/index.php and www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/"A symposium on food insecurities organised by the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences. Funded in part by the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Events Fund.Learn more at https://www.tcd.ie/triss/people/SADIE/index.php and https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded November 27th, 2024.A lecture by the Hon. Sir Donnell Deeny, Pro-Chancellor TCD for the Centre for the Book Seminar Series.This year’s Trinity Centre for the Book Seminar series brings together libraries, publishers, book collectors and activists to talk about their contribution to Ireland’s contemporary book culture. They reflect on the importance of books, reading and the conservation of our print heritage. In this session, we hear from the Hon. Sir Donnell Deeny, Pro-Chancellor Trinity College Dublin.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded December 5th, 2024.A hybrid seminar by Dr Lorraine Grimes (Maynooth University) as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Seminar Series.Bio:Lorraine Grimes is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Applied Social Studies at Maynooth University. Lorraine has a PhD from the National University of Ireland Galway. Her thesis is forthcoming in the form of a monograph with Bloomsbury Academic in 2025 titled ‘Single mothers in Ireland and Britain: Pregnancy, migration and institutionalisation’. Lorraine previously worked with the Digital Repository of Ireland on the Archiving Reproductive Health project which is the subject of this talk. Abstract:Archiving Reproductive Health (ARH) is a Wellcome-funded project coordinated by the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI), working to preserve digital material created by grassroots organisations working for reproductive justice in Ireland, especially during the 2018 referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment of the Irish constitution.The project was the first in the world to archive Facebook social media posts. A key part of the project was the archiving of stories posted on a Facebook page called “In Her Shoes”, where people anonymously shared their experiences of being refused abortion care, having to travel or illegally order pills online, and the emotional impact of these experiences. These stories often contained details of traumatic experiences such as sexual assault, obstetric violence and domestic abuse.This talk will introduce the Archiving Reproductive Health Project and archiving sensitive social media material. We will talk about anonymization procedures, coding/cataloguing and developing a self-care protocol and an ethics protocol for the project.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded December 11, 2024.As humanitarian crises play out across our devices and screens, our latest ‘Behind the Headlines’ panel will explore the changing mandate for humanitarianism. Bringing together world experts, including our academic partners at Boston College, we ask: what is a humanitarian mission, and how has it evolved in view of past and current global conflicts, climate catastrophe, or the shifting terms of refugee and migrant rights? And, what is the role and reach of the university in responding to the challenge of restoring social trust in humanitarian initiatives?Speakers and topics:Religious humanitarianism during the World WarsPatrick J. Houlihan, Assistant Professor of Twentieth-Century European History, TCD, will look to the past and at the legacies of faith-based humanitarianism during the World Wars, 1914-1945, to provide a lens through which to view modern global humanitarianism.The moral crisis of equality lawShreya Atrey, Associate Professor in International Human Rights Law, University of Oxford and Visiting Fellow at the Trinity Long Room Hub will ask why human rights lawyers can't seem to address rising global inequality.Social Trust and the UniversityJames F. Keenan, S.J., Vice Provost for Global Engagement & Canisius Professor, Theology Department, Boston College.Erik Owens, Director, International Studies Program; Professor of the Practice, Theology Department, Boston College.In the face of criticisms that American universities, once key structures instilling social trust, are now too elite, Keenan and Owens will argue that the university has an obligation to restore social trust, in part by ensuring that its research and teaching cross disciplinary boundaries in the service to the world’s pressing problems.The humanitarian crisis in GazaCarlo Aldrovandi, Assistant Professor in Religions, Conflict and Peace Studies, TCD, will argue that humanitarian discourses and practices are being instrumentalised to facilitate the functional reoccupation of the Gaza Strip and the permanent displacement of its population.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded December 3rd, 2024.A lecture by Zoe Patterson and Chiara Mastronardo as part of the English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series.This weeks seminar will cover two lectures: Shortcuts Across Sandymount Strand: Joycean Companion Texts and Abridgement and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman: Art and Islandness in Sinéad Gleeson’s Hagstone.English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded November 15, 2024.My Lorenzo de’ Medici experience: The Restoration of Plautilla Nelli William Johnson Art restoration and conservation graduate and Teaching Assistant to Dr Roberta Lapucci, Istituto Lorenzo de' Medici, Florence “Technical Art History and Nelli” Trisha Dalke Currently an MSc student in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage at the University of Amsterdam specialising in Technical Art History, with a focus on Plautilla Nelli, also a graduate of Dr Roberta Lapucci’s programme at the Istituto Lorenzo de' Medici, Florence Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded November 15, 2024.“Restoring in Florence, tradition versus innovation” Dr Roberta Lapucci Head of the Art Conservation Department, Istituto Lorenzo de' Medici, Florence. Internationally renowned for her conservation research and conservation practice connected to Caravaggio, her recent teaching projects have included a focus on the art of Plautilla Nelli. Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded November 15, 2024.“The Founding of Ireland-Italy Projects” Dr Brenda Moore McCann and Jane Adams An outline of how the idea for Ireland-Italy Projects came about and what it hopes to achieve, plus an overview of activities in Italy connecting conservation and education, and, plans for future projects. Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded December 5th, 2024.Rooney Writer Fellow Mark O’Connell (A Thread of Violence, 2023) in conversation with historian Maurice Casey (Hotel Lux, 2024) about writing across the academic/commercial publishing boundary.Mark O’Connell is the author of A Thread of Violence, Notes from an Apocalypse, and To Be a Machine, which was awarded the 2018 Wellcome Book Prize, the 2019 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, and was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. He is a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Slate, and The Guardian. He lives in Dublin with his family.Dr Maurice J. Casey is a Research Fellow in Queen’s University Belfast, where he is a postdoc on a project exploring histories of queer sexuality in Northern Ireland. An expert on the history of international communism, he studied English and History at TCD before completing his MPhil at Cambridge and his DPhil in Oxford. He also held a Fulbright scholarship at Stanford and was the Historian in Residence at the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and EPIC, the Irish Emigration Museum. His first book Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism’s Forgotten Radicals, which was based on his PhD thesis, was published by Footnote Press in August 2024.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded November 26, 2024.Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Research Fellow Professor Anthony Caleshu (University of Plymouth) in conversation with Professor Philip Coleman (School of English, TCD).BioI wrote my PhD at National University of Ireland, Galway (on the American poet, James Tate), and began working at University of Plymouth in 2003. I became Professor of Poetry and Creative Writing in 2012. My chief interest is Contemporary Poetry. I've written 5 books of poetry and 3 books about poetry. I also write short fiction, and have recently completed a screenplay. Past writing publications include a novella as well. Critical interests include Creative Health. My current work is around the benefit of Community Assets (Arts & Cultural organisations) and Social Prescription to support those with common mental health symptoms. I was PI for the AHRC-funded 'Poets Respond to Covid-19' project (2020-2021). Our published project findings about the benefit of poetry to health and well-being during the pandemic were covered by over 200 media outlets around the world. All of my writing is research led and often stems from my wider interest in the creative arts and philosophy. My fifth and most recent book of poetry, Xenia etc. (Shearsman, 2023) aims to re-invigorate the ekphrastic tradition, spring-boarding from contemporary visual art into an exploration of the contemporary condition (exploring sexuality and gender in the paintings of Julie Curtiss, landscape and the environment in the work of Shara Hughes and Emma Webster, and race in the work of Henry Taylor). Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded December 5, 2025.Trinity Long Room Hub Rooney Writer Fellow Mark O'Connell in conversation with Professor David Kenny (School of Law, TCD).Mark O’Connell is the author of A Thread of Violence, Notes from an Apocalypse, and To Be a Machine, which was awarded the 2018 Wellcome Book Prize, the 2019 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, and was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. He is a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Slate, and The Guardian. Professor David Kenny is Professor in Law at the Law School, teaching and researching Irish and comparative constitutional law, conflict of laws, critical legal theory and law and literature. He is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, Harvard Law School, and the Honourable Society of the King's Inns, and is an alumnus of the US State Department's Fulbright programme. He was elected a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin in 2021. Since June 2024, he has served as Head of the Law School.Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded November 26th, 2024.The Trinity Long Room Hub is delighted to welcome author and columnist Fintan O'Toole to present the 2024 Edmund Burke Lecture, 'Terror and Self-Pity: The Reactionary Sublime', which is supported by a generous endowment in honour of Padraic Fallon by his family.Fintan O'Toole is an author and columnist. His books include We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Ireland Since 1958, Heroic Failure: Brexit and the Politics of Pain, and Ship of Fools: How Stupidity and Corruption Sank the Celtic Tiger. A member of the Royal Irish Academy, he is a winner of the European Press Prize and the Orwell Prize for political writing. He is also Professor of Irish Letters at Princeton University.About the Annual Edmund Burke LecturesEdmund Burke (1729-1797) graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1748. As a student he founded what would later become the College Historical Society, the oldest student society in the world. Burke entered Parliament in 1765 and quickly became a champion for political emancipation. After 1789, he directed his attention to the French Revolution and its immediate ramifications for political stability in England. To mark the university’s deep and lasting connection, and to express the inspiration his life and work as a public intellectual offer to us, the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute has instituted a prestigious annual Edmund Burke lecture, delivered by a leading public intellectual of our time on a topic that engages with the challenges facing us today.One of Burke’s central and life-long concerns was what moral codes should underpin the social order, constrain the use of power and inform our behaviour as responsible citizens. This is as important today as it was in Burke’s time, and the Edmund Burke lectures will keep his manifold legacies alive by providing a prominent forum for contributing in his spirit to the wider discourse about what society we want to live in and what traditions, perspectives and values we need to draw on in the shaping of our future.Learn more at www/tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded November 19, 2024.A lecture by Francis Leneghan (University of Oxford) as part of the English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series.The rich corpus of Old English biblical prose remains a missing chapter in the history of the translation of the Bible. This paper will explore how, centuries before the Reformation, Old English prose authors sought to make the sacred words of the Bible available to a wide range of readers, lay and clerical. From the reign of King Alfred (871–99), a partial prose translation of the Psalms survives as well as a free rendering of sections of Exodus and the Acts of the Apostles. By the end of the tenth century, all four gospels and the first seven books of the Old Testament were available in English prose. This widening of access to the Bible was not without its problems; in the eyes of monks such as Ælfric of Eynsham, a little biblical learning on the part of the laity could be a very dangerous thing.English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Recorded November 18, 2024.Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Research Fellow Dr Shreya Atrey (Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, Oxford) in conversation with Prof Mark Bell (School of Law, TCD).Shreya Atrey is an Associate Professor in International Human Rights Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, and is based at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights. She is an associate member of the Oxford Human Rights Hub, an Official Fellow and Racial Justice and Equality Fellow at Kellogg College, and a Senior Teaching Fellow at New College. Shreya is the Editor of the Human Rights Law Review (OUP). Previously, she was based at the University of Bristol Law School and has been a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute, Florence, and a Hauser Postdoctoral Global Fellow at the NYU School of Law, New York. She completed BCL with distinction and DPhil in Law on the Rhodes Scholarship from Magdalen College, University of Oxford.Shreya works on equality and human rights issues in comparative and international law. Her first monograph, Intersectional Discrimination (OUP 2019) won the runner-up Peter Birks Book Prize in 2020.Learn more at https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded November 7th, 2024.A hybrid seminar by Dr Brian Hurwitz (Emeritus Professor of Medicine and the Arts at the Centre for the Humanities and Health, King’s College London) as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Seminar Series.Abstract:Medicine is strewn with anecdotes, brief, pointed accounts of human episodes, drawn from scattered zones of healthcare experience. Traditionally viewed as a short form medical discourse which encompasses case reports, aphorisms, witticisms and hybridised versions of such texts and utterances, some are artfully fashioned micro-narratives, others ‘twitchily alive’ observations and dialogues. Frequently dismissed as epistemologically doubtful if not misleading frippery, he approaches anecdotes and the medically anecdotal as vernacular patient practices which support descriptive and moral insights into the sociality and power relations of medicine. An ‘unauthorised’, unregulated idiom, which does not seek to isolate events and experiences from subjective thoughts and feelings about them, anecdotes express a standpoint epistemology that articulates healthcare circumstances in new light.Learn more at https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded October 8th 2024.A lecture by Daria Moskvitina (Zaporizhzhia State Medical University) as part of the English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series.For Ukraine, Shakespeare is an iconic figure, a symbol of European culture and European values. This talk will try to give a systematic understanding of how the Ukrainian reception of Shakespeare was formed, and explain its peculiarities at the present stage of development.English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. Learn more at https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded October 3rd, 2024.A hybrid seminar by Dr Ghaiath MA Hussein (Assistant Professor in Medical Ethics and Law, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin) as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Seminar Series.This presentation examines how armed conflict reshapes the concept of self, particularly in the Global South. Drawing from his experiences as a medical doctor and his bioethics background, Dr Hussein will discuss the challenges to informed consent and individual autonomy in war.His journey began at the University of Toronto, where he learned that respect for autonomy and informed consent are vital to ethical practice. These principles informed her advocacy for bioethics in oppressed regions like Sudan.However, his views changed when she returned to Sudan for research on health ethics in conflict zones. Engaging with those affected by the Darfur war revealed a collective ethos of trust and interdependence, showing that community well-being often outweighs individual autonomy in crises.In this talk, he will outline her thesis research questions and how his understanding of informed consent shifted from an individualistic model to a trust-based framework. This new paradigm prioritizes mutual support and communal resilience in ethical research practices during prolonged conflicts.He will conclude by advocating for a trust-based consent model that complements and sometimes replaces traditional informed consent. This approach addresses the unique challenges of armed conflict and empowers individuals through solidarity and collective action, encouraging a reevaluation of ethical engagement with crisis-affected communities to enhance their agency and dignity.Learn more at https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded November 5th, 2024.A lecture by Ema Vyroubalová as part of the English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series.The paper discusses how productions of Shakespeare’s plays from East-Central Europe that transcend various geographical, national, and linguistic boundaries have influenced the theatrical-political discourse in this region from 1989 onwards. It focuses primarily on the work of four internationally-established directors: Andrei Şerban (Romania), Jan Klata (Poland), David Jařab (Czech Republic), and Matei Vișniec (Romania). English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. Learn more at https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Closing panel on Heavy Metal, from thrash to doom and beyond, with Philip Coleman (English), Richard Duckworth (Music), Eimear Rouine (Transition to Trinity), ft. Ron Davies (UCD) & Elizabeth Boyle (NUI Maynooth).Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Darryl Jones (English) assesses the enduring relevance of The Beatles, and Jonathan Hodgers (Music) introduces his new book about Bob Dylan and film. In conversation with James Denis McGlynn (Film).Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Balazs Apor (Trinity Centre for Resistance Studies) on the legacies of underground music in late-socialism, and the role of non-conformist songs in expressing dissident (and dissonant) voices.Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Eoin O’Dell (Law) examines the fundamentals of copyright law and AI through recent high-profile music cases, involving Pink Floyd, Marvin Gaye, Robin Thicke, Olivia Rodrigo, and more.Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.A Long Table event with novelist and screenwriter Eoin McNamee (Director of the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre) who will tackle the big question alongside Nick Johnson (Creative Arts) with contributions from Trinity colleagues including Neville Cox (Law), Jane Ohlmeyer (History), Shane O'Meara (Neuroscience), Kata Szita (Human+ Fellow), Jennifer Edmond (Digital Humanities), Jake Erickson (Religion), Clodagh Brook (Italian) and others from Trinity’s interdisciplinary community.Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Nicole Grimes (Music) explores expansive forms in women's compositions and considers the gaps in our knowledge of women in music from C19th to the present.Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Trinity’s expert Assyriologist Martin Worthington (Near & Middle Eastern Studies) shows extracts from his new film about the recovery of lost languages and introduces student participants in the project.Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Patrick Houlihan (History) discusses his new book on humanitarianism between the World Wars and considers humanitarian motivations in this era.Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Brendan Browne (Religion) shows a new documentary on the threatened Bedouin communities of the West Bank and talks about his role as Executive Producer .Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Trinity's Environmental History Network. Katja Bruisch, Tim Stott, Diogo de Carvalho Cabral and Francis Ludlow delve into the history of wild and wonderfully bad ideas about climate and nature including wetland reclamation, geoengineering and Spaceship Earth. Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Hub former artist-in-residence Mairead McClean presents her film, made as Decade of Centenaries partner with the Beyond 2020 Virtual Record Treasury project. Includes discussion with Jennifer O’Meara (Film).Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Mark Faulkner (English), Nicole Volmering (History), Anna Pitts (NLI) & Charlie Kerrigan (Classics), explore how writing has confronted city-dwellers throughout history, from graffiti in Pompeii to Gaelic script on street signs, and to slogans, stickers and QR codes on Dublin lampposts.Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Library staff go dewey-eyed at their favourites from Trinity’s collections featuring a C15th recipe against the plague, the secrets of Trinity’s banned books room, and other wonders.Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Trinity Centre for Contemporary History research showcase with Carole Holohan (History), researchers Susan Byrne, Lorraine McEvoy & Conor Murphy.Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Amy Prendergast (English) introduces her work on C18th Irish women’s diaries, and Professor of Modern History Lindsey Earner-Byrne discusses the challenges in writing about sexual violence through the lens of micro-history.Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Philippa Byrne (History) invites the Festival audience to experience pre-modern soundscapes in this hands-on session.Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Critics talk about composer Charles Stanford's The Critic with Wexford Festival Opera's Rosetta Cucchi & Conor Hanratty, TUD Professor of Performance Una Hunt, and Trinity theatre expert Chris Morash (English).Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.School of English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar opening session, with Jane Carroll (English), children's literature expert, on fashion and the Katy Keene comic.Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.David Kenny (Law), author of a new book on the subject, asks how novels and other literary works can change legal mindsets.Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Nicole Basaraba (Digital Humanities), Jarlath Kileen (English) & Peter Arnds (School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies) on the culture of supernatural stories across time.Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Trinity's Seamus Heaney Professor Chris Morash (English) joins Hub Visiting Fellow Chris Danta (Australian National University) to talk about what happens when the Humanities meet Cybernetics.Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Trinity’s Professor in Architectural History, Christine Casey, on the ERC CRAFTVALUE project; and Curating Sculptor Hilary Heron with Billy Shortall (Art History).Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.A screening of Dearcán Media’s Irish language documentary Iarsmaí (Remnants) with Ciaran O’Neill (History), exploring Ireland’s role as both colony and coloniser. Q&A with producer Deaglán Ó Mocháin.Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.The new digital archive of Ireland's border literature, culture and visual art, with HEA North-South project leaders Eve Patten (Trinity) and Garrett Carr (Queen's University Belfast). Guest speaker, artist Rita Duffy.Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Des O'Neill, Mandy Lee (Medicine), Mary Cosgrave and Jakob Sumerer (German) bring the latest research from Trinity's Medical and Health Humanities Network.Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.A panel discussion on adults reading and researching the child in literature, led by Ellen Orchard (English) with Trinity early career researchers.Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Pádraic Whyte (English) talks to award-winning author Sheena Wilkinson about the enduring school story format in the context of Irish children's literature.Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2024.Trinity historian Isabella Jackson discusses her IRC-Laureate project CHINACHILD, in conversation with Trinity Long Room Hub Deputy Director, Ciaran O'Neill (History).Learn more: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded May 30th, 2024.As part of its continuing bi-centenary celebrations, The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, in conjunction with Trinity College Dublin and the Chester Beatty, is delighted to announce that a lecture by Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, Erasmus Smith’s Professor of Modern History at Trinity College Dublin, will be held on the 30th May at 6.30 pm at the Trinity Long Room Hub. The lecture is open to all and we look forward to seeing you there.As part of the celebrations, Dr Moya Carey, Curator of Islamic Collections and Dr Ai Fukunaga, Curator of East Asian Collections at the Chester Beatty have also generously offered to lead special viewings (limited to 15 places) in the afternoon of the 30th May from 2.30pm of the Islamic and the East Asian Collections. This visit includes lunch first at the museum’s Silk Road Café. Should you wish to attend, please contact Alison Ohta ao@royalasiaticsociety.org. The Society is eager to celebrate its long connection with Irish scholars working on Asia while publicising its prizes among students at Irish universities. The event has been made possible with the generous support offered by the Trinity Long Room Hub, Trinity Centre for the Book, the Chester Beatty, Dr Anna McSweeney (TCD), Dr Moya Carey and Dr Ai Fukunaga (Chester Beatty). Learn more about the Trinity Long Room Hub: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Recorded May 22, 2024.A conversation with Novelist and Trinity Long Room Hub Rooney Writer Fellow, Paul Murray and Dr Kevin Power, Assistant Professor of Literary Practice, School of English.Paul Murray is an Irish novelist, the author of the novels An Evening of Long Goodbyes, Skippy Dies, The Mark and the Void, and The Bee Sting.His most recent novel, The Bee Sting, was shortlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize, won the Irish Book Award’s Novel of the Year, and also won the inaugural 2023 Nero Gold prize for Book of the Year.
Recorded 28 May 2024.Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Research Fellow Dr Tania Cañas (University of Melbourne) in conversation with Dr Erika Piazzoli (School of Education).BioDr. Tania Cañas is an artist-based researcher based in Narrm (Melbourne) Australia on unceded Kulin Territory. Her work looks at the intersection of forced displacement, performance, borders and socially engaged practice. She is the former Artistic Director at RISE Refugee, the first organisation to be run, governed and controlled by the Refugee, Asylum Seeker and Ex-Detainee community. She was also the Artistic Lead at cohealth Arts Gen, a community arts and health organisation. Most recently, she founded Archiving the Present (AtP), a multi-site digital community archive project that develops alternative practices of remembering which challenge colonial aesthetics.In 2023, She was named Global Connector by the International Network of Contemporary Performing Arts - in recognition of her leadership and commitment to increasing global awareness, inclusion, accessibility, and connectivity for the benefit of communities.Tania co-edited an anthology of plays about Australia’s border regime ‘Staging Asylum, Again’ (2024) through Currency Press Australia.She will begin a Banting postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. working with the Surviving Memory in Postwar El Salvador initiative in 2024.Please let us know if you have any access requirements, such as ISL/English interpreting, so that we can facilitate you in attending this event. Contact: tlrh@tcd.ie
Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Research Fellow Professor Michael Aronson (University of Oregon) in conversation with Professor Ruth Barton (Department of Film Studies, TCD). During his fellowship at Trinity in collaboration with Professor Ruth Barton, he is mapping Dublin’s history of silent era cinemas.BioI am a film historian with a background in filmmaking, specifically in the camera department on TV commercials and music videos (back when you were more likely to find them on MTV than YouTube). I'm a historian because I like old stuff, and digging around both online and in archives, to find out things about the past. Probably because of my own history as a cameraman, a lot of my work focuses on the intersection of what academics call "Industry Studies" and "Reception Studies," which is just a fancy way of saying that I am interested in the people that made or showed films and the various types of communities that ended up watching them. In the case of the Ed's Coed article, for instance, Elizabeth Peterson, the University's Cinema Studies Librarian and myself worked together to write a history of the making of Ed's Coed, a feature-length romantic comedy made by some sixty University Oregon students here on campus in the late 1920s.
Recorded April 25th, 2024.The Trinity Long Room Hub Annual Humanities Horizons Lecture for 2024 was delivered by Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.The Annual Humanities Horizons Lecture was established in 2013 to provide a significant contribution to reflection on and advocacy for the Arts and Humanities.About Lonnie G. BunchLonnie G. Bunch III is the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian. He assumed his position June 16, 2019. As Secretary, he oversees 21 museums, 21 libraries, the National Zoo, numerous research centers and several education units and centers. Two new museums—the National Museum of the American Latino and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum—are in development.Previously, Bunch was the director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. When he started as director in July 2005, he had one staff member, no collections, no funding and no site for a museum. Driven by optimism, determination and a commitment to build “a place that would make America better,” Bunch transformed a vision into a bold reality. The museum has welcomed more than 8 million visitors since it opened in September 2016 and has compiled a collection of 40,000 objects that are housed in the first “green building” on the National Mall. In 2019, the creation of the museum became the first Smithsonian effort to be the topic of a Harvard Business Review case study.
Recorded April 22, 2024.An Interdisciplinary Panel Discussion on Hate: Reflection from the Network Of Excellence Training on Hate (NETHATE) project. NETHATE is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Innovative Training Network (ITN).Details: In a time where hate is constantly evolving, this discussion will explore the topic of ‘hate’ based on the three working packages of the NETHATE project: 1. Psychology and Neuroscience, 2. Technology and Social Media, 3. Culture, Ideologies, and Religion. Our distinguished panel will share their insights on how research in each of these areas has contributed to the overarching goal of combating hate in Europe. In addition, panellists will also discuss the gaps and limits of research on hate moving forward.Join us for an insightful discussion and the chance to connect with like-minded individuals who share your passion for working towards combating hatred, intolerance and discrimination across Europe. Together, let's explore the potential for social change enhancing response to hate speech and hate crime, interdisciplinary research and analysis from the grassroots level to top-down approaches.
Recorded April 23, 2024The Network of Excellence Training on Hate (NETHATE) project, in collaboration with partner organisations and universities, is delighted to have Jo Berry speak at Trinity College Dublin.Jo Berry has founded the charity ‘Building Bridges for Peace and is an international speaker and workshops facilitator committed to bringing peace to the world. Jo is also an executive committee member of Uniting For Peace which promotes a culture of peace, non-violence and sustainable development. She is on the Board of the Global Alliance for Ministries and Infrastructures for Peace and is working to create a Department for Peace in Europe. Jo is also a founder member of Survivors Against Terror. Its mission is to help our country tackle terrorism more effectively and ensure victims and their families get the proper support. Jo Berry is the daughter of Sir Anthony Berry who died in the Brighton Bombing. Her peace work with the man who planted the bomb, Pat Magee, remains one of the most rewarding reconciliation works. The importance of peace-making and building communities around peace remains one of the central elements of Jo’s work and the most precedent to today’s world.
As part of Rough Magic’s 40th anniversary celebrations, Trinity College School of English and The Drama Department, Samuel Beckett Centre, TCD host a special series of discussions delving into the beginnings and workings of forty years of magic!
As part of Rough Magic’s 40th anniversary celebrations, Trinity College School of English and The Drama Department, Samuel Beckett Centre, TCD host a special series of discussions delving into the beginnings and workings of forty years of magic!
As part of Rough Magic’s 40th anniversary celebrations, Trinity College School of English and The Drama Department, Samuel Beckett Centre, TCD host a special series of discussions delving into the beginnings and workings of forty years of magic!
As part of Rough Magic’s 40th anniversary celebrations, Trinity College School of English and The Drama Department, Samuel Beckett Centre, TCD host a special series of discussions delving into the beginnings and workings of forty years of magic!
As part of Rough Magic’s 40th anniversary celebrations, Trinity College School of English and The Drama Department, Samuel Beckett Centre, TCD host a special series of discussions delving into the beginnings and workings of forty years of magic!
Recorded March 26, 2024.A talk by Dr Bernice Murphy (TCD) - “We Won’t be Hungry Much Longer”: Survival Cannibalism in North American Folk Horror Narratives.English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School.
Recorded March 26, 2024.The Centre for Resistance Studies organised an evening lecture by Dr Olesya Khromeychuk, in partnership with the Trinity Long Room Hub. Dr Olesya Khromeychuk is a historian and writer. She has taught the history of East-Central Europe at several British universities and has written for The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Prospect and The New Statesman. Khromeychuk is the author of The Death of a Soldier Told by His Sister (2022) and “Undetermined" Ukrainians. Post-War Narratives of the Waffen SS "Galicia" Division (2013). She is currently the Director of the Ukrainian Institute London.
Recorded February 27, 2024.Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Research Fellow Professor Bassey Edem Antia (University of the Western Cape, South Africa) in conversation with Professor Lorna Carson (School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences, TCD).Bassey Edem Antia is Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa. An alumnus of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and a fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, he holds a PhD from the University of Bielefeld (Germany). His teaching, research and publications in Applied Linguistics span across a number of areas, including translation pedagogy, terminology, public health, and educational language policy and multilingualism. In a current project, he is interested in using Applied Linguistics approaches to understand how school textbooks were pressed into the service of the imperial curriculum and Apartheid ideology in Apartheid South Africa, and how this knowledge might inform our understanding of what it means at a textual level to colonise and to decolonise the curriculum.He is a B1 rated researcher of the National Research Foundation, South Africa. Recognition for his scholarship and teaching includes: award for excellence in teaching and learning of the Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa/Centre on Higher Education (2017); institutional teaching excellence award of the University of the Western Cape (2017); teaching excellence award of the Faculty of Arts, University of the Western Cape (2017); the Eugen Wüster prize for outstanding achievement in research and teaching in terminology and multilingualism (2016); prize for excellent doctoral dissertation of the University Society of Westphalia and Lippe (Germany, 1999), international INFOTERM award for outstanding achievement in applied research and development in the field of terminology (awarded for excellent doctoral dissertation) – co-sponsored by the European Commission (within the framework of its programme on Multilingual Information Society) and the European Association for Terminology. 1999).He has taught and/or researched in various capacities at a number of universities, including University of Maiduguri (Nigeria), Universität Bielefeld (Germany), University of Education Heidelberg (Germany), Université de Montréal (Canada), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain), University of Surrey, Guildford (UK), and Tshwane University of Technology (South Africa). He has attracted funding internationally, from Germany, USA, Belgium, South Africa, and the EU.
Recorded March 12, 2024.For the English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series this week Dr Lucy Collins (UCD) will present a talk on 'Landscapes of Mourning in Irish Women's Poetry'.The English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The seminar series aim to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School.
In this latest event in the Literature & Resistance series, we explore role comic books and graphic novels are playing in reflecting and critiquing some of the most pressing contemporary issues, and in fostering community and inspiring activism among their readers. From his perspective as a critic, Dr Dom Davies (City University, London) will discuss comics that suggest ways of looking at war and displacement in the Middle East, including the current conflict in Gaza. The writer and artist Timothy Poisson will discuss why comics are his medium of choice for storytelling and activism, reflecting on his work representing the LGBTQ+ community. This event was inspired by the visit of the Egyptian comics artist Deena Mohamed to the Hub as a guest of the Centre for Resistance Studies in May 2023. Dr Dom Davies is a Senior Lecturer in English at City, University of London, where he currently directs the BA and MA English programmes. He holds a DPhil and British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship from the University of Oxford. He has written extensively on the representation of infrastructure in literature, culture, and the visual arts, particularly comics and graphic narratives. He is the author of Urban Comics: Infrastructure and the Global City in Contemporary Graphic Narratives (2019) and co-editor of Documenting Trauma in Comics (2020). His most recent book is a trade non-fiction title, The Broken Promise of Infrastructure (2023), and he is currently co-authoring a monograph with Professor Candida Rifkind that is called Graphic Refuge: Visuality and Mobility in Refugee Comics (forthcoming 2024). More information about his work is available at www.drdomdavies.com. Timothy Poisson is an American writer and artist of comic books and graphic novels under the pen name Tim Fish. He’s living in Ireland with a Fulbright grant in affiliation with the Department of History at TCD to research his next graphic novel. His work has been published by Marvel, Vertigo, Dark Horse, Image, and independently. His last graphic novel, Liebestrasse (as co-creator and illustrator) was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award and named by the American Libraries Association on their official list of best graphic novels in 2022. He currently runs a Young Adult webcomic Please Say It! set in the 1980s, with the mission to inspire activism today. You can visit Tim’s site at www.timfishworks.com.
Recorded March 4th, 2024.Conservation and scientific specialists from the Core Partner archives within the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland at Trinity College Dublin discuss the fascinating discoveries being revealed by their latest investigations into ancient archival records. _____________________________Long before the terrible fire of 1922 which destroyed the Public Record Office of Ireland, historical records were being slowly lost to damp, decay and vermin. Writing became obscured by soot and grime or bleached by sunlight, the written record hidden within crumpled parchment and paper too brittle and fragile to be unfurled. History became invisible.Now, research by expert conservators and heritage scientists from the National Archives of Ireland, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, and The National Archives UK, in collaboration with the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland, is revealing the invisible.This fascinating conversation will discuss research on some of the earliest paper records in Ireland, medieval parchments obscured by earlier treatment or burnt in the disastrous Four Courts fire of 1922. It will also showcase the vital role of conservation in protecting our shared heritage and preserving these precious records for future generationsSupported by the Trinity Long Room Hub.Participants- Ciarán Wallace, Deputy Director, Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland, Trinity College Dublin- Zoë Reid, Keeper of Public Services and Collections, The National Archives of Ireland: Moderator- Sarah Graham, Head of Conservation, The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland: Revealing Archbishop Swayne's 15th-century register- Marc Vermeulen, Senior Conservation Scientist, The National Archives (UK): Invisible wavelengths, visible history: Shining a new light on Irish medieval records- Jessica Baldwin, Senior Conservator, The National Archives of Ireland: Virtually unwrapping: Exploring the use of X-ray microtomographyThe Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland research programme is supported by the Irish Government through funding from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under Project Ireland 2024.
The Drama of Dissection: Performance Making, the Medical School Anatomy Laboratory and the Critical Medical HumanitiesRecorded February 22, 2024.A hybrid seminar by Dr Alex Mermikides (Kings College London) as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Seminar Series.BioAlex Mermikides is the D’Oyly Carte Senior Lecturer in Arts and Health, based in the medical school at King’s College London, UK. Her research interest is in contemporary performance and its relation to the medical encounter and to the medical humanities. Publications include the forthcoming Routledge Companion for Performance and Medicine (with Gianna Bouchard), Performance, Medicine and the Human (2021) and Performance and the Medical Body (2016, also co-edited with Gianna Bouchard) which explores discourses of the human and the humane within medical performances. Her research also involves devising performances about medical experience with her theatre company, Chimera, as well as developing performance-based pedagogies in medical and nursing education. Her work has been featured in The Guardian, Times Higher Educational Supplement, Nature Immunology and on This Week (BBC Radio 4)Abstract for the talkFor the past two years, I have been researching and developing a performance about human dissection, capitalizing on my unusual position as a performance scholar embedded in the medical school at King's College London. In this paper, this project will provide an example of how performance-making can constitute a methodology for researching medical environments and cultures. In particular, I propose that there is a strong alignment between collaborative and expressionist performance practices such as those employed in this project, and the concerns of the critical medical humanities with materiality, embodiment, affect and entanglement. Through this, I hope to persuade you that performance, as artefact, practice and epistemology, has much to contribute to current debates with the medical humanities.
Recorded February 26, 2024.Organised by TriCON - Trinity Centre for Constitutional Governance.PanellistsProf David Kenny, Trinity College DublinProf Laura Cahillane, University of LimerickProf Conor O'Mahony, University College CorkProf Aileen Kavanagh, Trinity College DublinSupported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
Recorded February 13, 2024.The upcoming referendums to amend the Irish constitution propose to introduce a wider definition of family and remove the text on the role of women in the home. As interested parties set out their cases for and against the suggested changes, a recent Irish Times column has argued that the editing out of the word ‘home’ is not accidental. But what is the Irish home? Is it a place of caring and belonging? Are women still perceived to be at its centre? And who is excluded by the identification of home with family? In this Behind the Headlines, we discuss the referendum proposals and the meanings of 'home' in contemporary Ireland.Speakers:Tom Clonan, Senator, University of Dublin PanelRachael Walsh, Associate Professor and Fellow at the School of Law (TCD)Lindsey Earner-Byrne, Professor of Contemporary Irish History, School of Histories and Humanities (TCD)Claire O’Connell, Board Member of LGBT Ireland, steering group member of the Assisted Human Reproduction Coalition and the LGBT+ Parenting Alliance on Assisted Human Reproduction
Recorded February 9th, 2024.Hosted by the School of English of Trinity College Dublin and the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Research Institute.The way violence is represented always influences its reception and integration within the cultural imaginary. The narration of violence is ingrained in our perception of ourselves and our communities, and those who report traumatic events then carry the responsibility of how they are received and memorialised.Just as the world emerged from the COVID-19 crisis, the Russian invasion of Ukraine turned the general atmosphere of hope for a new beginning into an even darker and more oppressive state of uncertainty, fear, and sorrow. As scholar Judith Lewis Herman has observed, “[t]he conflict between the will to deny horrible events and the will to proclaim them aloud is the central dialectic of psychological trauma.”[1] How do newspapers and media reports choose which pieces of information are to be shared with the public? Why are certain stories considered more important than others? On which premises are specific pieces of news discarded? How geographically, culturally, and socially inclusive are these narratives? And, most importantly, when it comes to trauma, how ethical and accurate can its depiction be when told by someone else?
Recorded January 29th, 2024.A seminar by Cáit Murphy (TCD) as part of the School of Creative Arts Research Forum.
Recorded April 19, 2023.The Trinity Long Room Hub Annual Humanities Horizons Lecture for 2023 was delivered by Prof Lyndsey Stonebridge (Interdisciplinary Professor of Humanities and Human Rights at the University of Birmingham).In February 2023, photos appeared on social media of piles of books dumped in the streets outside the Pryazovskyi State University in Mariupol, allegedly by occupying Russian soldiers. In the US and elsewhere novels and history books are being weaponized in the culture wars. The humanities are back on the frontline of ideology and politics. In this lecture, Lyndsey Stonebridge turns to political-philosopher, Hannah Arendt’s writing on twentieth-century totalitarianism to argue why we need to fight for a new anti-totalitarian humanities today.Lyndsey Stonebridge is Interdisciplinary Professor of Humanities and Human Rights at the University of Birmingham. Her previous books include: The Judicial Imagination: Writing after Nuremberg (2011), winner of the British Academy Rose Mary Crawshay Prize, 2014, Placeless People: Writing, Rights, and Refugees (2018), winner of the Modernist Studies Association Best Book Prize, 2018, and a collection of essay, Writing and Righting: Literature in the Age of Human Rights (2020). We Are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience will be published by Jonathan Cape in January 2024.
Recorded January 24, 2024.An interactive seminar by Jakob Summerer (TCD) Therapeutic Metaphor Use: Lessons from Eating Disorder Autopathography as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Seminar Series.Ever since Susan Sontag’s pioneering studies Illness as Metaphor (1978) and Aids and its Metaphors (1989), research into the potential effects of metaphor use in health-related talk and thought has been a staple of the Medical/Health Humanities. Following in Sontag’s footsteps, scholars have focussed both on the ethical implications and stigmatising effects of metaphor use, as well as the scripto- and biblio-therapeutic potential of metaphorising illness experience. What is, unfortunately, all too often missing in discussions of metaphor in the Medical/Health Humanities (and, in fact, in Sontag’s own work) is any theoretical, methodological or empirical grounding in those fields that have come to specialise in metaphor analysis and metaphor-based treatment interventions respectively: Linguistic Metaphor Theory and Metaphor Therapy. Informed by these approaches and building on a stylistic analysis of contemporary memoirs written by people with eating disorders, I will explore in this paper what a post-Sontagian approach to illness metaphor might look like. I will further outline some of the insights such an approach may yield into the uses and abuses of metaphor in recovery from mental illness.Jakob Summerer is currently doing his PhD research on metaphor and metonymy use in German-language eating disorder memoirs at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). He teaches classes on German film, language, and literature at Maynooth University and TCD. At TCD, he acts as representative for the PGRs in the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies. He further acts as the PG representative within the German Studies Association of Ireland.
Recorded December 12, 2023.The Trinity Long Room Hub hosted the distinguished Yeats scholar Professor Marjorie Howes (Boston College) to mark the centenary of the 1923 Nobel Prize for Literature award to W.B. Yeats in a special lecture, ‘Yeats, the Nobel, and the Labour of Writing’.
Recorded December 1, 2023.Dr Peter Crooks: Department of History; Academic Director, Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland (virtualtreasury.ie). Paper: ‘No Good Deed Goes Unpunished? Trinity’s Dublin Deeds and The Case for a Meta-Collection’.
Recorded December 11, 2023.The Trinity Long Room Hub was pleased to host "Addressing 'Democracy, Governance and Education' Today" in partnership with Boston College.Speakers:Jonathan LaurenceProfessor of Political Science, Boston College, and Director, Clough Centre for the Study of Constitutional DemocracyLinda Hogan Chair of Ecumenics, School of Religion, Theology and Peace Studies, Trinity College DublinJames F. Keenan, S.J. Canisius Chair and Vice Provost for Global Engagement, Boston CollegeElspeth PayneCo-ordinator, Trinity Long Room Hub Democracy Forum and Research Fellow, EU Horizon Europe Critical ChangeLab Creative Democracy Education ProjectChair: Eve Patten, Director, Trinity Long Room Hub
Recorded December 1, 2023.Professor Ruth Mazo Karras: Lecky Professor of History, TCD. Paper: ‘The Holy Acrobat in the Beatus Initial, TCD MS 53’
Recorded December 1, 2023.Dr Ann Buckley: Medieval History Research Centre, TCD. Paper: ‘The Many Lives of the Medieval Liturgy: The Relevance of the Carnegie Digitisation Project for Irish and Insular Studies’.
Recorded December 1, 2023.Dr Claire McNulty: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, TCD. Paper: ‘Mirrors, Morality, and the Virgin Mary: TCD MS 103’.
Recorded December 1, 2023.Dr Colleen Curran: Marie Curie Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Galway and Dr Lucy McKenna: Postdoctoral Researcher, TCD. Paper: ‘The Searobend Project: Digitising the Resources’.
Recorded December 1, 2023.Dr David Woodman: Associate Professor and Fellow in History, Robinson College, Cambridge. Paper: ‘John of Worcester’s Chronicula: TCD MS 503’.
Recorded December 1, 2023.Dr Laura Cleaver: Senior Lecturer in Manuscript Studies, School of Advanced Studies, University of London. Paper: ‘TCD MS 93: Digitisation and the Potential of Linked Open Data’.
Recorded December 1, 2023.Dr Niamh Pattwell: Associate Professor, School of English, Drama, and Film, UCD. Paper: ‘Sixteenth-Century Heralds: Guardians of the Manuscripts’ TCD MS 505.
Dr Mark Faulkner: Ussher Assistant Professor in Medieval Literature, TCD and Elisabetta Magnanti: PhD Candidate, University of Vienna. Paper: ‘Using AI to Transcribe Trinity’s Manuscripts’.
Recorded December 6th, 2023.A lunchtime 'in conversation' event featuring Visiting Research Fellow Professor Sean Moore (University of New Hampshire) in conversation with Professor Aileen Douglas (School of English, TCD).Sean Moore's first book with Johns Hopkins University Press in 2010, was awarded the Murphy Prize for distinguished First Book from the American Conference for Irish Studies. He worked as a Director of the UNH Honors Program in 2011, serving a three-year term and returning to the faculty in 2014 to accept research fellowships from the American Antiquarian Society/National Endowment for the Humanities and Newport Mansions for the 2014-2015 academic year for a book project on the colonial slave and book trades. He received another National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship for 2015-2016 to finish the book. Slavery and the Making of Early American Libraries: British Literature, Political Thought, and the Transatlantic Book Trade, 1731-1814, was published by Oxford University Press in 2019. His research project as a Visiting Research Fellow at Trinity Long Room Hub is titled The British Secret Service and the Scottish and Irish Book Trades, 1660-1829: An Inquiry in the History of Intelligence.
Recorded December 1, 2023.Conor McDonough: OP, St Saviour’s Priory, Dublin 1. Paper: ‘TCD MS 667: A Manuscript to Change Lives’.
Recorded November 30, 2023.A lecture by Dr Orla Fitzpatrick (Ireland's Border Culture Project, Trinity College Dublin) as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.During the 1860s, photographic studios such as Allen of Westland Row, Foster of Westmoreland Street and Lawrence of Sackville Street provided the source imagery for articles in the Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science. In an era before the advent of photo-mechanical reproduction, the images were published as woodcuts or lithographs or sometimes original prints were tipped into the journal. The paper will also survey the reviews and references to international photographically illustrated publications which appeared in the Dublin press. Dr Orla Fitzpatrick is a Research Fellow working with Professor Eve Patten, Trinity College Dublin and Garrett Carr, Queen’s University Belfast, on a HEA Shared Island North-South Research Programme project ‘Ireland’s Border Culture: Literature, Arts, and Policy.’ Dr Fitzpatrick attained a PhD from Ulster University on the topic of modernity, modernism and Irish photography, 1922 to 1949. Her book Lost Ireland was published by Rizzoli and Pavilion in 2021. She curated 'Imaging Conflict: photographs from revolutionary era Ireland,' a major exhibition at the National Museum of Ireland which opened in October 2022. This looked at the production and consumption of photographic images in conflict situations.
Recorded November 27, 2023.This month’s Machine Learning Meet-Up took place recently on Monday 27th Nov in the Trinity Long Room Hub hosted by Human+. Human+ is an interdisciplinary fellowship programme connecting computer science researchers with researchers from the arts and humanities and enterprise to forge a human-centric approach to technology development. The event was moderated by Prof Vincent Wade, Professorial Chair of Computer Science & AI and Former Director of ADAPT SFI Research Centre. Three speakers from Human+ in Trinity College Dublin presented at the event exploring our understanding of what the metaverse is today. Speakers included:Dr. Gareth Young, Assistant Professor in Computer Science, Trinity College Dublin.Dr. Kata Szita, Research Fellow, Insight (formally Human+ and ADAPT)Dr. Nicola Palladino, Research Fellow, Human+ and ADAPT
Recorded November 21, 2023.Literature & Resistance: Poetry Reading with Éireann Lorsung, Majed Mujed, and Hua XiHosted by the Centre for Resistance Studies and Poetry IrelandNeill Lecture Theatre, Trinity Long Room Hub, Tuesday 21 November, 6pmThe Centre for Resistance Studies is delighted to be partnering again with Poetry Ireland to welcome three acclaimed poets for a special reading in our ongoing series on Literature & Resistance.Éireann Lorsung, Majed Mujed, and Hua Xi will join us to read from and discuss their work. They will explore the nature of resistance in poetry, and how it informs their relationships with language, form, and translation, and reflect on their broader experiences with writing and poetry, which encompass journalism, teaching, and publishing, in the US, Iraq, and Ireland. Please join us for an evening of beautiful poetry and stimulating conversation on the politics and power of the written word.***Éireann Lorsung will walk or take the bus or ride a bicycle; will crouch to look at the ground beneath her feet; will spend an hour thinking with you on how a poem works and come back tomorrow to ask again; will watch the light change and the small plants arrive. She loves to make things with other people in the “location of possibility” that the classroom is. She teaches writing at University College Dublin, and is learning about fruit cultivation, gull behavior, the wild and domestic plants of Ireland, and climate change alongside others in the city. A 2016 National Endowment for the Arts fellow, her most recent collection is The Century (Milkweed, 2020).Majed Mujed was born in Iraq in 1971 and has lived in Ireland since 2015. One of the founders of the Iraqi House of Poetry, he worked as a journalist and publisher in the Iraqi cultural press for twenty years. He has published five collections of poetry in Arabic and has garnered awards for his work from the Al Mada Cultural Foundation, Iraqi House of Wisdom and Iraqi Intellectuals Conference. In 2021, he was one of the inaugural recipients of a Play It Forward Fellowship from the Arts Council of Ireland. His collection The Book of Trivialities, originally written in his native Arabic, was translated into English by Kareem James Abu-Zeid and published by Skein Press in 2023. It was selected by the Arts Council for the #ReadMór project for Culture Night 2023.Majed will be joined by the translator and interpreter Mustafa Keshkeia, who is currently working on a PhD on crisis translation at DCU.Hua Xi (she/they) is the Poetry Ireland Eavan Boland Emerging Artist Awardee for 2023. A writer and artist, their work has appeared in The New Republic, The Nation, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. They previously won the Boston Review Poetry Contest, were named the 2022 Poet-to-Come Scholar by the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association, and received a 2023 NEA Fellowship in Poetry. They help edit interviews at Guernica and read poetry for The Drift.
Recorded October 26th, 2023.A lecture by Professor Kimberly Campanello (University of Leeds) as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Seminar Series.Professor Kimberly Campanello (University of Leeds) will read from recent work on her experience of chronic illness and disability and discuss her writing process and approach with reference to key touchstones, including Dante's acedia, Proust's corked wall and ill objects, and Alison Kafer's 'crip time'.Kimberly Campanello is best known for MOTHERBABYHOME, a 796-page visual poetry-object and reader’s edition book (zimZalla, 2019), and sorry that you were not moved (2022), an interactive digital poetry publication produced in collaboration with Christodoulos Makris and Fallow Media. She is an inaugural Markievicz Award winner from Ireland's Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and the Arts Council, and she represented the UK in Munich at Klang Farben Text: Visual Poetry for the 21st Century, a festival organised by the British Council, the National Poetry Library, and Lyrik Kabinett. New poems have appeared in Granta, Poetry Review, Cambridge Literary Review, The White Review, and Poetry Ireland Review. New prose features in Tolka and in Somesuch Stories. She was diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinson's in 2021 (age 43) and was awarded a Developing Your Creative Practice Grant by Arts Council England to support her writing of chronic illness and disability. She is Professor of Poetry at the University of Leeds.
Recorded November 21, 2023.The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Seminar Series is organizing a panel discussion chaired by Nicholas Canny (University of Galway) featuring Jane Ohlmeyer (TCD), Micheál Ó Siochrú (TCD), Ciaran O Neill (TCD) and Finola O'Kane (University College Dublin).The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
Recorded November 28th, 2023.A lunchtime 'in conversation' event featuring Visiting Research Fellow Professor Yevheniia Orestivna Kanchura, Zhytomyr Polytechnic State University, in conversation with Professor Jane Suzanne Carroll, Trinity College DublinYevheniia Orestivna Kanchura, PhD, an associate professor at the Theoretical and Applied Linguistics Department of Zhytomyr Polytechnic State University and the Deputy Manager of the Centre for Fantasy Literature Studies at the Taras Shevchenko Institute of Literature of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. She has worked on her PhD dissertation on Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels in Kyiv National Linguistic University.
Recorded November 15th, 2023.A lunchtime 'in conversation' event featuring Visiting Research Fellow Prof Van Gosse (Franklin & Marshall College) and Prof Daniel Geary (Mark Pigott Associate Professor in American History, School of Histories and Humanities TCD).Professor Van Gosse is Professor of History at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania. His teaching and scholarship focus on the African American struggle for citizenship, and politics and culture in the Global Cold War. Recent publications include The First Reconstruction: Black Politics in America, From the Revolution to the Civil War (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2021); the journal edition “Irish and World Histories” (with Peter Hession and Adrian Beatty), Radical History Review, (Spring 2022); and Revolutions and Reconstructions: Black Politics in the Long Nineteenth Century (edited with David Waldstreicher). His research project as a Visiting Research Fellow at Trinity Long Room Hub is titled "The Black and Green in US Politics, 1877-1965."
Recorded November 16th, 2023.The Trinity Long Room Hub 2023 Annual Edmund Burke Lecture was delivered by Professor Joanna Bourke on ‘Contemplating Evil: “Monstrous” Women in History, Politics, and Law, 1890s to the Present’.Joanna Bourke is Professor Emerita of History at Birkbeck, University of London, and a Fellow of the British Academy. She is also the Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College. She is the prize-winning author of fifteen books, including What it means to be Human (2011) and Fear: A Cultural History (2015), as well as over 120 articles in academic journals. In 2022, Reaktion Books published Disgrace: Global Reflections on Sexual Violence and OUP published Birkbeck: 200 Years of Radical Education for Working People. Her Edmund Burke Lecture will draw on the subject of her current research towards a book entitled Evil Women. Her books have been translated into Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Portuguese, Czech, Turkish, and Greek.The Trinity Long Room Hub Annual Edmund Burke Lecture is supported by a generous endowment in honour of Padraic Fallon by his family.
Recorded November 1st, 2023.A book presentation with Dr Patrick Bresnihan (Maynooth) as part of the Environmental History Research Seminar hosted by the Trinity Centre for Environmental Humanities.
Recorded October 17th 2023.A lecture by Antoon De Baets (University of Groningen) organised by the Trinity Centre for Resistance Studies in partnership with the Trinity Long Room Hub.Antoon De Baets is Emeritus Professor of History, Ethics and Human Rights at the University of Groningen, and coordinator of the Network of Concerned Historians. He has worked extensively on academic freedom, censorship and abuses of history, and the ethical implications of writing history.Professor De Baets' lecture explores the various strategies historians have developed to resist attacks on - and abuses of - their profession. It will provide an analysis of the repertoires of resistance historians adopted in dictatorships and will reflect on the possibilities of safeguarding academic freedom in democracies.
Recorded Thursday, September 28th 2023 as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2023.The Democracy Forum's Ellie Payne and Mark Little join AI Musicologist Martin Clancy to predict a riot.
Recorded Monday, September 25th 2023 as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2023.Award-winning Trinity writers Sean Hewitt and Yairen Jerez Columbié join the Hub’s Rooney Writer Fellow Nidhi Zak to launch a new poem for Seamus Heaney's tenth anniversary.
Recorded Monday, September 25th 2023 as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2023.School of English scholars Sam Slote (Ulysses) and Darryl Jones (Sherlock Holmes Stories) share the joy of scholarly annotations and editions.
Recorded Tuesday, September 26th 2023 as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2023.Trinity’s Chair of French (1776) Michael Cronin looks at language, geography, and our place on the planet.
Recorded Friday, September 29th 2023 as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2023.In September 2021, after several years of preparation, the FoodCult team recreated a beer last brewed in the sixteenth century. In Ireland and across early modern Europe, beer was central to social life and a vital source of nutrition. But up to now, we have had little sense of what that beer was like, how strong it really was, and how much energy it provided. By reconstructing the recipes, equipment, and techniques used at Dublin Castle four hundred years ago, the team set out to answer these important questions.Undertaking this project was an immense interdisciplinary effort, bringing together historians, archaeologists, scientists, craftspeople, and also storytellers and creative audiovisual artists. Each step of the journey was documented by a film crew who followed the adventure through archives, fields, kitchens and laboratories, capturing the rich atmospheric sound and visuals sights of the experiment.Drunk? Adventures in Sixteenth-Century Brewing, was followed by a discussion with renowned food and drinks historian, Marc Meltonville, and Prof Susan Flavin, the FoodCult project leader. The event is also features an opportunity to hear from Maurice Deasy, a brewer who is working to bring heritage skills and ingredients to the modern brewing industry, and to taste some of the beers produced by Canvas Brewery using heritage Irish grains. Chaired by Prof Ruth Burton, School of Creative Arts. This film is an output of the FoodCult Project (Grant Agreement 803486), funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. For more information, visit: https://foodcult.eu/
Recorded Wednesday, September 27th 2023 as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2023. Securing Human Rights in the Anthropocene: the Role of Religion, with Trinity’s Professor of Ecumenics, Linda Hogan.
Recorded Friday, September 29th 2023 as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2023. Pádraic Whyte (English) joins other experts for a panel discussion on exciting new research directions.
Recorded Thursday, September 28th 2023 as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2023. James Joyce and Nora Barnacle are visited by ghosts in Trieste in this new chamber opera, a first-time collaboration between Irish National Opera and ANU. Screening and discussion with composer Evangelia Rigaki (Music) and librettist Marina Carr, chaired by Melissa Sihra (Drama).
Recorded Friday, September 29th 2023 as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2023. Balazs Apor (European Studies), co-ordinator of Trinity’s Centre for Resistance Studies, on the cultic veneration of leaders in Eastern Europe, and John Murray (Russian & Slavonic Studies) on ‘The Soviet Gaze’, images in the USSR’s print media.
Recorded Friday, September 29th 2023 as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2023. Jane Ohlmeyer, Erasmus Smith’s Professor of Modern History (1762), shares new work on this topical subject from the perspective of the early modern period.
Recorded Tuesday, September 26th 2023 as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2023. Fascists at the Gate: The Strange Tale of Coriolanus in IrishTrinity’s 1867 Professor of English Andrew Murphy on Shakespeare translated.
Recorded Thursday, September 28th 2023 as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2023. Trinity Professor of German (1776) Jürgen Barkhoff talks to his predecessor, scholar and memoirist Professor Eda Sagarra.
Recorded Monday, September 25th 2023 as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2023. Chris Morash, Trinity’s Seamus Heaney Professor of Irish Writing, on Technology, Landscape and Irish Modernity.
Recorded Monday, September 25th 2023 as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2023. Cross-disciplinarians Amelia McConville and Autumn Brown join tech festival founder Aisling Murray to talk about art, science and tech events both in and beyond the university.
Recorded Tuesday, September 26th 2023 as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2023. Zohar Hadromi-Allouche (School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies) takes a new look at the Qur'an and modern Yiddish poetry.
Recorded on Thursday, September 28th 2023 as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2023. Aileen Douglas, Professor of Eighteenth-Century Studies, School of English.
Recorded September 19th, 2023.*Please note that this discussion contains topics of sexual violence and graphic descriptions of war. Please listen at your own discretion.‘Women and War’ is the theme of the 2023 Wexford Festival Opera (24 Oct-5 Nov). Developed by Wexford’s Artistic Director, Rosetta Cucchi, this year’s programme uses the medium of opera to explore how war is experienced, endured, and articulated by women. The three main stage operas at Wexford will be: Zoraida di Granata (1822) by Gaetano Donizetti; L’Aube Rouge (1911) by Camille Erlanger; and La Ciociara (Two Women) (2015) by Marco Tutino, based on the novel by Alberto Moravia.In anticipation of this innovative programme, the Trinity Long Room Hub is hosting a special discussion to explore the representation of ‘Women and War’ in literature, theatre, music, and visual art. The Festival’s acclaimed Artistic Director Rosetta Cucchi will join the celebrated Irish Times foreign correspondent Lara Marlowe and the Trinity Long Room Hub Director, Eve Patten, for a wide-ranging conversation on the themes and vision behind this year’s Wexford Festival Opera. This unique collaboration event, which will include both film and music excerpts from the opera programme itself, is open to all and not to be missed.Speakers:Rosetta Cucchi is the Artistic Director of the Wexford Festival Opera and an experienced director in many of the world’s greatest opera houses. She is also a pianist, and has a master’s degree in Theatre Studies from the University of Bologna. From 2006 to 2018, she was the Artistic Director of Fondazione and Symphonic Orchestra Arturo Toscanini, Parma. Her most recent and future directing projects include Tutino’s La Ciociara, Wexford Festival, Figaro and La Bohème, Boston Lyric Opera, Adriana Lecouvreur, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Rossini’s Otello, Rossini Festival Pesaro, Eugene Onegin, Opera Omaha, USA, and L’Amico Fritz, Teatro del Maggio Musical Fiorentino.Lara Marlowe became a foreign correspondent for The Irish Times in 1996. Since her official retirement in April 2023 she has continued to contribute regularly to the Irish Times and radio stations in France, Ireland and the UK. She has worked extensively in France, the Middle East and the US, and reported on the war in Ukraine in 2022. Before the Irish Times, she wrote for Time Magazine, the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune, covering many major world events and conflicts. Lara has received four press awards for her work for The Irish Times and was also awarded a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur for her contribution to Franco-Irish relations. In 2020, she published the best-selling memoir Love in a Time of War, My Years with Robert Fisk.Eve Patten is Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute and Professor of English at Trinity College, Dublin. She lectures and writes in the area of nineteenth and twentieth-century British and Irish literary history and has a special interest in the literature of war. Her most recent book is Ireland, Revolution, and the English Modernist Imagination (2022), and previous publications include Imperial Refugee: Olivia Manning's Fictions of War (2012), and, as co-editor with Richard Pine, Literatures of War (2008).
Recorded June 27, 2023.
An 'in conversation' event featuring Prof Jim Hicks (University of Massachusetts Amherst) in conversation with Dr Krzysztof Rowiński (TCD) organised by the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies.
The heightened visibility of translators and interpreters, with Arrival (2016) or the 2021 controversy over translators of Amanda Gorman's presidential inauguration poem as prime examples, is a relatively new phenomenon. Just a few decades ago, things did seem rather different. In war interpreting, where the stakes are literally life and death, little if any work had been done. No one seemed to be asking many questions at all, much less the right ones. Jim Hicks will discuss his work on a series of interviews with interpreters who had worked during and after the 1992-95 war in Bosnia and a recent Italian novel that features an encounter in Trieste between two generations of refugees. Comparing these two projects will serve to suggest ways in which fiction may be used in the service of truth, and also that the truths we learn from fiction may not be accessible by any other means.
Recorded June 13, 2023.
What does ‘resistance’ mean? What motivates one person to spy on another? And how do we rescue language from the politics of oppression? In this podcast, acclaimed poet, memoirist and critic Carmen Bugan explores these questions in conversation with Balázs Apor and Rosie Lavan, drawing on her family’s extraordinary story of dissent, surveillance and exile from Ceaușescu’s Romania, and on her convictions as a writer and reader of poetry.
Recorded June 14, 2023.
An in person in-conversation event with Carmen Bugan and Prof Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin (TCD) chaired by Prof Michael Cronin (TCD) organised by the Trinity Centre for Resistance Studies in partnership with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
Poet, memoirist and critic Carmen Bugan will be reading and in conversation with poet and professor Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, School of English TCD. The event will be chaired by Prof Michael Cronin, School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies TCD.
Carmen Bugan is an award-winning writer based in Long Island, NY. She is currently an Adjunct Professor at Stony Brook University, where she teaches literature and creative writing. She was born in Romania and has lived in England, Ireland, and France. Educated at the University of Michigan and Balliol College, Oxford, where she took a PhD in English Literature, she is the author of five collections of poems, including Time Being (2022); an Orwell Prize-shortlisted memoir, Burying the Typewriter: Childhood under the Eye of the Secret Police (2012), which documents her experience growing up in Romania where her father was a prominent critic of the Ceaușescu regime; and a highly praised critical study, Seamus Heaney and East European Poetry in Translation: Poetics of Exile (2013). Her book of essays, Poetry and the Language of Oppression (OUP, 2022) was named an “essential book for writers” by Poets and Writers. Her work has been translated into several languages and appears in publications such as PEN Atlas, Modern Poetry in Translation, the TLS, Harvard Review, and PN Review.
Recorded June 12, 2023.
An in-person lecture by Prof Nelson Lichtenstein (University of California, Santa Barbara) organised by the School of Histories and Humanities.
Nelson Lichtenstein, the author of a forthcoming major revisionist history of the Bill Clinton presidency, will speak on the major themes of his book. When Bill Clinton became president, his campaign's catch phrase, "The Economy, Stupid" encapsulated a commitment to the rejuvenation and transformation of the U.S. economy. But his efforts to revive American liberalism failed because those industry sectors and political constituencies upon which Clinton liberals had banked were no match for the power of Wall Street and an increasingly radicalized Republican opposition. The door was therefore open to the neoliberalism, both global and domestic, that has come to characterize the Clinton era.
Recorded April 12, 2023.
An in-person lecture by Prof Andy Murphy (TCD) organised by the School of English in conjunction with Trinity College Library and the Trinity Long Room Hub as part of the First Folio celebrations. As part of the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the publication of the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays -- the 'First Folio' -- Prof Andy Murphy of the School of English at Trinity will give a public lecture on the history of the volume and why it is so important. Trinity holds the only copy of the First Folio on the island of Ireland and Prof Murphy will also speak about the particular features of the Trinity copy, including examining some of the peculiar marks and inscriptions to be found in the book.
Recorded May 24, 2023.The third Annual Barbara Wright Memorial Lecture in French Studies was delivered by Prof Ségolène Le Men (University of Paris Nanterre), organised by the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies.The French Department of Trinity College Dublin was delighted to announce the third Annual Barbara Wright Memorial Lecture in French Studies. The series has been established to honour the memory of Professor Barbara Wright (1935-2019) and was inspired by her broad scholarly interests and achievements. A renowned specialist primarily in nineteenth-century literature and textual and visual studies, Professor Wright’s distinction was recognised by the French Government: she was made a Chevalier de l’ordre national du mérite in 1975 and a Chevalier de la légion d’honneur in 2019. A renowned expert on painter, writer and art critic Eugène Fromentin, Professor Wright’s interests extended beyond literature to art and music. The Barbara Wright Prize, awarded annually to the Senior Sophister in the French Department who obtains the highest result (and not less than a First) in French literature, is an inspiring and enduring testimony to her scholarly rigour.
Recorded May 26. 2023.An in-conversation event featuring Prof Rosie Lavan (School of English TCD) and comics artist Deena Mohamed organised by the Trinity Centre for Resistance Studies in partnership with the Trinity Long Room Hub.Deena Mohamed is an Egyptian comics artist, writer and designer. She began her career with the satirical webcomic 'Qahera', about a visibly Muslim Egyptian superheroine who combats misogyny and Islamophobia. Her research into the history of Egyptian comics inspired her to create her award-winning debut graphic novel Shubeik Lubeik, which she translated into English as 'Your Wish is My Command' (2023).
Recorded May 23, 2023.An in-person lecture by Prof Rashid Khalidi (Columbia University) organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub in partnership with the School of History, UCD.Rashid Khalidi is Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University. He received a B.A. from Yale University in 1970 and a D. Phil. from Oxford University in 1974, and has taught at the Lebanese University, the American University of Beirut, and the University of Chicago. He was President of the Middle East Studies Association, and is co-editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies. He served as an advisor to the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid and Washington Arab-Israeli peace negotiations from October 1991 until June 1993.Khalidi is author of eight books, including The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 (2020), and Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness (rev. ed. 2010), has co-edited three others, and has published over 100 academic articles. He has written op-eds in the New York Times, Washington Post, and many other newspapers, and has appeared widely on TV and radio in the US and abroad.
Recorded May 18, 2023An in-person 'in conversation' event featuring Prof Genevieve Bell (Australian National University), Andrew Meares (Australian National University), and Prof Chris Morash (TCD), organised by the School of English.When we look forward to possible technological futures, we often do so from the perspective of a very foreshortened present. But what does it mean to think about the future of large technological systems in a much deeper timescale? In their work at the School of Cybernetics at the Australian National University (ANU), Genevieve Bell and her colleagues became fascinated with an early technological project – the Australian Overland Telegraph of 1872 – which in turn is embedded within a landscape that challenges any sense of measurable historical time. Over the past few years, Genevieve and her colleague, photographer Andrew Meares, have put together a remarkable photographic record of their engagement with this unique site from which it is possible to re-imagine our understanding of the relations of technology, humans and the environment. In “Technology’s Deep Time”, Genevieve and Andrew discuss their project with Chris Morash, who accompanied them into the Outback in 2022.Genevieve Bell is the Director of the School of Cybernetics, Florence Violet McKenzie Chair, and a Distinguished Professor at the Australian National University (ANU) as well as a Vice President and Senior Fellow at Intel Corporation. She is a cultural anthropologist, technologist and futurist best known for her work at the intersection of cultural practice and technology development.Andrew Meares is the Cybernetic Futures Lead at the School of Cybernetics at the Australian National University (ANU). Andrew began work as a press photographer in 1991, and was made chief photographer of the Sydney Morning Herald in 1998. He has covered politics, protests and portraits to bushfires, coups and war zones, won a Walkey Award for Best Online Journalism in 2010 and curated the Australian Cybernetic 2022 exhibition.Chris Morash is the Seamus Heaney Professor of Irish Writing at TCD. He has published widely on Irish literature and culture, and recent books include Yeats on Theatre (2021) and Dublin: A Writer’s City (2023). He has also published on media history in Ireland and contributed an article on the transatlantic telegraph to Entanglement, Ireland’s entry in the Venice Biennale.
Recorded May 16, 2023An in-person 'in conversation' event featuring Dr Svitlana Khyliuk (Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine) and Dr David Kenny (TCD), organised by the School of Law in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.Ukraine’s constitutional structures have regularly been revised since its independence. While it was already moving on a path towards closer association with Europe, new urgency for progressing EU membership presents a significant challenge for Ukraine to bring its laws, governance structures, and judiciary in line with highest international standards, including in the field of human rights protections. In this discussion, Dr Svitlana Khyliuk from the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine will speak to Dr David Kenny about Ukraine’s possible constitutional futures after the war; the challenges of aligning Ukraine’s legal system with that of the EU; Ukraine’s identity and its place in Europe; and the ongoing war and how it impacts on her work.Dr Svitlana Khyliuk is an associate professor and director of the law school at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine. Dr. Khyliuk has been a legal expert in the projects of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Project Coordinator in Ukraine, the Council of Europe, and the U.S. Department of Justice in relation to projects in Ukraine. She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Ukraine’s Supreme Court and Constitutional Court. She teaches Criminal law and Law of the European Convention on Human Rights.Dr David Kenny is an Associate Professor of Law and Fellow at Trinity College Dublin, teaching and researching Irish and comparative constitutional law and law and literature. He has been involved with various constitutional reform processes in Ireland, giving evidence to, amongst other bodies, the Citizens' Assembly and Oireachtas Committee on the 8th amendment. He has also been involved in constitutional futures and/or constitutional mapping projects in the Northern Ireland, the Korean Peninsula, and Ukraine.
Recorded May 12, 2023.An in-person lecture by Prof Richard Dyer(King's College London as part of the Irish Screen Studies seminar organised by the Department of Film in the School of Creative Arts.This paper by Professor Richard Dyer starts from a consideration of the trope of ‘our song’, the song, that is, that film characters feel in some way is associated with or even expresses their relationship – ‘As Time Goes By’ in Casablanca (1942) is perhaps the most famous example. It then considers how often such songs turn out to be illusory, looking especially at three relatively recent European examples, and arguing that the problem of ‘our song’ never really being ‘ours’, always escaping us, is in little the contradiction at the heart of communication.
Recorded April 25, 2023.An in-person seminar by Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Research Fellow Prof Dariusz Komorowski (University of Wroclaw) as part of the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies Seminar Series.After decades of being trapped in discourse, where signs referred to other signs rather than reality, sentences were quotations or paraphrases of other sentences, and texts built on other texts, permanently questioning their own meaning and truth, a need for stability beyond discourse emerged in the 1990s. One turned to matter, which was reawakened from its slumber to join man as a reliable partner. Bruno Latour, Michel Callon and John Law played a special role in this context. They wanted to abolish the traditional dichotomy of world perception with the opposition of nature and culture or subject and object and to establish a symmetry in its place. In the symmetrical conception of the world, human and nonhuman actors have agancy that no longer needs to be intentional and rationally motivated.In this talk, Komorowski will first examine the role things play in Matthias Zschokke's work and how the Swiss author perceives them. On this basis, the question of whether and how things contribute as effective actors to the creation of communities will be explored. In this respect, Komorowski links to the question of the representation of ideas about communities in time, when modernity becomes liquid (Bauman) and the lost metanarratives can no longer give support to individual stories (Lyotard). Here we draw on actor-network theory, which, originally developed as a sociological method, rather quickly found application in other disciplines of humanities. Whether and possibly to what extent and with what insight potential ANT can be applied in literary analysis is one of the aims of his investigation.Dariusz Komorowski is a Professor of German Philology at the University of Wroclaw in Poland. Since 2005 he has been the Head of the Research Centre for German-Swiss Literature and since 2017 the co-originator and editor-in-chief of the online magazine “CH-Studien. Zeitschrift zu Literatur und Kultur aus der Schweiz” which he leads in cooperation with Anna Fattori (Rome) and Jan Jambor (Prešov). From 2012 to 2018 he was the Head of the postgraduate studies in “Cultural Management in the Cooperation of Regions of the European Union" at the University of Wroclaw. Dariusz Komorowski has conducted seminars and given lectures at the universities in Göttingen, Zurich and Maribor and organised several international seminars for master students in cooperation with those universities.
Recorded April 13, 2023.A lecture by Dr Rebecca McLaughlan (University of Sydney) as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Seminar Series. McLaughlin's research investigates the relationship of the environment to wellbeing; how do healthcare environments make people feel, and how do can they best support staff in the delivery of patient care? Once we have this research, how can it be successfully translated into practice? While evidence-based design has refocused attention on the relationship between the built environment and wellbeing, it also tends to obscure knowledge from other disciplines, and from history, that would otherwise enrich contemporary understandings of this relationship. In this talk, she'll discuss the different theoretical frameworks being used to understand how the built environment impacts wellbeing, drawing upon examples from her own work across various paediatric, palliative and mental health care settings. Rebecca McLaughlan, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Architecture, Design and Planning, the University of Sydney, Australia. She is also an Australian Research Council DECRA Research Fellow, currently funded to investigate the relationship of palliative care facilities to patient, family and staff wellbeing.
Recorded April 25, 2023.A lunchtime 'in conversation' event featuring Visiting Research Fellow Dr Roisín Higgins (Teesside University) in conversation with Dr Mark Hennessy (School of Natural Sciences, TCD), organised by the Long Room Hub.Roisín Higgins is an Associate Professor at Teesside University with a research focus on historical memory. Her book on the fiftieth anniversary of the Easter Rising, Transforming 1916: Meaning, Memory and the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Easter Rising (Cork, 2012), won the ACIS James Donnelly Sr Prize for History and Social Science. Roisín was involved in many aspects of the Centenary of the Easter Rising, including acting as historical consultant on the ‘Commemoration’ zone of the permanent exhibition GPO: Witness History. Her wide-ranging public-facing work also includes the popular RTÉ programme National Treasures.Roisín’s current work explores sensory experiences of living through the recent conflict in Northern Ireland. In 2021-2, she received a Leverhulme Research Fellowship for her project ‘Sensing the Troubles: A Critical Re-Imaging of Life in Northern Ireland’. She is currently the recipient of an AHRC Networking Grant for ‘Towards a Socio-Somatic History of the Troubles’, which brings together scholars, arts practitioners and community organisers to explore the impact of society on the body.While at the Hub, Roisin will be collaborating with scholars whose work reframes stories of post-war Ireland, under the ‘Making Ireland’ theme. Through her project, ‘Fragments of Conflict: A Sensory History of the Troubles, she will explore new methodologies for writing histories of Ireland.Mark Hennessy is Assistant Professor in Geography and Convenor of Trinity’s Making Ireland research theme. He holds a B.A.(Hons.) and Ph.D. from the Department of Geography, University College Dublin. In 1984/'85 he was a Research Fellow in the Flinders University of South Australia. He was a Research Assistant in the Departments of Geography and the Medieval History in 1985-1987 and Lecturer in Geography in UCD from 1987-1991. Hennessy then became a Lecturer in Geography in Trinity, before taking up his appointment as Assistant Professor in Geography.
Recorded April 20, 2023.A lunchtime discussion featuring Professor Premesh Lalu (University of the Western Cape) in conversation with Professor Eve Patten (Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub). Professor Lalu will discuss his new book ‘Undoing Apartheid’, which he worked on while a visiting fellow at the Hub in 2019.Premesh Lalu is the former Director of the DSI-NRF Flagship on Critical Thought in African Humanities of the Centre for Humanities Research. Following an MA from the University of the Western Cape, he was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Doctoral Fellowship to read towards a doctorate in History at the University of Minnesota. In 2003 he successfully defended a doctoral dissertation titled “In the Event of History”. After sixteen years in the Department of History as an Associate Professor, Lalu was awarded an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant to convene a fellowship programme on the Study of the Humanities in Africa. He was promoted to full professor upon being appointed as Director of the Centre for Humanities Research in 2008.Eve Patten is Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute and Professor of English at Trinity College, Dublin. A scholar in nineteenth and twentieth-century Irish and British literature and cultural history, she is editor of the volume of essays, Irish Literature in Transition, 1940-1980 (Cambridge University Press, 2020), and author of a monograph on representations of Ireland’s revolutionary decade in English writing, Ireland, Revolution, and the English Modernist Imagination (Oxford University Press, 2022). She is also co-PI on the Ireland’s Border Culture project, funded by the HEA Shared Island programme.
Recorded April 5, 2023Panelists: Dr Jane Suzanne Carroll (TCD), Dr David Kenny (TCD), Dr Martina Devlin, and Dr Nicholas Johnson (TCD).With the recent news that publishers Puffin and the Roald Dahl Story Company have decided to rewrite potentially sensitive or offensive elements of the popular children’s books, our Behind the Headlines panel considers whether languages, images, and texts should be altered to suit the times, and what else is ‘subject to change’? While some may argue that rewriting books amounts to a threat to literary expression—a throwback to ‘book banning’ or even censorship—others will point to the fact that works of fiction are being adapted all the time, based on the norms of the moment. And children’s books are not the only texts that are under revision; we expand our discussion to constitutional law and to the world of theatre as our panel considers how we can protect the integrity of a text throughout the ages.
A lunchtime 'in conversation' event on March 28th, 2023, featuring Visiting Research Fellow Prof Dariusz Komorowski (University of Wroclaw) in conversation with Prof Jürgen Barkhoff (School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies, TCD). Dariusz Komorowski is a Professor of German Philology at the University of Wroclaw in Poland. Since 2005 he has been the Head of the Research Centre for German-Swiss Literature and since 2017 the co-originator and editor-in-chief of the online magazine “CH-Studien. Zeitschrift zu Literatur und Kultur aus der Schweiz” which he leads in cooperation with Anna Fattori (Rome) and Jan Jambor (Prešov). From 2012 to 2018 he was the Head of the postgraduate studies in “Cultural Management in the Cooperation of Regions of the European Union" at the University of Wroclaw. Dariusz Komorowski has conducted seminars and given lectures at the universities in Göttingen, Zurich and Maribor and organised several international seminars for master students in cooperation with those universities.Jürgen Barkhoff is Professor of German (1776) and Head of Discipline in Germanic Studies. Before he was Vice-Provost/Chief Academic Officer and Deputy President of Trinity College Dublin. He teaches German literature and German and European Cultural History from 1750 to the present. His main research areas are literature and medicine, science and psychology around 1800, questions of identity in the German-speaking world and contemporary Swiss literature.
A lunchtime 'in conversation' event on April 4th, 2023, featuring Rooney Writer Fellow Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe in conversation with Dr Sean Hewitt (School of English, TCD), organized by Trinity Long Room Hub.Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe is a poet, pacifist and fabulist. Auguries of a Minor God, her first collection, was published by Faber & Faber in 2021. A finalist for the Dylan Thomas Prize, John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize and the Butler Literary Award, it was chosen as a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, National Poetry Day Recommendation, Shakespeare & Co. Year of Reading Selection, and a Book of the Year by both The Irish Times and The Irish Independent.Seán Hewitt is a poet, writer and literary critic. Before joining Trinity, he held postdoctoral positions at University College Cork and at TCD, funded by the Leverhulme Trust and the Irish Research Council, respectively. His teaching and research interests are mainly focused on late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century British and Irish literature. He also has an ongoing interest in the environmental humanities, and in studies of literature and science.
A lecture by Martina Zimmermann (King's College London) as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Seminar Series.Cultural pessimism about ageing is grounded in a decline narrative that upholds youth as embodying the independent, vital self. Scientific accounts of senescence, by comparison, describe ageing as a life-time continuum involving ‘growth, development, and maturation … just as much as atrophy and degeneration’ (Shock, 1951, p. 1). This means culture adopts a partial perspective on the biological realities of ageing, taking outcomes of senescence research as merely extending the years fraught with age-related ailments, where dreams of arrested ageing further fuel pessimism, because they hold the status of curative solutions. Culturally prescribed ageing is successful ageing, and any deviation from this narrative script, real or imagined, furthers negativity about progression on the temporal trajectory towards old age. This paper situates the older person and their care at the biology/culture interface. It specifically focuses on life narratives and the concept of successful ageing driving such narratives. In particular, it explores the connection between ageing and illness to interrogate how life narratives confront biological realities of ageing. In doing so it pursues two aims: (1) it looks at the role of illness in older age in directing self-perceptions and self-representations of ageing as failure, and (2) it considers different forms of life narratives and their possibilities and limitations in articulating ageing as a biological reality
An 'in conversation' event featuring Visiting Research Fellow Dr Susan Manly (University of St Andrews) in conversation with Prof Aileen Douglas (Professor of English, TCD) and organized by Trinity Long Room Hub.Susan Manly is a Reader in English at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Her research interests are in Romantic-period Irish and English literature. She is an expert on the work of Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849), the best-selling Irish contemporary of Jane Austen, and has produced scholarly editions of a wide range of Edgeworth's writings. She is currently completing a political biography of Edgeworth. This will be the first account of Edgeworth's life to appear in the last 45 years. It will provide a new assessment of Edgeworth's intellectual and political life, looking at her milieux, correspondences, allegiances, interventions, and influence. Edgeworth's sustained engagements with debates about Ireland, about slavery and about women will form a major part of the story told in this biography. In 2019, Susan made a radio documentary about Edgeworth, ‘A Radical Life’ which aired on RTÉ Lyric FM in May 2019 and re-aired in May 2020. You can hear it here. As part of Susan’s research for her new political biography of Maria Edgeworth, she has been looking at Edgeworth’s attitude towards West Indian and especially Jamaican slavery in the early nineteenth century. Edgeworth’s fictions and plays often figured emancipated African and Creole characters: for instance, her celebrated novel, Belinda (1801) – originally entitled Abroad and At Home – features two such characters. The extent and nature of Edgeworth’s personal knowledge of and implication with the West Indies, however, has never been fully established before.Educated in Ireland and America, Aileen Douglas holds a PhD from Princeton University. She began her academic career in the States, teaching at Washington University in St. Louis for five years before returning to Trinity to take up a position in the School of English. Her research interests focus on the writing of the long eighteenth century. In her monographs, 'Work in Hand: Print, Script, and Writing, 1690-1820' (OUP 2017) and 'Uneasy Sensations: Smollett and the Body' (Chicago 1996) she explores aspects of embodiment, materiality, and literary representation. She also has a particular interest in Irish writing and writing by women. Aileen Douglas is a General Editor of the IRC-supported Early Irish Fiction 1690-1820 series (Four Courts, 2011-) and has co-edited two volumes for the series. Her co-edition of Oliver Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield for the Cambridge Collected Works of Goldsmith is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press in 2024.
Recorded 16 February 2023.A hybrid lecture by Evi Numen (TCD) as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Seminar Series. Medical museums begun their existence as galleries of wonder, a way to celebrate God’s creations through collecting and publicly accessible display. As medical knowledge and teaching developed, medical collections moved from this quasi-religious domain to establishments of scientific research and education out of the public eye. The advent of modern imaging and other teaching technologies pushed some of these difficult-to-upkeep collections into obscurity altogether. In recent years, they are coming out of the shadows, bringing with them some difficult questions and inconvenient narratives, entwined as they are with stories and practices of a colonialist past. Others complicate our understanding of human diversity, ability, and consent, and invite us to bridge the gap between specimen and visitor. This lecture investigates that transition by tracing the past of the Old Anatomy Museum and discussing its future. How did medical education practices evolve from body snatching to body donation? What lessons can we learn from a 200-year-old skeleton in a cabinet? What can an illustration of a syphilis sufferer tell us about public health today? These are some of the questions we are called upon to grapple with, as we embark on a project to establish a medical heritage centre around a collection that spans 300 years of medical education in Ireland, and includes human remains, anatomical models, medical illustrations, and striking portraits of patients and physicians.
Tuesday, 21 February 2023, 1 – 2pmAn 'in conversation' event featuring Visiting Research Fellow Dr Şebnem Susam-Saraeva in conversation with Dr James Hadley (Ussher Assistant Professor in Literary Translation, Trinity College Dublin) and organized by Trinity Long Room Hub.Şebnem Susam-Saraeva is a Senior Lecturer in Translation Studies at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K. Her research interests have included retranslations, research methodology in translation studies, internationalization of the discipline, and translation and gender, literary theories, popular music, social movements, maternal health and ecofeminism. She is the author of Translation and Popular Music. Transcultural Intimacy in Turkish-Greek Relations (2015) and Theories on the Move. Translation’s Role in the Travels of Literary Theories (2006), and editor of Translation and Music (2008), Non-Professionals Translating and Interpreting. Participatory and Engaged Perspectives (2012, with Luis Pérez-González) and the Routledge Handbook of Translation and Health (2021, with Eva Spišiaková). Susam-Saraeva’s literary translations into Turkish include Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day (1993, 18 reprints by 2022). She is also the winner of PEN Wales Translation Challenge 2017 with her poetry translation from Küçük İskender.James Hadley is Trinity’s Ussher Assistant Professor in Literary Translation. He is also the Director of the Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation and Director of the MPhil in Literary Translation. His particular interests are translation theory and practice, especially when it comes to the interaction between humans and machines. James’ research also centres on human-machine interaction in Translation Studies. He champions empirical and Digital Humanities methodologies in the field, using computer technologies to answer questions related to literary translation that were previously unaskable. Currently, much of James’ research attention is divided between the rapidly emerging fields of CALT (Computer Assisted Literary Translation), LMT (Literary Machine Translation), and the little researched topic of indirect translation (translations of translations). Much of James’ research is not language-specific or traverses a wide range of language pairs. However, his main translation language pair is Japanese | English. In terms of translation practice, he has a particular interest in pre-modern and early modern Japanese literature. In 2021 he co-translated a collection of medieval Japanese poems.
Recorded February 21, 2023Global conversations centred on custodianship and care of historic human remains provide the focus for the Trinity Long Room Hub’s latest Behind the Headlines discussion, which highlights the complexities and tensions surrounding the retention or reburial of human remains.As many international news sites have recently reported, Trinity College Dublin is currently working with inhabitants of Inishbofin Island to address the potential return of remains taken from the island in 1890 and stored for more than a century on campus.In this panel chaired by Dr Ciaran O'Neill from Trinity’s School of Histories and Humanities, we hear from Dr Olof Ljungström, the Head of Department at the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm); Peggy King Jorde, the activist behind New York City's African Burial Ground; Prof Samuel Redman, author of Bone Rooms (2016); and Evi Numen, the Curator for the Old Anatomy Museum at Trinity College Dublin.They hope to situate this case in a broader philosophical, moral, and cultural context, and to learn from four experts who will reflect on their own experience of negotiating questions of repatriation in the museum and university sectors.
An online seminar by Professor Leszek Drong (University of Silesia) organised by the School of English, recorded January 26, 2023.“Partition narratives and regions of memory” will focus on Upper Silesia (a historical region in the south of Poland) and its history articulated in regional memory, which often stands in sharp contrast to national historical narratives taught in Polish schools. The point of this presentation is to tease out those aspects of collective memory that address unique concerns of the so-called ‘autochthons’, the native borderland population of Upper Silesia. A selection of contemporary Silesian writings (in English translation) will be scrutinized for memory traces of the partition that divided Upper Silesia in 1922 and then, in the course of the 20th century, was succeeded by other borders and boundaries in the region. The presentation will be chaired by Professor Eve Patten, Director, Trinity Long Room Hub.Leszek Drong is Professor of Humanities in the Institute of Literary Studies at the University of Silesia in Katowice. He is also Associate Dean for Research in the Faculty of Humanities as well as vice-president of the Polish Association for Irish Studies. Currently, until the end of February 2023, he is a visiting research fellow in the School of English, Trinity College Dublin. His most recent book was published in 2019: Tropy konfliktu. Retoryka pamięci kulturowej we współczesnej powieści północnoirlandzkiej [Troping the Troubles: The Rhetoric of Cultural Memory in Recent Novels from Northern Ireland]. He has also published in Orbis Litterarum, Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction and Estudios Irlandeses. His primary research interest is in the intersection of Irish studies, cultural memory studies and border studies. His current project, “Remembering Partitions and Repartitioning Memories in Contemporary Narratives from Northern Ireland and Upper Silesia,” explores parallels between the two regional remembrance cultures.
A roundtable discussion hosted by Dr Qian Xiao as part of the Human+ Tech Talks series, recorded November 22, 2022.Online education has become a mainstream form of education in many countries during the pandemic. The market for AI-enhanced personalized tutoring systems is therefore growing in great demand and popularity. This allows recording rich information of learner's interactions, thus opening up the possibilities of studying 'learner's behavior at scale using machine learning techniques. In this seminar, we will share the challenges and opportunities when building personalized online education systems. We'll also showcase tangible examples of how we can leverage deep neural networks and large volumes of behavioral data to tackle these challenges.Speakers: Dr Qian Xiao, Human+ Programme Fellow; Prof Vincent Wade, Chair of Computer Science (1990), Trinity College Dublin; Dr Keith Johnston, Assistant Professor, Education, Trinity College Dublin.
An online roundtable discussion hosted by Dr Nicola Palladino as part of the Human+ Tech Talks series, recorded November 1, 2022. Building trust around a disruptive technology such as AI is deemed crucial in order to realise its full potential while minimising the risks to people and communities. Trustworthiness has become a key concept in AI development and governance, as testified by recent EU, IEEE, and ISO initiatives. However, Trustworthy AI conceptual boundaries and practical implications still raise questions prompting further investigation.By combining different perspectives and backgrounds, speakers discuss the rationale behind the concept, the state-of-the-art of its operationalisation, as well as the challenges to be faced and possible ways forward.Speakers: Prof Blanaid Clarke, McCann FitzGerald Chair in Corporate Law, Trinity College Dublin; Dr. Nicola Paladino, Human+ Programme Fellow; Prof David Lewis, Associate Professor, Computer Science, Trinity College Dublin; Dr. Kenneth McKenzie, Research Portfolio Lead, Human Sciences Studio, Accenture, Dr. David Filip, chair of NSAI TC 02/SC 18 AI, convenor of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 43/WG 3 AI Trustworthiness.
Recorded Oct 27, 2022Prof. Julian Goodare (University of Edinburgh) delivers the keynote address of the "Demons: Good and Bad" interdisciplinary conference, organised by the School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies and funded by the Trinity Long Room Hub Research Incentive Scheme.How could you rule a magical world – a world pervaded by supernatural powers? You would have to make sure that people didn’t use illicit supernatural powers in antisocial ways. In particular, you would have to make sure that they didn’t use illicit supernatural powers subversively, against your own authority. But your main strategy for ruling successfully would be to get the best and strongest supernatural powers onto your side, while regulating or repressing anything that might be evil or might get out of control.In this lecture, Prof. Goodare will sketch the various types of magical or supernatural power that godly rulers sought to regulate in early modern Europe. He will discuss both the control of elite magic and the control of popular magic. The focus on power is important. Early modern courts and institutions could be sites for power struggles over magic. Official demonology insisted that all magic was bad unless the authorities sanctioned it – but official demonology, while hegemonic, was never uncontested, nor did it always penetrate into systems of local government. And there were alternative demonologies, both elite and popular, that engaged differently with the magical world, taking a broader view of the legitimacy of magical power. Finally, Prof. Goodare will offer a small contribution to the ‘disenchantment debate’ by glancing at the processes that eventually began to reduce the authorities’ fear of illicit supernatural power. The magical world was becoming easier to rule.Julian Goodare is Emeritus Professor of History, University of Edinburgh. He is author of The European Witch-Hunt (2016). His recent edited books include Demonology and Witch-Hunting in Early Modern Europe (2020; co-edited with Rita Voltmer and Liv Helene Willumsen), The Supernatural in Early Modern Scotland (2020; co-edited with Martha McGill) and Scottish Witches and Witch-Hunters (2013; editor). He is director of the online Survey of Scottish Witchcraft.
Recorded November 10, 2022Responding to the devastation of the First World War, in 1922 T.S. Eliot wrote of showing us ‘fear in a handful of dust’, in his monumental poem, The Waste Land. On the centenary of the poem’s first full publication, this Behind the Headlines discussion confronts the ecological devastation of contemporary global landscapes, and ask: does the creative imagining of landscape ruination, destruction, and even apocalypse amount to effective protest?In this panel, we hear from award-winning Irish filmmaker Neasa Hardiman; Cathriona Russell, Assistant Professor, Trinity School of Religion; Yairen Jerez Columbié, Assistant Professor, Trinity School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies; and Conor Brennan, PhD candidate in Trinity’s Department of Germanic Studies. They discuss whether the aesthetic depiction of waste lands – in art, film, or literature – prompt us to action, or simply to despair.The postcolonial theorist Dipesh Chakrabarty has written that ‘[T]he crisis of climate change calls on academics to rise above their disciplinary prejudices, for it is a crisis of many dimensions’ (The Climate of History in a Planetary Age, 2021). In responding to this call, how can the Arts and Humanities best mobilise their resources to address the climate crisis, and what role does the imagination play in this task?
Recorded November 8, 2022 A special event exploring poetry and resistance organized by the Trinity Centre for Resistance Studies and Poetry Ireland as part of the Literature and Resistance Series.Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe and Anthony Anaxagorou joined us to read from their work, and to discuss how ideas of resistance inform and emerge from their writing, and how such ideas have also shaped their work beyond poetry, in research, teaching, mentoring, and publishing. The evening was introduced and chaired by Seán Hewitt, award-winning author of Tongues of Fire (2020) and All Down Darkness Wide (2022), and Teaching Fellow in the School of English at Trinity.Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe is a poet, pacifist and fabulist. Auguries of a Minor God, her first collection, was a finalist for the 2022 Dylan Thomas Prize, John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize and the Butler Literary Award. In 2021, it was chosen as a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, National Poetry Day Recommendation, Shakespeare & Co. Year of Reading Selection, and a Book of the Year by both The Irish Times and The Irish Independent. The recipient of a Next Generation Artist Award and Ireland Chair of Poetry Award, she serves as an advisor on the boards of Culture Ireland and Diversifying Irish Poetry. Founder of the Play It Forward Fellowships for writers traditionally underrepresented in Irish literature, she is poetry editor at Skein Press and Fallow Media, and contributing editor with The Stinging Fly.Anthony Anaxagorou is a British-born Cypriot poet, fiction writer, essayist, publisher and poetry educator. He is publications include the collections After the Formalities (Penned in the Margins, 2019), which was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize and was a Poetry Book of the Year in both the Guardian and the Telegraph, and Heritage Aesthetics, published in November 2022. He is also the author of How To Write It (Merky Books, 2020), a practical guide fused with tips and memoir looking at the politics of writing, the craft of poetry and fiction, and the wider publishing industry. In 2022 Anthony founded Propel Magazine, an online literary journal featuring the work of poets yet to publish a first collection. He is artistic director of Out-Spoken, a monthly poetry and music night held at London’s Southbank Centre, and publisher of Out-Spoken Press.
From October 6, 2022, Professor Michael Ignatieff delivered the Annual Edmund Burke Lecture for 2022, 'Democracy and the Legacy of Revolutionary Violence.'Michael Ignatieff is a Canadian writer, historian and former politician, now Rector Emeritus of the Central European University in Vienna and a professor in the history department. He has been a leader of the Liberal Party of Canada as well as a professor at the Kennedy School, Harvard, and is the author of Isaiah Berlin: A Life, The Needs of Strangers, On Consolation, and many other works. ‘All democracies born of revolution—France, America, and Ireland, for example—have to find ways to reckon with their revolutionary origins, and with the violence that attended their birth. Since revolutions empower the people to rise up in defence of their rights, revolutionary origins can continue to inspire succeeding generations to defend theirs, but they can also pose a continuing challenge to the stability of democratic institutions. Edmund Burke’s reflections on the revolutions of 1688 in Britain, the American Revolution of 1776, and the French Revolution of 1789 can help us understand how contemporary democracies should handle the often combustible heritage of revolutionary origins.’
From October 11, 2022, a roundtable conversation hosted by Dr Pat Treusch as part of the Human+ Tech Talks series.Robots that will populate our social everyday lives have become an ubiquitous figure of the sociotechnical imaginary of the Global North. They can take the shape of smaller artifacts to life-sized humanoid robots. Researchers have been examining the gendered, racialized and ableist dimensions of designing, building and implementing so-called social robots. This discussion aims to not only formulate a humanistic critique of engineering practices, but rather to deliver the points of departure to engineer social robots differently.
From September 27, 2022 | In the first event of the new academic year in the Literature & Resistance series, the Trinity Centre for Resistance Studies and the Trinity Long Room Hub welcomed Ankhi Mukherjee, Professor of English and World Literatures at the University of Oxford, to discuss her book Unseen City: The Psychic Lives of the Urban Poor (Cambridge University Press, 2021). Professor Mukherjee’s ground-breaking research combines literary and cultural criticism with clinical case studies to examine the relationship between global cities, poverty, and psychoanalysis. Drawing on extensive, collaborative research in six global cities, and reading works of contemporary world literature which explore issues of identity, illness, and death at the intersections of class, race, globalisation, and migrancy, Unseen City speaks profoundly and urgently to the multifaceted theme of resistance. For this special event, Professor Mukherjee was in conversation with Professor Ian Robertson, Co-Director of TCD’s Global Brain Health Institute, to discuss her work on the ground with Free Clinics in London and the unique insights this clinical engagement has enabled.
A seminar by Dr Kata Szita (TCD) as part of the School of Creative Arts Research Forum. Recorded October 3, 2022.Dr Kata Szita is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie research fellow at the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute and ADAPT Centre of Excellence for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. Her research involves the cognitive studies of immersive digital media technologies and she has authored a wide range of publications on attention, recollection, narrative engagement, and social behaviour in terms of smartphone spectatorship, augmented reality, cinematic virtual reality, social virtual reality, and the Metaverse. Currently, she leads interdisciplinary and cross-sector research projects on user experiences in social virtual reality and augmented reality and, as a collaborator, is involved in studies of the cognitive processing of fictional information, virtual youth behaviour, and digital personas. Szita is guest editor for PRESENCE: Virtual and Augmented Reality (MIT Press).The School of Creative Arts Research Forum meets weekly on Mondays from 10am-11am in the Neill Lecture Theatre in Trinity Long Room Hub. The aim of the Forum is to provide a space for School researchers, both staff and postgraduate students, to share their ideas in an informal and supportive environment. It is also an opportunity for the School to hear about the research of colleagues both from within TCD and from outside the university who share our research interests. In line with the research agenda of the School, talks encompass traditional research and practice-based research.
This discussion focuses on whether avatars and digital personas should be considered humans and reflects on the impacts of these on inclusivity, social dynamics, and digital practices. Combining angles of human psychology and behavior, society, digital technology, and aesthetics, we aim to dissect the following questions:● How does humanity's engagement with digital media change social engagement in the long run?● How can we increase realism in digital appearances and what does it do to identity and social interactions?● How will digital personas become implemented in society and/or change social networks and behaviors?Speakers: Dr. Kata Szita, Human+ Programme Fellow; Dr. Jennifer O'Meara, Assistant Professor in Film Studies, Trinity College Dublin; Prof. Aljosa Smolic, Professor of Creative Technologies, Trinity College Dublin; Jess Majekodunmi, Director, Human Sciences Studio at Accenture.
To launch the Human+ Tech Talks series, an online roundtable discussion hosted by Professor Vincent Wade, Chair of Computer Science (1990), Trinity College Dublin, brought together a distinguished panel of industry and academic experts to explore the ethical dimensions to human-centred AI. This panel was recorded September 13, 2022.Speakers: Vincent Wade, co-Principal Investigator of the Human+ Programme and Director of Adapt, Trinity College Dublin; Linda Hogan, Professor of Ecumenics in the School of Religion, Trinity College Dublin; David Lewis, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Trinity College Dublin.
A seminar by Maria Zukovs (University of St Andrews), as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Seminar Series, recorded November 7, 2022.The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
A seminar by Dr Nicholas Johnson (TCD) as part of the School of Creative Arts Research Forum from September 25, 2022.Nicholas Johnson is Associate Professor of Drama at Trinity College Dublin, where he has worked full-time since 2008. He co-founded the Trinity Centre for Beckett Studies, within which he co-directs the Beckett Summer School and the Samuel Beckett Laboratory. With Jonathan Heron (Warwick), he co-authored the monograph Experimental Beckett (Cambridge UP, 2020) and co-edited the Performance Issue (23.1, 2014) and Pedagogy Issue (29.1, 2020) of the Journal of Beckett Studies. He co-edited two volumes of essays from the Beckett Working Group of the International Federation for Theatre Research: Influencing Beckett / Beckett Influencing (L'Harmattan, 2020) and Beckett's Voices / Voicing Beckett (Brill, 2021). He has published widely in journals and edited collections on adaptations and intermedial performances of Beckett, directing and acting Beckett, Beckett and censorship, and the use of performance as a tool for research.
A seminar by Prof Elizabeth Barry (Warwick) as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Seminar Series.This seminar examines the concept and lived experience of frailty understood in relation to factors such as risk and change. Informed by the work on frailty of sociologist Susan Pickard and gerontologist Amande Grenier, and on the phenomenology of illness by Havi Carel, it will consider the depictions of the condition of frailty in the life-writing and fiction of prominent literary figures such as Marcel Proust, Colette, Joan Didion, and Candia McWilliam. Both Colette and Didion write lyrically but acutely about the ‘blue time’ of the fourth age of life, and the talk will think about the changed—and changing—relation to time, space, the natural world and other people in this fourth age as depicted in these literary works. In reflecting on these representations, the talk will attend to the older subject as active, self-reflexive agent, but also explore what frailty reveals about the constitutive place of vulnerability and interdependency in human existence.Elizabeth Barry is Professor of Modern Literature at the University of Warwick in the Department of English. She works in the fields of modern literary studies, medical humanities and – predominantly – literary age studies, and has published on representations of ageing in the work of Samuel Beckett, Marcel Proust, Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood, among others. She edited the Boydell collection Literature and Ageing with Margery Vibe Skagen in 2020 and is writing a monograph on ageing and the experience of time in modern literature and thought, to appear with Bloomsbury in 2023.
A conversation with Galician writer Xesús Fraga, organised by the Department of Hispanic Studies.Born in London and raised between the UK and Galicia, award-winning writer Xesús Fraga discussed his celebrated book Virtudes (e misterios) (Virtues and Mysteries) about his family’s migration history.
An online seminar by Dr Kelly Gray as part of the Medical & Health Humanities Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.Drug dependency became an increasingly serious problem in nineteenth-century America, and most of this use began with medical use. The problem remained largely hidden until the late 1860s, because habitual opiate users did not behave erratically and therefore went largely unnoticed. Americans of the era learned about drug addiction from reading accounts of such use abroad, and many dismissed the notion that the problem existed at home. There was almost no drug regulation in the U.S. at the time. Consequently, people did not associate addiction with criminality, but the rate of use escalated. National regulation emerged in the early twentieth century in response to international considerations, and it was facilitated by the fact that, increasingly, drug habitués were young, marginalized men whose use did not originate with medical need. They received little sympathy.Elizabeth Kelly Gray is an associate professor of History and assistant chair of the Department of History at Towson University. She received her Ph.D. from the College of William and Mary. This December her first book, Habit Forming: Drug Addiction in America, 1776-1914, will be published by Oxford University Press.
‘Intersecting and contiguous identities in African narratives: ontological and anthropological perspectives' a talk by Dr Théophile Munyangeyo (TCD) as part of the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
Socio-political and economic crises that many African societies have experienced are generally attributed to the absence of what could be the nation-states. When the main conception of identities and related attitudes and behaviours are primarily linked to tribal and ethnic constructs, it can inevitably contribute to mutual exclusions, with the possibility of leading to open conflicts. The tribal and ethnic identities in Africa have led to many serious consequences of social tensions and political violence. The question of such identities when presented as the societal references that drive social and political allegiance has indeed dominated many African writings through the lenses of fatalistic pessimism. Nevertheless, there are some writers who no longer see the tribal and ethnic affiliation as a determining factor for (un)democratic practices and (in)cohesive social interactions.
By using a thematic and discourse analysis, this paper examines the representation of key concepts, such as identities, existence, being, becoming, cohabitation, value systems, myths, symbols, beliefs, social practices, historical and social reality. Through the cultural anthropology framework, with references to ontological perspectives, it concludes that many dynamics in the interpersonal and community relations can create a fruitful intersectionality of identities and ultimately triumph over a contiguous conception of social differences.
'Margaret Thatcher and the Northern Ireland conflict' a seminar by Professor Stephen Kelly (Liverpool Hope University) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
Trinity College Dublin’s Oscar Wilde Centre Postgraduate Showcase as part of the School of English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series 2021-22 in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. The series conveners for the academic year 2021-22 are current PhD students Orla Donnelly, Claire Poynton-Smith, Ginevra Bianchini and Eric Swartz.
'The popular politics of local petitioning in early modern England' a seminar by Brodie Waddell (Birkbeck, Univ. of London) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
'Portrait of an Irish mandarin: León Ó Broin (1902-90)' a seminar by Professor Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh (NUI Galway) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
A talk by Mícheál Hoyne (TCD) as part of the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
In 1563, Queen Elizabeth I made funding available ‘for making of Carecter to printe the New Testament in Irish’. At that point, not a single book had ever been printed in the language. The Irish New Testament finally appeared on 10 February 1602/3. Elizabeth died on 23 March the same year, perhaps without ever having seen the finished product. The project of translating and publishing the New Testament in Irish had languished for years. No real progress was made until Trinity College was founded: one of the very first Scholars of the College, Uilliam Ó Domhnaill, was key to bringing it to fruition last, and a good portion of the work of translating and printing was carried out on the grounds of the College itself. All of these books (and more) are an important source for the history of the Irish language and the attitudes of Irish writers to what characterized ‘correct’ and ‘plain’ Irish in a time of great change and stress for the language.
This seminar will retell the story of Trinity College and printing in the Irish language in the seventeenth century and examine some of the challenges that faced those involved and the linguistic decisions they made on the path to printing the entire Bible in Irish.
'The ‘Stop List’: travel permits and the dynamics of social power in modern Ireland, 1939-45' a seminar by Dr Trisha Oakley Kesler (Woolf Institute, Cambridge) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
'What Happened a Hundred Years Ago is Happening Again!': Confronting the Ghosts of the California Past in John Carpenter's The Fog (1980)’ a seminar by Dr Bernice Murphy (TCD) as part of the School of English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series 2021-22 in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. The series conveners for the academic year 2021-22 are current PhD students Orla Donnelly, Claire Poynton-Smith, Ginevra Bianchini and Eric Swartz.
'The 'German Catechism' Revisited: The Holocaust in Public Memory Culture' a talk by Professor A. Dirk Moses (Chapel Hill, USA) as part of the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
Whether an orthodoxy about historical remembrance exists in Germany is hotly contested, not least by members of the intelligentsia and the political class who enforce it. In a short article in April 2021, I called this orthodoxy a “catechism” watched over by “priests” who conduct de facto heresy trials against those who violate any of its five articles of faith. While this provocative framing succeeded in (re)stirring debate about Holocaust memory, it failed to prevent excommunications of artists and journalists from polite society or the cowing of academics. This paper looks back over 12 months of fraught discussion about German Erinnerungskultur to analyse the creeping illiberalism in modern Germany.
A. Dirk Moses is Frank Porter Graham Distinguished Professor of Global Human Rights History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His first book, German Intellectuals and the Nazi Past (2007) reconstructed postwar West German debates about its republican democracy and coming to terms with the legacy of National Sociaism. His second book, The Problems of Genocide: Permanent Security and the Language of Transgression (2021), is a genealogy of the genocide concept. He is senior editor of the Journal of Genocide Research and is working on a book called Genocide and the Terror of History.
'Microhistory, creative, collaborative public history, and early modern witch trials' a seminar by Dr Andrew Sneddon (Ulster) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
'Inventing Global Ireland: the idea and influence of the Irish Race Convention' a seminar by Dr Darragh Gannon (University College Dublin) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
‘“The Storm Centre of the World”: Tourism and the Gothic Frontier in Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Tragedy of the Korosko'
A presentation by Orla Donnelly as part of the School of English research seminar series.
'Women, men and the experience of work in early modern England: a work task approach' a seminar by Prof Jane Whittle (Exeter), Dr Mark Hailwood (Bristol), Dr Taylor Aucoin (Exeter) and Dr Hannah Robb (Exeter) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
Wednesday, 29 September 2021, 12:30 – 1:30pm
A seminar by Amir Cohen-Shalev, University of Haifa as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Lunchtime Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub. Prof Shalev has written widely on ageing through cinema and literature, including a seminal book, Visions of Aging, in 2009.
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities Initiative brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines including history, philosophy, sociology, drama, health sciences, religion, cultural studies, arts, literature and languages.
Medical and health humanities seeks to provide insights into the cultural and social contexts within which diverse but interrelated concerns such as the human condition, the individual experience of illness and suffering, and the way medicine is (or was) practiced, might be understood.
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities initiative seeks to cultivate a richer understanding of the interactions and synergies between practices and discourses of wellness, health or medicine and the arts, humanities or culture through interdisciplinary research and education.
Wednesday, 20 October 2021, 12:30 – 1:30pm
A seminar by Dr Erin Lamb as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Lunchtime Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities Initiative brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines including history, philosophy, sociology, drama, health sciences, religion, cultural studies, arts, literature and languages.
Medical and health humanities seeks to provide insights into the cultural and social contexts within which diverse but interrelated concerns such as the human condition, the individual experience of illness and suffering, and the way medicine is (or was) practiced, might be understood.
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities initiative seeks to cultivate a richer understanding of the interactions and synergies between practices and discourses of wellness, health or medicine and the arts, humanities or culture through interdisciplinary research and education.
Wednesday, 23 March 2022, 12:30am – 1:30pm
'Making Breath Visible: A Medical Humanities Approach' a seminar by Professor Jane MacNaughton (Durham) as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Lunchtime Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities Initiative brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines including history, philosophy, sociology, drama, health sciences, religion, cultural studies, arts, literature and languages.
Medical and health humanities seeks to provide insights into the cultural and social contexts within which diverse but interrelated concerns such as the human condition, the individual experience of illness and suffering, and the way medicine is (or was) practiced, might be understood.
‘What can medical humanities do to make breathlessness more visible and why is that important? As we (hopefully) start to emerge from two years of a pandemic that has literally stollen life and breath from millions around the world, I want to reflect upon a project that came to an end just as the pandemic started. That project, the Life of Breath, exemplifies a critical medical humanities approach in that it was interdisciplinary, concerned with lived experience, but also crucially, driven by a desire to make a difference for those most affected by this devastating symptom. I will reflect upon the invisibility of breathlessness in relation to embodied experience, but also in the social and political spheres, and explain how the medical humanities might help to open out the understanding and knowledge of that experience, and start to find ways of improving the lives of breathless people.’
Bio
Jane Macnaughton is Professor of Medical Humanities at Durham University in the UK and Deputy Vice Provost for Research. Until 2021 she was Director of the University’s Institute for Medical Humanities (IMH). Jane has been centrally involved in the development of medical humanities in the UK since 1998. She was part of the working group that set up the Association for Medical Humanities in 2001, and she established the Northern Network for Medical Humanities Research in 2013. Her own work focusses on the idea of the embodied symptom and she has just completed a five year project exploring the lived experience of breathlessness. Jane was a member of the Wellcome Trust Expert Review Group for established career awards in medical humanities from 2010-2020. Jane is a qualified doctor and until recently did sessional work as an Honorary Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University Hospital of North Durham.
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities initiative seeks to cultivate a richer understanding of the interactions and synergies between practices and discourses of wellness, health or medicine and the arts, humanities or culture through interdisciplinary research and education.
Wednesday, 6 April 2022, 12:30 – 1:30pm
‘“They attached no blame to the staff in charge”: The Role of Dublin Workhouse Officials in Preventing and Contributing to Institutional Mortality, 1872-1913’ a seminar by Shelby Zimmerman (TCD) as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Lunchtime Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities Initiative brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines including history, philosophy, sociology, drama, health sciences, religion, cultural studies, arts, literature and languages.
Medical and health humanities seeks to provide insights into the cultural and social contexts within which diverse but interrelated concerns such as the human condition, the individual experience of illness and suffering, and the way medicine is (or was) practiced, might be understood. The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities initiative seeks to cultivate a richer understanding of the interactions and synergies between practices and discourses of wellness, health or medicine and the arts, humanities or culture through interdisciplinary research and education.
During the Great Famine from 1845 to 1852, the Irish workhouse was associated in the public consciousness with dying and the mistreatment of the dead. By the end of the nineteenth century, the role of the workhouse shifted from poor relief to medical relief and thus became the largest and most accessible medical institution for the poor. Despite the workhouse’s newfound status as a medical institution, it was still plagued by the reputation of its Famine counterpart. Through an analysis of the North and South Dublin Unions, this paper will examine whether that stigma was warranted in post-Famine Dublin. It will look at the treatment of inmates to ascertain whether the Board of Guardians and medical officers were complicit in mortality rates. It will analyse ward management and staffing to determine whether negligence was inherent or a reflection on the medical officers. This paper will also examine how the Guardians responded to infectious disease and whether it revealed different attitudes towards different classes of inmates. Ultimately, this paper will determine if workhouse staff sought to reduce institutional mortality or contributed to the workhouse’s stigma.
Speaker Biography
Shelby Zimmerman is a PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin studying the medicalisation of death in the Dublin city workhouses from 1872 to 1920 centring on the role the workhouse played in Dublin's medical landscape for the sick and dying poor. She is primarily interested in the history of medicine, institutions, the Irish Poor Law, poverty, and death. She received her BS in History and Museum Studies from Towson University in Maryland and her MPhil with Distinction from Trinity College Dublin in Modern Irish History. Shelby is an Early Career Researcher in the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Research Institute. She is also the co-curator of the Little Museum of Dublin’s upcoming exhibition on Victorian medicine.
Wednesday, 20 April 2022, 12:30 – 1:30pm
‘“When the pulse won’t yield a fee” the perceived relationship between medicine and the funeral trade in 18th century England’ a seminar by Dr Dan O’Brien (Bath) as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Lunchtime Seminar Series in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
Description During the long eighteenth century the management of death was increasingly performed by a variety of different specialists: doctors, lawyers, clergymen and undertakers. In the popular culture of the period, the relationship between two of these professions was a source of great comment and satire. Doctors and undertakers were satirised because it was argued that they wielded significant authority over the fate of the dying person. Their shared interest in the condition of the dying person was highlighted by depictions that reminded audiences of the similarities which were shared by the professions such as specialist terminology, unique tools and an intimate knowledge of the human body. It is significant that some satirists interpreted the shared motives of doctors and undertakers as a cause of competition between the two parties. In these depictions, the doctor’s ailing patient was snatched away by the undertaker, thus depriving him of any more payment or the chance to take the body for his own use. This paper considers how collaboration or competition were presented in popular culture and what this tells us about perceptions of professionals’ motives during and after death. This approach will also allow us to discuss how satirists perceived the consequences of professionals at the deathbed. Did the comfort and reassurance offered by the professions outweigh the apparent lack of agency over one’s final days and hours?
Speaker Bio Dr Dan O’Brien is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath. His research focuses on the undertaking trade and their products in eighteenth century England. This has included a detailed analysis of the early trade in the west of England, with a specific focus on the prosperous settlements of Bath, Bristol and Salisbury. His research also seeks to understand how the undertakers and their goods were perceived by society, by analysing how death and dying were presented in the popular culture of the period.
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities Initiative brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines including history, philosophy, sociology, drama, health sciences, religion, cultural studies, arts, literature and languages.
Medical and health humanities seeks to provide insights into the cultural and social contexts within which diverse but interrelated concerns such as the human condition, the individual experience of illness and suffering, and the way medicine is (or was) practiced, might be understood. The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities initiative seeks to cultivate a richer understanding of the interactions and synergies between practices and discourses of wellness, health or medicine and the arts, humanities or culture through interdisciplinary research and education.
Wednesday, 4 May 2022, 1 – 2pm
An 'in conversation' event featuring Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Research Fellow Dr Karly Kehoe (Saint Mary’s University, Nova Scotia, Canada), hosted by Dr Ciaran O'Neill, Deputy Director Trinity Long Room Hub.
About Dr Karly Kehoe Dr Karly Kehoe is the Canada Research Chair in Atlantic Canada Communities at Saint Mary’s University in Nova Scotia, Canada. She researches religious minority migration (focusing on Irish and Scottish Catholics) and settler colonialism in the north Atlantic world.
She is the convenor of the Scottish Historical Review Trust, a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and is the chairperson and academic lead of the Gorsebrook Research Institute for Atlantic Canada Studies. She co-edits the Histories of the Scottish North Atlantic book series with Edinburgh University Press and her second monograph, Empire and Emancipation: Scottish and Irish Catholics at the Atlantic Fringe, 1780-1850, was published in February 2022 by Toronto University Press. While at Trinity, she will be working on the A Catholic Atlantic project which explores the links between Scotland and Ireland, the Caribbean, and northeastern British North America.
Dr Ciaran O'Neill Ciaran O'Neill began his term as Deputy Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub in September 2020. Ciaran also serves as Trinity's Community Liaison Officer. A nineteenth century historian, his first monograph, Catholics of Consequence (2014) wone the JS Donnelly Prize at the American Conference for Irish Studies. He is editor (with Finola O'Kane Crimmins) of the forthcoming MUP collection, Ireland, Slavey and the Caribbean (2021) and is currently completing a second monograph entitled Life in a Palliative State. His current research projects focus on the Eastern Caribbean. Ciaran is a series editor for both Liverpool University Press’s Reappraisals in Irish History and the SSNCI series. He has held visiting research fellowships at the University of Sâo Paulo, Boston College, University of Notre Dame, and at St Mary's University Halifax
Tuesday, 12 April 2022, 1 – 2pm
An 'in conversation' event featuring Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Research Fellow Professor Rashid Khalidi (Columbia University), hosted by Professor Eve Patten, Director Trinity Long Room Hub.
About Rashid Khalidi Rashid Khalidi is the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University, where he has served as chair of the History Department and Director of the Middle East Institute, and was a co-founder of the Center for Palestine Studies. He has taught at the Lebanese University, the American University of Beirut, Georgetown University and the University of Chicago, where he directed the Middle East Center and the Center for International Studies. He received a B.A. in History from Yale University in 1970 and a D. Phil. in Modern History from Oxford University in 1974. Khalidi is co-editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies, and was President of the Middle East Studies Association, and an advisor to the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid and Washington Arab-Israeli peace negotiations from October 1991 until June 1993. He has received fellowships and grants from the Ford Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the American Research Center in Egypt, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation, and was recipient of a Fulbright research award. He has written over a hundred scholarly articles and book chapters on Middle Eastern history and politics, and has published opinion pieces across an international media.
As a visiting research fellow at the Trinity Long Room Hub , Professor Khalidi has been exploring the parallels between Ireland and Palestine and their colonial histories. In this fellow in focus discussion, he reviews his career as a scholar and public intellectual and discusses the progress of his current research.
14th April 2022
In the final episode of season two, Conor Brennan speaks to Dr Kasia Szymanska and Dr Karolina Watroba about the connections between Eastern and Western Europe. They discuss the Polish response to the invasion of Ukraine, and the concept of ‘Central Europe’ as a way of pushing back against the homogenisation of former Eastern Bloc countries. This includes the idea of a Central European literature, championed by prominent writers such as Milan Kundera and, more recently, Olga Tokarczuk. They consider what is distinctively Central European about these and other writers, and whether such concepts help or hinder mutual understanding from one edge of Europe to the other. We also discuss the various types of writing that encouraged an exoticised and homogenised view of the countries east of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War.
They talk about the differences in multilingualism between Poland and Ireland or the UK, from the privileging of some second languages over others to the westward flow of migration that has made the Anglosphere arguably more multilingual and multi-ethnic than the formerly diverse and vibrant territory of Poland. Finally, they consider whether the war in Ukraine might lead to a renewed engagement with and deeper understanding of the region.
Find out more https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/hublic-sphere-podcast.php
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused immense human suffering, a refugee crisis, the renewed spectre of nuclear attack, and now, international outrage at evidence of war crimes.
How is an international media reporting on these horrific developments? This panel discussion assesses the role of traditional war correspondents, citizen journalists, and open-source information, to ask how the ‘news’ stands witness to the atrocities in Ukraine.
Paul Cunningham is the Political Correspondent (and former European Correspondent and Environmental Correspondent) for RTÉ News and Current Affairs. He has been reporting on the war in Ukraine, including live from the Medyka border crossing between Ukraine and Poland. Paul is an award-winning journalist and has covered conflict in a number of countries, including Bosnia, Lebanon, Kosovo, Algeria, Pakistan/Afghanistan, Guatemala, Nepal, Darfur, and Northern Ireland.
Orysia Kulick is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Political Studies and German and Slavic Studies at the University of Manitoba. She previously held postdoctoral fellowships at Trinity College Dublin, where she worked on an EU-funded research project exploring the cultural heritage of dissent in former socialist countries, and the University of Toronto. She was the recipient of a Fulbright fellowship to Ukraine, where she researched civic mobilisation in the 2004 presidential elections. Orysia is currently working on a book provisionally title How Ukraine Ruled Russia: Regionalism and Party Politics after Stalin and a microhistory of the concentration camp Mittelbau-Dora.
Tanya (Tetyana) Lokot is Associate Professor in Digital Media and Society at the School of Communications in DCU. She researches threats to digital rights, networked authoritarianism, internet freedom, and internet governance in Eastern Europe. She is the author of Beyond the Protest Square: Digital Media and Augmented Dissent (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021), an in-depth study of protest and digital media in Ukraine and Russia.
Ciaran O’Connor is a disinformation and extremism researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, working in the Research and Policy unit, where he tracks and monitors disinformation, hate and extremism online. He specialises in researching extremist activity and communication across open and closed networks and platforms through the use of open source research methodologies.
Mark Little is the Schuler Democracy Forum Media Fellow in the Trinity Long Room Hub and co-founder and CEO of Kinzen. Mark spent 20 years as a reporter and presenter for RTÉ and won the Irish TV Journalist of the Year award for his reporting from Afghanistan in 2001. He was the founder of Storyful, the world’s first social news agency, and the former Vice President for Media in Europe and Managing Director of Twitter International Headquarters. In 2017, Mark co-founded Kinzen, which combines editorial skills and artificial intelligence to protect online conversations and communities.
The event is hosted by the Schuler Democracy Forum in the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute. It is part of the 'Behind the Headlines’ discussion series supported by the John Pollard Foundation.
Monday, 4 April 2022, 6 – 7:30pm
'Swift against Empire – The Aidan Clarke Annual Lecture in Early Modern History' a seminar by Ian McBride (Oxford), as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
Frances Haugen is a data engineer, and formerly a product manager with Facebook. In 2021, she disclosed tens of thousands of Facebook's internal documents to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. In October 2021, she told the US Congress that Meta's "leadership know how to make Facebook and Instagram safer, but won't make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people". She has testified to the US Congress, the European Parliament, the UK Parliament, and the Oireachtas, that government regulation of Meta is increasingly necessary. In her conversation with Jess Kelly, she will discuss what changes Meta can make, and what regulations legislators can introduce, to make platforms safer.
About Frances Haugen Frances Haugen is a specialist in algorithmic product management, having worked on ranking algorithms at Google, Pinterest, Yelp and Facebook. She was recruited to Facebook to be the lead Product Manager on the Civic Misinformation team, which dealt with issues related to democracy and misinformation, and later also worked on counter-espionage.
During her time at Facebook, Ms. Haugen became increasingly alarmed by the choices the company makes prioritizing their own profits over public safety and putting people's lives at risk. As a last resort and at great personal risk, Haugen made the courageous decision to blow the whistle on Facebook. The initial reporting was done by the Wall Street Journal in what became known as ‘The Facebook Files.’ Since going public, Haugen has testified in front of the US Congress, UK and EU Parliaments, French Senate and National Assembly and has engaged with lawmakers internationally on how best to address the negative externalities of online platforms.
Haugen has filed a series of complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relating to how Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has allegedly misled the public and investors on issues such as climate and COVID-19 disinformation. The complaints also argue that the platform has misled investors about its role in the January 6 Capital attack, hate speech removal, the impact of its services on teens, and the use of the platform for human trafficking.
About Jess Kelly Jess Kelly is Newstalk’s Technology Correspondent and hosts Tech Talk on Saturday evenings at 5pm. Having worked at Newstalk for over ten years, Jess’ role has seen her travel across the globe reporting from some of the biggest conferences in the world including; CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Jess is an experienced MC and has conducted interviews with high-profile guests such as YouTube mega-star Casey Nesitat and former secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff. In 2019, Jess Kelly was awarded the Irish Tatler Woman of the Year Media Award.
The event is presented by the Technologies, Law and Society Research Group in the School of Law, Trinity College Dublin and the Schuler Democracy Forum in the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Research Institute. Find out more here https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/Schuler-Democracy-Forum.php
In this episode, Lorraine McEvoy speaks to Majella McAllister (founder, head of Youth Voices Team) and Professor Mary O ’Dowd (head of History Team) about the Museum of Childhood Ireland (MOCI, https://museumofchildhood.ie), “Ireland’s first Island-wide / diaspora / global, social history Museum of Childhood.” The ultimate aim of the voluntary group behind the Museum is to establish a physical, interactive and community driven museum, which seeks to be research based, critically engaged and more than simply a repository of nostalgia. They aim to provide both a museum and a platform; connecting the history of childhood with the experiences of children today. As they pursue the establishment of a physical museum, the team have worked on numerous traveling exhibits, community initiatives and projects such as the “Children’s Voices Project 2020/21: Together, Le Chéile” which sought to provide an outlet for children, in addition to creating an archive of children’s responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode, we talk about topics ranging from the origins of the Museum to the range of its voluntary teams and initiatives, definitions of Irish childhood and how we can respectfully include the full range of childhood experiences. The Museum has a very active social media presence, and you can find them on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter (@museumofci).
Please take a moment to let us know your thoughts on the Hublic Sphere podcast through this short survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/766ZBLF
Chair: Professor Dan Carey (NUI Galway; Interim Chair, Irish Research Council)Tania Banotti (Director, Creative Ireland)Professor Pat Cooke (former Director, MA in Cultural Policy and Arts Management, UCD)Maureen Kennelly (Director, The Arts Council, Ireland)Robert Read (CEO, National Concert Hall, Dublin)Lynn Scarff (Director, National Museum of Ireland)
This one-day symposium brought together academics, practitioners and policy makers to discuss national and international perspectives on cultural value and cultural evaluation. The discussion explored recent research in this field and address key questions of cultural value in differing national contexts. This event is organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub as part of the TLRH Arts Humanities Policy Initiative.
Introductory Remarks: Professor Ruth Barton (TCD) Presentation of methods and findings from a recent pilot research project investigating cultural value in Ireland with Dr Steven Hadley (NUI Galway) and Dr Emma McDowell (University of Leeds) Response: John O’Hagan (Professor Emeritus, Economics, TCD)
This one-day symposium brought together academics, practitioners and policy makers to discuss national and international perspectives on cultural value and cultural evaluation. The discussion explored recent research in this field and address key questions of cultural value in differing national contexts. This event is organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub as part of the TLRH Arts Humanities Policy Initiative.
Welcome and Opening Remarks Professor Eve Patten (Director, Trinity Long Room Hub Arts Humanities Institute), followed (online) by opening remarks from Professor Geoffrey Crossick (Distinguished Professor of the Humanities in the School of Advanced Study, University of London)
This one-day symposium brought together academics, practitioners and policy makers to discuss national and international perspectives on cultural value and cultural evaluation. The discussion explored recent research in this field and address key questions of cultural value in differing national contexts. This event is organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub as part of the TLRH Arts Humanities Policy Initiative.
The Centre for Cultural Value Chair: Professor Eve Patten (TCD)Overview and context of the Centre for Cultural Value - Professor Ben Walmsley (University of Leeds)Principles of Cultural Evaluation - Anne Torreggiani (Audience Agency)
This one-day symposium brought together academics, practitioners and policy makers to discuss national and international perspectives on cultural value and cultural evaluation. The discussion explored recent research in this field and address key questions of cultural value in differing national contexts. This event is organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub as part of the TLRH Arts Humanities Policy Initiative.
Monday, 14 February 2022, 10 – 11am
'Historically Informed Performance (HIP), Vocal Music of the Late Baroque, and the Employment of Female Musicians' a talk by Dr Simon Trezise as part of the School of Creative Arts Research Forum in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The School of Creative Arts Research Forum meets fortnightly at 10am on Mondays during term and is led by the School's doctoral students. The aim of the Forum is to give a space for School researchers, both staff and postgraduate students, to share their ideas in a supportive environment. It is also an opportunity for the School to hear about the research of colleagues both from within TCD and outside who share our research interests. In line with the research agenda of the School, talks will encompass traditional research and practice-based research and will be followed by Q&A.
The past half century has witnessed great changes in the performance of late Baroque vocal music (along with much other ‘early’ music) by the application of a historicist, evidence-based approach. That this approach has sought to recreate the sound of early performances through carefully produced Urtexts, study of theoretical treatises, restoration or reconstruction of original instruments, and much more is acknowledged, but the HIP movement has its blind spots, where historical evidence is overlooked or distorted. A few instances of this are described, concluding with some observations on the employment of female musicians.
Dr Simon Trezise is a retired Associate Professor of the Music Department at Trinity College Dublin.
Monday, 14 February 2022, 4 – 5pm
'A water bawdy house: women and the Stuart navy' a seminar by Dr Elaine Murphy (Plymouth) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
Tuesday, 15 February 2022, 4 – 5pm
‘M. R. James: The Demon in the Library’ a seminar by Professor Darryl Jones (TCD) as part of the School of English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series 2021-22 in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. The series conveners for the academic year 2021-22 are current PhD students Orla Donnelly, Claire Poynton-Smith, Ginevra Bianchini and Eric Swartz.
Tuesday, 22 February 2022, 4 – 5pm
'Of Monsters and Women: Gender and Resistance in Galician Noir Audiovisual Media' a talk by Dr Catherine Barbour (TCD Dept of Hispanic Studies) as part of the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
This presentation contrasts strategies of resistance to gender-based violence in two examples of Galician noir audiovisual media; the women-centred grassroots feminist web series Monstras (2020) directed by Eire García Cid and the TVG-Netflix commercial hit series O sabor das margaridas (2018-2020) directed by Miguel Conde. These divergent case studies muddy the binary of female victimhood and male aggression whilst drawing attention to the hegemonic sexual politics and socioeconomic systems which facilitate and endorse violence against women and girls. Yet while Monstras is first and foremost a socially conscious response to patriarchal violence, the feminist attributes of O sabor das margaridas are trumped by commercial concerns, shown for example through the eroticisation of violence. Though Galician noir has made a breakthrough on the international media circuit by foregrounding women’s resistance to gender-based violence, this is manipulated in the bid for viewer ratings. Fundamentally, it continues to be in alternative media where some of the most revolutionary conversations about women’s rights are taking place in the Galician cultural sphere.
Catherine Barbour is Assistant Professor in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Spanish Peninsular Studies at Trinity College Dublin. She specialises in contemporary Iberian (especially Galician) literary and cultural studies, with a focus on representations of gender, migration and translingualism in literature and visual culture by women. Her publications include the monograph Contemporary Galician Women Writers, published by Legenda in 2020. She is currently working on her second book project on translingual feminisms in Iberian cultural production.
Wednesday, 23 February 2022, 4 – 5pm
‘A lesson in science in Castlewellan, light travels faster than sound’: writing a sensory history of the Troubles' a seminar by Dr Róisín Higgins (Teeside University) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
Wednesday, 23 February 2022, 12:30 – 1:30pm
‘Of Fear and Strangers: A History of Xenophobia’ a seminar by George Makari and Brendan Kelly as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Lunchtime Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities Initiative brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines including history, philosophy, sociology, drama, health sciences, religion, cultural studies, arts, literature and languages.
Medical and health humanities seeks to provide insights into the cultural and social contexts within which diverse but interrelated concerns such as the human condition, the individual experience of illness and suffering, and the way medicine is (or was) practiced, might be understood.
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities initiative seeks to cultivate a richer understanding of the interactions and synergies between practices and discourses of wellness, health or medicine and the arts, humanities or culture through interdisciplinary research and education.
Thursday, 17 February 2022, 1 – 2pm
An online roundtable discussion with Neo Gilson, Jamalida Rafique, and Thirukumaran Thiruchelvan (Thiru), three of the poets who took part in our ‘Window to My World’ series for World Poetry Day 2021, showcasing poetry from refugees, asylum seekers, and exiled poets in Ireland. The discussion will be chaired by Professor Philip Coleman, School of English, TCD, and is organised by Dr Jude Lal Fernando, Director of Trinity Centre for Post-Conflict Justice, in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
About the poets
About the poets Neo Gilson Neo was born in Kimberley South Africa, and currently lives in Ireland as an immigrant. She is a poet, singer, writer, story- teller, and motivational speaker. She released a gospel audio CD titled "Behind The Veil" in May 2013, which has received airplay on various radio shows in South Africa. She is a member of Poetry Africa and Samro in South Africa, a member of Women In Library in Glasgow, and a member of WOW in Ireland. In 2020, Neo wrote a poem for the Love and Charity production in Ireland titled ‘Women on Women’. She is passionate about women empowerment projects and loves to contribute to society in a meaningful way. Neo has also been part of the Breast Cancer Awareness campaign.
Jamalida Rafique Jamalida was born in Kutupalong Refugee Camp, Bangladesh, in 2008. She was resettled along with her parents in Ireland at the age of just eight months. She is in her second year of secondary school at St. Leo’s College, Carlow. She has visited the refugee camp where she was born and witnessed how hundreds of thousands of Rohingya children fled to Bangladesh during the mass exodus in 2017. Jamalida has met and sent a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on the importance of education for Rohingya children. She continues to speak on behalf of those refugee children who have been denied their right to education.
Thirukumaran Thiruchelvan (Thiru) Thiru is an Eelam Tamil poet, lyricist, writer, journalist, environmentalist, and author of four anthologies of poems. He was a victim of torture by the Sri Lankan security forces during the last phase of the war in that country. He was in direct provision in Ireland for four years and was granted refugee status in 2014 and now is an Irish citizen.
Thiru, who is a graduate of Jaffna University in Sri Lanka, has had his poetry included in the syllabi of postgraduate programmes on Tamil literature in three universities in the southern states of India. His poems have been translated into English, German, Irish and Sinhala. His poetry books were launched and featured in Literature and/or Book Festivals in many countries around the world, including India, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, and Canada.
Tuesday, 15 February 2022, 7 – 8:15pm
A panel discussion organised by Trinity Centre for Resistance Studies in partnership with the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute to mark the start of a new multiannual discussion series ‘Literature and Resistance.’ The discussion will be chaired by Professor Darryl Jones.
Literature, says Stephen Dedalus in James Joyce's Ulysses, is “the eternal affirmation of the spirit of man”. For many writers, in many different times, places, and contexts, to affirm has been to resist. In the first event in the Hub’s new signature series, Literature and Resistance, four Trinity experts consider the ways that literature – and the act of writing itself – can function or be understood as resistance. Exploring what this means for writers, readers, and critics, they will consider issues including freedom of expression, the circulation, censorship and survival of literary texts, and the aesthetics of protest, dissent, and opposition.
Panellist
Julie Bates Dr Julie Bates, Assistant Professor in Irish Writing, School of English, Trinity College Dublin.
Mary Cosgrove Professor in German, School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies, Trinity College Dublin.
Jude dal Fernando Dr Jude Lal Fernando is Assistant Professor inSchool of Religion, Theology and Peace Studies, Trinity College Dublin.
Carlo Gébler Carlo Gébler Adjunct Professor in Creative Writing, Oscar Wilde Centre, Trinity College Dublin.
About the Trinity's Centre for Resistance Studies The Centre for Resistance Studies fosters interdisciplinary research in Trinity College Dublin in relation to the various types and forms of resistance and its cognate notions, including opposition, dissent, resilience, protest, and non-conformism. https://www.tcd.ie/resistance/about/
This podcast episode marks an important centenary: 100 years ago, in 1922, the trailblazing modern mathematician, Emmy Noether, was finally given a paid lectureship at the University of Göttingen in Germany. Despite a formidable reputation in her field, Noether had been denied paid academic work due to her gender and her Jewish heritage. She is now rightly recognized as one of the greatest mathematicians who ever lived, but she never really saw the rewards of her brilliance in her lifetime.
While conditions for women in STEM and academia have certainly improved since Noether’s day, even now, in Europe, only around 10-15% of permanent academic positions in mathematics are held by women, and women occupy just 3% of CEO positions in STEM industry.(https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/11/math-women/506417/) To explore this lingering problem, I interview Professor June Barrow-Green, a historian of mathematics at the Open University, Iseult O’Rourke, a mathematics and French teacher at Loretto Balbriggan, an all-girls secondary school in County Dublin, and Mireia Martínez i Sellarès, a PhD candidate in mathematics at Utrecht University, who has worked with the European Girls Mathematical Olympiad (EGMO).
We attempt to identify the obstacles stand in the way of a more equitable and fair academic environment and discuss how creating more meaningful connections between the sciences and the arts can help us overcome them. We ask: What cultural and societal perceptions hinder a welcoming environment for girls and women in mathematics? What can we do about it? Is mathematics inherently creative? How can connections between mathematics and literature, art and culture help shed light on inequalities in the subject in academia?
Find out more here https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/hublic-sphere-podcast.php
Tuesday, 1 February 2022, 4 – 5pm
‘Healing the Union: Health, Illness, and Disability in the National Tale’ a seminar by Dr Matthew Reznicek (Creighton University) as part of the School of English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series 2021-22 in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. The series conveners for the academic year 2021-22 are current PhD students Orla Donnelly, Claire Poynton-Smith, Ginevra Bianchini and Eric Swartz.
Monday, 7 February 2022, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Professor Edmund Russell (Carnegie Mellon) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
Monday, 7 February 2022, 10 – 11am
''Not in Flesh’: The Construction of the Disenfranchised Woman in Irish Theatre' a talk by Dr Salomé Paul (TCD) as part of the School of Creative Arts Research Forum, in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
This paper investigates the construction of the figure of the underprivileged woman in the Irish dramatic canon during the Revival movement through the examination of J.M. Synge’s theatre and its legacy on the contemporary stage.
Synge’s plays are considered among the most canonical plays in Irish theatre because they have outlined the constitutive features of archetypal characters still populating the contemporary stage. My analysis will focus on two figures of particular interest to the dramatist, the woman and the disenfranchised, and will examine their intersection through the characterisation of poor women developed in The Shadow of the Glen (1903), Riders to the Sea (1904) and The Tinker’s Wedding (1908). In these plays, the representation of this identity appears disconnected from the reality experienced by indigent women in rural Ireland. Indeed, as a middle-class Protestant man, Synge created the figure of the disfranchised woman to support and endorse his Anglo-Irish political vision of Irishness. Yet, relying on the concept of horizon of expectation coined by Hans Robert Jauss in Toward an Aesthetic of Reception (1978), I will demonstrate that this highly fictional portrayal has grown into a topos of Irish theatre still in use on the contemporary stage. The characterisation of underprivileged women in Marina Carr’s By the Bog of Cats… (1998) and Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane (1996) appears as a re-enactment of the figure of the disenfranchised woman and problematically addresses Irishness through the lens of rural poverty and womanhood for middle-class urban audiences. In doing so, contemporary Irish theatre produced in influential venues perpetuates the romanticisation of this identity, dismissing the reality and the implications of being a poor woman in Ireland.
Bio: Dr Salomé Paul is a current Postdoctoral Fellow in Drama funded by the Irish Council. Her research investigates the transformation of Greek tragedy in Marina Carr’s theatre. She is also working in collaboration with Clara Mallon (NUIG) on the edition of a collection of essays examining representation and authorship of working-class women in Irish theatre.
The School of Creative Arts Research Forum meets fortnightly at 10am on Mondays during term and is led by the School's doctoral students. The aim of the Forum is to give a space for School researchers, both staff and postgraduate students, to share their ideas in a supportive environment. It is also an opportunity for the School to hear about the research of colleagues both from within TCD and outside who share our research interests. In line with the research agenda of the School, talks will encompass traditional research and practice-based research and will be followed by Q&A.
Behind the Headlines: Falling out of Love with Dublin? Wednesday, 9 February 2022, 7 – 8:30pm
In 1922 -- the year of Ulysses, James Joyce’s love letter to his native city -- Dublin of the future: the new town plan was published by Patrick Abercrombie, Sydney Kelly and Arthur Kelly, having won a competition launched by The Civics Institute of Ireland to gather ideas for the city’s development. One hundred years on, and on the eve of Dublin City Council’s new Development Plan, 2022 – 2028, we ask: where next for the capital’s civic future? Can Dublin citizens look forward with confidence in the management of our city? Or have recent controversies around the redevelopment of Dublin’s civic and cultural spaces compounded the suspicion that corporate interests come before the public good? And what must we secure, or sacrifice, as we build for sustainability?
In this Behind the Headlines discussion on the planning of Dublin, we ask our panellists what the historic development of Ireland’s cities can tell us about the capital’s future; how architecture and urban design should respond to changing social needs; and what it means to take responsibility for the civic identity of one of Europe’s greatest cities.
Speakers:
David Dickson, Professor Emeritus, Trinity College Dublin. Valerie Mulvin, Co-founder, McCullough Mulvin Architects Owen P. Keegan, Chief Executive, Dublin City Council Frank McDonald, Author and Former Irish Times Environment Editor Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, Socialist, Activist and Musician
The Trinity Long Room Hub Behind the Headlines series is supported by the John Pollard Foundation. https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/behind-the-headlines.php
Wednesday, 2 February 2022, 4 – 5pm
Contemporary Irish History Seminar | 'The ‘crime wave’ and ‘heroin epidemic’: the othering of working class youths in 1980s Ireland'
'The ‘crime wave’ and ‘heroin epidemic’: the othering of working class youths in 1980s Ireland' a seminar by Dr Oisín Wall, Centre for the History of Medicine, University College Dublin as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a QA
Monday, 31 January 2022, 4 – 5pm
TLRH | Early Modern History Seminar | ‘Irish material in the Prize Papers collection’
‘Irish material in the Prize Papers collection’ a seminar by Oliver Finnegan (National Archives, UK) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
Thursday, 3 February 2022, 7 – 8pm
In recent years, there has been a disturbing trend toward authoritarianism in the Global South. For this event, three panellists will describe the factors that led to its rise in Brazil, India, and the Philippines and assess the forces of resistance in each country. They will argue that far from being a coincidence, authoritarianism's rise in different locales has emerged out of a global crisis of neoliberalism. A panel discussion organised by Trinity's Centre for Resistance Studies and supported by the Trinity Long Room Hub.
Speakers: Cecilia Pe Lero, University of São Paulo Cecilia Pe Lero was a post-doctoral fellow at the Centro de Estudos da Metrópole at the University of São Paulo and received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Notre Dame.
Fabio Luis Barbosa dos Santos, Federal University of São Paulo Fabio Luis Barbosa dos Santos is Professor of Latin American Studies at Unifesp (Brazil) and author of "Power and impotence. A history of South America under Progressivism” (Haymarket: 2020)
Aparna Sundar, University of Toronto Aparna Sundar is an Instructor at the Asian Institute, University of Toronto
Wednesday, 26 January 2022, 12:30am – 1:30pm
'Anticipating the Ageing Trajectories of the Marvel Superheroes' a seminar by Professor Ruth Hubbard (Queensland) as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Lunchtime Seminar Series in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities Initiative brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines including history, philosophy, sociology, drama, health sciences, religion, cultural studies, arts, literature and languages.
Medical and health humanities seeks to provide insights into the cultural and social contexts within which diverse but interrelated concerns such as the human condition, the individual experience of illness and suffering, and the way medicine is (or was) practiced, might be understood.
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities initiative seeks to cultivate a richer understanding of the interactions and synergies between practices and discourses of wellness, health or medicine and the arts, humanities or culture through interdisciplinary research and education.
Wednesday, 26 January 2022, 4 – 5pm
A panel discussion to include Professor Gary Murphy (Dublin City University), Dr Deirdre Foley (University of Oxford), Dr Liam Weeks (University College Cork) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
Friday, 28 January 2022, 5 – 6:30pm
An online webinar to celebrate the launch of the new online exhibition 'Seeing Ireland' which will explore one of the most important events in Irish art history: Exposition D’Art Irlandais, held at Galerie Barbazanges in Paris in Jan-February 1922. Guest speakers include H.E. Vincent Guérend, French Ambassador to Ireland, Mick O’Dea, PPRHA, Sinéad Ní Mhaonaigh, ARHA, Billy Shortall, Angela Griffith, Ciaran O’Neill. The event will also feature a short virtual tour of the 3D recreation of the original exhibition space developed by NoHo Design. This event is organised in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub. Support is being provided by the Irish Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Decade of Centenaries programme.
About the exhibition
1922 was a seminal year for Ireland and Irish identity: the modern Irish state was founded; James Joyce's Ulysses was published in Paris; and the Irish Race Congress, an international conference and accompanying Irish art exhibition that was a reckoning of Irish identity politics, was held in the French capital.
As part of the decade of centenaries commemorations an ambitious series of interlinked events and exhibitions will take place in the Midwest US, Ireland, and European capitals in 2022 to reflect on the events of 100 years ago, to examine the journey Ireland and Irish identity have travelled over the past century of statehood, and to look ahead to Ireland’s next century.
In January, an online exhibition at the Trinity Long Room Hub organised by Prof Ciaran O’Neill and Dr Billy Shortall (School of Histories and Humanities) will interrogate one of the most important events in Irish art history: Exposition D’Art Irlandais, opened at Galerie Barbazanges in Paris in January 1922. The Exposition, associated with the World Congress, featured established and emerging talent in what would become known as the ‘Irish School of Art’. Artists as diverse as Sarah Purser, Jack Yeats, Sean Keating, John Lavery, Lily Yeats, and Constance Markievicz displayed nationalist work in an overt attempt to legitimate a postcolonial presence in the global field for Irish art and crafts. This new exhibition—an immersive experience and 3D recreation of the original exhibition space-- will recreate, remember, and question this foundational moment in Irish art history.
A keynote lecture delivered by Edna Longley as part of the 'Derek Mahon: Conference to celebrate poet’s life and work'.
The life and work of poet Derek Mahon will be celebrated (Friday 19th & Saturday 20th November) in Trinity College Dublin. A conference, which is being held in advance of what would have been the poet’s 80th birthday, has been organised by Trinity’s School of English in association with Poetry Ireland and will be hosted in Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
To mark the occasion an online exhibition entitled Derek Mahon: Piecing Together the Poet has been organised jointly by the Library of Trinity College Dublin and the Stewart Rose Library of Emory University (home to the principal Mahon archive). The exhibition features readings by Mahon himself and Stephen Rea along with specially commissioned interviews with friends and fellow poets. The exhibition also features atmospheric photographs by John Minihan.
A keynote lecture delivered by Lucy Collins as part of the 'Derek Mahon: Conference to celebrate poet’s life and work'.
The life and work of poet Derek Mahon will be celebrated (Friday 19th & Saturday 20th November) in Trinity College Dublin. A conference, which is being held in advance of what would have been the poet’s 80th birthday, has been organised by Trinity’s School of English in association with Poetry Ireland and will be hosted in Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
To mark the occasion an online exhibition entitled Derek Mahon: Piecing Together the Poet has been organised jointly by the Library of Trinity College Dublin and the Stewart Rose Library of Emory University (home to the principal Mahon archive). The exhibition features readings by Mahon himself and Stephen Rea along with specially commissioned interviews with friends and fellow poets. The exhibition also features atmospheric photographs by John Minihan.
A keynote lecture delivered by Hugh Haughton as part of the 'Derek Mahon: Conference to celebrate poet’s life and work'.
The life and work of poet Derek Mahon will be celebrated (Friday 19th & Saturday 20th November) in Trinity College Dublin. A conference, which is being held in advance of what would have been the poet’s 80th birthday, has been organised by Trinity’s School of English in association with Poetry Ireland and will be hosted in Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
To mark the occasion an online exhibition entitled Derek Mahon: Piecing Together the Poet has been organised jointly by the Library of Trinity College Dublin and the Stewart Rose Library of Emory University (home to the principal Mahon archive). The exhibition features readings by Mahon himself and Stephen Rea along with specially commissioned interviews with friends and fellow poets. The exhibition also features atmospheric photographs by John Minihan.
11th January 2022
Padraic Colum (8th August 1881—11th January 1972): A 50th Anniversary Celebration of his Life and Work
An online keynote lecture by Professor Margaret Kelleher (UCD) “Plutarch Lied”: Padraic Colum’s Challenge to Historical Biography” as part of a day-long symposium organised by Dr Pádraic Whyte, School of English, TCD and Dr Keith O’Sullivan School of English, DCU in partnership with the Trinity Long Room Hub and the DCU Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. BOOK here
About Professor Margart Kelleher Margaret Kelleher is Professor and Chair of Anglo-Irish Literature and Drama at University College Dublin. Her book The Maamtrasna Murders: Language, Life and Death in Nineteenth-Century Ireland (UCD Press, 2018) and awarded the Michael J. Durkan Prize for Books on Language and Culture by the American Conference of Irish Studies in 2019 and shortlisted for the RIA Michel Déon Prize. Other publications include The Feminization of Famine (Duke UP and Cork UP, 1997), The Cambridge History of Irish Literature, 2 vols, edited with Philip O’Leary (2006) and a special issue of the journal Éire-Ireland on the topic of “Ireland and the Contemporary”, edited with Nicholas Wolf (2017). She is Chair of the Irish Film Institute and UCD academic lead for the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI).
In this episode Lisa Doyle talks to Helen Meany and Dr Bridget Martin about their exciting projects which ensure that Classics is becoming available to everyone: Access Classics (the UCD outreach programme) and ClassicsNow (the cultural festival taking place online and across Dublin). The discussion ranges from the opportunities offered by studying the ancient world to the importance of outreach work and diversifying the discipline. They reflect on the Irish literary and artistic tradition of engaging with and reimagining ancient texts, and how modern retellings ensure that these age-old stories remain timely, compelling and allow us to explore what it means to be human.
To find out more, visit: bit.ly/hublicsphere
Listen back to session three Chair: Prof Ruth Karras, Dept. History, Trinity College Dublin with guest speakers Dr Annaleigh Margey, Dundalk Institute of Technology, presentation titled ‘The Cecils and the mapping of early modern Ireland' and Prof Hiram Morgan, School of History, University College Cork, presentation titled ‘In war and peace: Sir Robert Cecil’s /Salisbury’s Irish policy, 1594 – 1612’
About the conference
Not that long ago, the idea of relating the Cecils, both Lord Burghley and his son Lord Salisbury, to the history of Ireland in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century would have been regarded as marginal and insignificant. And several major studies of these great figures were produced over the course of the twentieth century without any address to Ireland at all.
Such a radically reduced peripheral vision was in part ideological – the often uncritical assumption that the history of England could be entirely treated independently of its neighbours, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. But it was also considerably reinforced in the nineteenth century by archival decisions within the (then) Public Record Office to separate the massive State Paper collections into sections of Domestic, Foreign, Scotland, and Ireland in a manner that suggested that all of the problems arising in these areas could be separated into distinct and hierarchical compartments.
In recent decades, however, historians, English, Scottish and Irish have broken free from such artificial divisions, and revealed the many varied and complex ways in which the thinking of the Elizabethans was richly informed by a sense of the interconnectedness of all the regions within this western archipelago.
Central to this re-interpretation has been a reassessment of the policies developed and strategies deployed of the by the leading figures in Elizabethan government, notably the Cecils. Recent studies by Stephen Alford, Ciaran Brady, Jane Dawson, David Heffernan and others have revealed the way in which decisions concerning Irish policy were influenced, altered and deferred by other foreign policy considerations, and how foreign policy attitudes were conversely influenced by assessments of the state of Ireland in a manner that has never previously been appreciated.
The purpose of this conference is to build on such substantial recent research, by extending both the breadth and the depth of this interrogation of Anglo-Irish relations in the early modern period. The contributors are all experts who have published widely in this field and are actively engaged in further original research.
This conference is a partnership between the Trinity Long Room Hub and the Lord Burghley 500 Foundation. www.lordburghley500.org/
26th Nov 2021
Listen back to Session 2 – Chair: Prof Susan Flavin, Dept. History, Trinity College Dublin with guest speakers, Dr Jim Murray, Director of Development, Quality and Qualifications Ireland, presentation titled ‘William Cecil and the early Elizabethan Reformation in Ireland’ and Dr Brian Jackson, Technological University of South-East Ireland, presentation titled ‘Sir William Cecil and the CounterReformation in Ireland’.
About the conference
Not that long ago, the idea of relating the Cecils, both Lord Burghley and his son Lord Salisbury, to the history of Ireland in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century would have been regarded as marginal and insignificant. And several major studies of these great figures were produced over the course of the twentieth century without any address to Ireland at all.
Such a radically reduced peripheral vision was in part ideological – the often uncritical assumption that the history of England could be entirely treated independently of its neighbours, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. But it was also considerably reinforced in the nineteenth century by archival decisions within the (then) Public Record Office to separate the massive State Paper collections into sections of Domestic, Foreign, Scotland, and Ireland in a manner that suggested that all of the problems arising in these areas could be separated into distinct and hierarchical compartments.
In recent decades, however, historians, English, Scottish and Irish have broken free from such artificial divisions, and revealed the many varied and complex ways in which the thinking of the Elizabethans was richly informed by a sense of the interconnectedness of all the regions within this western archipelago.
Central to this re-interpretation has been a reassessment of the policies developed and strategies deployed of the by the leading figures in Elizabethan government, notably the Cecils. Recent studies by Stephen Alford, Ciaran Brady, Jane Dawson, David Heffernan and others have revealed the way in which decisions concerning Irish policy were influenced, altered and deferred by other foreign policy considerations, and how foreign policy attitudes were conversely influenced by assessments of the state of Ireland in a manner that has never previously been appreciated.
The purpose of this conference is to build on such substantial recent research, by extending both the breadth and the depth of this interrogation of Anglo-Irish relations in the early modern period. The contributors are all experts who have published widely in this field and are actively engaged in further original research.
This conference is a partnership between the Trinity Long Room Hub and the Lord Burghley 500 Foundation. www.lordburghley500.org/
26th Nov 2021
Listen back to the welcome by Professor Eve Patten, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub followed by talks from Dr Alan Kelly PhD TCD titled ‘The secretaries before the Cecils: the foundations of an Irish policy 1495 – 1558’ and Dr David Heffernan, School of History, University College Cork gave a presentation titled ‘Sir William Cecil and the shaping of English policy in Ireland, 1558 – 1598’.
About the conference
Not that long ago, the idea of relating the Cecils, both Lord Burghley and his son Lord Salisbury, to the history of Ireland in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century would have been regarded as marginal and insignificant. And several major studies of these great figures were produced over the course of the twentieth century without any address to Ireland at all.
Such a radically reduced peripheral vision was in part ideological – the often uncritical assumption that the history of England could be entirely treated independently of its neighbours, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. But it was also considerably reinforced in the nineteenth century by archival decisions within the (then) Public Record Office to separate the massive State Paper collections into sections of Domestic, Foreign, Scotland, and Ireland in a manner that suggested that all of the problems arising in these areas could be separated into distinct and hierarchical compartments.
In recent decades, however, historians, English, Scottish and Irish have broken free from such artificial divisions, and revealed the many varied and complex ways in which the thinking of the Elizabethans was richly informed by a sense of the interconnectedness of all the regions within this western archipelago.
Central to this re-interpretation has been a reassessment of the policies developed and strategies deployed of the by the leading figures in Elizabethan government, notably the Cecils. Recent studies by Stephen Alford, Ciaran Brady, Jane Dawson, David Heffernan and others have revealed the way in which decisions concerning Irish policy were influenced, altered and deferred by other foreign policy considerations, and how foreign policy attitudes were conversely influenced by assessments of the state of Ireland in a manner that has never previously been appreciated.
The purpose of this conference is to build on such substantial recent research, by extending both the breadth and the depth of this interrogation of Anglo-Irish relations in the early modern period. The contributors are all experts who have published widely in this field and are actively engaged in further original research.
This conference is a partnership between the Trinity Long Room Hub and the Lord Burghley 500 Foundation. http://www.lordburghley500.org/
In this episode I spoke with Jenny Macdonald and Melody Chadamoyo about their work with the SoloSIRENs Collective based in Tallaght. The collective uses applied drama/theatre methods to generate dialogue and create pieces of theatre. We discussed how the collective worked together prior to the pandemic and talked about the transition into working solely in a Zoom setting: the implications around the work, challenges, insights, and how the relationships between participants, facilitators, and the work was altered.
To find out more, visit: bit.ly/hublicsphere
Monday, 6 December 2021, 1 – 2pm
An 'in conversation' event featuring Elizabeth Tandy Shermer (Loyola University Chicago), hosted by Dr Daniel Geary (TCD).
About Elizabeth Tandy Shermer
Elizabeth Tandy Shermer is an associate professor of history at Loyola University Chicago, where she teaches courses on labor, capitalism, and politics. She has written about those topics in op-eds, academic articles, and scholarly books, including Sunbelt Capitalism (2013) and The Right and Labor, a 2012 edited collection done with Nelson Lichtenstein. Harvard University Press published her history of student loans, Indentured Students, under its Belknap Press imprint in August 2021. She is currently finishing a book on the public/private character of American higher education, tentatively titled, The Business of Education.
About Daniel Geary Dr Daniel Geary is the Mark Pigott Associate Professor of U.S. History and the author most recently of the co-edited volume, Global White Nationalism: From Apartheid to Trump.
Thursday, 2 December 2021, 7 – 8:30pm
'Novel approaches to Dublin History: Historic Fiction and the City' is an online panel discussion organised by Dublin History Research Network and supported by the Trinity Long Room Hub.
Historians of Dublin use primary research to write the story of the city but many readers learn Dublin’s story from historical fiction. The two forms of writing are distinct but related. Is history writing creative? Must historical fiction be accurate?
‘Novel approaches to Dublin History’ tackles these and related questions. How does a historian using research to portray a vision of Dublin differ from a creative writer conjuring up the city from the same historical sources? While their aims and audiences may be different, can each learn from the other’s approach? What about the reader’s response to well-crafted history writing, or to well-informed historical fiction? Are they two different Dublins? Does it matter?
In a conversation between historians and creative writers, using some recent works of Dublin historical fiction as a starting point this event will consider both approaches and how they inform each other to form our understanding of Dublin’s story.
About the speakers
Dr Juliana Adelman is a lecturer in History at Dublin City University. Her recent work Civilised by Beasts: animals and urban change in nineteenth-century Dublin (2020) conjures up an unfamiliar city through an imaginative use of historical sources. Among her earlier publications 'Second City of science?: Dublin as a center of calculation in the British imperial context, 1886-1912' (2018) presents yet another view of Dublin.
Dr Gillian O’Brien, Reader in Modern Irish History at Liverpool John Moores University, has co-edited Georgian Dublin (2008) and Portraits of the City: Dublin and the Wider World (2012). Her research for The Darkness Echoing: Exploring Ireland's Places of Famine, Death and Rebellion (2020) examines the powerful emotional resonances which key historical moments can create today.
Dr Éibhear Walshe is Director of Creative Writing in the School of English at University College Cork. Dublin features significantly in his historical fiction writing. The mid-twentieth century city in The Last Day at Bowen’s Court (2020), the city which Handel encountered in The Trumpet Shall Sound (2019) and nineteenth-century Dublin in The Diary of Mary Travers (2014) all employ historical research to create imaginative fiction.
The conversation will be facilitated by Dr Lisa Marie Griffith, Digital Repository of Ireland, an historian and keen reader of historic fiction, who has written and edited numerous works on Dublin history, and who has explored reading in the city through her tours and podcasts on Dublin’s Independent Bookshops and Dublin’s book clubs.
Monday, 22 November 2021, 10 – 11am
Surfáil sna Scannáin: The History and Cultural Politics of the Irish Surf Film Genre
A talk by Stephen Boyd (PhD Candidate, Film Dept) as part of the School of Creative Arts Research Forum, in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub. Attendance is open to all with relevant interests inside and outside TCD. Please indicate if you have any access requirements, such as ISL/English interpreting, so that we can facilitate you in attending this event.
Wednesday, 24 November 2021, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Dr Juliana Adelman, Dublin City University as part of the Contemporary Irish History Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
Monday, 22 November 2021, 7 – 8:30pm
‘Work is a necessary evil’, wrote the American author Mark Twain. But as we emerge from the pandemic, during which working life for many changed dramatically, do we need to reconsider our attitude to the culture of work? As we transition to remote and flexible working arrangements, is there a nostalgia for the collective rotas and routines of industrial capitalism? How do we value ideas of employment and labour within contemporary society, and how are conventional historical definitions, such as ‘the working class’ or ‘white collar occupations’, changing with the times? In this Behind the Headlines, our panel of experts will consider the function and representation of work from a variety of perspectives, to address the shifting landscape of modern employment and the prospects for our working culture in the future.
Speakers: Caitríona Lally, Rooney Writer Fellow at the Trinity Long Room Hub Caitríona Lally’s first novel Eggshells, was published in the US by Melville House (2017) and in the UK by Borough Press (2018). Caitríona lives in Dublin and divides her time between her young children, her writing, and working in the housekeeping department at Trinity College Dublin. Wunderland is her second novel. When Caitríona was awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish literature in 2018, she received international media attention for being both a writer and a cleaner, with some comparing her to “a real-life Good Will Hunting.”
Ryan Shanks, Managing Director, Accenture, The Dock Ryan has been working for over 20 years at the coal face of industry around the globe, implementing new technologies, restructuring organisations, and developing talent with global organisations. His experience ranges from corporate innovation and organisation design, to culture change and leadership development. The Dock, Accenture’s Flagship R&D Innovation Centre, hosts a diverse team of over 250 creative problem-solvers and allows design, technology and business to meet under one roof.
Ilse White, Corporate Learning Researcher at Learnovate, TCD Ilse consults and collaborates with clients to improve practices in learning design and employee development. Over the past 15 years, she has gained extensive experience in learning design, learning strategy & program management and technology-enhanced learning across a wide range of topics like onboarding and management/leadership development. She holds a MSc in Business Communication from Radboud University Nijmegen (Netherlands) and a Graduate Diploma in Education & eLearning from Dublin City University (DCU).
Dr Carole Holohan, Assistant Professor in Modern Irish History, TCD Carole is a social historian whose research examines the social history of the sixties, with publications on the history of youth and the history of poverty in modern Ireland. Her book Reframing Irish Youth in the Sixties (Liverpool University Press, 2018) also explores Irish attitudes to welfare and employment, economic growth, and emigration. Prior to her arrival at Trinity College, Carole held an Irish Research Council Postdoctoral fellowship at University College Dublin and a teaching fellowship at St. Patrick’s College Drumcondra.
The Trinity Long Room Hub Behind the Headlines series is supported by the John Pollard Foundation.
Tuesday, 16 November 2021, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Dr Alex Alonso 'Seamus Heaney and the Radio Imaginary' as part of the School of English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series 2021-22 in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. The series conveners for the academic year are current PhD students Claire Poynton-Smith, Eric Swartz and Orla Donnelly.
Monday, 15 November 2021, 7 – 8pm
Freemen out with the Tribe: Exiles for Christ from Saints Patrick to Kilian
Online Lecture by Dr Alexander O'Hara, Department of Celtic Languages & Literatures, Harvard University in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub. The event will be chaired by Dr Ciaran O'Neill, Deputy Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub.
This year marks the 15th centenary of the birth of Saint Columcille/ Columba of Iona, born in 521 in Co. Donegal into the royal Uí Néill dynasty. In 563 he left northern Ireland for northern Britain where he established a monastery on the island of Iona in the Hebrides where he died in 597. Columba and his monks from Iona played a key role in the Christianisation of what would become Scotland and northern England. Columba was considered to be a peregrinus pro Christo, 'an exile for Christ' who left his homeland for the uncertainty of life in a foreign country following the biblical precedent of Abraham. This lecture frames Columcille within the development of this concept of exile from the time of Saint Patrick to the eighth century and how this played an important role in the development of Irish ethnic identity in the seventh century.
About the speaker Dr Alexander O’Hara is a Research Fellow in the Loyola Institute, Trinity College Dublin. He is a historian of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages specialising in monastic history and theology, the medieval cult of the saints and medieval Latin literary culture. He is the author of Jonas of Bobbio and the Legacy of Columbanus: Sanctity and Community in the Seventh Century (Oxford University Press, 2018), editor of Columbanus and the Peoples of Post-Roman Europe (Oxford University Press, 2018), and translator of Jonas of Bobbio: Life of Columbanus, Life of John, and Life of Vedast (Liverpool University Press, 2017). He is co-editor of St Sunniva: Irish Queen, Norwegian Patron Saint (Bergen, 2021), a collected volume on the medieval cult of the Irish saint Sunniva, patron of Bergen and Western Norway. He is a Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Scholar in the Department of Celtic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University for 2021-'22.
15th Nov 2021 Can archaeology be ethical? Posthumanism and our connection to the past.
This episode explores the issues of ethical archaeology in museums and political arenas with special guest Dr. Craig Cipolla of the Royal Ontario Museum. Craig and I discuss how these issues play out in cultural institutions and in the field. Through these discussions, we also explore the role that archaeology, as a whole, plays in how we connect, disconnect or reconnect to our past and the pasts of others.
To find out more, visit: bit.ly/hublicsphere
In 1858 the first ever message to be transmitted across an ocean – a note of congratulations from Queen Victoria to President Buchanan of the United States -- was sent from Valentia Island in County Kerry to Trinity Bay in Newfoundland. The 98-word message took 16 hours to transmit, and the US President’s 143-word response was sent in just 10 hours. Improvements in cable technology meant that when the next successful cable was laid, in 1866, messages that had once taken two weeks by ship could be sent in minutes.
Valentia Island in County Kerry played a major role in connecting the old and new worlds for the first time, placing Ireland at the ‘cross hairs’ of the emerging global communications industry. The Valentia Transatlantic Cable Foundation Board, established in May 2016, is now working with the community at Valentia and Kerry County Council to pursue UNESCO Heritage status for the Transatlantic Cable ensemble at Valentia.
Organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub in partnership with the Valentia Transatlantic Cable Foundation on Thursday, to explore the significance of this historic achievement and hear how the ‘wire that changed the world’ continues to inspire us today.
Monday, 8 November 2021, 6 – 7:30pm
A public online lecture on 'Resistance and Responsibility: A Vulnerability Analysis, by Professor Martha Albertson Fineman (Emory University), organised by the Trinity's Centre for Resistance Studies in partnership with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
Martha Albertson Fineman
Martha Albertson Fineman is a Robert W. Woodruff Professor. An internationally recognized law and society scholar, Fineman is a leading authority on critical legal theory and feminist jurisprudence. Following graduation from University of Chicago Law School in 1975, she clerked for the Honorable Luther M. Swygert of the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Fineman began her teaching career at the University of Wisconsin in 1976. In 1990, she moved to Columbia University where she was Maurice T. Moore Professor. Before coming to Emory, she was on the Cornell Law School faculty where she held the Dorothea Clarke Professorship, the first endowed chair in feminist jurisprudence in the nation. Fineman continues to expand the boundaries of feminist jurisprudence, leading the way towards a new legal framework based on vulnerability theory.
Fineman has received numerous awards for her writing and teaching, including the prestigious Harry J. Kalven Jr. Prize for her work in the Law and Society tradition. She is the 2017 recipient of the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2018 was awarded the Miriam M. Netter ‘72 Stoneman Award and gave the Kate Stoneman Day annual lecture at SUNY Albany. She currently teaches courses and seminars on family law, critical legal theory, and feminist jurisprudence. For more information on her scholarship, visit ssrn.com…
About the Trinity's Centre for Resistance Studies The Centre for Resistance Studies fosters interdisciplinary research in Trinity College Dublin in relation to the various types and forms of resistance and its cognate notions, including opposition, dissent, resilience, protest, and non-conformism. https://www.tcd.ie/resistance/about/
Monday, 8 November 2021, 1 – 2pm
An 'in conversation' event featuring Dr Kenneth Pearce (TCD), hosted by Professor Paul O'Grady (TCD).
About Kenneth Pearce Kenneth Pearce is Ussher Assistant Professor in Berkeley Studies (Early Modern Philosophy) and Head of Philosophy in TCD. He is the author of Language and the Structure of Berkeley’s World (Oxford University Press, 2017) and, together with Graham Oppy, Is There a God? A Debate (Routledge, 2021). He is also the author of numerous articles on early modern philosophy and on philosophy of religion.
Thursday, 4 November 2021, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Professor Chris Morash (TCD) 'Voices Off: Reflections on Unseen Plays' as part of the School of English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series 2021-22 in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. The series conveners for the academic year 2021-22 are current PhD students Claire Poynton-Smith, Eric Swartz and Orla Donnelly.
A lecture entitled ‘Shakespeare from the Periphery’ by Professor Murphy held to mark Professor Murphy’s appointment as Professor of English Literature (1867) at the School of English. The lecture demonstrated how Shakespeare’s position as a central figure in global culture is due in part to the efforts of a set of little known figures operating – largely unremarked – in the cultural periphery.
Monday, 11 October 2021, 4 – 5pm
'Rethinking George Berkeley’s legacy' a seminar by Scott Breuninger (Virginia Commonwealth University) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
Wednesday, 6 October 2021, 4 – 5pm
‘These damned strikes’: industrial action, maritime networks and the War of Independence
A seminar by Dr Brian Hanley, Trinity College Dublin as part of the Contemporary Irish History Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
Tuesday, 12 October 2021, 1 – 2pm
An 'in conversation' event featuring TLRH visiting research fellow Dr Aidan O'Malley (University of Rijeka), hosted by Professor Michael Cronin, 1776 Professor of French and Director of the Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation in Trinity College Dublin.
About Aidan O’Malley Aidan O’Malley is an Assistant Professor, and Chair of the Literature section, at the Department of English, University of Rijeka. He received his Ph.D. from the European University Institute, Florence, and is the author of 2 books: Field Day and the Translation of Irish Identities: Performing Contradictions (2011), and (in Croatian) Being Irish in English: Literature, Language and the (Post-)Colonial Experience in Ireland, 1600-2000 (2021). He has also edited with Eve Patten the volume, Ireland, West to East, Irish Cultural Connections with Central and Eastern Europe (2014), and a special issue of the European Journal of English Studies (17: 2, August 2013) on ‘Myths of Europe: East of Venice’.
About Michael Cronin Michael Cronin is 1776 Professor of French and Director of the Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation in Trinity College Dublin. Among his published titles are Translating Ireland: Translation, Languages and Identity (1996); Across the Lines: Travel, Language, Translation (2000); Translation and Globalization (2003); Time Tracks: Scenes from the Irish Everyday; Irish in the New Century/An Ghaeilge san Aois Nua (2005); Translation and Identity (2006); Translation goes to the Movies (2009), Translation in the Digital Age (2013), Eco-Translation: Translation and Ecology in the Age of the Anthropocene (2017) and Irish and Ecology: An Ghaeilge agus an Éiceolaíocht (2019). He is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy and a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin.
In this first episode of season two, we discuss Lucy Sweeney Byrne’s debut short story collection, Paris Syndrome (2019), and widen the conversation to touch on how ‘Paris syndrome’ as a concept speaks to feelings of millennial disconnection in a globalised world, particularly for young women. We also widen the conversation, examining the parallels between autofiction and internet culture, and delve into the theme of connection as it pertains to public constructions the literary sphere. Lucy troubles the idea of ‘the canon’ as an unproblematic connective concept, explores what it means to be a ‘millennial’ Irish women writer amid a flourishing of writing by young Irish women, and sketches the importance of literary journals and magazines as a vehicle of connection between writers and readers. We finish by discussing some of the links between Lucy’s writing and her mother, Cathy Sweeney’s.
To find out more, visit: bit.ly/hublicsphere
Tuesday, 21 September 2021, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Professor Eve Patten, Trinity College Dublin, as part of the School of English Staff Postgrad Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
In 1919 D.H. Lawrence wrote of Ireland as ‘a blank round O on the map – a sort of nowhere’, yet Irish references permeate his later novels, often in relation to his fears of an English revolution. This talk traces his Irish connections and considers them in the broader context of English-Irish literary relations after the First World War.
Professor Eve Patten lectures in the School of English, TCD, and is Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute. Her most recent publication is, as editor, Irish Literature in Transition, 1940-1980 (Cambridge UP, 2020), and her talk is from Ireland, Revolution, and the English Modernist Imagination, forthcoming from Oxford UP.
Monday, 27 September 2021 In the wake of the US and British withdrawal from Afghanistan and the crisis that has ensued, how should the world reflect on the history of western intervention in this region, and how should we reassess the concept and protocols of international responsibility? What is the best way forward for those trying to respond to the humanitarian disaster, and to the implications, in particular, for women under the resurgent Taliban regime? In this Behind the Headlines discussion, our panel of experts will address the situation in Afghanistan in the wider contexts of diplomacy, humanitarianism, ethics and culture, in order to bring to light some of the lessons that should be learned from the catastrophic events of recent weeks.
Speakers:
Nelofer Pazira-Fisk, Irish-based Afghan-Canadian journalist and film-maker. Roja Fazaeli, Associate Prof in Islamic Civilisations, TCD Soraya Afzali, Afghan journalist and Phd Candidate, Near and Middle Eastern Studies Dr. Vincent Durac Associate Professor, School of Politics and International Relations, College of Social Sciences and Law, University College Dublin
The Trinity Long Room Hub Behind the Headlines series is supported by the John Pollard Foundation.
Friday, 17 September 2021, 12 – 1pm What can we learn about a writer from reading their letters? This online roundtable, organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub as part of Culture Night 2021, invites a panel of experts to reflect on the letters of three major writers, American author Shirley Jackson, American poet John Berryman, and Irish novelist John McGahern. The roundtable will feature Bernice Murphy (TCD), Philip Coleman (TCD), and Frank Shovlin (University of Liverpool), and will be chaired by Eve Patten, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub.
About the speakers
Philip Coleman is Professor in the School of English, Trinity College Dublin. His is an expert on American poetry and short fiction, and is the author/editor of several books, including John Berryman’s Public Vision (2014), David Foster Wallace: Critical Insights (2015), and George Saunders: Critical Essays (2017). His most recent book is the Selected Letters of John Berryman (Harvard University Press, 2020), which he co-edited with Calista McRae (New Jersey Institute of Technology).
Bernice M. Murphy is an Associate Professor and Lecturer in Popular Literature in the School of English, Trinity College, Dublin. Her books include the edited collection Shirley Jackson: Essays on the Literary Legacy (2005), The Suburban Gothic in American Popular Culture (2009), The Rural Gothic: Backwoods Horror and Terror in the Wilderness (2013), and The California Gothic in Fiction and Film (forthcoming). Bernice was an expert consultant on The Letters of Shirley Jackson, edited by Laurence Jackson Hyman (Random House, 2021).
Frank Shovlin is Professor of Irish Literature in English at the Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool. His several publications include Journey Westward: Joyce, Dubliners and the Literary Revival (2012), and Touchstones: John McGahern’s Classical Style (2016). Frank is editor of the newly-published Letters of John McGahern (Faber, 2021).
15th Sep 2021 A lecture by Mark Little to launch the Trinity Long Room Hub’s Schuler Democracy Forum on the United Nations International Day of Democracy 2021.
Mark Little has spent 30 years working on the faultline of media, technology and democracy. In 'Media for Humanity - a brief history of the future of journalism', his inaugural talk as Schuler Democracy Forum Media Fellow, he looks back on three decades of media disruption and builds the optimist's case for a new era of purpose-driven journalism.
Mark Little is an entrepreneur, journalist and Trinity College graduate. He spent 20 years in broadcast news, as a reporter and presenter for RTE. He was the station's first Washington Correspondent. In 2001, he won the Irish TV Journalist of the Year award for his reporting from Afghanistan. He was also anchor of the current affairs programme Prime Time, and wrote three books about US and world affairs. In 2010, he founded the world's first social news agency Storyful, which was eventually sold to News Corp. He worked for Twitter, as Vice President for Media in Europe and Managing Director of its International Headquarters. In 2017, he co-founded Kinzen, which combines editorial skills and artificial intelligence to protect online conversations and communities. Mark also served on the Future of Media Commission, established by the Irish government in 2020 to provide a strategy for the future of public media in Ireland.
Schuler Democracy Forum is a new three-year initiative, funded by Dr Beate Schuler, that engages Trinity's research in the arts and humanities with questions relating to the media and democracy. Working with media, enterprise, policymakers and civil society organisations, the Forum is committed to transforming research into real-world practice and activity.
Thursday, 15 July 2021, 12:30 – 2pm Interdisciplinary Panel - The Challenges of Integrating Interdisciplinarity in Academia A panel discussion linking to our first event, where experts in the field discuss the challenges of interdisciplinarity and Neurohumanities.
The newly formed NeuroHumanities Networking Group is dedicated to providing a functional framework for postgraduates engaged or interested in interdisciplinary research and seeking to expand their network and knowledge base. The NeuroHumanities Networking Group is piloting its first 4-week series of online events over the summer, designed to foster connections within Trinity, hosted by Trinity Long Room Hub, hosted by Trinity Long Room Hub.Organised by Amelia McConville, School of English and in association with the Institute of Neuroscience, and Fiona Stout, Fiona Stout, School of Creative Arts , the series is supported by the Postgraduate Wellbeing & Community Fund and Professor Mani Ramaswami, Director of Trinity Institute of Neurosciences (TCIN). Attending all 4 sessions of the series is highly encouraged.
About the organisers Amelia McConville is a PhD student conducting interdisciplinary research on visual poetry and poetics with Neurohumanities at the School of English and in association with the Institute of Neuroscience. Always fascinated by the overlap of art and science, she graduated with a B.A. in English Literature and Philosophy from Trinity College Dublin in 2017, working in fundraising for the College before commencing doctoral research in 2018. Passionate about education, she works part-time with the Trinity Access Programmes and as a private tutor, and she is interested in yoga, film, music, and visual culture.
Fiona Stout is currently an MLitt conducting interdisciplinary, neurohumanities research on the interconnective soft tissue matrix known as fascia and fluidity in the actor-body. Key areas of research include fascia, neuroscience, trauma, embodiment, flow-state, cellular mechanics, biotensegrity, and physiology. Fiona moved to Ireland from California in 2014, graduating with a BA in acting from The Lir in 2017, after which she re-certified as a yoga teacher and has continued to upskill with workshops and trainings ever since. She seeks to facilitate ease for her students and collaborators, empowering them to use their bodies in more fluid and fascia-friendly ways. Key inspirations in her work include Katy Bowman, Amanda Brennan, Lisa Feldman Barrett, John Sharkey, and Antonio Damasio. Find her on insta and twitch @missfiyoga.
Thursday, 1 July 2021, 12:30 – 1:30pm
Guest Lecture - Mani Ramaswami on the Importance of Integrating Neurohumanities
Professor Mani Ramaswami (TCIN) will give a presentation on Neurohumanities and its potential and importance within Trinity, followed by a Q&A.
Professor Mani Ramaswami (TCIN) presentation will touch on the history thus far of NeuroHumanities and NeuroHumanities research at Trinity, the work that is currently being supported and/or emerging, and exciting future potentialities in this area. It will also touch on the challenges of bridging disciplines, the importance of language, the tensions present between "soft" and "hard" sciences, and potential ways of negotiating the potential hurdles this emerging discipline often faces. All are welcome to attend the presentation and Q&A afterwards, which will provide a stimulating and exciting discussion.
About Professor Mani Ramaswami Mani Ramaswami is the professor of neurogenetics at Trinity College Dublin. Ramaswami’s laboratory was among the first to combine cell biology and genetics to analyze synaptic mechanisms in Drosophila. His current work is focused on neuronal functions of RNA-granules and RNA-binding proteins in vivo and neural circuit mechanisms involved in behavioral habituation. Based on his laboratory’s studies of olfactory habituation in Drosophila, Ramaswami recently proposed that habituation may be generally mediated by inhibitory representations or negative images of excitatory stimulus ensembles created by a specific form of excitation-inhibition balancing that is altered in autism spectrum disorders.
About NeuroHumanities Networking Group The newly formed NeuroHumanities Networking Group is dedicated to providing a functional framework for postgraduates engaged or interested in interdisciplinary research and seeking to expand their network and knowledge base. The NeuroHumanities Networking Group is piloting its first 4-week series of online events over the summer, designed to foster connections within Trinity, hosted by Trinity Long Room Hub, hosted by Trinity Long Room Hub.. Organised by Amelia McConville, School of English and in association with the Institute of Neuroscience, and Fiona Stout, Fiona Stout, School of Creative Arts , the series is supported by the Postgraduate Wellbeing & Community Fund and Professor Mani Ramaswami, Director of Trinity Institute of Neurosciences (TCIN). Attending all 4 sessions of the series is highly encouraged.
Monday, 28 June 2021, 7 – 8pm
A panel discussion organised by the School of Linguistic Speech and Communication Sciences in association with the Bosnia Herzegovina Association of Ireland, and hosted by Trinity Long Room Hub.
Over twenty-five years since the end of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, atrocities such as the Srebrenica genocide, in which over 8000 boys and men were killed by Bosnian Serb armed forces in a UN ‘safe area’ in July 1995, continue to impact the lives of survivors.
In this panel discussion, international academics and advocates will reflect on the aftermath of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995). They will share perspectives on post-conflict Bosnia and consider the impact of trauma and displacement on the region. They will also explore the significance of remembering Srebrenica and other crimes against humanity perpetrated across Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war.
The event involves engagement with the Bosnia Herzegovina Association of Ireland, a voluntary group representing the Bosnian community in this country. It will share the lived experience of the Bosnian community in Ireland, which developed from a refugee resettlement programme in the 1990s. This will provide an opportunity for reflection on the reception of Bosnians who arrived in Ireland almost a generation ago and current attitudes towards refugees and asylum seekers.
An online event hosted by Trinity Long Room Hub to mark the launch of Approximate Formality - Morphology of Irish Towns by Valerie Mulvin architect of the TLRH. Professor Linda Doyle (Provost Elect of Trinity College Dublin) will speak, along with an introduction to the book by author Valerie Mulvin, followed by Q&A.
"Approximate Formality" discusses the origin, originality and potential of towns and town plans in Ireland, from earliest times to the Famine, so they can be understood as a part of European and world culture. When people are genuinely looking for more sustainable ways to live lightly on the earth, this book opens the possibility of sustainable re-use of these brilliant places, bringing life back to what is actually an instant environment, based on an understanding of their significance. The book’s intention is to highlight the originality and excitement of these places, not just as old things re-made, but as potentially a whole new way of looking at living.
“This book is partly a lockdown project and partly the completion of something which has been with me for over 20 years. Since my work on the book started, Ireland has also changed. During lockdown, lots of people have moved out of cities to new lives in the countryside - particularly in small Irish towns. This is a natural process, but it brings huge opportunities to those towns at a key moment. This book is timely in showing how an understanding of their architecture and urban design serves to support ways in which Irish towns might be carefully conserved, and sustainably developed, to provide homes for thousands of additional people. This is one of the key questions for Ireland now. If it is answered originally, it will be Ireland’s significant contribution to world culture for the next number of years.” – Valerie Mulvin
Valerie Mulvin is an architect and co-founder of McCullough Mulvin Architects in Dublin, and a member of Aosdána. She works in Ireland and internationally to make innovative contemporary architecture which is sensitive to place and context, using radical conservation to stitch old and new fabric together to sustain towns and cities for a new generation. Valerie has travelled extensively studying urban history, space and design, re-connecting Irish experience to its European origins. Her research on Irish towns began with a M.Litt in Trinity College Dublin in the early 1990’s. Previous books include "A Lost Tradition - The Nature of Architecture in Ireland".
"Approximate Formality" is extensively illustrated with new plans, maps and images, many of which are being published in Ireland for the first time. It is designed by Unthink and published by The Anne Street Press. It will be available in hardback for €35 from all good book shops.
Tuesday, 27 April 2021, 4 – 5pm
A talk by Dr Kasia Szymanska (TCD Russian and Slavonic Studies) as part of the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
In recent decades, projects called "translation multiples" have emerged with translators, writers and intellectuals multiplying different translation variants of the same originals. In this talk, Dr Szymanska will discuss the cultural and political implications behind this new genre of writing. The seminar will look at the context of global English to explain how similar projects may resist the hegemony of the global lingua franca. Second, it will examine the unexpected significance of translation multiples for the post-1989 political transformation in Poland while also stressing the pluralist role of translation in face of the rising tide of political tribalism. This talk is based on Dr Szymanska's first book project, Translation Multiples: From Global Culture to Postcommunist Democracy.
Dr Kasia Szymanska is Thomas Brown Assistant Professor in the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultural Studies at Trinity College Dublin. She is also a research associate of the Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation research centre, which she co-convened in 2016-2019 during her Junior Research Fellowship at the University of Oxford. Her work has appeared in PMLA, Contemporary Literature, Slavic and East European Journal, and several edited volumes such as: Translations in Times of Disruptions (Palgrave 2017), Prismatic Translation (Legenda 2019), and Retracing the History of Literary Translation in Poland (Routledge 2021). She was awarded the 2015 EST Translation Prize, represented Oxford in the 2019 CHCI-Mellon Global Humanities Institute "Challenges of Translation" and remains involved in the AHRC/OWRI “Creative Multilingualism” research grant at Oxford.
Tuesday, 4 May 2021, 4 – 5pm
A research seminar by Dr Sinéad Moriarty (TCD) as part of the School of English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series 2020-21 in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. The series conveners for the academic year 2020-21 are current PhD students Orlaith Darling, Janice Deitner and Maggie Masterson.
Tuesday, 11 May 2021, 4 – 5pm
Research presentations by Jason Marrott, Tom Hedley, and Conor Brennan as part of the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
Speaking to the Mirror: A Brief Cultural History of Solitude JASON MARROTT There is an inherently paradoxical aspect to the mediation of solitude, for to express it entails a betrayal of its core principal: the seclusion of the individual from the many. When an audience learns of an experience of solitude, it necessarily ceases to truly be a solitary one. The choice to practice solitude is often taken directly in reaction to society. Indeed, the cognitive framework, barriers, ideologies, and cultural practices of the society a solitary figure purports to have left, still guide his or her experience of solitude and understanding of self. Historically, the discourse of ‘solitude’ has tended to posit the categories of ‘solitary’ and ‘community’ as opposed, but an examination of the cultural history of solitude as an embodied experience (in the West) shows us that the two both reciprocally define, and are defined by one another. The very act of mediating solitude back to a community is an act of bridging the gap, so to speak, between the community and its other. This presentation will briefly present and explore a survey of episodes of Solitude which exemplify this complementary relationship with the ultimate goal of offering an answer to the question: can one ever truly be alone?
Jason Marrott is a PhD student in the Department of Germanic Studies at TCD. He has a background in Comparative Literature and Applied Linguistics.
Spatial Reckonings: 'Das Raumproblem' in Modern Mathematics & German Modernism TOM HEDLEY Despite the ascent of academic ‘interdisciplinarity’, mathematics and the arts continue to be viewed as ‘two cultures’ that have divergent origins, influences and aims — an enduring perception that this research seeks to undermine. By examining the the problem of space in the transformative era of the late 19th Century to the early 20th Century, this paper aims to show how modern mathematics can be integrated into the wider modernist epoch. Specifically, this paper will use the historical context and common philosophical as a springboard to propose a more meaningful comparison of the two fields.
Tom Hedley is a PhD candidate in the Department of Germanic Studies at TCD and is supervised by Dr Caitríona Leahy. A graduate of German and Mathematics at TCD, Tom completed an MA in German Literature at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena with the support of a DAAD scholarship. His PhD research is funded by the Irish Research Council.
Out of the cage, into the echo chamber: Finding forms for the Anthropocene CONOR BRENNAN The talk will consider some of the interactions between ecocritical discourse and literary form, drawing on examples from contemporary writers Christoph Ransmayr, Olga Tokarczuk and Richard Flanagan. As a literary reference point shared by all three writers, the talk will also touch on texts by Franz Kafka. One of the questions this comparison raises is how exactly the contemporary hopes to catch up with itself—to catch itself ‘in the act'.
Conor Brennan is a PhD candidate in the Department of Germanic Studies, under the supervision of Dr Caitríona Leahy. He holds a BA in English & German from TCD and an MSt from the University of Oxford, where he was an Ertegun Scholar. His doctoral research is funded by the Irish Research Council and a TCD Foundation Scholarship.
For the past 2.5 years, the SHAPE-ID project has been addressing the challenge of how to strengthen the integration of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences in inter- and transdisciplinary research with STEM disciplines and societal partners.
On the 10th June 2021, we launched our final project toolkit, which offers tools and resources to help researchers, research organisations, funders, policymakers, and societal partners make informed decisions about developing and supporting inter- and transdisciplinary research with the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, STEM disciplines, and societal partners.
A celebration of John Scattergood's Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Middle English and Some Old English, organised by the Manuscript, Book and Print Cultures Research Theme in partnership with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
To over a million visitors a year, Trinity is synonymous with the Book of Kells, But that ninth-century Irish manuscript is only part of the story. Ranging in date from the fifth century to the sixteenth and in origin from across Western Europe, Trinity’s six hundred western medieval manuscripts contain languages from Latin and Greek to Old Irish, Welsh, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Provencal and Vaudois. Over eighty of them contain English, and, until the publication of The Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Middle English and Some Old English by John Scattergood with Niamh Patwell and Emma Williams by Four Courts Press in April 2021, this fascinating and important subsection of the collection remained undescribed. This celebration honours this seminal event, with a tribute to Professor Scattergood’s work and an appraisal of the important research it will facilitate.
During the first covid-19 lockdown in Ireland, four early career researchers and two postdocs at Trinity’s arts and humanities institute, The Trinity Long Room Hub ('The Hub'), started chatting about new possibilities for producing and sharing academic knowledge through a podcast.
Each team member was responsible for an episode around the season's theme, “Modalities of Power,” in conversation with experts from academia and activism, connecting debates in their respective fields to current events. For the final episode, we look back and reflect on individual episodes and the broader process of creating the podcast, producing the first season, and now handing it off to the next team!
Thank you all for listening to our first season. We look forward to welcoming you back to the Hublic soon. To find out more, visit: bit.ly/hublicsphere
Tuesday, 25 May 2021, 2:30 – 5pm
People, Place and Power: Grand Jury Records and Local History Presented in association with Local Government Archivists and Records Managers.
Links to videos in podcast - People, Place and Power: Grand Jury Records and Local History - Donegal - YouTube -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5csuCtgQFY8
People, Place and Power: Grand Jury Records and Local History - Wicklow Archive - YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1roH2WOJBs
People, Place and Power: Grand Jury Records and Local History - YouTube Offaly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDVOFf7SnqY In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Grand Jury was ‘most important local body in rural Ireland’. Its records are a unique source for Irish local history, social change and genealogy. While many Grand Jury records were destroyed during the 1916–1923 period, vital collections still survive at local level across Ireland, where they are preserved by Local Archive services.
The showcase will reveal how the Grand Jury’s decisions impacted directly on daily life, enforcing the law at the local level, collecting taxation and deciding where it would be spent. Grand Juries did more than build roads, bridges, courthouses and prisons. They paid for orphaned children to be boarded-out, escorted convicts for transportation, and produced very early and highly detailed maps of their districts.
Professor Virginia Crossman, author of Local Government in Nineteenth-Century Ireland, will discuss the significance of the Grand Jury records for historical research. The showcase will also visit – virtually – the reading rooms of three Local Archive services across the country, in Counties Donegal, Offaly and Wicklow, bringing you into contact with these fascinating records.
Speakers:
Professor Virginia Crossman (Emerita, Oxford Brookes) Niamh Brennan (Donegal Archives); Lisa Shortall (Offaly Archives); Catherine Wright (Wicklow County Archives & Genealogy Service) Brian Gurrin and David Brown (Beyond 2022 Project)
25th May 2021 An online lecture by Richard Ovenden, Bodley’s Librarian, University of Oxford, and author of Burning the Books: A History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge (John Murray Press).
Richard Ovenden's lecture will discuss the deliberate destruction of knowledge held in libraries and archives from ancient Alexandria to contemporary Sarajevo, from smashed Assyrian tablets in Iraq to the destroyed immigration documents of the United Kingdom’s Windrush generation. He will examine both the motivations for these acts—political, religious, and cultural—and the broader themes that shape this history. He will also look at attempts to prevent and mitigate attacks on knowledge, exploring the efforts of librarians and archivists to preserve information, often risking their own lives in the process.
The event will include a response by Helen Shenton, College Librarian and Archivist, Trinity College Dublin.
About the speaker
Richard Ovenden has been Bodley’s Librarian (the senior Executive position of the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford) since 2014. Prior to that he held positions at Durham University Library, the House of Lords Library, the National Library of Scotland, and the University of Edinburgh. He moved to the Bodleian in 2003 as Keeper of Special Collections, becoming Deputy Librarian in 2011. He was educated at the University of Durham and University College London, and holds a Professorial Fellowship at Balliol College, Oxford. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, the Royal Society of Arts, and a Member of the American Philosophical Society. He was awarded the OBE in The Queen’s Birthday Honours 2019.
Richard serves as Treasurer of the Consortium of European Research Libraries, as President of the Digital Preservation Coalition, and as a member of the Board of the Council on Library and Information Resources (in Washington DC).
He has written extensively on the history of the book, on the history of photography, and on current concerns in the library, archive and information worlds.
Previous Books
Burning the Books, A History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge (2020) John Thomson (1837-1921): Photographer (1997) A Radical’s Books (with Michael Hunter, Giles Mandelbrote, and Nigel Smith) (1999)
About the Out of the Ashes Lecture Series
This three-year lecture series explores the theme of cultural loss and recovery across the centuries, from the destruction of the Library of Alexandria in antiquity to contemporary acts of cultural loss and destruction. Across twelves events, a panel of world-leading experts has reflected on how societies deal with cultural trauma through reconstruction and commemoration, and on how the international community should respond to cultural loss. The series has been global in scope, pan-historical and multi-disciplinary in approach, and featured international scholars and practitioners of the highest calibre.
The Out of the Ashes lecture series is generously supported by Sean and Sarah Reynolds.
This evening lecture forms part of a day-long research showcase from the Beyond 2022: Ireland's Virtual Record Treasury Research Project marking the centenary of The Custom House Fire, 25 May 2021, organized in association with the Local Government Archives and Record Managers and supported by the Government of Ireland, through the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, under Project Ireland 2040
Wednesday, 19 May 2021, 1 – 2pm
May 2021 marks the publication of a major new intellectual biography of Bishop George Berkeley by Tom Jones (University of St Andrews), George Berkeley: A Philosophical Life (Princeton University Press, 2021). Trinity Long Room Hub is pleased to host a conversation with Dr Jones that will centre on Berkeley’s life, connections to Trinity and Ireland, and his relationship to colonialism as he moved between the ‘new’ world and the ‘old’. The event is free and all are welcome. The event will be chaired by Dr Clare Moriarty.
Speakers
Tom Jones (St Andrews) is Reader in the School of English at the University of St Andrews. His books include Pope and Berkeley: The Language of Poetry and Philosophy and an edition of Pope’s Essay on Man (Princeton). He lives in Dundee, Scotland.
Kenneth Pearce (TCD) is Ussher Assistant Professor and a historian of modern philosophy and philosopher of religion at Trinity College Dublin. His historical work focuses on issues at the intersection of metaphysics, theology, and philosophy of science in 17th and 18th century philosophy, especially the work of George Berkeley
Clare Moriarty (TCD) is an Irish Research Council postdoctoral fellow at the Philosophy Department and The Long Room Hub. Her work focuses on early modern philosophy and mathematics.
Tuesday, 18 May 2021, 1 – 2pm
A lecture by Dr Angela Griffith organised by the Manuscript, Book and Print Cultures Research Theme in partnership with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
Elizabeth Corbet Yeats used the term ‘art printing’ to describe the work of the Cuala Press. She promoted the press as a hand-craft enterprise, one that celebrated the best of Irish materials and skills. Under Yeats’ stewardship, the Cuala Press became a space where Irish artists had the opportunity to work in printmaking and to promote themselves professionally. This paper will explore the artistry of the prints produced, many of which were designed by her brother the painter Jack Yeats. It will examine the processes involved, including those that were at odds with other contemporary private press practices. It will also consider the aesthetic agenda of the press within the wider contexts of the period from its foundation in 1908, a time of political, social and cultural change in Ireland.
Angela Griffith is an assistant professor with the Department of the History of Art and Architecture, TCD and is director of the Irish Art Research Centre, TCD. Recent and ongoing research; Cuala Press Project, Schooner Foundation 2020-2023, principal investigator in partnership with Trinity College Library, Making their Mark; Irish Painter-Etchers 1880-1930, (Dublin 2019) (co-author, and co-curator of National Gallery of Ireland exhibition of same title), Harry Clarke; Artistic Visions of the New Irish State, (Dublin, 2018) (co-editor).
Thursday, 13 May 2021, 6 – 7pm
A public event organized by Holocaust Awareness Ireland and the Herzog Centre at Trinity College Dublin, in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub. "Why Talk About The Holocaust?" is the second event in this series. Daniel Mendelsohn author of the internationally bestselling Holocaust family saga, The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million will be in conversation with Oliver Sears, moderated by Zuleika Rodgers.
Daniel Mendelsohn is an award-winning memoirist, critic, essayist and translator. A longtime contributor to the New Yorker and New York Review of Books, where he is Editor-at-Large, he has also been a columnist on books, film, TV, and culture for BBC Culture, New York, Harpers, and the New York Times Book Review. His books include the memoirs An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic (2017), the internationally bestselling Holocaust family saga The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million (2006), a translation of the Modern Greek poet Constantine Cavafy, and three collections of essays, most recently Ecstasy and Terror: From the Greeks to Game of Thrones (2019). His tenth book, Three Rings: A Tale of Exile, Narrative, and Fate, published in September, 2020, was named a Kirkus Best Book of the Year. Mr. Mendelsohn is the Director of the Robert B. Silvers Foundation, a charitable trust that supports nonfiction writing, and teaches literature at Bard College.
Oliver Sears is a London-born, Dublin-based art dealer & gallery owner. He is the son of a Holocaust survivor & founder of Holocaust Awareness Ireland. Formerly a trustee of Holocaust Education Trust Ireland, he is a frequent contributor to radio and newspapers including RTÉ and The Irish Times. He tells his family story ‘The Objects of Love’ through a collection of precious objects, documents and photographs, powerful mementoes that survived the war and describe individual lives under Nazi occupation. This was presented for the 2019 annual Kristallnacht lecture at Trinity College Dublin.
Zuleika Rodgers is Associate Professor in Jewish Studies at Trinity College Dublin. A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, she is the Director of the Herzog Centre for Jewish and Near Eastern Religions and Cultures and is currently Head of Department of Near and Middle Eastern Studies. She has been involved in Holocaust awareness and education and is the Academic Director of the Certificate in Holocaust Education.
Friday, 7 May 2021, 11am – 12:15pm
This special centenary joint symposium will address the cultural, political and social legacies of Irish partition in 1921. The symposium consists of two panels: the first, from Trinity College, Dublin, will discuss the cultural and literary legacies of partition; the second, from Queen’s University, Belfast, will cover the political and social consequences. Each panel consists of three speakers who will present for 10 minutes each, followed by audience Q and A.
The symposium is hosted by the Trinity Long Room Hub.
This special centenary joint symposium will address the cultural, political and social legacies of Irish partition in 1921. The symposium consists of two panels: the first, from Trinity College, Dublin, will discuss the cultural and literary legacies of partition; the second, from Queen’s University, Belfast, will cover the political and social consequences. Each panel consists of three speakers who will present for 10 minutes each, followed by audience Q and A.
The symposium is hosted by the Trinity Long Room Hub.
Chair: Ciaran O'Neill
Ciaran O'Neill is Associate Professor in Nineteenth Century History at Trinity College Dublin and Deputy Director of Trinity Long Room Hub. He is editor (with Finola O'Kane Crimmins) of the forthcoming MUP collection, Ireland, Slavery and the Caribbean (2022) and is currently completing a second monograph, entitled Life in a Palliative State (OUP, 2022). His current research projects focus on the Eastern Caribbean.
Speakers:
Stephen O’Neill Stephen O’Neill’s monograph, Irish Culture and Partition 1920-1955 is forthcoming with Liverpool University Press. From 2019-2020 he was an National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow at the University of Notre Dame’s Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies. A graduate of Queen’s University Belfast, he completed his PhD in the School of English at Trinity College in 2018. Stephen will discuss the early literature and culture of partition in Ireland, with a focus on the 1920s.
Guy Woodward
Guy Woodward is the author of Culture, Northern Ireland, and the Second World War, published by OUP in 2015. He completed his doctorate and IRC-funded postdoctorate in Trinity College, and is currently Post-Doctoral Research Associate on the project ‘The Political Warfare Executive, Covert Propaganda and British Culture’ in the Department of English Studies, Durham University. He will talk on ‘Border crossings in Irish wartime writing’.
Eve Patten
Eve Patten is Professor in Trinity’s School of English and is currently Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute. She is the editor of Irish Literature in Transition, 1940 – 1980 (CUP, 2020) and is completing a monograph, Ireland, Revolution and the English Modernist Imagination, for OUP. She will discuss depictions of the Irish border in English film and literature.
Classical Athens excluded groups of people from political power – enslaved people, metics (non-Athenian residents) and women. In this episode, Elizabeth Foley talks with Dr. Carrie Sawtell and Dr. Katherine Backler about women in Classical Athens in the context and question of “power” and through a selection of material and literary sources discusses how women experienced and engaged with their society despite political powerlessness.
Dr. Carrie Sawtell holds an MA and PhD from the University of Sheffield. Carrie recently held the Macmillan-Rodewald Studentship at the British School at Athens, and is currently training to teach secondary history
Dr. Katherine Backler is an Examination Fellow at All Souls College at the University of Oxford where she recently defended her doctoral thesis.
Host, Elizabeth Foley, is a PhD candidate (Irish Research Council Postgraduate Scholar) in Classics at Trinity College Dublin.
To find out more, visit: bit.ly/hublicsphere
Wednesday, 31 March 2021, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Sean Aylward, Former Secretary General, Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform as part of the Contemporary Irish History Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
Tuesday, 6 April 2021, 4 – 5pm
A research seminar by Dr Ian Hickey (Mary Immaculate College, Limerick) as part of the School of English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series 2020-21 in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. The series conveners for the academic year 2020-21 are current PhD students Orlaith Darling, Janice Deitner and Maggie Masterson.
Tuesday, 13 April 2021, 4 – 5pm
A talk by Prof Edhem Eldem (Collège de France) as part of the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
From Chateaubriand to Owen Jones, and from Washington Irving to Jean-Léon Gérôme, travellers, poets, artists, novelists, and architects have greatly contributed to the rediscovery of the Alhambra in the 19th century, thus feeding into the development of modern tourism, romanticism, medievalism, and, perhaps most of all, orientalism. The predominance of this Western phenomenon has masked the fact that the monument was also visited by increasing numbers of “Orientals,” from Moroccan envoys to Ottoman diplomats, and from Maronite pilgrims to Arab and Turkish intellectuals. Tens of such visitors can be tracked down through the signatures and comments they left in the Alhambra’s visitor’s book, kept since 1829. Thanks to this unique source, combined with the personal writings of some prominent visitors and reports published in the local press, one can reconstitute the fascinating story of an alternative discovery, that of the Alhambra by the alleged heirs of the civilization it represented.
Edhem Eldem is a professor at the Department of History of Boğaziçi University and holds the International Chair of Turkish and Ottoman History at the Collège de France. He has also taught at Berkeley, Harvard, Columbia, EHESS, EPHE, ENS, and was a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. His fields of interest include the Levant trade, funerary epigraphy, Istanbul, the Ottoman Bank, archaeology and photography in the Ottoman lands, Ottoman first-person narratives, Westernization, and orientalism.
Selected publications: French Trade in Istanbul in the Eighteenth Century (1999); A History of the Ottoman Bank (1999); The Ottoman City between East and West: Aleppo, Izmir and Istanbul (1999, with D. Goffman and B. Masters); Pride and Privilege. A History of Ottoman Orders, Medals and Decorations (2004); Consuming the Orient (2007); Scramble for the Past: A Story of Archaeology in the Ottoman Empire (2011, with Zainab Bahrani and Zeynep Çelik); Camera Ottomana. Photography and Modernity in the Ottoman Empire (2015, with Zeynep Çelik); L’Empire ottoman et la Turquie face à l’Occident (2018). His latest work on the subject, L’Alhambra, à la croisée des histoires, is scheduled for publication at les Belles Lettres, Paris, in May, 2021.
Wednesday, 14 April 2021, 4 – 5pm ‘Hark to the beat of the drums, the battle has begun’: The 1921 ‘Partition’ Election for the Southern and Northern Parliaments
A seminar by Dr Elaine Callinan (Carlow College) as part of the Contemporary Irish History Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
Monday, 19 April 2021, 4 – 5pm Limits of Napoleon’s powers. The resilience of Dutch overseas trade networks during the Continental System
A seminar by Prof. Marjolein t’Hart (Huygens Institute, The Hague) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
Monday, 22 March 2021, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Ms Kathleen McCrudden (Yale) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
Wednesday, 21 April 2021, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Dr Paul Corthorn (QUB) as part of the Contemporary Irish History Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
Monday, 1 March 2021, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Mr David Briscoe (TCD) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
Tuesday, 20 April 2021, 4 – 5pm
Research seminars by Dearbhaile Houston (TCD) and Hannah Mathew (TCD) as part of the School of English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series 2020-21 in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
Dearbhaile Houston will present a paper entitled "‘You have to rise above your circumstances’: The Neoliberal University in Nicole Flattery’s “Abortion, A Love Story”." Hannah Mathew's research centers on "Biopolitics, Immunity, and the Intellectual in Cold-War Western Dystopias."
The Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. The series conveners for the academic year 2020-21 are current PhD students Orlaith Darling, Janice Deitner and Maggie Masterson.
The Age of the Technocene: Why we need the Arts and Humanities in the 4th Industrial Revolution
The Trinity Long Room Hub Annual Humanities Horizons Lecture for 2021 will be delivered by Professor Andrew Thompson CBE (Professor of Global and Imperial History, Nuffield College, Oxford and co-chair of the Global and Imperial History Centre at the University of Oxford).
With the increase in planet-warming greenhouse gases, rising sea levels, and a growing frequency of extreme weather events, the age of the anthropocene has become a familiar refrain. We live at a time when human activity is the dominant influence on our environment. If we accept even just a few of the claims made for the so-called 4th Industrial — or data science — revolution, the age of the technocene would seem to have equal justification.
Digital communication technologies and data are increasingly present in every aspect of our lives. Professor Andrew Thompson will argue that if we are to navigate and negotiate our way through the twenty-first century’s industrial revolution, we will need the arts and humanities to guide the way. The machines that propelled the Industrial Revolution of the Victorian era were those of muscle power. Today’s industrial revolution is propelled by cognitive power. We should be asking not what these new technologies will do to us, but what we will do with them. The 4th Industrial Revolution is not just a matter of technological challenge but of fundamental questions about how we build the kind of societies and communities in which people will want to live.
About Andrew Thompson: Andrew Thompson is Professor of Global and Imperial History and Professorial Fellow at Nuffield College. He is the co-chair of the Global and Imperial History Centre at the University of Oxford. Professor Thompson’s research interests span the effects of empire on British private and public life during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He has also written on Anglo-Argentine relations, colonial South Africa, transnational migration and migrant remittances, and public memories and legacies of empire. He is currently researching international humanitarianism and the aid sector, which is the subject of his forthcoming work, Humanitarianism on Trial: How a global system of aid and development emerged through the end of empire (Oxford University Press).
From 2015 to 2020 Professor Thompson was Executive Chair of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). During his period in office he secured a £19 million grant for Museums and Galleries, as part of the Strategic Priorities Fund, Towards a National Collection: Opening UK Heritage to the World. He was responsible for securing the £10 million Policy and Evidence Centre for Modern Slavery and Human Rights and a further £80 million Creative Industries programme, funded by the Industrial Strategy. Until April 2021, he remains the UKRI International Lead for the £1.5 billion Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and the Newton Fund. Professor Thompson was awarded a CBE in the 2021 New Years’ Honours List for his services to Research.
Thursday, 15 April 2021, 6:30 – 7:30pm
Named for the informal gatherings of radical thinkers and reformers of the 19th century, we’re excited to come together once more to discuss projects and ideas beyond discipline. This month the Art+Science Salon is returning to explore the evolution of musical tastes and mutations across time. How have our experiences, histories and increasingly connected and interdependent experiences influence the music we listen to and create? As globalisation continues to mix and remix our perspectives and preferences, what tones, rhythms, and sounds diffuse across the world reflecting the needs and values of listeners?
Cross-disciplinary artist Tia Vellani is joining us at the Art+Science Salon to speak about an ongoing project in which she explores the impact of the arts and sciences upon one another. The Genetics of Music playfully explores the concept of mutations and natural selection of music as a model for genetic engineering and evolution. Drawing on Tia's background in molecular biology and music, she worked in collaboration with mathematician and artist Christopher Hanusa (CUNY) to create this interactive exhibition which uses music to familiarise audiences with the basics of altering genetic material, and aims to educate, challenge, and inspire.
About the hosts Autumn Brown is the PhD researcher in residence at Science Gallery Dublin. Her research explores art-science practices across Europe and whether this transdisciplinary approach may allow for a more equitable prototyping of ideas. She is interested in the sociotechnical imagination and how opportunities for public engagement impact who and where knowledge is made. She has previously worked as an immunologist and science communicator. Read more about her project here, and check out her latest paper here.
Amelia McConville is a PhD student conducting interdisciplinary research on visual poetry and poetics with Neurohumanities at the School of English and in association with the Institute of Neuroscience. Always fascinated by the overlap of art and science, she graduated with a B.A. in English Literature and Philosophy from Trinity College Dublin in 2017, working in fundraising for the College before commencing doctoral research in 2018. Passionate about education, she works part-time with the Trinity Access Programmes and as a private tutor, and she is interested in yoga, film, music, and visual culture.
The Art + Science Salon is a virtual group where researchers, artists, thinkers, and revolutionaries come to share ideas. Organised by PhD candidates Autumn Brown (School of Education and Science Gallery Dublin) and Amelia McConville (School of English and Institute of Neuroscience) and supported by Science Gallery Dublin and the Trinity Long Room Hub, the series explores the ways art and science shape one another and society.
Tuesday, 13 April 2021, 7 – 8pm
A roundtable discussion with Eoin McNamee, Catherine Ryan Howard, & Dr. Eva Burke. This event is presented by the School of English and the Trinity Long Room Hub.
What does it mean to write fiction inspired by true-life crime? How does the literary imagination engage with, and transform, real-life tragic events? Can fiction tell us things about true crime that nonfiction can’t? Is it ethical to re-imagine actual crimes for fictional purposes? What is it about particular crimes that inspires fictionalisation? These are the questions raised in this fascinating roundtable discussion, part of the 2021 School of English Online Evening Lectures Series ‘Murder & Other Fine Arts: True Crime & Literature.’ Featuring Eoin McNamee (author of Resurrection Man, 12:23, and The Blue Tango), Catherine Ryan Howard (author of The Liar’s Girl, Rewind, and The Nothing Man) and Dr. Eva Burke (Trinity College Dublin, author of articles on crime fiction and domestic noir).
Thursday, 15 April 2021, 7 – 8:30pm
The years since 1998 have seen a major decline in violence in Northern Ireland, continued growth in North-South co-operation, the expansion of mixed religion workplaces and significant economic recovery. Despite this, media, academic and public attention is currently consumed by headlines around the NI Protocol and the tensions within the British-Irish relationship.
In this ‘Behind the Headlines’ event on Northern Ireland, we explore the strong and growing incentives within the pro-union community that look towards interdependence: the building of better connections and partnerships, both North-South and East-West, and an improved environment for health, economy, society and culture across the island. The panel, comprising prominent representatives from pro-union/pro-NI backgrounds as well as Dublin-based speakers with different perspectives, will address these longer-term prospects and challenge some of the perceptions that continue to impede the further development of positive all-island relationships.
Speakers:
Dr Etain Tannam is Associate Professor in International Peace Studies at Trinity College Dublin. Dr Tannam’s main area of expertise is British-Irish cooperation and Irish/Northern cross-border cooperation, with emphasis on Brexit’s impact.
Professor Pete Shirlow is Director at the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Irish Studies. Professor Shirlow was formerly the Deputy Director of the Institute for Conflict Transformation and Social Justice, QUB.
Ms Claire Sugden is an Independent unionist Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for East Londonderry, Northern Ireland. She was the Minister of Justice in the fourth Northern Ireland Executive from May 2016 to March 2017.
Rory Montgomery is a Policy Fellow in Residence at the Trinity Long Room Hub and until recently, the Second Secretary General at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade with responsibility for EU issues, including Brexit.
The Trinity Long Room Hub Behind the Headlines series is supported by the John Pollard Foundation.
Monday, 12 April 2021, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Prof. Sarah Covington (CUNY) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
Monday, 12 April 2021, 10 – 11am A research presentation by Dr Denis Murphy (Department of Film, TCD) as part of the School of Creative Arts Research Forum (SCARF) in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
Although filmmaking in Ireland dates back to the silent era, Irish film workers have not always enjoyed easy access to employment on the international productions on which the Irish film industry has always depended for its economic survival. These struggles – for the right to employment itself, and the right to influence its quality through pay and working conditions – have been shaped throughout the past six decades by film worker activism.
This presentation introduces this ‘bottom-up’ approach to understanding Irish film and television production, highlighting the unique contribution of film workers to the development of screen policy in Ireland. The research, therefore, takes a novel approach to the examination of Irish screen media, appreciating them for their industrial rather than cultural aspects – and particularly the extent to which they provide quality employment to screen workers (and screen producers) in Ireland.
Denis Murphy is a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Dept. of Film at Trinity College Dublin, where he also lectures in screen production. He has also lectured at DCU and Maynooth University and previously worked as an editor and producer in film, cable television, multimedia and advertising. His book on the labour history of Irish film and television production is to be published by Liverpool University Press.
The School of Creative Arts Research Forum meets fortnightly at 10am on Mondays during term and is led by the School's doctoral students. The aim of the Forum is to give a space for School researchers, both staff and postgraduate students, to share their ideas in a supportive environment. It is also an opportunity for the School to hear about the research of colleagues both from within TCD and outside who share our research interests. In line with the research agenda of the School, talks will encompass traditional research and practice-based research and will be followed by Q&A.
HUMAN+ presents 'The New Cybernetics? Making sense of the 21st century' a lecture by Professor Genevieve Bell, Director of the 3A Institute, Florence Violet McKenzie Chair, and a Distinguished Professor at the Australian National University. Organised by Human+ project in partnership with the Trinity Long Room Hub and ADAPT, the Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Digital Content Innovation at Trinity College Dublin.
Professor Bell who is described as an anthropologist, technologist and futurist, is best known for her work at the intersection of cultural practice and technology development. She has spent over 15 years at Intel where she was promoted to Vice President for Strategy and was also elected as a senior fellow, the first female to achieve such a prestigious position in the company. She now heads up a new institute at the Australian National University called the Autonomy, Agency and Assurance (3A) Institute, launched in September 2017 focusing on “building a new applied science around the management of artificial intelligence, data, technology and their impact on humanity’’.
About HUMAN+ HUMAN+ is an international and interdisciplinary fellowship programme led by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute and ADAPT, the Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Digital Content Innovation at Trinity College Dublin, and supported by the prestigious European Commission (EC) Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Action.
Find out more about Human+ here
Wednesday, 24 March 2021, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Dr Joost Augusteijn (Leiden University) as part of the Contemporary Irish History Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
Wednesday, 7 April 2021, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Prof Eve Patten (Trinity Long Room Hub) as part of the Contemporary Irish History Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
Wednesday, 24 March 2021, 12:30 – 1:30pm
A seminar by Stephen Post, Director, Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care and Bioethics, Professor of Family, Population and Preventive Medicine (Stony Brook University, USA) as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Lunchtime Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities Initiative brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines including history, philosophy, sociology, drama, health sciences, religion, cultural studies, arts, literature and languages.
Medical and health humanities seeks to provide insights into the cultural and social contexts within which diverse but interrelated concerns such as the human condition, the individual experience of illness and suffering, and the way medicine is (or was) practiced, might be understood.
Tuesday, 30 March 2021, 4 – 5pm
A talk by Professor Emeritus Tomislav Z. Longinović (UW Madison) as part of the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
This lecture examines the cultural mechanisms through which the Gothic imaginary, constituted during the 19th century in English-language literature, has been transformed into a discursive lens for understanding the Balkans and its apparently endless violent political and military confrontations. The last decade of the twentieth century added one more collective phantasm visualized through the lens of the Gothic imaginary: the bloodthirsty specter of ‘the Serbs’ as the vampires of the post-communist period during the establishment of the new world order.
Tomislav Z. Longinović (PhD, MFA) is an Emeritus Professor of Slavic, Comparative Literature and Visual Culture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; visiting scholar at Harvard University and CEU. His books include Borderline Culture (1993), Vampires Like Us (2005), Red Knight: Serbian Women Songs (co-ed., 1992), with David Albahari, Words are Something Else (1996). He is also the author of fiction in Serbian (Sama Amerika, 1995) and Fetiš Nulo (2020) for which he was awarded the 2021 Jovan Dučić prize for best book of literary fiction. He also published many short stories in English, as well as his experimental novel Moment of Silence in 1990. His book Vampire Nation: Violence as Cultural Imaginary was awarded the 2012 Mihajlo Miša Djordjević prize for best book in South Slavic studies. His research interests include South Slavic literatures & cultures; literary theory; Central and East European literary history; comparative Slavic studies; translation studies; cultural studies. He is currently working on a book manuscript entitled The Secret of Translation, which features a theory of culture based on relational structures rather than ethnic or national ones
A panel discussion as part of the 'Trinity and the Changing City' Series in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
For centuries, religions travelled with people who moved across the globe – in search of work, food, safety or freedom. But religion also moves people: literally, when going on pilgrimages and mission; and emotionally, when religion provides an anchor for building a new life, or when it triggers emotions of hate and hostility.
Astonishingly, research on migration to Europe has long underestimated religion as a factor. The expectation was that people and their religions would soon “go home” again; notions of Europe as a Christian occident or a homogenous culture where religion is a private matter had to be challenged in many ways.
This evening focuses on how we as a society respond to the increased mobility and the pluralisation of worldviews we witness. We want to face the challenge, on one hand, not to “religionise” migration and the people and conflicts that may be involved but yet, on the other hand, include religion as an important element of cultures and identities that come together in a fast-changing world.
About the Speakers
Dr Peter J. Bräunlein has done extensive fieldwork on cultures of pain and Christian rituals that connect Europe and the Philippines; he was the curator of the University Museum of Religions in Marburg, Germany and specialises in questions of religion and media, expositions and the uncertainties of modernity. He will speak about the project ‘The Materiality of (Forced) Migration’ in Göttingen where he explores migration through the lens of “things” that people carry, lose or find. Through this lens – the emotional and practical connection people have with their objects – Peter will shed light on the role that religion plays for some who made the long journey to Europe. materialitaet-migration.de…
As a political scientist, Dr Gizem Arikan was trained in Turkey and the USA. She focuses on political psychology in a comparative perspective and is interested in how people’s religiosity and political behaviour interact. For our evening, Gizem will shift the perspective: from the migrating people to the societies where they arrive. Not only does the experience of Muslim migrants shape their democratic norms; also, their identity affects the political attitudes of the majority population. blogs.lse.ac.uk…
Rory O’Neill will share his experiences in his work as Integration Projects Manager for the Irish Refugee Council and how he encounters religion both as a resource and a marker of distinction. As a photographer and an anthropologist he documented the Direct Provision system and the issues people face when they try and enter the housing market and seek employment and an independent life. Rather unexpectedly, Rory works a lot with inter-faith groups and religious institutions and will talk about their role in the integration process. www.irishrefugeecouncil.ie…
Satwinder Singh is a researcher and community activist who not only shares the experience of many who moved to Ireland and enrich the religious landscape of Dublin, but also holds a degree in anthropology from the Dublin Institute of Technology and studied the Dublin-based Sikh community he is part of. His work at the Centre for Socially Engaged Practice-Based Research developed insights into the history of the Sikh community and the diverse strategies developed by its members when finding their place in Irish society and coping with the challenges this includes. arrow.tudublin.ie…
Monday, 22 March 2021, 7 – 8:15pm
An online lecture as part of the Out of the Ashes Lecture Series, with Professor Ana Lucia Araujo, Howard University, Washington.
This lecture examines the history of the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which was destroyed by fire in September 2018. Araujo explores the connections between the museum's building and the formation of its collections associated with the history of the Atlantic slave trade and slavery in Brazil, the country that imported the largest number of enslaved Africans (nearly five million) during the era of the Atlantic slave trade. The museum housed the oldest collection of African artifacts in the country. Several of these artifacts were given as gifts to the Portuguese Prince Regent (who later became king) by the king of Dahomey, in the context of transactions to facilitate the trade in enslaved Africans between Brazil and the West African Kingdom of Dahomey. In the past two decades, the museum, like a few other Brazilian institutions, was investing in reorganizing its exhibitions to bring to light the links between Africa and Brazil, a dimension that until recently remained absent from Brazilian museum institutions. Araujo shows that the destruction of the museum as a result of federal government's neglect reveals a reality that affects many other big and small museums whose collections derive from the country's long history of slavery.
The event will also feature a short response to the lecture from Lar Joye, Port Heritage Director at Dublin Port, former Chair of the Irish Blue Shield, and a member of the board of the Irish Museum Association.
About the speaker Ana Lucia Araujo is a full Professor of History at the historically black Howard University in Washington DC, United States. She holds a dual PhD in History/Social and Historical Anthropology from Université Laval, Canada, and École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, France (2007) and a PhD in Art History from Université Laval, Canada. (2004). Her recent single-authored books include Slavery in the Age of Memory: Engaging the Past (Bloomsbury Academic, 2020), Reparations for Slavery and the Slave Trade: A Transnational and Comparative History (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017), Brazil Through French Eyes: A Nineteenth-Century Artist in the Tropics (University of New Mexico Press, 2015). She is a member of the International Scientific Committee of the UNESCO Slave Route Project. She also serves on the Board of Editors of the American Historical Review (the journal of the American Historical Association) and the editorial board of Slavery and Abolition. She is a member of the executive board of the Association for the Study of the Worldwide Diaspora (ASWAD), the editorial review board of the African Studies Review, and the board of the blog Black Perspectives maintained by the African American Intellectual History Society. Currently, she is working on two book projects: Human in Humans in Shackles: An Atlantic History of Slavery in the Americas (under contract with the University of Chicago Press) and The Gift: How Objects of Prestige Shaped the Atlantic Slave Trade and Colonialism (under contract with Cambridge University Press). She just finished Museums and Atlantic Slavery, a short-format book to be published in the Spring 2021 by Routledge in the series Routledge Museums in Focus.
Thursday, 18 March 2021, 12 – 1:15pm
A panel discussion as part of the Shape-ID webinar series Shaping Conversations on Interdisciplinary Research in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
Partnerships with actors in civil society, industry, the cultural sector and citizens, are increasingly important to develop societally relevant research. In recent years our understanding of these relationships has evolved from a more limited idea of ‘end users’ to that of ‘co-creators’ of research, necessitating the development of transdisciplinary dialogues. The webinar will invite experts engaged in transdisciplinary work bridging research and society to discuss the importance, benefits and challenges of building transdisciplinary partnerships and co-creation, with examples from their own sectors
Panel Prof. dr. Caroline Nevejan | Chief Science Officer of the City of Amsterdam Dr Giulia Sonetti | Politecnico di Torino Fionn Kidney | Human Insights Lab, The Dock, Accenture.
Monday, 8 March 2021, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Dr Leanne Calvert (University of Hertfordshire) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
Wednesday, 10 March 2021, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Professor Cara Delay (College of Charleston) as part of the Contemporary Irish History Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
Tuesday, 9 March 2021, 4 – 5pm
A talk by Dr Anne M. Mulhall (SLLCS TCD) as part of the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
Recent workplace fiction and film has tended to focus on two important themes- time and death. Novels like Delphine de Vigan’s (France, 2009) Les Heures souterainnes, Katrin Röggla’s wir schlafen nicht (Austria, 2004), and films like Corporate (dir. Nicholas Silhol, 2017), all display conjunctions between the two that amount to what she suggests is a new “necrotemporality” of the workplace. Suturing theoretical interventions from Achille Mbembe, Giorgio Agamben, Hannah Arendt, Timothy Morton and Sarah Waters, all of whom have noted a distinctly sado-thanatological impulse within contemporary politics, life and work, to prevailing philosophical and sociological theories of temporality, such as those of Quentin Meillassoux and Catherine Malabou and Robert Hassan. Her talk will define and explore a new concept of workplace necrotemporality.
Dr Anne M. Mulhall studied and worked at universities in Ireland, UK, the US and Russia before she joined Trinity in 2020 as Government of Ireland Postdoc Research Fellow. She has authored several articles and a monograph on a French journal of philosophy, entitled Tiqqun and the Event: Literature, Philosophy, Politics.
Thursday, 25 February 2021, 6:30 – 7:30pm
This month the Art+Science Reading group returns in its new form, the Art+Science Salon. This season on the Art+Science Salon, in addition to our monthly online discussion series, we’re adding a curated collection of online resources that are open access and available to everyone online. Here we will share articles, essays, videos, and more.
To kick off this season we will be speaking with the artist collective Multiplay, Science Gallery Dublin’s first artist in residence/remoteness, in partnership with the Human Insights Lab at Accenture The Dock. Comprised of three transdisciplinary artists: Victoria De La Torre, Pedro Arnanz Coll, and Elisa Cuesta, their piece A.I.R will debut at Science Gallery Dublin only. Inspired by systems thinking, the installation invites the public to question the balance between agency and living as part of an ecosystem in virtual spaces.
Register here
The return and reform of the Art+Science Reading Group, now the Art+Science Salon
The Art+Science Salon, renamed for the informal gatherings of radical thinkers and reformers of the 19th century, is excited to come together once more to discuss projects and ideas beyond discipline. This reform is due in part to reflection on the purpose and nature of academic research. What good is a PhD or any advanced degree for that matter if it only serves the interests and the needs of the few? It is the aim of this group to hold space for open learning, debate, and discussion. Our world is changing more rapidly than ever, evolving new rules of social behaviour and new ethical dilemmas that reach far beyond the borders of any discipline. We want to offer an opportunity for everyone to come together, find connections and inspiration at the crossroads of art and science. all representing work which defies categorisation and seeks to address the most pressing societal issues and questions of our time.
The Art + Science Salon is a virtual group where researchers, artists, thinkers, and revolutionaries come to share ideas. Organised by PhD candidates Autumn Brown (School of Education and Science Gallery Dublin) and Amelia McConville (School of English and Institute of Neuroscience) and supported by Science Gallery Dublin and the Trinity Long Room Hub, the series explores the ways art and science shape one another and society.
About the organisers
Autumn Brown is the PhD researcher in residence at Science Gallery Dublin. Her research explores art-science practices across Europe and whether this transdisciplinary approach may allow for a more equitable prototyping of ideas. She is interested in the sociotechnical imagination and how opportunities for public engagement impact who and where knowledge is made. She has previously worked as an immunologist and science communicator. Read more about her project here, and check out her latest paper here.
Amelia McConville is a PhD student conducting interdisciplinary research on visual poetry and poetics with Neurohumanities at the School of English and in association with the Institute of Neuroscience. Always fascinated by the overlap of art and science, she graduated with a B.A. in English Literature and Philosophy from Trinity College Dublin in 2017, working in fundraising for the College before commencing doctoral research in 2018.
Wednesday, 10 March 2021, 7 – 8pm
A panel discussion as part of the ‘Sonic Spaces’ series.
Discourse around gender and sound often reflects biases about who should be allowed to take up sonic space: from historical assumptions that women’s voices were unsuitable for the radio, to contemporary biases in institutional policies that work to exclude the work of women in the music industry, as well as continued critiques of female speaking voices for expressing unappealing vocal traits like “uptalk” and “vocal fry”.
This event will bring together a diverse panel to discuss these and other ways in which sonic spaces can reflect broader social and cultural issues around gender and representation: Dr. Megan McGurk, host of the popular podcast and film club, “Sass Mouth Dames”, devoted to women who ruled the Hollywood box office from the 1930s-1950s; Dr. Ann Cleare, a multi-award-winning composer and Assistant Professor in Trinity’s Music and Media Technologies programme who will introduce “Sounding the Feminists,” an Irish-based collective committed to promoting and publicising the creative work of female musicians; and Dr. Jilly Boyce Kay, Lecturer in Media and Communication at the University of Leicester and author of Gender, Media and Voice (2020), who will discuss the ways that feminist voices on television were construed as “domestic nags” in the 1970s. The panel will be chaired by Dr. Ciara Barrett, a scholar of gender and screen media and lecturer in film studies with the Dingle Hub and Sacred Heart University.
‘Sonic Spaces’ is organised by Jennifer O’Meara, Department of Film, as part of the Creative Arts Practice Research theme. The series considers the creative possibilities of audio and sound culture as they relate to issues of society, technology, the environment and the body. It aims to encourage the academic and broader community to reflect on our relationship to listening and its significance. ‘Sonic Spaces’ is supported by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
Thursday, 11 March 2021, 1 – 2pm
A lecture by Christina Cleary, O’Donovan Scholar, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies where she will discuss the small number of ascriptions of poems to women, as well as speeches and dialogues from the mouths of female characters, in the twelfth-century Book of Leinster (TCD MS 1339). Although mere interpretations of the female experience through a male lens, and often far detached from their social reality as clearly outlined in the law tracts, these expressions attributed to women provide insights into how medieval Irish society perceived women and how they expressed themselves. Organised by the Manuscript, Book and Print Culture Theme supported by the Trinity Long Room Hub.
Friday, 12 March 2021, 1 – 2pm With many Irish people mourning the closure of their local pub, we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by asking what place the Irish pub holds in our history and culture. How did people use pubs in the past, and what was the popular attitude towards them? Famous the world over, is the Irish pub indeed an imagined space embedded in the concept of “Irish hospitality”? In this panel discussion chaired by Dr Ciaran O’Neill, Deputy Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub, speakers will look at Irish pubs through the ages and the perception of public houses a century ago; the place of the pub in the history of folk music and revolution; what the pub means in Irish theatre, and what it tells us about ‘Irishness’ and performance of culture.
Prior to the panel discussion, four musicians from the Traditional Music Society of Trinity College Dublin (Claire Stafford, Sarah McKenna, Simon O'Connor, and Oisín Cullen) will be playing live music - make sure to tune in from 12:50 pm to catch some live tunes!
Speakers:
Dr Ciarán Wallace
The pub has never been just a place where you bought alcohol. How did people use pubs in the past? Who went to pubs, who didn't? What was the popular attitude towards them? Ciarán will look at pubs in some cartoons published a century ago to see what they can tell us.
Trish Murphy, Director of the College Health Service What is the personal impact of the pub environment on people’s lives and communities? This talk will examine the personal story of growing up in a pub in a small town in the West of Ireland--both the good and the bad. The story will also highlight the skills that were developed from pub culture, and how this speaker used these when working in detention centres, prisons, and travelling alone in far flung places.
Jack Sheehan If the pub is to Irish folk music what the coffee house is to American folk music, what does that say about Ireland? From the White Horse Inn of Greenwich Village, where musicians mixed with politicians, writers and radicals, to the Bogside Inn of Derry, where music accompanied planning for revolution, how can we describe the musical culture of the Irish pub?, Jack Sheehan’s talk will be emotional rather than intellectual, a slightly shaggy wander in and out of various times, places and of course, pubs.
Moonyoung Hong What are the links between two performative spaces – theatre and the pub – and their significance in Irish history and culture? The talk will examine the political, literary and cultural implications of J. M. Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World (1907), Sean O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars (1926) – both of which caused riots at the Abbey Theatre – as well as the works of other contemporary Irish playwrights who use the pub as their plays’ setting, to interrogate the (problematic) ideas of “Irishness” and “platiality” (Chaudhuri, 1997).
The launch of Trinity’s new Centre for Resistance Studies will be marked by a keynote lecture from Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat (Professor of History and Italian Studies, NYU), ‘How to Resist a Strongman: Lessons from a Century of Authoritarian Rule’ The Centre aims to provide an intellectual response to the growth of populism and authoritarianism across the globe by fostering interdisciplinary research in the field of resistance studies. It will provide a forum for academics, postgraduate researchers, intellectuals and activists to discuss the meanings and manifestations of ‘resistance’ and its cognate terms, such as opposition, dissent, protest, non-conformism and resilience.
The disciplines represented in the Centre include history, cultural studies, the social sciences, language and literature, law, peace studies and the health sciences, and its geographical scope stretches from Hong Kong to South America, through Europe (East and West), Ireland (North and South), the Near and Middle East and the United States. The motivations behind establishing this new research centre are both academic and civic, and future activities will include events for academic as well as public audiences. In addition to organising conferences, panel discussions and podcast series on relevant themes, the Centre intends to establish a special ‘resistance collection’ of archival and contemporary sources that will be made available for prospective researchers.
The Centre for Resistance Studies will be launched by Vice Provost of Trinity College, Juergen Barkhoff and the event will feature a keynote lecture from Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat of New York University, entitled ‘How to Resist a Strongman: Lessons from a Century of Authoritarian Rule.’ This lecture will examine a century of resistance to ‘strongman’ rule, using examples from Italy, Chile, Russia, America, Libya, Turkey and elsewhere. Professor Ben-Ghiat will look at the impact of changing media technologies on practices of dissent, and will also discuss what has not changed in relation, for example, to the use of mass non-violent protest or to the use of the body as a site of resistance.
Monday, 8 March 2021, 1 – 2pm
An 'in conversation' with Professor Michael Cronin (School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies) and hosted by Professor Barry McCrea (University of Notre Dame). Professor Cronin will discuss his career and his publications including, Irish and Ecology: An Ghaeilge agus an Éiceolaíocht (2019).
About Michael Cronin Michael Cronin is 1776 Professor of French and Director of the Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation in Trinity College Dublin. Among his published titles are Translating Ireland: Translation, Languages and Identity (1996); Across the Lines: Travel, Language, Translation (2000); Translation and Globalization (2003); Time Tracks: Scenes from the Irish Everyday; Irish in the New Century/An Ghaeilge san Aois Nua (2005); Translation and Identity (2006); Translation goes to the Movies (2009), Translation in the Digital Age (2013), Eco-Translation: Translation and Ecology in the Age of the Anthropocene (2017) and Irish and Ecology: An Ghaeilge agus an Éiceolaíocht (2019). He is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy and a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin.
Professor Barry McCrea Barry McCrea is a professor in the departments of English, Romance Languages & Literatures, and Irish Language & Literature at the University of Notre Dame, where he holds the Keough Family Chair of Irish Studies. He is the author of two monographs – Languages of the Night (Yale UP, 2015) which won the American Comparative Literature Association’s René Wellek prize for the best book of 2016 and In the Company of Strangers: Narrative and Family in Dickens, Conan Doyle, Joyce, and Proust (Columbia UP, 2011) – as well as a novel, The First Verse (Carroll & Graf, 2005), winner of the Ferro-Grumley prize for fiction and a Barnes and Noble Discover award. McCrea was a Foundation Scholar at TCD, where he took a B.A. in Spanish and French from TCD, and he holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from Princeton University. Full bio here
This fifth episode of the Hublic Sphere, hosted by Dr Lilith Acadia, brings together five remarkable scholars, lawyers, and activists to discuss how the concept of ‘citizenship’ creates power.
The January 6th insurrection in Washington DC inspired this episode, yet it has much broader relevance in the US (such as Trump’s family separation policy and the ongoing deportation of children under the Biden administration), Europe (from post-Brexit questions about the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland to the frequent tragedies in the Mediterranean), and globally, as the world grapples with an influx of climate and political refugees.
The topic is also rooted in Dr Acadia’s research, which asks how concepts like ‘religion’ or ‘citizenship’ that we take for granted are actually modern (or European Enlightenment) constructions that enjoy epistemic privilege, which means that knowledge related to those concepts have more power. Acadia is particularly interested in how those concepts are used as pretexts, excuses for imperialism, and injustice. From global migration to voting rights, we can see in our world today how governments or even certain fringe groups are imbuing a naturalized concept of citizenship with special power, which they then use to justify denying some people rights, or even as a pretext for violence.
Speakers include Amy Liu; Evelyn Tsao; Jeremy Bierbach; Michael Bellesiles; and Sahar Ahmed.
To find out more, visit: bit.ly/hublicsphere
Monday, 1 March 2021, 7 – 8:30pm
What makes a political speech? From Aristotle to Hannah Arendt, philosophers have seen the arts of rhetoric and oratory as essential to the proper functioning of the public sphere. Some speeches, like Martin Luther King’s 1963 dream vision or Greta Thunberg’s 2019 ‘How dare you?’ address have defined a generation. Others have embedded lasting images, metaphors and poetic borrowings – ‘the iron curtain’, ‘rivers of blood’, ‘when hope and history rhyme’ – in the public imagination.
In Ireland, powerful speeches have patterned our history, from Robert Emmet’s 1803 declamation from the dock to Mary Robinson’s 1990 presidential acceptance speech, that heralded the women of Ireland for rocking the system instead of rocking the cradle. How is language shaped to such effect, and how does political oratory play with truth, emotion, and imagination? Can the tradition of the political speech endure in an age of social media sound-bites? In this Behind the Headlines, which takes place in the dark shadow of the January 6th riots in Washington, we will also ask about the political speech in the context of dictatorship, demagoguery and the weaponising of words, and ask at what point the art of public persuasion tips over into incitement.
Daniel Mulhall, Ambassador of Ireland to the United States
Senator Ivana Bacik, Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Trinity College Dublin
Alan Finlayson, Professor of Political & Social Theory, The University of East Anglia
Darryl Jones, Professor of Literature, Trinity College Dublin.
Martine Cuypers, Professor in Greek, Trinity College Dublin
The Trinity Long Room Hub Behind the Headlines series is supported by the John Pollard Foundation.
Wednesday, 24 February 2021, 12:30 – 1:30pm
A seminar by Neil Vickers, Professor of English Literature and the Health Humanities, King's College London, as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Lunchtime Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities Initiative brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines including history, philosophy, sociology, drama, health sciences, religion, cultural studies, arts, literature and languages.
Medical and health humanities seeks to provide insights into the cultural and social contexts within which diverse but interrelated concerns such as the human condition, the individual experience of illness and suffering, and the way medicine is (or was) practiced, might be understood.
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities initiative seeks to cultivate a richer understanding of the interactions and synergies between practices and discourses of wellness, health or medicine and the arts, humanities or culture through interdisciplinary research and education.
23 Feb 2021
Dr Sebastian Truskolaski (King’s College London) in conversation with the author of the recently published book Walter Benjamin and the Aesthetics of Film, Dr Daniel Mourenza (TCD Hispanic Studies).
The book is the first monograph devoted to analysing the writings on film that German philosopher and literary critic Walter Benjamin produced during his life. It examines his writings on Soviet and German cinema, Charlie Chaplin and Mickey Mouse, and situates these texts as part of Benjamin’s thinking, especially in relation to his concept of ‘anthropological materialism’, which explores the changes that the human body experienced with the arrival of modern technology.
Monday, 22 February 2021, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Dr Padhraig Higgins (Mercer County College, New Jersey) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
Wednesday, 24 February 2021, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Dr Seán Donnelly (Teeside University) as part of the Contemporary Irish History Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
Thursday, 18 February 2021, 7 – 8pm
A panel discussion as part of the 'Trinity and the Changing City' Series in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
This panel discussion will focus on the artistic representation of refugees and direct provision. It will include as speakers Vukasin Nedeljkovic, Dr Bisi Adigun, Bulelani Mfaco, and Dr Roja Fazaeli.
Vukasin Nedeljkovic compiled an archive of photographs while in direct provision and afterwards to document the conditions in Direct Provision. Vukasin Nedeljkovic holds a Masters in Visual Arts Practice at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Arts, Design and Technology. He will present images from his archive.
Dr Bisi Adigun (adjunct lecturer in drama, TCD and Senior Lecturer in Bowen University, Iwo Nigeria) will speak about his work with Arambe Theatre Company in bringing awareness of African immigrant experiences to Irish audiences through his work as a director and writer. His adaptation, co-written with Roddy Doyle, of a Nigerian Playboy of the Western World, was presented at the Abbey Theatre.
Bulelani Mfaco is a South African refugee who has spent several years in Direct Provision in Ireland after receiving a Masters degree from UCD. He has been a representative for MASI, the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland, on the government’s expert group tasked with reforming direct provision.
Dr Roja Fazaeli (Middle Eastern Studies, TCD) will speak about her work with refugees and the importance of TCD to become a university of sanctuary. Dr Fazaeli has served on the boards of Amnesty International, the Irish Refugee Council, and the Irish Immigrant Council.
Steve Wilmer (Professor Emeritus in Drama, TCD) will chair the panel.
Trinity and the Changing City is organised by the Identities in Transformation research theme, led by Daniel Faas, Department of Sociology, and is supported by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
Tuesday, 16 February 2021, 4 – 5pm A seminar by Dr Sarah O’Brien (Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
Research seminars by PhD candidates Eric Swartz (TCD) and Bowen Wang (TCD) as part of the School of English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series 2020-21 in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
Eric Swartz will present a paper entitled "From Foundation to Demolition: Andrei Platonov, Adrian Duncan, and the Engineering of a New World," and Bowen Wang will present a paper on "Sisterhood, Paragone, Dichotomy, and Gesamtkunstwerk: An Archaeological Study from Ut pictura poesis to Intermediality."
The Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. The series conveners for the academic year 2020-21 are current PhD students Orlaith Darling, Janice Deitner and Maggie Masterson.
Thursday, 18 February 2021, 12 – 1:15pm
A panel discussion as part of the Shape-ID webinar series Shaping Conversations on Interdisciplinary Research in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The aim of the webinar is to learn from digital research infrastructures with regards to the way they foster interdisciplinary research between the humanities scholars on the one hand and computer scientists and developers on the other. We believe that lessons learned from Digital Humanities (DH) could be applied to other instances of transdisciplinary cooperation. We would like to learn which measures work best in encouraging such cooperation on the basis of successful case studies. Furthermore, the webinar will explore user involvement strategies aimed at disseminating already existing tools, services and methodologies among DH-curious but still largely "non-digital" scholars.
Chaired by Dr Maciej Maryl | Institute of Literary Research, Polish Academy of Sciences
Confirmed panellists Dr Darja Fišer | University of Ljubljana & CLARIN ERIC Eliza Papaki | Trinity College Dublin & DARIAH ERIC Arnauld Gingold | OPERAS
Fr Timothy Corcoran and the Catholic Bulletin after 1922: Battle of Civilisations or Long Revolution?
Wednesday, 3 February 2021, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Dr Patrick Maume (Dictionary of Irish Biography, Royal Irish Academy) as part of the Contemporary Irish History Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
Friday, 4 December 2020, 4 – 5pm
The Kemble Lecture 2020 will be delivered by Prof. Clare Lees (University of London). The event is sponsored by the School of English and hosted in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
This annual lecture series in honour of John Mitchell Kemble, begun in 2005, invites distinguished scholars to speak on topics associated with Kemble: the history, literature, and archaeology of pre-Norman England, and its later reception, especially in the 19th century. This year we are delighted to welcome Prof. Clare Lees, Professor of Medieval Literature, Director of the Institute of English Studies, and Pro-Dean for National Research Promotion & Facilitation, School of Advanced Study, University of London. Prof. Lees's research interests include early medieval literatures, languages, and cultures of Britain and Ireland, gender and sexuality studies, and histories of place and belief. Her most recent work explores how modern and contemporary poets, writers, and artists engage with early medieval cultures. Recent major publications include The Contemporary Medieval in Practice, with Gillian R. Overing (London: UCL Press, 2019), and The Cambridge History of Early Medieval English Literature, ed. Lees (Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 2013; paperback 2016).
Tuesday, 2 February 2021, 4 – 5pm
A research seminar by Dr Brendan O'Connell (TCD) as part of the School of English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series 2020-21 in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
Brendan O’Connell is a lecturer in medieval literature at the School of English, Trinity College Dublin. He has research interests in fourteenth and fifteenth-century poetry, and particularly in the reception of Chaucer in early modern and contemporary literature.
The Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. The series conveners for the academic year 2020-21 are current PhD students Orlaith Darling, Janice Deitner and Maggie Masterson.
Monday, 8 February 2021, 10 – 11am
A research presentation by Meg Collins Stoop (Department of Music) as part of the School of Creative Arts Research Forum (SCARF) in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
Abstract: As a PhD researcher at Trinity College, I composed eight works which incorporate seven different ethnic instruments into ensembles with western art music instruments. Research, that was both academic and experiential, revealed three things to consider when composing for such ensembles: the different manners of notation and learning music in non-western art music genres, alternate tuning systems, and the original contexts of the instrument. In this presentation, I will perform both representative and original compositions written for the Native American flute and for the xiao, a Chinese bamboo flute.
Meg Collins Stoop In November 2020, Meg successfully defended her PhD Dissertation in Music Composition at Trinity College Dublin. Her dissertation is entitled 'Melting the Boundaries: The Integration of Ethnic Instruments into Western Art Music'. A native New Yorker, Meg earned her Master's Degree in Music Composition from Queens College, City University of New York, and a Bachelor's Degree in Music from Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts. She was the Founding Director of the Adesso Choral Society, a select women's chorus which championed works by living composers, and has served as President of Connecticut Composers, Inc.
The School of Creative Arts Research Forum meets fortnightly at 10am on Mondays during term and is led by the School's doctoral students. The aim of the Forum is to give a space for School researchers, both staff and postgraduate students, to share their ideas in a supportive environment. It is also an opportunity for the School to hear about the research of colleagues both from within TCD and outside who share our research interests. In line with the research agenda of the School, talks will encompass traditional research and practice-based research and will be followed by Q&A.
Wednesday, 10 February 2021, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Dr Stephanie Rains (Maynooth University) as part of the Contemporary Irish History Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
Attendance is open to all with relevant interests inside and outside TCD.
Wednesday, 10 February 2021, 7 – 8pm
A panel discussion as part of the ‘Sonic Spaces’ series. From the soothing sounds of lapping waves and bird song, to the uncomfortable disruption of construction work and traffic, our daily lives are subject to a wide range of natural and man-made environmental sounds. The impact of such sounds on human well-being has led to a range of interventions in recent years. These include an EU directive to examine public noise exposure through the creation of noise maps, and artistic initiatives to introduce professional live music into hospital settings to improve patients’ experience.
This event will bring together a multi-disciplinary panel to discuss a range of works that emerge from, or aim to benefit, our experience of listening in natural, urban and social environments: Laurence Gill, Professor in Environmental Engineering at Trinity, and composer Norah Walsh who will discuss their collaboration on ‘Inception Horizon,’ which used an understanding of the movement of water through limestone as the basis of a choral piece inspired by a karst cave system in County Clare; Antonella Radicchi, an architect and scholar based at TU Berlin, and Simon Jennings, Executive Scientist in the Environment Section of Limerick County Council, who will introduce the ‘Hush City’ app which empowers people to identify and assess quiet areas in cities including Limerick; and Gráinne Hope, an Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at Trinity’s Global Brain Health Institute, who will discuss her work as founder and artistic director of ‘Kids’ Classics’, Ireland’s leading music in healthcare organization.
The panel will be chaired by Jimmy Eadie, an artist-engineer based in Trinity’s Electronic & Electrical Engineering programme, who works within the field of recording, production and sound design.
‘Sonic Spaces’ is organised by Jennifer O’Meara, Department of Film, as part of the Creative Arts Practice Research theme. The series considers the creative possibilities of audio and sound culture as they relate to issues of society, technology, the environment and the body. It aims to encourage the academic and broader community to reflect on our relationship to listening and its significance. ‘Sonic Spaces’ is supported by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
Tuesday, 9 February 2021, 1 – 2pm
An 'in conversation' with Dr Peter Hamilton (School of Histories and Humanities) and hosted by Dr Isabella Jackson, (Trinity Centre for Asian Studies) Dr Hamilton will discuss his career and his latest publication, Made in Hong Kong: Transpacific Networks and a New History of Globalization.
About Made in Hong Kong: Transpacific Networks and a New History of Globalization Between 1949 and 1997, Hong Kong transformed from a struggling British colonial outpost into a global financial capital. Made in Hong Kong delivers a new narrative of this metamorphosis, revealing Hong Kong both as a critical engine in the expansion and remaking of postwar global capitalism and as the linchpin of Sino-U.S. trade since the 1970s.
Peter E. Hamilton explores the role of an overlooked transnational Chinese elite who fled to Hong Kong amid war and revolution. Despite losing material possessions, these industrialists, bankers, academics, and other professionals retained crucial connections to the United States. They used these relationships to enmesh themselves and Hong Kong with the U.S. through commercial ties and higher education. By the 1960s, Hong Kong had become a manufacturing powerhouse supplying American consumers, and by the 1970s it was the world’s largest sender of foreign students to American colleges and universities. Hong Kong’s reorientation toward U.S. international leadership enabled its transplanted Chinese elites to benefit from expanding American influence in Asia and positioned them to act as shepherds to China’s reengagement with global capitalism. After China’s reforms accelerated under Deng Xiaoping, Hong Kong became a crucial node for China’s export-driven development, connecting Chinese labor with the U.S. market.
Analyzing untapped archival sources from around the world, this book demonstrates why we cannot understand postwar globalization, China’s economic rise, or today’s Sino-U.S. trade relationship without centering Hong Kong.
Dr. Peter E. Hamilton is the Assistant Professor in Modern Chinese History at Trinity College Dublin. He is the author of Made in Hong Kong: Transpacific Networks and a New History of Globalization (Columbia University Press, Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, 2021). His research has been published in Twentieth-Century China, The Journal of Historical Sociology, and The International History Review and has received financial support from the Fudan Development Institute, the Schwarzman Scholars, the Weatherhead East Asian Institute of Columbia University, the Institute for Historical Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, and the Hong Kong-America Centre.
Monday, 8 February 2021, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Dr Leonie Hannan (QUB) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
Monday, 1 February 2021, 1 – 2pm
Christian saint or Celtic goddess, Brigit has long been associated with the spring season, representing renewal, healing and fertility. But who was the enigmatic Brigit, Brigid or Bríg and what lessons does her legend offer us today? In the midst of a global pandemic which has shaken the world, can we find ways to generate hope from centuries old wisdom and tradition? Join us on the 1st of February for a conversation with Professor Katharine Simms, Dr Mary Condren, artist Rita Duffy, Early Career Researcher Nandini Gupta, and Trinity Long Room Hub Director, Professor Eve Patten.
Rita Duffy is an artist in residence at the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Institute. Born in Belfast, Rita was awarded a B.A. from the Art & Design Centre and an M.A. in Fine Art at the University of Ulster. She was elected to Aosdana in 2017. She is one of Northern Ireland's groundbreaking artists who began her work concentrating primarily on the figurative/narrative tradition. Her art is often autobiographical, including themes and images of Irish identity, history and politics. Rita Duffy’s work has grown and evolved but remains intensely personal with overtones of the surreal.
Professor Katharine Simms Ph.D. was Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at Trinity College Dublin until her retirement in 2010. She has written three books, From Kings to Warlords (1987), Medieval Gaelic Sources (2009) and Gaelic Ulster in the Middle Ages (2020) as well as numerous articles on Gaelic politics and society in later medieval Ireland, including several on the role of women, and the later commentaries on Brehon law tracts.
Dr. Mary Condren is a Visiting Research Fellow and teaches at the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies, in the School of Histories and Humanities, Trinity College Dublin. She is director of Woman Spirit Ireland and has organised and resourced Festivals of Brigit, in Ireland and North America, for over thirty years. She is the author of The Serpent and the Goddess: Women, Religion and Power in Celtic Ireland. Articles on Brigit and feminist topics: https://tcd.academia.edu/MaryCondren
Monday, 25 January 2021
An online lecture as part of the Out of the Ashes Lecture Series, with Corine Wegener, Director, Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative titled 'Evidence Aiding Post-Conflict Recovery: Mosul Museum Project Zero'.
In 2014, Daesh (aka ISIS) established their so-called “Caliphate” in the city of Mosul and cut a swath of intentional destruction of cultural heritage across Iraq’s Nineveh plain. After the liberation of Mosul in 2017, international organizations began to offer help with cultural recovery, including the heavily damaged Mosul Cultural Museum. As a potential war crime scene under the definition of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, heritage professionals realized they had only one chance to document the evidence before recovery began or risk losing it forever. In a unique collaboration with law enforcement professionals, the Smithsonian Institution developed a methodology to systematically document cultural destruction where criminal activity is known or suspected. Wegener will describe how the methodology was used to document the Mosul Cultural Museum as a “cold case crime scene” and how it may be used in the future as the first step on the road to recovery.
About Corine Wegner Corine Wegner is the director of the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative (SCRI), an outreach program dedicated to the preservation of cultural heritage in crisis situations in the U.S. and abroad. SCRI’s work includes projects in Syria, Iraq, Haiti, Nepal, and around the world. SCRI also co-chairs, with FEMA’s Office of Environmental and Historic Preservation, the Heritage Emergency National Task Force, part of the U.S. National Disaster Recovery Framework. Wegener lectures and writes about the importance of cultural property protection during natural disasters and armed conflict. Wegener has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Nebraska Omaha and MA degrees in Political Science and Art History from the University of Kansas.
About the Out of the Ashes Lecture Series This three-year lecture series explores the theme of cultural loss and recovery across the centuries, from the destruction of the Library of Alexandria in antiquity to contemporary acts of cultural loss and destruction. A panel of world-leading experts reflects on how societies deal with cultural trauma through reconstruction and commemoration, and on how the international community should respond to cultural loss. The series is global in scope, pan-historical and multi-disciplinary in approach, and features international scholars and practitioners of the highest calibre.
Year 3 (2020–1) Recovering draws together the themes of the series by exploring how we recover from cultural trauma—such as the tragic loss of the National Museum of Brazil in 2018—both literally through reconstruction of lost archives and artefacts, and also socially through the creation of sites of cultural memory, whether virtual or real. The lectures also consider the debate on restitution and contemporary campaigns for repatriation—notably the case of the ‘Migrated Archive’ consisting of thousands of files from former British colonial possessions whose existence was illegally kept secret in breach of the Public Records Act (UK). A special panel event ‘Recovering Lost Voices’, will focus on suppressed histories and the unwritten archive, reflecting on issues of power and gender.
The Out of the Ashes lecture series is generously supported by Sean and Sarah Reynolds.
Tuesday, 12 January 2021, 7 – 8:30pm
A panel discussion organised by the Irish Historical Society in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
Ireland's relationship with the highly lucrative plantation system in the Caribbean has attracted much debate and some fascinating research in recent years. The Irish Historical Society is pleased to present a panel discussion on this complex and emotive topic. Facilitated by the Society's President, Professor Mike Cronin, Academic Director, Boston College, Dublin, four researchers will discuss their work and consider our understanding of this historical transatlantic relationship.
Speakers for 'Ireland and the Caribbean: People, Property and Profits':
Dr David Brown, Trinity College Dublin Dr Brendan Kane, University of Connecticut Prof Finola O’Kane, University College Dublin Dr Jonathan Wright, Maynooth University The speakers, drawn from Irish and US institutions, represent a variety of recent approaches to the topic of Irish involvement in the exploitation of the region from the Early Modern period to the late eighteenth century.
Please be advised that there is discussion of sexual and gendered violence, rape, and sexual harrassment in the workplace. If these topics will be disturbing for you, please proceed with caution.
In keeping with the theme of power and its modalities, this episode is about identities and how minoritizing and racializing minorities can limit our power in patriarchal power structures, but how that very oppression can be subverted by those identities to reclaim power. This episode is a conversation with three incredibly powerful women, who occupy different marginalised spaces (whether it be gender, religious identity, or both) and wield them powerfully to fight for rights, which is almost a form of radical vulnerability. Their work lies at the intersection of research, activism, and sometimes, academia.
We were joined by Dr Arpita Chakraborty, Zoya Rehman, and Mariya Salim, for the discussion.
To find out more, visit: bit.ly/hublicsphere
Wednesday, 9 December 2020, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Dr Alice Mauger (UCD Wellcome Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for the History of Medicine in Ireland) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
Monday, 14 December 2020, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Prof Jane Ohlmeyer (TCD) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
Wednesday, 16 December 2020, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Dr Deirdre Foley (Oxford University) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
In this episode, Melody Barnes discusses the developments in the Black Lives Matter movement, technology and misinformation, vaccine distribution and the 2020 US election.
Melody Barnes is co-director for Policy and Public Affairs for the Democracy Initiative at the University of Virginia. She is the Dorothy Danforth Compton Professor of Practice at the Miller Center of Public Affairs and a Distinguished Fellow at the School of Law. From 2009 until January 2012, Melody was Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. She also served as chief counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the US Senate Judiciary Committee.
The Rethinking Democracy Podcast is produced by the Trinity Long Room Hub in partnership with the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University. Find out more about the Rethinking Democracy Podcast here: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/rethinking-democracy-podcast.php
In this episode, Lilith Acadia examines the dangers of epistemic uncertainty and the possible use of post-pandemic recovery as a pretext to ignore pressing global issues, including climate emergency and social inequality, in the United States. Listen here.
Lilith Acadia is a former Marie Skłodowska-Curie Cofund Fellow at the Trinity Long Room Hub and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at National Taiwan University. She is also involved in the Hublic Sphere, a podcast series created and produced by early career researchers in the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Rethinking Democracy Podcast is produced by the Trinity Long Room Hub in partnership with the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University. Find out more about the Rethinking Democracy Podcast here: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/rethinking-democracy-podcast.php
In this episode, Etain Tannam explores the erosion of trust in British-Irish relations, issues of stereotyping, and the future of cross-border cooperation in the wake of Brexit and Covid-19.
Etain Tannam an Associate Professor International Peace Studies at Trinity College Dublin. She is currently writing a book on British-Irish Relations in the 21st Century. She is also part of the Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland led by the UCL Constitution Unit.
The Rethinking Democracy Podcast is produced by the Trinity Long Room Hub in partnership with the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University. Find out more about the Rethinking Democracy Podcast here: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/rethinking-democracy-podcast.php
Friday, 27 November 2020, 12 – 1pm
A public lecture by Dr Rahul Mishra (University of Malaya) organised by the Trinity Centre for Asian Studies and hosted by Trinity Long Room Hub.
After decades of oppressive rule by the military junta, Myanmar (Burma) made a transition to democracy in 2015. The international community and the people of Myanmar had pinned their hopes on Aung San Suu Kyi, a noble laureate and the icon of decades-old democratic struggle in Myanmar, as the leader of a ‘New Myanmar’. With the landslide election victory of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), it was expected that she would bring nationwide peace, harmony, and economic development.
However, the systemic and decades-old persecution of ethnic minorities in a Bamar-dominated Myanmar continued unabated. Termed the “world’s most persecuted minority”, Rohingya are considered illegal inhabitants in their own country by the Myanmar government, as they have been denied citizenship under the 1982 Citizenship Law.
Lack of access to basic human facilities, civil and political rights, and endless persecution at the hands of the Tatmadaw (Myanmar armed forces) and the government have led to waves of exodus of the Rohingya to Bangladesh and neighbouring Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia. It is the largest human exodus in Asia since the Vietnam War. The United Nations and the International Court of Justice have termed their persecution possible “crimes against humanity”. This talk highlights various aspects of the state-supported persecution of the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities in Myanmar and suggests ways in which the international community could intervene to stop the ongoing violation of human rights.
Rahul Mishra is a Senior Lecturer at the Asia-Europe Institute, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. Prior to this, he was a Consultant with the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. Dr Mishra specialises on politico-security affairs of the Southeast Asian region, and major power politics in Asia. His latest publications include India’s Eastward Engagement from Antiquity to Act East Policy (Co-authored with Prof. S.D. Muni, SAGE Publications, 2019) and Asia and Europe in the 21st Century: New Anxieties, New Concerns (Co-edited with Azirah Hashim and Tony Milner, Routledge, 2020).
Thursday, 10 December 2020, 7 – 8:30pm
Behind the Headlines: Women and Resistance in Belarus and Poland
The recent anti-government protests in Belarus and Poland have attracted significant media attention across the world, with commentators highlighting not only the remarkable resilience of the protesters in the face of violence but also the predominance of women at the forefront of the protests themselves. In this Behind the Headlines discussion, our panel of experts will address the background to the demonstrations in each country before considering the key role played by the protestors -- and particularly the women involved -- in mobilising an effective and enduring opposition.
Speakers:
'What went wrong – how women ended being the losers in Poland’s ‘democratic’ transition?' -Dr Jacqueline Hayden (TCD)
Dr Jacqueline Hayden is director of the Centre for European Studies at Trinity College Dublin and author of Poles Apart: Solidarity and the New Poland and The Collapse of Communist Power in Poland: Strategic Misperceptions and Unanticipated Outcomes. She will explore how, since the election of the first PiS government, there has been a sharp resurgence of Catholic church values in political life. In seeking to institutionalise an ethnic-Catholic vision of the nation, both church and state in Poland have launched an attack on modernity. Women and the LGBT+ community have been the victims of this assault.
Leading protests on and behind the scenes: Lessons from Belarus - Dr Aliaksandr Herasimenka (Oxford)
Dr Herasimenka, is a postdoctoral researcher at the Computational Propaganda Project at the Oxford Internet Institute. His work investigates how political groups and governments use social media to manipulate public opinion. He also studies how people organise protest movements in authoritarian countries. In his talk, Dr Herasimenka will offer perspectives on the role of women in the post-election 2020 protests in Belarus, including their important role as symbolic leaders of the movement.
SIGNS of the (feminist) revolution in Poland - Dr Aneta Stępień (Maynooth University)
Dr Aneta Stępień is a university tutor in Critical Skills Programme at Maynooth University. She has taught on Polish language and literature, cultures of Central and Eastern Europe and gender and her recent article “Women’s Organizations and Antisemitism: The First Parliamentary Elections in Independent Poland” (2020) appeared in Nationalities Papers. Her talk offers a feminist look on #StrajkKobiet, the Women’s Protest in Poland, a movement that emerged in September 2016 as a wave of manifestations against the governmental proposal of restricting the abortion law.
The protests in Belarus and Poland: a comparative overview - Balázs Apor (TCD)
Dr Apor is associate professor in European Studies at Trinity College Dublin and a historian of Central and Eastern Europe in the 20th Century, with a special focus on the Communist period. His research interests include the study of propaganda and symbolic politics under Communist rule, and the Sovietisation of Eastern Europe after the Second World War. He will discuss the protests in Belarus and Poland from a comparative angle, highlighting common patterns as well as differences between the two movements, as well as reflecting on their the remarkable endurance.
About Behind the Headlines
The Trinity Long Room Hub’s ‘Behind the Headlines’ discussion series draws on the expertise of distinguished panel contributors to explore contemporary issues in the broad contexts of Arts and Humanities research. Introduced in 2015, the series provides a forum for public understanding and creates a valuable space for informed and respectful public discourse. Find out more about Behind the Headlines series here https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/behind-the-headlines.php The Trinity Long Room Hub Behind the Headlines series is supported by the John Pollard Foundation.
Thursday, 10 December 2020, 12 – 1:15pm
A panel discussion as part of the SHAPE-ID webinar series Shaping Conversations on Interdisciplinary Research in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
SHAPE-ID has found that a clear and well-defined process is needed for inter- and transdisciplinary research projects in order to manage such innovative interactions and ensure long-lasting results. This webinar will invite experts in inter- and transdisciplinary integration to consider how expertise can be fostered in academic and professional environments. What is integration expertise and why is it needed in order to develop strong collaborative research projects with diverse participants? What is the profile of the inter- or transdisciplinary scientist or researcher? What tools and methods are available to build this profile? Professor Jane Ohlmeyer (Trinity College Dublin), Principal Investigator of the SHAPE-ID project and Chair of the Irish Research Council, will chair the discussion.
Panellists
Dr Sabine Hoffman | Eawag – Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology Dr Nikki Brand | Technische Universiteit Delft Dr Petra Biberhofer | Participatory Science Academy, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich
Find out more https://www.shapeid.eu/
An 'in conversation' event featuring Dr Lilith Acadia and hosted by Professor Eve Patten, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub. Dr Acadia will discuss her career and her latest research, as well as her time with the Trinity Long Room Hub as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Fellow for 2019–20, in association with Trinity’s Identities in Transformation Research Theme.
Dr Lilith Acadia Dr Acadia is an Assistant Professor of Literary Studies at National Taiwan University (A.B. Smith College, PhD UC Berkeley) who recently completed a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Cofund Fellowship at the Trinity College Dublin Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Research Institute.
Tuesday, 8 December 2020, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Dr Sorcha Ní Fhlainn (MMU) as part of the School of English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series 2020-21 in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
Dr Sorcha Ní Fhlainn is Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. The Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. The series conveners for the academic year 2020-21 are current PhD students Orlaith Darling, Janice Deitner and Maggie Masterson.
Tuesday, 8 December 2020, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Dr Sorcha Ní Fhlainn (MMU) as part of the School of English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series 2020-21 in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
Dr Sorcha Ní Fhlainn is Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. The Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. The series conveners for the academic year 2020-21 are current PhD students Orlaith Darling, Janice Deitner and Maggie Masterson.
In this episode, Siobhán Callaghan(School of English) speaks to Dr Alison Waller about the powerful act of rereading books from childhood. Alison is the author of Rereading Childhood Books: A Poetics (2019), in which she explores what it means to return to texts from our childhood and develops a new model for understanding lifelong reading.
For many of us, the events of the past year have challenged how we perceive the passage of time. In our discussion, Siobhán and Alison explore how and why we return to the same texts throughout our lifespans. Alison discusses what first kindled her interest in rereading and how readers make memories of texts and shares the methodology that she used to undertake this work. They discuss the powerful emotions that can arise during the rereading experience, and Alison explains the particular “rereading attitudes” that she uncovered over the course of her research. Alison has also applied her expertise on rereading in a co-creative project, working with Gemma Seltzer and Wallis Eates on “Lifelong Reading: New Stories”, an initiative that invited older adults living with dementia to explore their childhood reading. To find out more, visit: bit.ly/hublicsphere
Wednesday, 2 December 2020, 7 – 8pm
A panel discussion as part of the ‘Sonic Spaces’ series. Wind-up music boxes; phonograph cylinders; gramophones; microphones; radio; magnetic tape; compact discs; MP3 players; synthetic voices. These are just a few of the sound technologies that have framed our experience of listening since the 19th century until the present day. And while audio transmission and recording processes have increasingly moved from analogue to digital systems, the cross-disciplinary nature of sound technologies remains. Frequently dependent on the technical expertise of audio engineers, such technologies heavily shape the media industries and, indeed, our daily lives.
This event will bring together a diverse panel of experts to discuss their experiences of employing sound technologies in creative ways: Enda Bates, deputy director of Trinity’s Music and Media Technologies programme, who will discuss his use of spatialized audio in 360-degree music videos; Zeynep Bulut (Queen's University Belfast) will discuss the collaborative research initiative Map a Voice, which explores sonic and social interactions between voice and environment; Mattia Cobianchi (Goldsmiths University and acoustic engineer at Bowers & Wilkins) on his historical sound project ‘London Street Noises’; and Neasa Ní Chiarain, from Trinity’s Phonetics & Speech Laboratory, who will discuss the ABAIR.ie Irish language learning website, and the development of synthesized voices for Irish.
The panel will be chaired by Linda Doyle, Professor of Engineering & The Arts at Trinity, and the founder Director of the SFI Research Centre CONNECT, a national research centre focused on telecommunications.
‘Sonic Spaces’ is organised by Jennifer O’Meara, Department of Film, as part of the Creative Arts Practice Research theme. The series considers the creative possibilities of audio and sound culture as they relate to issues of society, technology, the environment and the body. It aims to encourage the academic and broader community to reflect on our relationship to listening and its significance. ‘Sonic Spaces’ is supported by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
Tuesday, 1 December 2020, 7 – 8pm
A panel discussion to mark the launch of Journalist Bill Emmott’s latest book Japan’s Far More Female Future - Increasing Gender Equality and Reducing Workplace Insecurity Will Make Japan Stronger (2020).
In addition to a presentation by Bill Emmott, guest speakers include: A recorded video conversation between Bill and Ambassador Mari Miyoshi, Japanese Ambassador to Dublin 2015-18, who features in the book as being the most senior woman in the Japanese diplomatic service; two panelists, Helen Macnaughtan, Senior Lecturer in International Business and Management, SOAS University of London and Akiko Sato, market advisor at Enterprise Ireland. The evening will be chaired by Prof Eve Patten, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub.
About Japan’s Far More Female Future Japan’s socio-economic postwar history has been largely male dominated, and still women occupy a much smaller share of leadership positions than in other rich countries. However this reflects a wide gender inequality in tertiary education in the generations now holding or entering leadership positions. Beginning in the 1990s, female access to higher education converged dramatically with that of males, reflecting changing family and social attitudes, which promises to help Japan converge with European experience during the 2020s and 2030s. Through analysis of such trends and policy options, combined with interviews with 21 female role models from business to the arts, Bill Emmott takes an optimistic look at how Japan can achieve greater social justice and sustainable prosperity for the future, helping it to adapt to an ageing and declining population.
Monday, 30 November 2020, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Dr Susan Flavin (TCD) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
Wednesday, 25 November 2020, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Dr Olwen Purdue (The Queen’s University, Belfast) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
Monday, 23 November 2020, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Dr Jason McElligott (Marsh’s Library) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
Wednesday, 25 November 2020 Research Seminars entitled "'Blue Disfigurement': Colour, Race and the Freak Body in Wilkie Collins’s Poor Miss Finch" and "Decomposing the Innocent Child: Jo and the Churchyard in Dickens's Bleak House" by PhD candidates Esther Reilly (TCD) and Rebecca Easler (TCD) as part of the School of English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series 2020-21 in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. The series conveners for the academic year 2020-21 are current PhD students Orlaith Darling, Janice Deitner and Maggie Masterson.
An online lecture as part of the Out of the Ashes Lecture Series, with David M Anderson Professor of African History University of Warwick.
In April 2011, Foreign Secretary William Hague informed the British Parliament that a collection of some 25,000 historical files, that had been illegally held by his department for over 50 years, would be speedily transferred to The National Archive, at Kew. This vast collection of historical papers related to Britain’s imperial past, and is now known as the Hanslope Disclosure. These were records that Britain had secretly removed from each of 37 of its colonies at the point of decolonization: these files were deemed too important or too damaging to leave behind, or potentially too useful to destroy. This lecture tells the story of how this so-called ‘Migrated Archive’ came into being, what happened to it over the years in which it was secretly retained, and how it came to be ‘discovered’ in the midst of a human rights trial at London’s Supreme Court on The Strand. Nearly a decade after that ‘discovery’, controversy still swirls around the question of who owns this ‘Migrated Archive’ and what should be done with it. Whose history is this, and where does such an archive belong? The answers to these questions reveal much about Britain’s unease in dealing with the history of its past empire, and about the culture of secrecy that still infects British public institutions – even those that are supposed to be the guardians of our national heritage.
About David M.Anderson
David M. Anderson is Professor of African History, in the Global History & Culture Centre at the University of Warwick. He has published widely on the history and politics of eastern Africa, including Histories of the Hanged (2005), The Khat Controversy (2007), The Routledge Handbook of African Politics (2013, ed), and Politics and Violence in Eastern Africa: The Struggles of Emerging States (2015, ed). Three projects will come to publication in the coming year: Allies at the End of Empire (ed), From Resistance to Rebellion, and Africa’s New Authoritarians. He is now working on a volume of essays on the Mau Mau counter-insurgency in 1950s Kenya, drawing upon colonial documents released since 2012, and (with Michael Bollig) an edited volume of essays on Conservation in Africa. Anderson is editor of the African Studies Series at Cambridge University Press, would founding editor of the Journal of Eastern African Studies, and regularly contributes to the print and broadcast media on African politics.
Dr Daniel Geary, Mark Pigott Associate Professor in American History at Trinity College Dublin, will also give a brief response to the lecture. Dr Geary's research focuses on the intellectual, political, and cultural history of the twentieth-century United States, and also includes the development of ideas about race and ethnicity; the transnational history of civil rights movements and of white nationalism; and the relationship of politics to popular culture.
About the Out of the Ashes Lecture Series This three-year lecture series explores the theme of cultural loss and recovery across the centuries, from the destruction of the Library of Alexandria in antiquity to contemporary acts of cultural loss and destruction. A panel of world-leading experts reflects on how societies deal with cultural trauma through reconstruction and commemoration, and on how the international community should respond to cultural loss. The series is global in scope, pan-historical and multi-disciplinary in approach, and features international scholars and practitioners of the highest calibre. Find out more - https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/2018/out-of-the-ashes.php
The Out of the Ashes lecture series is generously supported by Sean and Sarah Reynolds.
Tuesday, 17 November 2020, 4 – 5pm
A talk by Prof. Martin Worthington (TCD) as part of the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The study of Babylonian poetry as poetry is still in its infancy — largely because so much energy has to go into textual reconstruction. But we now have a number of reasonably well preserved narrative poems, and one question which never seems to have been asked of them is whether characters finish their speeches to the end, or interrupt each other. In the absence of a Babylonian phrase for 'interrupt', this ends up being a matter of judgment, and conceivably one which elicited different views from different audiences. This paper will offer some examples of where interruptions can be envisaged, and what the implications are for characterisation. Our speaker would be delighted to get references to interruption in other literary traditions!
Dr Martin Worthington, who specialises in the Ancient Middle East, joined Trinity in August 2020. He is Associate Professor in the Department of Near & Middle Eastern Studies. His most recent book is Ea's Duplicity in the Gilgamesh Flood Story (Routledge, 2019), and during lockdown he is racking his brains over 'Sargon's Riddle'.
Wednesday, 18 November 2020, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Dr Síobhra Aiken (NUI Galway) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
A panel discussion as part of the 'Trinity and the Changing City' Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
A follow-up to our social class panel in last year’s series: this panel will ask a focused question: how do we fix inequality in education in our city? Most fee-paying schools cluster in the Dublin commuter belt, and some of the most disadvantaged schools in the country can be found here too. Dublin is a microcosm for a wider problem in Ireland, and in education systems elsewhere. Speakers include: Joe Humphreys (Journalist, The Irish Times), Dr Delma Byrne (Maynooth University) and Professor Jan Skopek (Department of Sociology, Trinity), the evening will be chaired by Dr Ciaran O'Neill, Deputy Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub.
Trinity and the Changing City is organised by the Identities in Transformation research theme, led by Daniel Faas, Department of Sociology, and is supported by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute. Find out more here https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/2019/trinity-and-the-changing-city.php
A seminar by Manon Nouvian (TCD) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub. The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
A panel discussion with the Global Irish Network in partnership with the Trinity Long Room Hub for Arts and Humanities Research
This panel will address recent debates over Ireland’s links to the legacies of Empire, including the transatlantic slave economy, networks of cultural appropriation, and embedded financial inheritances, from the perspective of the Irish university and related institutions. The discussion will take its lead from current disputes over racial and imperial representations in the UK university system, notably, the controversy over the Rhodes Statue at Oriel College, Oxford, and extend these to an Irish context. In hosting this conversation, Trinity College, the oldest university on the island of Ireland, will foreground its own paradoxical allegiances: in the naming of its 1960s library building it pays tribute to philosopher George Berkeley, a one-time slave owner, but simultaneously it celebrates its association with prominent abolitionist Edmund Burke, whose statue flanks the front gate of the College. In these architectural gestures Trinity provides a springboard for wider questions: how should Irish educational and public institutions acknowledge their various imperial and colonial alliances, and to what extent should their current operations-- from capital to the curriculum -- be brought under continued scrutiny?
An 'in conversation' with Dr Clare Clarke (School of English) hosted by Professor Eve Patten, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub. Dr Clarke will discuss her career and her latest publication, with a selected reading performed by a special guest.
About Dr Clare Clarke Clare Clarke is Assistant Professor in Nineteenth Century Literature, specialising in crime and detective fiction. Her first book Late Victorian Crime Fiction in the Shadows of Sherlock was awarded the HRF Keating award in 2015. Her second monograph, British Detective Fiction, 1891-1901: The Successors to Sherlock Holmes was published by Palgrave Macmillan in July 2020.
A public event on the anniversary of Kristallnacht organized by the Herzog Centre at Trinity College Dublin, in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub. "Why Talk About The Holocaust?" will feature Lenny Abrahamson and Oliver Sears in conversation, and the event will be moderated by Sarah Carey.
Lenny Abrahamson Lenny is the director of the critically-acclaimed Room. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. His latest TV series, Normal People, adapted by and based on Sally Rooney’s Man Booker long-listed novel of the same name, was released in 2020. Other work includes: Garage, Adam And Paul, What Richard Did, Frank and The Little Stranger. He is also in development on a number of projects.
Oliver Sears Oliver a London-born Dublin-based art dealer. He is the son of a Holocaust survivor & a former trustee of Holocaust Education Trust Ireland. He is a frequent contributor to radio and newspapers including RTE and The Irish Times. He gave his lecture 'The Objects of Love' for the 2019 annual Kristallnacht lecture at Trinity College Dublin.
Sarah Carey Sarah Carey is a writer, broadcaster and communications consultant. She writes a column for the Irish Independent on a Saturday and has previously written for The Sunday Independent, The Sunday Times and The Irish Times. She hosted the award winning and critically acclaimed Talking Point with Sarah Carey on Newstalk for 6 years and continues to contribute to national and international television and radio current affairs programmes.
A panel discussion as part of the SHAPE-ID webinar series Shaping Conversations on Interdisciplinary Research in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The SHAPE-ID Policy Brief recommends that funders and policy makers invite greater Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) participation in designing and evaluating inter- and transdisciplinary research funding calls and adapt funding instruments to acknowledge some of the unique features of inter- and transdisciplinarity, such as the time it takes to build mutually respectful collaborations. But what are the challenges for funding agencies on the ground, and how have they innovated in developing funding programmes? The webinar will invite representatives of funding agencies from different European countries to discuss their challenges and efforts to develop funding programmes with AHSS involvement in inter- and transdisciplinary research. Professor Jane Ohlmeyer (Trinity College Dublin), Principal Investigator of the SHAPE-ID project and Chair of the Irish Research Council, will chair the discussion.
Panellists
Professor Milena Žic Fuchs | University of Zagreb Tobias Bade Strøm | The Research Council of Norway Peter Brown | Irish Research Council
A panel discussion as part of the ‘Sonic Spaces’ series.
A rise in the number of sound-focused cultural productions is one of the key trends to emerge in the performing arts in recent years, including the reworking of various literary works and figures in the direction of sound and music centred experiences. How do artists and practitioners adapt written works into coherent listening experiences? What principles of sound design guide the development of creative soundscapes for the performing arts? A panel of established creative practitioners discuss these and related issues: Evangelia Rigaki, Head of Music at Trinity, who will discuss her installation opera This Hostel Life (Irish National Opera, 2019) based on Melatu Uche Okorie’s book of the same name; Kevin Gleeson, a prominent sound designer for theatre and film, who will discuss recent collaborations with Dead Centre (Hamnet, Beckett’s Room, To Be A Machine); and Nicholas Johnson, Associate Professor of Drama at Trinity and co-founder of the Samuel Beckett Laboratory, who will discuss his recent dramaturgical work on Beckett’s Room, a sound-focused play and co-production of Dead Centre and Gate Theatre. The panel will be chaired by Ruth Barton, Head of School of the Creative Arts at Trinity.
‘Sonic Spaces’ is organised by Jennifer O’Meara, Department of Film, as part of the Creative Arts Practice Research theme. It is supported by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
A seminar by Dr Jade Dillon (Mary Immaculate College) as part of the School of English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series 2020-21 in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
Dr Jade Dillon is a lecturer in the Department of English Language and Literature at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick. The Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. The series conveners for the academic year 2020-21 are current PhD students Orlaith Darling, Janice Deitner and Maggie Masterson.
A seminar by Dr Tim Murtagh (Beyond 2022) and Dr Neil Johnston (UK National Archives) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
A research seminar as part of the Identities in Transformation Postgraduate Seminar Series, in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
Continuing on from last year's series, this seminar explores the concept of embodiment, and will seek to interrogate how concepts of the body and embodiment influence our knowledge of, perception of, and negotiation with the world through which we move. Talks will explore processes of embodiment and disembodiment, and will touch on the development of identity in relation to embodied aspects of the self, with special focuses on gender, emotion, performance and social belonging.
The seminar will feature talks by Orlaith Darling (School of English), Nandini Gupta (School of Ecumenics/Peace Studies) and Morgan Wait (School of Histories and Humanities). They will be joined by faculty members Dr Miranda Fay Thomas (School of Creative Arts) and Dr Lilith Acadia (Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Fellow 2019/2020, currently at National Taiwan University).
A lecture by Prof Nicholas Allen (University of Georgia) organised by the Oscar Wilde Centre in partnership with Trinity School of English and the Willson Institute, University of Athens, Georgia.
The coast is the scene of some of Irish literature’s most famous moments. James Joyce drew the imperial history of Ireland in the tangled outlines of Molly Bloom's memories of Gibraltar at Howth Head, while Anne Enright sketched the fragile bonds that connect the island’s diaspora in The Gathering. Seamus Heaney patrolled a northern archipelago that turned from violence to pastoral in the late poetry, just as Sinead Morrissey remakes Belfast’s shipyards and skyscapes in her latest collection, On Balance. Beginning with the maritime inheritances of the Yeats brothers, this lecture charts a series of cultural spaces where water meets land, picturing Irish literature as a littoral art whose marine aesthetics underpin significant works from John Banville, Eiléan ní Chuilleanáin and Kevin Barry.
Wednesday, 28 October 2020, 4 – 5pm
A seminar by Dr Michael Kennedy (Executive Editor) and a panel of former Irish officials, as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
Attendance is open to all with relevant interests inside and outside TCD.
A talk by Professor Michael Cronin (TCD) as part of the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The future of travel is central to contemporary debates about pandemics and ‘flight shaming’. The nature and status of travel as an absolute right or unquestionable good are being called into question in the context of globalized infectious diseases and well-publicised evidence pointing to the prohibitive ecological costs of mass air travel. The lecture will explore a number of interpretive frameworks from critical ecology to travel writing and translation studies that might help us to understand and navigate a post-nomadic future.
Michael Cronin, BA (TCD), MA (UCD), PhD (TCD), FTCD, holds the 1776 Chair of French at Trinity College. He taught in the Université of Tours, the École Normale Supérieure (Cachan) and was Director of the Centre for Translation and Textual Studies at Dublin City University. He is an elected Member of the Royal Irish Academy, the Academia Europaea, and he is an Officer in the Ordre des Palmes Académiques. He has published extensively on language, culture, translation and travel writing.
The subject of countless songs, films, novels and works of art, 'the American Dream' has been a defining theme of the modern American ethos. As US election day approaches in the midst of a global pandemic, climate catastrophe and escalating racial tensions, we want to ask if this dream -- with its emphasis on equality, opportunity and freedom -- has become a nightmare. With the US now ranking as one of the most unequal G7 countries in the world, our panel of experts will explore this topic from a range of social and cultural perspectives, and in anticipation of a crucial and complicated American election day.
Speakers:
Bernice Murphy is Associate Professor at the School of English, Trinity College Dublin, where she lectures in popular literature and specialises in the study of place and space in American horror and gothic narratives. Her books include The Rural Gothic in American Popular Culture (2013).
Larycia Hawkins is a scholar, professor of political science, and activist. Professor Hawkins teaches and researches at the University of Virginia (UVA), where she is jointly appointed in the departments of Politics and Religious Studies. She is part of the UVA Democracy Initiative’s Religion, Race & Democracy Lab. Her publications include Jesus and Justice: The Moral Framing of the Black Agenda (2015).
Nicholas Johnson is an Associate Professor in Drama in Trinity’s School of Creative Arts. He is a founding co-director of the Beckett Summer School at TCD and a co-founder of the new Trinity Centre for Beckett Studies. He publishes across several fields and has been a regular media commentator on the US election landscape.
Ed Pavlić is Distinguished Research Professor of English and African American Studies and affiliated faculty in Creative Writing at the University of Georgia, Athens (GA). He is the author of 'Who Can Afford to Improvise?': James Baldwin and Black Music, the Lyric and the Listeners (2015).
The Trinity Long Room Hub Behind the Headlines series is supported by the John Pollard Foundation.
What does equity in brain health look like? How do artists and scientists approach this question together? This month we’ll be hosting another evening chat with a panel of experts from the Global Brain Health Institute. Join us for a discussion on health equity, social memory and the role of music in brain health and research.
As Atlantic Fellows with GBHI, neuroscientist Francesca Farina, musician Grainne Hope, and Public Engagement Specialist Sarah Fox will come together to share insights into making and mapping memory through art and science. We’ll also have a practical discussion about mediating priorities and practices when artists, scientists, and the public come together.
About the speakers Francesca Farina is a neuroscientist whose research focuses on identifying risk factors and early biomarkers of dementia. She also has a strong interest in developing creative engagement initiatives to promote brain health and life-long well-being.
Grainne Hope is a professional cellist, Kids' Classics Founder & Artistic Director & Wellcome Trust Clore Fellow. ‘Kids’ Classics' is Ireland’s leading Music in Healthcare organisation that provides training and mentoring to professional musicians, and creates and designs music programmes for healthcare, community and school settings in partnerships with the National Arts Organisations and Healthcare Settings.
Sarah Fox gained a PhD from The University of Manchester studying how rhythmic activity in the brain could be used to better understand changes in the early stages of Alzheimer’s dementia. But her PhD taught her much more than the ups and downs of brain waves, as she spent an increasing amount of her time working with other scientists and artists to find ways of discussing scientific findings with a wider audience. She now helps patients understand and take part in dementia research and can often be found waxing lyrically about brains over a cup of something warm.
The Art + Science Reading Group is a virtual group where researchers, artists, thinkers, and revolutionaries come to share ideas. Organised by PhD candidates Autumn Brown (School of Education and Science Gallery Dublin) and Amelia McConville (School of English and Institute of Neuroscience) and supported by Science Gallery Dublin and the Trinity Long Room Hub, the series explores the ways art and science shape one another and society.
In this episode, Dr Clare Moriarty talks with three leading scholars of carceral institutions in recent Irish history. Claire McGettrick, Irish Research Council Postgraduate Scholar, UCD Sociology and Co-Founder of Justice for Magdalenes Research/Adoption Rights Alliance, Katherine O’Donnell, Associate Professor, History of Ideas, UCD School of Philosophy, and Maeve O’Rourke, Lecturer & Director of Human Rights Law Clinic, Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUI Galway. They discuss the season’s theme, ‘Power,’ in the context of issues relating to gender and Irish institutions, private contracts for so-called “care” schemes and the power of education and personal narrative. They also address the relationships between academia, advocacy and activism.
Content Warning: This podcast refers to sexual violence, institutional abuse and wrongful imprisonment that may be distressing to some listeners. To find out more, visit: bit.ly/hublicsphere
Voices of the past, stories for the future: a Research Showcase from the 1641 Depositions Project
On the 10th anniversary of its launch and almost 380 years since the outbreak of the 1641 Rebellion, the 1641 Depositions Project celebrates its legacy and impact in a virtual research showcase this October 22nd, 2020. A flagship transdisciplinary digital humanities endeavour, the project has transformed our understanding of how the controversial events of the mid-seventeenth century are recorded and remembered.
Join us in recognizing and understanding how the 1641 Depositions project benefited multiple partners and stakeholders within and beyond academia. We will hear from colleagues in computer science, education, policy, industry and the project funders, as well as special guests who launched the project 10 years ago. This showcase will also mark the forthcoming launch of the final 7 volumes of the 1641 depositions in November 2020 by the Irish Manuscripts Commission, and will be hosted by Prof Eve Patten, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub and chaired by Prof Jane Ohlmeyer.
Speakers Dr Mary McAleese, former President of Ireland and Chancellor of Trinity College Dublin, launched the results of the project in 2010 during her presidency, and will reflect on history and identity, and on the importance of bowing to the past without being bound by it.
Professor Andrew Thompson, UKRI and University of Oxford, former Executive Chair of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC, 2018-2020), will reflect on the Project's impact from the funding perspective.
Marie Wallace, Data Strategist at IBM, will provide her perspective of the relevance of the 1641 Depositions Project for IBM and her own experience with working with academia.
Dr Eamon Darcy, an early modern scholar who worked on the 1641 Depositions Project, will reflect on the development of the educational resources in partnership with Bridge 21.
Professor Vinny Wade, CEO and Director of the ADAPT Research Centre, will bring his perspective as a Project partner in computer science.
Professor John Walter, from the University of Essex, will reflect on the Project's contributions to scholarly and archival research.
A seminar by Professor Maria Luddy (University of Warwick) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
Voices of the past, stories for the future: a Research Showcase from the 1641 Depositions Project
How can we best tell our research stories and demonstrate the value of investing in Arts and Humanities projects? How can we be better prepared to capture a project’s impact along the way? On the 10th anniversary of its launch, we example the legacy and impact of 1641 Depositions Project, a transdiciplinary digital humanities endeavour which transformed our understanding of how the controversial events of the mid-seventeenth century are recorded and remembered.
Join Director Eve Patten in a lunchtime conversation with the Trinity lead PIs of the 1641 Depositions Project, Professor Jane Ohlmeyer and Professor Micheál Ó’Siochrú, Professor John Morrill from the University of Cambridge, and Dr Giovanna Lima, Trinity’s Research Impact Officer for the Arts and Humanities, to understand the impact journey of a digital humanities project 10 years on.
‘Voices of the past, stories for the future: a Research Showcase from the 1641 Depositions Project’ is supported by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute. The 1641 Depositions Project received funding from the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the Arts & Humanities Research Council in the UK and the Library of Trinity College, Dublin.
A panel discussion featuring TCD PhD candidates James Greaney, Joel Herman, Grace Hoffman and Kasper Kop as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
A seminar by Dr Clare Clarke (TCD) as part of the School of English Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series 2020-21 in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series is a fortnightly meeting which has been integral to the School of English research community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School. The series conveners for the academic year 2020-21 are current PhD students Orlaith Darling, Janice Deitner and Maggie Masterson.
A panel discussion as part of the SHAPE-ID webinar series Shaping Conversations on Interdisciplinary Research in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
What can the experiences of researchers working in the emerging area of the Neurohumanities teach us about the challenges and potential of interdisciplinary research between the Arts and Humanities and STEM disciplines? Why engage in such research and how are researchers navigating the significant distances between their respective disciplines? This webinar will invite researchers working in the Neurohumanities to discuss best practices in interdisciplinary research from the perspective of their own experiences working at the interface of the Arts and Humanities and Neurosciences. The case studies will showcase the potential for interdisciplinary research with meaningful roles for Arts and Humanities researchers and inspire researchers to learn about and engage with interdisciplinarity. Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, Principal Investigator of the SHAPE-ID project, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub and Chair of the Irish Research Council, will chair the discussion. Panellists Professor Sonja Smets | University of Amsterdam Professor Thomas J Carew | New York University Amelia McConville | Trinity College Dublin
A panel discussion as part of the 'Trinity and the Changing City' Series.
Unlike Cork, Waterford and Galway, Dublin is not a ‘healthy city’. Why is this? And what makes a city ‘healthy’? What policies and actions are in place? And how can evidence-based research inform such policies and actions? A panel of distinguished experts discusses these and related issues. Contributors include Anna Davies, Professor of Geography, Environment and Society at Trinity who will speak about findings from her ERC project SHARECITY in relation to physical/mental wellbeing from food sharing; Denise Cahill, Healthy Cities Coordinator Cork City, who will discuss her work in Healthy Cities including work with the Cork Food Policy Council; and Professor Richard Layte, Professor of Sociology at Trinity, who will examine the links between food environment and health.
Trinity and the Changing City is organised by the Identities in Transformation research theme, led by Daniel Faas, Department of Sociology, and is supported by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
In this episode, Dawn Seymour Klos talks with Dr Caoimhe Whelan and Dr Sparky Booker about the Friends of Medieval Dublin and the representation of the Middle Ages in popular media and western politics.
The Hublic Sphere is a new podcast series created and produced by early career researchers at the Trinity Long Room Hub in Trinity College Dublin. The title reflects our desire to further the mission of the Trinity Long Room Hub ("the Hub") in bringing aspects of our Arts and Humanities research in Trinity to the public in this new ‘Hublic’ space. The world around us has never been more complicated, and we believe the humanities should play a role in understanding it. We bring you interviews with academics, practitioners and activists, and discussions that help uncover new answers to urgent questions.
To find out more, visit: bit.ly/hublicsphere
Global White Nationalism: From Apartheid to Trump Thursday, 8 October 2020, 7 – 8:30pm This panel discussion will consider the historical roots of contemporary white nationalism. Speakers will stress the importance of understanding white nationalism as an interconnected global movement. And they will analyze how white supremacism adapted to the challenged posed by decolonization and movements for racial equality. This event is held to mark the publication of Global White Nationalism by Manchester University Press and the speakers include the book's editors and three of its contributors.
Speakers:
Daniel Geary, TCD Jennifer Sutton, Independent Scholar Camilla Schofield, University of East Anglia Bill Schwarz, Queen Mary London Zoe Hyman, University College London Kyle Burke, Hartwick College
A seminar by Dr Ciarán Casey (University College Dublin) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
There is a growing sense that the one certainty we can count on over the coming weeks, months, and years, is uncertainty. From the ancient stoics and philosophers to contemporary historians, writers and economists, thinkers have grappled with this concept and its implications. What can they tell us about our current predicament, and can we learn to tolerate uncertainty in our daily lives?
In our forthcoming Behind the Headlines, we explore what uncertainty means today. In the midst of a global pandemic, with looming lockdowns, an unsettled political climate, economic volatility and the spectre of false news, we will consider possible responses to life in the ‘age of uncertainty’ and discuss the ways in which unpredictability shapes our feelings about the future.
Speakers:
Professor Siobhán Garrigan, Loyola Chair of Theology, Head of School of Religion, TCD, will look at how Christianity offers a wealth of resources on how to cope with uncertainty … as well as quite a few examples of how not to cope with it.
Professor Kenneth Pearce, Ussher Assistant Professor in Berkeley Studies, Head of Department of Philosophy, TCD, will explore early modern traditions of philosophy and their approach to uncertainty, asking if making peace with uncertainty is essential for life in the modern world.
Professor Mani Ramaswami, Professor of Neurogenetics, Director of Trinity Institute of Neurosciences (TCIN), will examine uncertainty from the perspective of Neuroscience, looking at our brain's ability to accurately predict the future, and how we can use uncertainty to our advantage.
Carmel Crimmins, Financial Desk Deputy Editor, Reuters, will look at how we produce the news during a global pandemic with societies under lockdown, rumour and misinformation proliferating online and stories breaking on multiple fronts.
A seminar by Dr Robert Armstrong, Dr Graeme Murdock and Dr Simon Lewis (TCD) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
A seminar by Dr Bernadette Whelan (University of Limerick) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series in partnership with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All webinars take place at 4pm. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A.
The Art + Science Reading Group is now a virtual gathering of thinkers, researchers and the incurably curious. Organised by PhD candidates Amelia McConville (School of English and Institute of Neuroscience) and Autumn Brown (School of Education and Science Gallery Dublin) and supported by Science Gallery Dublin and the Trinity Long Room Hub, the series will explore the evolutionary and revolutionary kinship between two approaches to understanding the universe and our place within it.
Art and science often share a cyclical relationship of exploration and illumination. How do these disciplines help us frame questions about the universe and in particular those forces we cannot see? This month we’re speaking with artist and researcher Alexandra Carr on her experimental approach to art, inspired by natural processes. How might a shared point of visual reference help democratise the big questions about the unknown and the unseen?
We will discuss Alexandra's artistic work in collaboration with physicists, geologists, and biologists including the development of biologically smart materials, and speak about her recent installations including an upcoming exhibition in Dublin, Solaris Nexum. Carr completed a foundation at Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design and a ceramics degree at Camberwell College of Art. She has exhibited work at the Fondation Cartier in Paris, in collaboration with Jean-Paul Gaultier. She has been commissioned work from seminal musicians Radiohead, and was recently shortlisted for the Arts@CERN COLLIDE International Award and longlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2017, 2019 and 2020.
A public lecture by Professor Philip Dwyer (University of Newcastle) is organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub as part of the Out of the Ashes Lecture Series.
The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001 brought the question of iconoclasm and cultural heritage into stark relief for the first time in many years. The Taliban were portrayed as “barbarians” and “vandals”, but their act of destruction is part of a very long history of violence committed by people either bent on overthrowing the existing order – revolution – or erasing the past – a form of cultural cleansing. Sometimes the destruction even involves the physical remains of former kings, saints and political opponents.
While we have a good understanding of what iconoclasm is, we do not necessarily understand the iconoclasts themselves. Why do people feel compelled to destroy images that offend their religious or political sensibilities? Can any meaningful comparisons be drawn between, say, sixteenth-century Protestants and contemporary Islamicists destroying what they consider to be ‘false idols’? What connects the image-breakers across time? What do we lose by ‘purifying’ the past?
Drawing on a wide variety of examples that range from ancient Egypt through to contemporary debates about the removal of modern political and military icons, Philip Dwyer will present iconoclasm as both a religious and a political act that cuts across time and historical boundaries. Iconoclasm as an act of forgetting can tell us a great deal about how we prefer to remember the past, and what kind of societies we want to build in the future. As a form of violence, one that has existed throughout recorded history, it is central to understanding humanity’s cultural legacy.
About the Speaker Philip Dwyer is Professor of History and founding Director of the Centre for the History of Violence at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He is the author of an acclaimed three-part biography of Napoleon and general editor of the four-volume Cambridge World History of Violence, due to be published in 2020.
About the Series This three-year lecture series explores the theme of cultural loss and recovery across the centuries, from the destruction of the Library of Alexandria in antiquity to contemporary acts of cultural loss and destruction.
A panel of world-leading experts reflects on how societies deal with cultural trauma through reconstruction and commemoration, and on how the international community should respond to cultural loss.
The series is global in scope, pan-historical and multi-disciplinary in approach, and features a panel of international scholars and practitioners of the highest calibre.
Year 2 (2019–20) "Destroying" considers a form of cultural atrocity now subject to international war crimes prosecution—the deliberate targeting of cultural heritage as a means to control social memory and to erase identities. The programme includes a special panel event on the Four Courts Blaze of 1922 organized in association with the Irish National Committee of the Blue Shield. The basis for the Blue Shield is the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property and its additional first and second protocols, ratified by Ireland in 2018.
The Out of the Ashes lecture series is generously supported by Sean and Sarah Reynolds. See details of the full series here https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/2018/out-of-the-ashes.php
The Art + Science Reading Group is a virtual group where researchers, artists, thinkers, and revolutionaries come to share ideas. Organised by PhD candidates Autumn Brown (Science Gallery Dublin and School of Education) and Amelia McConville (School of English and Institute of Neuroscience) and supported by Science Gallery Dublin and the Trinity Long Room Hub, the series explores the ways art and science shape one another and society.
This month we’re chatting with vocalist, composer, and researcher Síobhra Quinlan about the ways in which the Covid-19 pandemic may help us re-imagine and ethically reform our relationship with online creative spaces. During quarantine how many of us sought out inspiration, comfort, or escape in a live streamed concert, a gallery tour, or other social creative space? What have these experiences done for us, or communicated to technology companies? How can a post-human lens help us re-imagine, and create the ethical technological futures we want? With a special focus on two projects at Nokia Bell Labs, E.A.T Now, Other Voices Courage, and We Speak music, we’ll chat about these questions and more!
Síobhra Quinlan is an Irish vocalist, composer, producer, and researcher. Whilst doing an M. Phil in Music Composition at Trinity College in 2016/2017, Síobhra researched and revived the forgotten works of female singer-composers from 17C Italy which she then performed at The National Gallery of Ireland with David Adams, and at The National Concert Hall as part of International Women’s Day with Solomiya Maksymiv. Síobhra is also involved with outreach projects, working with artists currently living in Direct Provision through the mediums of music, drama & art. Her research will explore posthuman-art and intimacy as architects of our digital existence.
A lecture by David Lloyd organised by the School of Creative Arts.
David Lloyd is a seasoned UK radio programmer who's worked across a variety of formats for over forty years – from rock to pop to talk, news and contemporary music stations – as broadcaster, producer, and executive. His books How to Make Great Radio and Radio Secrets are proving essential for those seeking to understand the art and science of the medium in a fast-changing age. As a consultant, he works with radio stations, groups and industry bodies around the world to help build audiences. He also trains and lectures in presentation, production and compliance, supports research projects and licence applications, and is the Chairman of local TV channel, Notts TV.
This special Trinity Long Room Hub online event, which marked the seventh anniversary of the poet’s death (on 30th August, 2013) looked at the work of Seamus Heaney through five images which reflect his preoccupations and help us to understand his achievement in poetry. These images, were discussed by two leading scholars of Heaney’s work, Rosie Lavan and Chris Morash, evoke different moments in his career, from his early appearance in Vogue magazine to his humane meditations on the history of violence prompted by world events. Accompanied by selections from his poetry and prose read by the distinguished actor Adrian Dunbar, they also shed light on the influences and experiences – both public and private – which shaped Heaney’s imagination.
The event also marked the launch of Seamus Heaney and Society, by Rosie Lavan. Published in 2020 by Oxford University Press, this important new study discusses how the poet was shaped by his work as a teacher, lecturer, critic, and public figure.
The Art + Science Reading Group is a virtual cafe where researchers, artists, thinkers, and revolutionaries come to share ideas. Organised by PhD candidates Autumn Brown (Science Gallery Dublin and School of Education) and Amelia McConville (School of English and Institute of Neuroscience) and supported by Science Gallery Dublin and the Trinity Long Room Hub, the series explores the ways art and science shape one another and society.
This week we’ll be chatting about the ancient tradition of origami and how this delicate artform allows new technologies to blossom in the vacuum of space. We'll examine how art-science approaches link past and future and give us new ways to explore and understand our universe. Joining us to discuss the impacts from the terrestrial to celestial is creative technologist, Lizbeth B. De La Torre.
Lizbeth B. De La Torre is a Creative Technologist in The Studio at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She holds a BFA in Illustration-Entertainment Art designing vehicles, props and environments for feature film animation from Art Center College of Design. Liz uses Design Thinking methods and techniques to imagine the future of technology in space. She earned her Master’s of Science with the MIT Media Lab’s “Space Enabled Research Group”. She works on creative projects and tech demos for various space missions and mission formulation for future missions. Apart from Illustrating two posters included in the NASA Visions of the Future series (Europa, Ceres) she also co-lead research in astronaut devices and wearables for situational awareness and robotic interaction on Mars. Her current research examines the intersection of creativity and aerospace, and how creative techniques are of benefit to space technology innovation. Recommended reading: http://voyagela.com/interview/meet-lizbeth-b-de-la-torre-los-angeles/
Unlocking the Archives: A Research Showcase from the Beyond 2022 Project
Marking the anniversary of the terrible fire of June 30th, 1922, which destroyed seven centuries of Ireland's historical memory, the Beyond 2022 Project presents "Unlocking the Archives"—a virtual research showcase and panel discussion on the 98th anniversary of the fire (June 30th, 2020).
Unlocking the Archives 2: Next Generation Access. The evening will include an introduction of the project by Dr Peter Crooks, Programme Director of Beyond 2022, responding to the project's research is Professor Guy Beiner, Burns Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies at Boston College, and Orlaith McBride, Director of the National Archives of Ireland, will discuss 'recovering the memory' of the Four Courts Blaze, and how archives can respond creatively to the challenge of commemoration within Ireland's Decade of Centenaries. The evening will be chaired by Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub. Join the conversation and come on a journey into the newly-constructed 'virtual search room' within Beyond 2022's Virtual Record Treasury. • Dr Peter Crooks, Programme Director Beyond 2022
• Prof. Guy Beiner is Burns Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies, Boston College; Professor of Historyat Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
• Orlaith McBride is Director of the National Archives, having served as Director of the Arts Council for almost a decade
Moderator: Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
Unlocking the Archives: A Research Showcase from the Beyond 2022 Project is supported by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts. Beyond 2022 is funded by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht under Project Ireland 2040.
Unlocking the Archives: A Research Showcase from the Beyond 2022 Project
Marking the anniversary of the terrible fire of June 30th, 1922, which destroyed seven centuries of Ireland's historical memory, the Beyond 2022 Project presents "Unlocking the Archives"—a virtual research showcase and panel discussion on the 98th anniversary of the fire (June 30th, 2020).
Unlocking the Archives Part 1: Hidden Voices. The Beyond 2022 research team is working to reconstruct the collections destroyed in 1922 and re-imagine them in virtual reality. Join the team as we discuss our latest archival discoveries from around the world and demonstrate how technological advancements can recover voices hidden deep in the historical record.
• Saved from the fire: the National Archives of Ireland Salved Record collection. As conservation and listing work funded by the Irish Manuscript Commission progresses, Zoë Reid, Senior Conservator, National Archives of Ireland, and Dr Paul Dryburgh, Principal Records Specialist, The National Archives (UK), explain the conservation challenges in these unique survivors from 1922, and uncover their fascinating content.
• What would you save from the flames? Dr Sarah Hendriks, Beyond 2022 Research Fellow at The National Archives (UK), and Dr Timothy Murtagh, Beyond 2022 Research Fellow of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), tell us what one thing they wish they could have saved from the 1922 fire and why, before exploring the detective work involved in locating partial replacements.
• Hidden among the data: the Beyond 2022 Knowledge Graph for Irish History Dr Christophe Debruyne and Dr Lynn Kilgallon showcase this exciting Computer Science research strand in Beyond 2022’s work, demonstrating its potential for changing the questions we can ask of the recovered records.
A webinar as part of the "Shaping Conversations on Interdisciplinary Research" series, organised by the SHAPE-ID project.
Shaping Conversations on Interdisciplinary Research We are pleased to announce the second in our series of webinars on the integration of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences in inter- and transdisciplinary research. Some of these events will stage broader conversations, with invited panellists from the SHAPE-ID community, consortium and Expert Panel. Others will focus on SHAPE-ID project results and on how to increase the uptake of recommendations from the project.
This webinar will take up one of the recommendations made in our recently published SHAPE-ID Policy Brief: that to increase the participation of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) in interdisciplinary research (IDR) and transdisciplinary research (TDR), policy makers and funders must work to involve researchers more substantially in programme design and evaluation. However, similar recommendations have been made many times already with limited impact. What are the challenges of implementing this recommendation and how can policy makers, researchers and Universities make progress on this front? Is this challenge specific to improving pathways to IDR and TDR or is it a more general problem with the interface AHSS researchers have built with policy makers?
Our invited panel of researchers, policy makers and science policy advisers, including SHAPE-ID’s Dr Jack Spaapen (Senior Policy Advisor at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences), Dr Jennifer Edmond (Associate Professor of Digital Humanities at Trinity College Dublin and President of the Board of Directors of the pan-European research infrastructure for the arts and humanities, DARIAH-EU) and Mary Doyle (TLRH Public Policy Fellow), will discuss these issue with chair Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, followed by an interactive Q&A from the audience.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Fellow for 2019-20 Dr Torsten Wollina sat down for a virtual 'in conversation' with Professor Anna Chahoud (Department of Classics, TCD), to discuss Arabic manuscripts at Trinity Library and about the Library’s history more generally, with particular reference to the digital exhibition "Why were Arabic manuscripts collected in 17th-century Dublin? The early collection of the Library of Trinity College Dublin“.
Torsten Wollina Torsten Wollina has been a Research Associate at research institutes in Germany and Beirut. Most recently, he taught Islamic Studies and Middle Eastern History at Hamburg University. His first book, Twenty Years of Everyday Life (in German), analyzes a rare 15th-century Arabic diary for the author’s views on the world, society, and himself. It was published in 2014. Torsten is engaged in public history, both through his blog „Damascus Anecdotes“ and as a co-editor of the @Tweeting Historians Twitter Account
The Art + Science Reading Group is now a virtual gathering of thinkers, researchers and the incurably curious. Organised by PhD candidates Amelia McConville (School of English and Institute of Neuroscience) and Autumn Brown (School of Education and Science Gallery Dublin) and supported by Science Gallery Dublin and the Trinity Long Room Hub, the series will explore the evolutionary and revolutionary kinship between two approaches to understanding the universe and our place within it.
During the discussion Dr Moriarty reference images which you can view here while listening. https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/assets/documents/Mathsartandscience.pdf
Last week we navigate the swerves and curves of Euclidian geometry, the language of primary colours, and some truly vicious smackdown poetry.
Leading us into the deep dark world of satire and maths is philosopher extraordinaire Dr Clare Moriarty. Clare will provide an introduction to Euclid's geometry through the eyes of an Irish mathematician and rabble rouser, Oliver Byrne. Described as the 'Matisse of Mathematics', Byrne ascribed primary colours to geometry diagrams in his gorgeous edition of Euclid's Elements (link below). Byrne was a contentious fellow (firearms enthusiast trained in close hand combat) and sought to further the work of another conspicuous and disruptive mathematician, George Berkeley. Bishop Berkeley discusses the nature of a line as “breadthless length” and attempts to upend our understanding of basic geometry.
We’ll be examining Byrne's diagrams in contrast to the paintings of Piet Mondrian exploring the parallels between their use of primary colours, their transgressive treatment of lines and geometrical realities.
Dr Jennifer Edmond discusses zoom fatigue, why zoom it is far from perfect and how we make virtual meetings work better.
This talk was from the 'Behind the Headlines' panel discussion Human+Technology Beyond Covid-19, you can listen back to the full discussion here https://soundcloud.com/tlrhub/behind-the-headlines-humantechnology-beyond-covid-19
Jennifer Edmond is Associate Professor of Digital Humanities and Director of Strategic Projects for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences in Trinity College Dublin and the co-director of the Trinity Center for Digital Humanities.
The Trinity Long Room Hub Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Fellow Dr Lindy Brady (University of Mississippi) sat down for a virtual 'in conversation' with Dr Immo Warntjes, Ussher Assistant Professor in Early Medieval Irish History (TCD) to discuss Brady's current book project, Framing History: The Origin Legends of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
About Dr Brady Dr. Lindy Brady is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Mississippi, where she specializes in Old English, medieval Irish and Welsh, Old Norse, and insular Latin languages and texts. Her first book, Writing the Welsh Borderlands in Anglo-Saxon England, was published by Manchester University Press in 2017 and reprinted in paperback in 2019. Dr. Brady has been a Text Technologies Fellow at Stanford University, the A. W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Medieval Studies in the Medieval Institute at the University of Notre Dame, and a British Academy Visiting Fellow at the University of Birmingham.
About Dr Warnthes Immo Warntjes is Ussher Assistant Professor in Early Medieval Irish History. Before joining Trinity, he taught Medieval History at the University of Greifswald and Queen's University Belfast. He was a Senior Research Fellow at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies and is currently PI of the Irish Research Council Laureate Consolidator Project: IFCE - The Irish Foundation of Carolingian Europe.
The word pandemic – from the Greek πάνδημος – means that which belongs to all people and so works as a kind of plural to the word everyman. Indeed, the Covid-19 pandemic is universal in that it touches everyone, yet it is also singular, each country, indeed, each person experiences it differently. Likewise, Ulysses is the great novel of the universal made individual, as embodied by the book’s protagonist, the ‘everyman’ Leopold Bloom. In this webinar, four leading Joycean scholars will discuss what Joyce’s Ulysses can say about the current crisis.
Speakers : Valérie Bénéjam is Maîtresse de Conférences in English Literature and a member of the L’AMo (L’Antique et le Moderne) research group at the University of Nantes (France). She has written many articles about Joyce.
Catherine Flynn is Associate Professor of English at UC Berkeley where she works on Irish modernist literature and culture in a European avant-garde context and on critical theory.
John McCourt is Professor of English at the University of Macerata. He is a specialist in Joyce Studies and in nineteenth and twentieth century Irish literature.
Sam Slote is Associate Professor at Trinity College Dublin. He is the author of Joyce’s Nietzschean Ethics (Palgrave, 2013) and is the co-editor, with Luca Crispi, of How Joyce Wrote ‘Finnegans Wake’ (Wisconsin, 2007).
As we move exclusively online for work, education and communication, our Behind the Headlines discussion explores how the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the immersion of technology into our lives.
Covid-19 has given us a glimpse of what a technological-based future might look like. As society applies technology to recover from global events that trigger a shift in human thinking and behaviour, it is clear that the fundamental issues that we face today cannot be solved by one discipline, industry or approach alone. Amplified by social isolation, there has never been a better time to consider the implications of these virtual environments on human societies, both in the present crisis and beyond Covid-19. Our expert panel will explore a human-centred approach to technology innovation; how it can empower and disempower; and why technological design must begin and end with the human experience at the fore.
This discussion marked the start of a new five year programme in Trinity, HUMAN+, cofunded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Marie Slodowska-Curie Actions. The programme will appoint international researchers from across the arts, humanities and computer sciences to work together and with enterprise partners to develop human centric approaches to technology innovation that will have long term benefits for society. HUMAN+ is led by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute and ADAPT, the Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Digital Content Innovation at Trinity College Dublin.
Panellists:
Lorna Ross, is Chief Innovation Officer with VHI Health & Wellbeing. With a design career spanning 30 years, Lorna recently participated in RTE’s Big Life Fix, challenging a group of leading designers, engineers, computer programmers and technology experts to create inventions that will transform people's lives. Until recently she was Group Director at the Fjord design studio inside Accenture’s global R&D centre The Dock, where she founded and led the Human Insights Lab before her move to VHI in April 2019.
Vincent Wade is Director of the ADAPT Centre for Digital Media Technology and Chair of Computer Science, School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College Dublin. His research focuses on intelligent systems, AI and Personalisation. As Director of ADAPT, Vincent heads a world leading research Centre uniquely focused across the life cycle of digital media, which pioneers technologies for media analytics, advanced machine learning, machine translation, media personalization, speech & multimodal interaction and eithics & privacy in media.
Jennifer Edmond is Associate Professor of Digital Humanities and Director of Strategic Projects for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences in Trinity College Dublin and the co-director of the Trinity Center for Digital Humanities. She has developed a significant profile in European research and research policy circles, and has led and coordinated a number of major EU projects around knowledge complexity, digital historical research, virtual research environments, and infrastructures for digital research in the arts and humanities.
Ann Devitt, is Assistant Professor of Modern Languages and Director of Research at the School of Education in Trinity College Dublin, and academic director for Learnovate. She is interested in technology enhanced learning and the use of computational, corpus and network science methods to examine language data. Learnovate is the the research and innovation centre focused on education tech funded by Enterprise Ireland and hosted in TCD.
You can find out more about Human+ at our new website www.humanplus.ie/ For general enquires about Human+ contact humanplus@tcd.ie
Police murders of African Americans are deeply rooted in American history and society and token solutions will do little to prevent them.
A panel discussion as part of the 'Trinity and the Changing City' Series.
Racist attacks in Dublin have been in the news recently, and for the first time for decades there is an organised far-right In Ireland. Yet racism is not a preserve of the far right but an everyday experience for a growing number of Dubliners. Considering the experiences of Dublin’s ethnic minorities and travellers both in the labour market and everyday life, and discussing the growth of the far right online in Ireland, this session features Dr Eugenia Siapera, Professor of Information and Communication Studies and head of the ICS School at UCD, Dr Ebun Joseph of the Sociology Department in TCD and chair of AfSAI (African Scholars Association Ireland), Bulelani Mfaco of MASI (Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland) who is campaigning for the right to work of asylum seekers,and David Joyce of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission
The session will be chaired by Dr David Landy, Director of the Masters in Race, Ethnicity, Conflict, Trinity College.
Trinity and the Changing City is organised by the Identities in Transformation research theme, led by Daniel Faas, Department of Sociology, and is supported by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
Trinity College Dublin has been a key witness, over many centuries, to Dublin’s development into the cosmopolitan city it is today. This multidisciplinary discussion series will look at the lived experience of Dublin’s citizens through the prism of Trinity’s Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences research. By drawing on historical, cultural, linguistic, sociological and economic perspectives, it will consider how we can understand a changing Dublin and influence plans for the city’s future.
Dublin has been transformed by the economic crash, the austerity measures that followed and recent improvements in aspects of the Irish economy, as well as wider issues such as displacement and migration. The city’s built environment and economic, demographic and linguistic mix have all developed apace.
But these changes, and their relationship to issues around religion, the environment, poverty, health, housing and governmental policy, have not generally been well represented in the media or in public discourse. There is a representative gap between the city in which Trinity resides, not least in terms of language, race and class, and the images and narratives of that city put forth in the broader culture.
Trinity and the Changing City will seek to address and interrogate this gap, bringing internationally recognised scholars in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, from Trinity and further afield, together with key stakeholders and practitioners from across the city.
‘People need agency and voice in a crisis. This is a time when, more than ever, governments need to be open and transparent, responsive and accountable to the people they are seeking to protect ….’ – Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres, António Guterres
As large gatherings of people are prohibited under the measures introduced to prevent the spread of Covid-19, for many the established means of debate and protest have been constrained. At the same time, decision-making processes are increasingly opaque. For those historically marginalised, civic engagement is becoming even more difficult. The pandemic is creating new difficulties for democracies while exposing chronic, long-term challenges.
While Covid-19 has fuelled demands for 24-hour coverage and demonstrated the need for experts and reliable content, the media industry is likewise struggling. The loss of vital advertising revenue is placing unsustainable economic pressure on already-stretched traditional news outlets. Control of information and censorship is threatening the freedom of the press in some regions. The pandemic has also been accompanied by a fake news ‘infodemic’, spread primarily through social media platforms and promoted by a few prominent leaders.
With normal civic life disrupted and journalism facing a potential crisis, this final instalment in the five-part workshop series will ask if democracy can function without the public sphere.
Panelists Melody Barnes is Co-Director for Policy and Public Affairs for the Democracy Initiative at the University of Virginia, Dorothy Danforth Compton Professor of Practice at the Miller Center of Public Affairs and a Distinguished Fellow at the School of Law. From 2009 until January 2012, she was Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. She also served as chief counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee
Bill Emmott is a writer and consultant best known for his 13 years as editor-in-chief of The Economist. He is the author of 14 books variously on Japan, Asia, the twentieth century and Italy, and narrated and co-writer of a documentary film about Italy, Girlfriend in a Coma. He is currently chair of the Trinity Long Room Hub board.
Fintan O’Toole is an Irish Times columnist and writer. He was the winner of the 2017 European Press Prize and Orwell Prize. His most recent works include Heroic Failure: Brexit and Politics of Pain (2018) and The Politics of Pain: Postwar England and the Rise of Nationalism (2019).
An online symposium to celebrate the launch of the Cambridge University Press six-volume essay series Irish Literature in Transition (2020), a new and dynamic account of Ireland’s literary history over 300 years. The event is a collaboration between the Trinity Long Room Hub and the British Association for Irish Studies 2020 online conference.
The event featured introductory remarks from Professor Jane Ohlmeyer (TCD) and Professor Patricia Coughlan (UCC), followed by a panel discussion with the individual volume editors, chaired by Professor Chris Morash (TCD).
Also featuring: Prof Moyra Haslett (QUB), vol 1, 1700-1780 Prof Claire Connolly (UCC), vol 2, 1780 – 1830 Prof Matthew Campbell (U of York), vol 3, 1830 -1880 Prof Marjorie Howes (Boston College), vol 4, 1880-1940 Prof Eve Patten (TCD), vol 5, 1940 -1980 Profs Eric Falci (UC Berkeley) and Prof Paige Reynolds (College of the Holy Cross), vol 6 (1980 – 2020)
The Art + Science Reading Group is now a virtual gathering of thinkers, researchers and the incurably curious. Organised by PhD candidates Amelia McConville (School of English and Institute of Neuroscience) and Autumn Brown (School of Education and Science Gallery Dublin) and supported by Science Gallery Dublin and the Trinity Long Room Hub, the series will explore the evolutionary and revolutionary kinship between two approaches to understanding the universe and our place within it.
This week we turn from the botanical to the bacterial alongside artist, writer and researcher Anna Dumitriu. Anna’s work explores society’s relationships with infectious diseases, treatments, and the myths that surround them. Especially relevant to our current times, we will pick at the threads of history, microbiology, and textile arts, particularly silk and how this ancient textile material continues to shape medical and technological innovation.
Science often suffers from its own modernity and future focus. Its priorities tend towards the horizon, rarely to history and what lessons or solutions may be found there. Anna’s fascination with the infections, outbreaks and the folklore which grows around them underscores the importance of looking to the past, and to the myths. And that the stories we tell about disease may be of deadly consequence.
The recommended reading for this session begins on page 202 of Antennae, and explores Anna's work The Plague Dress. https://www.dropbox.com/s/juezmhp7bvoamo5/ANTENNAE%20ISSUE%2048.pdf?dl=0
Alongside Anna Dumitriu's work, is the poetry of Jen Bervin, who wrote a piece to be inscribed on a silk biosensor in her project Silk Poems. This undertaking engages with silk's cultural, scientific and linguistic complexities. You can watch Charlotte Lagarde's short film about this process below. https://vimeo.com/187955041
'And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently …' - Kitty O'Meara
As health systems struggle to cope with the rapid spread of Covid-19, billions of people worldwide are currently living in some state of lockdown. Schools are closed. Movement is restricted. Physical interactions are limited to members of the same household. In the most extreme cases, permits are required to leave the house at all.
In a new world of social distancing and #stayathome, access to green spaces and time outdoors is increasingly valued. Online concerts and digital exhibitions are opening up new virtual worlds. The arts are not only providing much-needed sources of distraction, but also the tools to process the trauma of the crisis. Humans are adapting and creating new routines. The lasting psychological impacts of the pandemic and the associated isolation and economic downturn, however, are not yet known.
The fourth in a five-part series, this workshop will examine the implications of the Covid-19 on the everyday. Our speakers will discuss their daily lockdown routines, how their work has been shaped by the pandemic and why walking is a superpower. The floor will then be open for participants to respond: to ask questions and to widen the parameters of the conversation.
Panellists Rita Duffy is currently Artist in Residence at the Trinity Long Room Hub. She is one of Northern Ireland's groundbreaking artists who began her work concentrating primarily on the figurative/narrative tradition. Her art is often autobiographical, including themes and images of Irish identity, history and politics. Read about Rita's Raft Project at the Trinity Long Room Hub here.
Rishi Goyal is Director of Medicine, Literature and Society at Columbia University, and an Emergency Medicine doctor. He is broadly interested in the intersection of medicine and culture and is more specifically interested in the areas of medical cognition and identity and representation after illness.
Shane O’Mara is a Professor of Experimental Brain Research and Director of the Institute of Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin. His work explores brain systems supporting learning, memory, and cognition, and brain systems affected by stress and depression. He is the author of In Praise of Walking: The new science of how we walk and why it’s good for us (2019). Resources
Crises of Democracy curriculum
Duffy, Rita. Art in a Time of Pandemic: Jogging in Lipstick.
Goyal, Rishi. A Letter from the Emergency Room. Synapsis. May 15, 2020.
About the series This is a special five-part series organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute in partnership with the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University in response to the Covid-19 crisis.
A joint initiative between Queen's University Belfast (QUB) and the Trinity Long Room Hub chaired by Jane Ohlmeyer, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub with a conversation facilitated by Richard English, Professor of Politics and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Internationalization and Engagement at QUB.
Jonathan Powell and Rory Montgomery have had distinguished careers which have seen them act as key negotiators in conflict resolution from Northern Ireland to the Basque Country and Colombia. In this conversation-style discussion, Professor Richard English will probe both Rory and Jonathan on their experience of working in environments of conflict, covering topics such as the importance of dialogue and the legacies of the peace process in jurisdictions such as Northern Ireland. They will also discuss the relationship between Ireland, the UK and the EU, reflecting on the new context Brexit poses; and finally, how states respond to crisis, challenges and change such as that posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Rory Montgomery recently retired from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Prior to his retirement, he served as Second Secretary General with responsibility for EU issues, including Brexit. Before that he was EU adviser to Taoiseach Enda Kenny (2014-16), Ambassador to France (2013-14), Permanent Representative to the European Union (2009-13), and Political Director, dealing with foreign and security policy, (2005-9). He was a member of the Irish team which negotiated the Good Friday Agreement and the establishment of North/South institutions.He is currently a Public Policy Fellow at the Trinity Long Room Hub and an Honorary Professor of Practice at Queen’s, and is also a consultant on EU issues.
Jonathan Powell is CEO of Inter Mediate, the charity he founded in 2011 to work on conflict resolution around the world. Jonathan worked on the negotiations with ETA in the Basque country, on the negotiations in Colombia with the FARC and on the peace negotiations in Mozambique. Inter Mediate is working on 14 conflicts at the moment. Jonathan was Chief of Staff to Tony Blair from 1995 to 2007 and from 1997 to 2007 was also Chief British Negotiator on Northern Ireland. From 1978-79 he was a broadcast journalist with the BBC and Granada TV and from 1979 to 1994 a British Diplomat. He is the author of ‘Great Hatred, Little Room: Making Peace in Northern Ireland’, ‘The New Machiavelli, How to Wield Power in the Modern World’ and ‘Talking to Terrorists, How to End Armed Conflict’
The SHAPE-ID project (Shaping Interdisciplinary Practices in Europe) is funded by the European Commission to develop recommendations and tools for policy makers, funders, researchers, Universities and others on improving interdisciplinary cooperation between the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) and STEMM (Sciences, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine) disciplines.
Interdisciplinarity in Times of Crisis: Why the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Matter
Immediate responses to the COVID-19 crisis have understandably tended to focus on funding research that can fight the virus. At the same time, our world and ways of living have changed suddenly and radically, and there is a widespread sense that we cannot return to the old “normal”. Panellists will discuss why it remains important to take seriously the perspectives coming from Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences research in times of crisis, and how we can work to ensure real collaboration between these and other scientific approaches in understanding the crisis and preparing for the post-crisis world.
Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, Principal Investigator of the SHAPE-ID project, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub and Chair of the Irish Research Council, will chair the discussion.
Panellists Gabi Lombardo is the Director of the European Alliance for Social Sciences and Humanities (www.eassh.eu), the largest advocacy and science policy organisation for social sciences and humanities in Europe. She is an expert in both higher education and global research policy and has extensive high-level experience operating at the interface of strategy, science policy, research support and funding. Gabi has senior-level experience in strategic and ‘foresight’ planning in elite higher education institutions, international research funders and associations, having worked with the London School of Economics (LSE), the European Research Council (ERC) and Science Europe (SE).
David Budtz Pedersen is Professor of Science Communication and Director of the Humanomics Research Centre at Aalborg University, Denmark. His research focuses on science communication, impact assessment, and science and technology policy. He is the Principal Investigator of ‘Responsible Impact’ (2016-2020), ‘Open Research Analytics’ (2018-2021) and ‘Mapping the Public Value of Humanities’ (2017-2021). He is the Chair of the EU Commission COST Expert Group on Science Communication. Alongside his research, David is adviser to the Danish Government and European Commission, dealing with Open Science, research impact and science advice.
Daniel Carey, MRIA, is Director of the Moore Institute for the Humanities and Social Studies at NUI Galway and Professor of English in the School of English and Creative Arts. He is a Vice-President of the Royal Irish Academy and a board member of the Irish Research Council. He was Chair of the Irish Humanities Alliance 2014-16.
Overview of the discussions Mission Covid-19: Global problems need a portfolio approach Gabi Lombardo, European Alliance for Social Sciences and Humanities
‘They tell us corona-virus is a great leveller. It’s not. It’s much much harder if you are poor. How do we stop it from making social inequality even greater.’ – Emily Maitlis, BBC Newsnight
Racial and ethnic minority communities are disproportionately affected by Covid-19. They are more likely to have the underlying health conditions that make the virus fatal. They are also more likely to live in poor accommodation and work in lower paid frontline jobs. Migrant workers as well as low income, homeless and refugee populations are likewise particularly vulnerable. The economic fallout from the pandemic will hit these groups the hardest. Far from being a ‘great leveller’, Covid-19 is exacerbating existing structural inequalities. Policies formulated to respond to the immediate pandemic and mitigate its lasting consequences could deepen existing divides. Or, they could be designed to bring about radical change, and produce fairer societies.
The third in a five-part series, this workshop will interrogate the role of inequality in the Covid-19 public health emergency. Our speakers will explore issues related to class, gender, race, sexuality and religion as well as attempts to assign blame and scapegoat. Looking to the future, they will also discuss the need for a broad project of and commitment to equality. The floor will then be open for participants to respond: to ask questions and to widen the parameters of the conversation.
Panellists Shamus Khan is Chair and Professor of Sociology at Columbia University. He writes on culture, inequality, gender, and elites. In recent response to the school closures, he developed the Youth Remote Learning online platform to engage students who are on hiatus from traditional classrooms.
Sucheta Mahajan is a Professor at the Centre for Historical Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and a former Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Research Fellow. She works on the history and politics of the twentieth century, movements for social change, connected histories of independence and partition and the practice of oral and public history.
Colm Tóibín is an award-winning Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic, and poet. His works include Brooklyn (2008), The Empty Family (2010) and The Master (2004). He is currently Mellon Professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.
A panel discussion as part of the Out of the Ashes Lecture Series, with Catriona Crowe MRIA, Former Senior Archivist, National Archives of Ireland; Zoe Reid, Senior Conservator, National Archives of Ireland; and Lar Joye, Port Heritage Director at Dublin Port and Chair of the Irish National Committee of the Blue Shield. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ About the Out of the Ashes Lecture Series This three-year lecture series explores the theme of cultural loss and recovery across the centuries, from the destruction of the Library of Alexandria in antiquity to contemporary acts of cultural loss and destruction. A panel of world-leading experts reflects on how societies deal with cultural trauma through reconstruction and commemoration, and on how the international community should respond to cultural loss. The series is global in scope, pan-historical and multi-disciplinary in approach, and features international scholars and practitioners of the highest calibre.
Year II of the series (2019–20), "Destroying," considers a form of cultural atrocity now subject to international war crimes prosecution: the deliberate targeting of cultural heritage as a means to control social memory and to erase identities. This special panel event on the Four Courts Blaze of 1922 organized in association with the Irish National Committee of the Blue Shield. The basis for the Blue Shield is the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property and its additional first and second protocols, ratified by Ireland in 2018.
The Out of the Ashes lecture series is generously supported by Sean and Sarah Reynolds.
The Art + Science Reading Group is now a virtual gathering of thinkers, researchers and the incurably curious. Organised by PhD candidates Amelia McConville (School of English and Institute of Neuroscience) and Autumn Brown (Science Gallery Dublin and School of Education) supported by Science Gallery Dublin and the Trinity Long Room Hub, the series will explore the evolutionary and revolutionary kinship between two approaches to understanding the universe and our place within it.
Writers, scientists, and artists will be beaming in from all over the world to shed some extra light on our discussions and provide a personal perspective to some of the artwork shared. We’ll discuss a broad range of topics including bio-art, the aesthetics of mathematics, taking a non-human perspective, AI and gender, and a space probe’s mission to carry our stories into the cosmic wilderness.
For this first session we were joined by speaker Mary Dillon, an Irish botanical artist whose work has been exhibited internationally, most recently in Florence, Germany, Vienna, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, San Francisco, Madrid, Frankfurt and London.
She was a key contributor to the Drawn From Nature: Irish Botanical Art exhibition in the National Gallery of Ireland (currently postponed). She is a fellow member of Society of Botanical Artists, UK and a member of the Watercolour Society of Ireland, and is a founding chairperson of the Irish Society of Botanical Art.
She teaches in Barcelona, Greece, the US, Ireland, and was on the teaching team of the Chelsea School of Botanical Art in London. Mary has a particular fascination with botanical art as a personal process for the artist while at the same time striving for excellence in her art practice.
While Covid-19 is a global threat, it is the most vulnerable who are most at risk.’ – President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins
With major outbreaks already seen in some of the biggest correctional facilities in the world, there is a very real danger that Covid-19 could be a death sentence for those within criminal justice systems. Prisons are not conducive to social distancing, exacerbated in some regions by existing issues of overcrowding, understaffing and poor hygiene. The mass surveillance of those on probation and parole is likewise problematic. Early release schemes and public policy are coming under increased scrutiny. As age is a major risk factor, the pandemic has also sparked debate as to whether older populations should be protected – 'cocooned' – or, in a more calculated economic move, sacrificed for the sake of their grandchildren. Thought to account for half of all deaths from the virus in Europe, care facilities are in a state of crisis while those isolating at home may face mental and physical deterioration. The living conditions of refugees, displaced populations, and homeless people likewise put these already vulnerable groups at higher risk of Covid-19 infection and complications.
The second in a five-part series, this workshop will explore how Covid-19 is affecting those on the margins of society. Our speakers will discuss the pandemic in relation to criminal justice systems and examine issues concerning ageism, the care sector and economic policy. They will address the potential human rights implications and consider how the virus might be used as an opportunity to change attitudes, implement reform and build better, more inclusive societies.The floor will then be open for participants to respond: to ask questions and to widen the parameters of the conversation.
Former Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Fellow Professor Premesh Lalu (University of the Western Cape) will sit down for a virtual 'in conversation' with Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub, to discuss the impact of COVID19 in South Africa and Cape Town. What have the humanities and the arts to offer during this extraordinary time?
Professor Premesh Lalu is Professor of History and the Former Director of the Centre for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape. He has published widely in academic journals on historical discourse and the Humanities in Africa and is a regular contributor of public opinion pieces in local and international newspapers. His book, The Deaths of Hintsa: Postapartheid South Africa and the Shape of Recurring Pasts (2009) argues that in order to forge a concept of apartheid that allows us to properly formulate a deeper meaning of the post-apartheid, what is necessary is a postcolonial critique of apartheid. Lalu is a board member of the international Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes.
"This virus does not respect borders.” - Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organisation Director-General
In an effort to contain the spread of virus, many countries have tightened or closed their borders. Some are rejecting globalisation and returning to the ideal of the nation state. Nationalism is on the rise. Informed by political decisions, multilateral action is falling out of favour in some quarters. There is a danger that mass fear and anxiety will be exploited by right-wing authoritarian and populist leaders.
The first in a five-part series, this workshop will explore how Covid-19 is changing how we think about nations and borders. Our speakers will discuss the pandemic in relation to US immigration law, border politics and international refugee policy. They will examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on political cooperation in Northern Ireland and Ireland, with divergent government responses politicised and feeding into existing stereotypes. The floor will then be open for participants to respond: to ask questions and to widen the conceptual and geographical parameters of the conversation.
Panellists Susan McKay is a writer and journalist from Derry in Northern Ireland. She is currently writing a sequel to her book Northern Protestants - An Unsettled People, and working on Outside in the Navy Dark, a book about borders.
Sarah Stillman is the director of the Global Migration Program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and a staff writer at The New Yorker. Her work focuses on immigration and criminal justice issues.
Etain Tannam is Associate Professor International Peace Studies at Trinity College Dublin. She is currently writing a book on British-Irish Relations in the 21st Century due for publication with Oxford University Press in 2020.
About the series
This is a special five-part series organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute in partnership with the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University in response to the Covid-19 crisis.
Read More here https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/2020/rethinking-democracy.php
This Behind the Headlines, in partnership with the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanites at Columbia University, explored what pandemics and public health crises mean for democracies around the world.
Social distancing, cocooning, and ‘lockdown’ measures implemented worldwide to stall the spread of Covid-19 have raised questions about what the absence of public life means for democracy. We have also seen a range of emergency powers introduced by governments trying to manage social order during this time. Our international panel will discuss the politics and policies of disease prevention and control, how the absence of public life might impact on those on the margins of our societies, and what we might learn from plague and democracy in classical Greece.
The Behind the Headlines Series is supported by the John Pollard Foundation.
The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that acting fast and decisively is key to managing this public health crisis. If we imagine the severity of the climate emergency like the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, would we act now?
As the interconnectedness of global societies becomes strikingly clear, we assess how the current pandemic is changing perspectives on how we live, how we interact – not only with each other – but with our greatest asset, Mother Nature.
Our panelists include:
Katharine Hayhoe, atmospheric scientist and Director of Climate Science Centre at Texas Tech University.
Michael Cronin, Professor of French (1776) at Trinity College Dublin and Director of the Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation.
Jane Stout, Professor in Botany at Trinity College Dublin and Chair of Natural Capital Ireland.
Darragh McCullough, farmer, journalist and broadcaster (RTÉ and Irish Independent).
As Coronavirus pervades homes, societies and minds, our online Behind the Headlines discussion will ask what we can learn from pandemics and plagues of the past, in addressing a global public health crisis today.
With Governments the world over taking extraordinary emergency measures to curb the spread and impact of this new virus, we seek to understand what might be learned from past occurrences of plagues and pandemics as we approach Covid-19 today. Bringing together our customary multi-disciplinary panel, we will discuss the Black Death, the 1918 ‘Spanish’ flu, ethics and epidemics, immunology and the work currently underway by scientists, public health officials, individuals and society as a whole to tackle this pandemic.
A paper by Jonathan Lewis (DCU) with live streaming to clinical sites as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Initiative Seminar Series.
About the Medical and Health Humanities Medical Humanities seeks to provide insights into the cultural and social contexts within which diverse but interrelated concerns such as the human condition, the individual experience of illness and suffering, and the way medicine is (or was) practiced, might be understood.
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities Initiative brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines including history, philosophy, sociology, drama, health sciences, religion, cultural studies, arts, literature and languages.These events offer the opportunity to see medicine through the eyes of academics who are concerned with literary, historical, philosophical, aesthetic and technological perspectives of health, illness, disability and practice. CPD for medical practitioners has been applied for.
A paper by Dr Oisín Wall (UCD) with discussant Prof Desmond O’Neill (TCD) with live streaming to clinical sites as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Initiative Seminar Series.
About the Medical and Health Humanities Medical Humanities seeks to provide insights into the cultural and social contexts within which diverse but interrelated concerns such as the human condition, the individual experience of illness and suffering, and the way medicine is (or was) practiced, might be understood.
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities Initiative brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines including history, philosophy, sociology, drama, health sciences, religion, cultural studies, arts, literature and languages.These events offer the opportunity to see medicine through the eyes of academics who are concerned with literary, historical, philosophical, aesthetic and technological perspectives of health, illness, disability and practice. CPD for medical practitioners has been applied for.
A paper by Kathleen Furman (UCC) with live streaming to clinical sites as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Initiative Seminar Series.
About the Medical and Health Humanities Medical Humanities seeks to provide insights into the cultural and social contexts within which diverse but interrelated concerns such as the human condition, the individual experience of illness and suffering, and the way medicine is (or was) practiced, might be understood.
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities Initiative brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines including history, philosophy, sociology, drama, health sciences, religion, cultural studies, arts, literature and languages.These events offer the opportunity to see medicine through the eyes of academics who are concerned with literary, historical, philosophical, aesthetic and technological perspectives of health, illness, disability and practice. CPD for medical practitioners has been applied for.
An in-conversation event with our new Visiting Research Fellow Clare Hutton, Dr Samuel Slote, and Professor Eve Patten. Dr Hutton joins us from Loughborough University in association with Trinity's School of English and the Manuscript, Book and Print Cultures research theme. The focus of her research visit is a project entitled ‘Women and the Making of Ulysses.’
Dr Angela Butler, Research Fellow and Dr Elspeth Payne, Beate Schuler Research Fellow give a brief outline of their work on this project.
Is democracy at risk? What do we mean by crises? How can the Arts and Humanities contribute to more engaged citizens and participative democracies in the future?
A panel discussion as part of the Trinity Long Room Hub 10th Anniversary Symposium. Speakers : Professor Juergen Barkhoff, Vice Provost and former Trinity Long Room Hub Director Professor Yvonne Buckley, Department of Zoology Bill Emmott, Chair of the Trinity Long Room Hub Board and former editor of The Economist Dr Molly Pucci, Department of History
Visit the website here for more details https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/10-years/Anniversary-Symposium.php
How can the Arts and Humanities contribute to the futures of this island, of its diverse communities, values, heritage and ethnicities? From religion and recession to recovery and referenda, the Arts and Humanities reflect on what it will mean to live on this island in the future.
A panel discussion as part of the Trinity Long Room Hub 10th Anniversary Symposium. Speakers : *Professor Lorna Carson, School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication 8Sciences Conor Houston, Director of Houston Solutions Ltd., Founder of Connected Citizens Professor * Aileen Kavanagh, School of Law * Professor Eve Patten, School of English and Deputy Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub
Visit the website here for more details www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/…rsary-Symposium.php
What makes us human and why is that important? How can the Arts and Humanities contribute to more human-centered innovations that enhance society for all species in a technological age?
A panel discussion as part of the Trinity Long Room Hub 10th Anniversary Symposium. Speakers : Professor Linda Doyle, Dean of Research and Professor of Engineering & The Arts Domhnaill Hernon, Head of Experiments in Arts and Technology at Nokia Bell Labs Philip King, Musician, Film-maker and Broadcaster Professor Carmel O’Sullivan, School of Education
Visit the website here for more details www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/…rsary-Symposium.php
A panel discussion with Prof Marcus Collier (TCD), Maryann Harris (UCD) and Prof Michael Cronin as part of the 'Trinity and the Changing City' series.
Like every city in the world, Dublin City is faced with multiple and complex challenges, particularly when it comes to integrating international policies into planning and design in the city. Meeting the needs of communities and businesses whilst also meeting global sustainability and climate-related agreements is by no means easy. This session looks behind some of the issues at the interface between cultural and natural heritage. Professor Marcus Collier from Trinity’s School of Natural Sciences will speak about emergent ideas for renaturing the city using nature-based solutions; Maryann Harris from Dublin City Council will discuss how biodiversity and communities are intertwined; and Dr. Sarah Kerr from the University of Sheffield examines how meeting our climate goals will challenge cultural heritage. Michael Cronin from the Department of French, School of Language, Literatures and Cultural Studies will look at how language and writing can transform our ecological relationship to cities
Trinity and the Changing City is organised by the Identities in Transformation research theme, led by Daniel Faas, Department of Sociology, and is supported by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
A panel discussion with Finola O'Kane Crimmins (UCD), Kathryn Milligan (UCD), Federico Cugurullo (TCD), and Brian Caulfield (TCD) Chaired by Tom Walker (TCD) as part of the 'Trinity and the Changing City' Series.
From the establishment of the Wide Streets Commission in the eighteenth century through to the current BusConnects and Metro proposals, Dublin's transport and its infrastructure has profoundly shaped the experiences of the city's inhabitants. It has also been a recurrent source of contestation and debate. Looking to the city's past and future travel plans, contributors to this session will include the architectural and landscape historian Finola O'Kane Crimmins, Kathryn Milligan, author of the forthcoming study Days Long Dead: Painting Dublin, 1886–1949, Federico Cugurullo, Assistant Professor in Smart and Sustainable Urbanism at Trinity, and Brian Caulfield, Associate Professor in Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering at Trinity and former Chair of the Irish Transportation Research Network.
Trinity and the Changing City is organised by the Identities in Transformation research theme, led by Daniel Faas, Department of Sociology, and is supported by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
A seminar by Colonel Tom Hodson (TCD) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All lectures take place at 4pm in the Trinity Long Room Hub. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a general discussion. Attendance is open to all with relevant interests inside and outside TCD.
A seminar by Dr John Walsh (TCD) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with like-minded people. All lectures take place at 4pm in the Trinity Long Room Hub. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a general discussion. Attendance is open to all with relevant interests inside and outside TCD.
A lecture by John Porter (TCD) as part of the Trinity Research Centre for Contemporary Irish History Seminar Series.
About the series The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with likeminded people. All lectures take place at 4pm in the Trinity Long Room Hub. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a general discussion.
Attendance is open to all with relevant interests inside and outside TCD. Proposals for papers can be directed to any of the convenors: Dr Anne Dolan , Dr Carole Holohan , Dr Michael Kennedy Dr Deirdre McMahon , and Prof Eunan O’Halpin (TCD)
This public lecture by Sucheta Mahajan, Professor of History, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and author of Independence and Partition: The Erosion of Colonial Power in India (2000) is organised by Trinity Long Room Hub as part of the Out of the Ashes Lecture Series. The lecture will be followed by a conversation with Dr Anna Bryson (QUB).
This lecture extends the idea of ‘the archive’ beyond its traditional avatar to the creation of an archive of testimonies around the independence and partition of India. This involves a movement away from the confines of the written archives, to the domain of oral history and to recovery of the voices of ordinary people. The lecture considers the nature of memory of the marginalized and memory work among those who have been historically silenced. The process of remembering and reinterpreting their pastends up being one of empowering the oppressed.In the case of remembered histories of violence and trauma, the challenge for the historian is to ensure that memory work is not divisive, but can transcend the divide between communities locked in conflict.
About Anna Bryson Dr Anna Bryson is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Law, working on two ESRC funded projects - 'Apologies, Abuses and Dealing with the Past' and 'Lawyers, Conflict and Transition'. She is the 2016 winner of the Vice-Chancellor's Research Impact Prize (postdoctoral research category).
Her research has developed along three closely related lines: modern Irish history, socio-legal studies and conflict transformation. She has considerable experience of conducting interviews for social and historical investigation.
The Out of the Ashes lecture series is generously supported by Sean and Sarah Reynolds.
About the series
Year 2 (2019–20) Destroying considers a form of cultural atrocity now subject to international war crimes prosecution—the deliberate targeting of cultural heritage as a means to control social memory and to erase identities. The programme includes a special panel event on the Four Courts Blaze of 1922 organized in association with the Irish National Committee of the Blue Shield. The basis for the Blue Shield is the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property and its additional first and second protocols, ratified by Ireland in 2018.
This three-year lecture series explores the theme of cultural loss and recovery across the centuries, from the destruction of the Library of Alexandria in antiquity to contemporary acts of cultural loss and destruction.
A panel of world-leading experts reflects on how societies deal with cultural trauma through reconstruction and commemoration, and on how the international community should respond to cultural loss.
The series is global in scope, pan-historical and multi-disciplinary in approach, and features a panel of international scholars and practitioners of the highest calibre.
See details of the full series here https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/2018/out-of-the-ashes.php
Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Research fellow Professor Julian Bourg joins us from Boston College in association with Trinity's School of Histories & Humanities. The focus of his research visit is a project on the conceptual history of terrorism since the eighteenth century.
Dr. Daniel Geary, Mark Pigott Associate Professor in American History, will sit down with Professor Bourg to discusses his work on terrorism in this 'in conversation' event.
About Professor Julian Bourg's Research How and why did we come to think about terrorism the way we do? When and where did this concept originate and develop? My interest is in the history of the idea of terrorism since the word first dramatically appeared during the French Revolution of the 1790s. Since then, slowly over the nineteenth century and quickening during the twentieth, the notion of terrorism was shaped by the intersecting forces of revolution, empire, law, and war—by Russian radicals and British colonial officials, Eastern European jurists and Western military strategists. Only in the 1970s did these accumulating dynamics culminate in a fully developed concept: illegal, barbaric violence attacking humanity as a whole, tied to communism and religion, and allegedly rising mainly from former European colonies. This story reveals a basic paradox of the modern democratic era: although violence is often justified “in the name of the people,” the belief that human beings should not be victimized by political violence continues to spread and take hold.
A public lecture Fintan O’Toole to mark being awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Trinity College Dublin
About Fintan O’Toole (Litt.D.)
Fintan O’ Toole is a columnist with the Irish Times, visiting lecturer in Irish Letters at Princeton University and former drama critic and literary adviser to the Abbey Theatre. He is internationally respected as a drama critic, a political and cultural commentator and public intellectual. Among his books, his Tom Murphy: the Politics of Magic (1987 and 1994) remains the most authoritative study of the subject. His most recent book is Heroic Failure: Brexit and the Politics of Pain. A striking feature of his work is the range of his interests and informed contributions. Whether reacting to the death of Seamus Heaney, or to the British vote to leave the European Union, O’Toole has succeeded in voicing an immediate reaction that is thoughtful, intelligent and penetratingly expressed. He has been fearless in exposing weaknesses and corruption in society, and has proved a shrewd commentator on international affairs. He has received numerous awards, including the 2017 Orwell Prize for his political writing in the Irish Times, the Guardian and the Observer, and was awarded the 2017 European Press Prize as Commentator of the Year.
On October 1 as Beijing celebrated the seventieth anniversary of the foundation of the People’s Republic of China, pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong intensified. This was the 184th day of action by the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement. Despite the Extradition Bill being recently rescinded, the protests show no sign of stopping. You might be one of the Google users who made ‘Hong Kong’ among the most searched endings to the Google question ‘What’s going on in…?’ Our latest Behind the Headlines discussion seeks to answer that question, focusing on the escalating protests in the former British colony and exploring Hong Kong’s turbulent relationship with China.
Speakers
Padraig Gallagher lived in Hong Kong for 10 years during the 90s and more recently from 2007 - 2009. He is a former Managing Director Global Banking & Markets with HSBC in Hong Kong. He will look at the economic impact of the events of recent months and will also look at the reaction of the different sections of the Hong Kong business community to the present situation. He will also look at the international reaction to the crisis, especially from corporates with operations in Asia / Hong Kong.
Dr Isabella Jackson is an Assistant Professor in Chinese Studies at Trinity’s School of Histories and Humanities. She will look at how Beijing has framed the current protests in the context of foreign interference, and how this is a legacy of China’s century of national humiliation – the period of imperialism by western powers in China.
Dr Peter E Hamilton is an Assistant Professor of Modern Chinese History in the Department of History, Trinity College Dublin. He will provide an historical overview of the 1980s-1990s handover process that led the United Kingdom to return this former colony to China as a Special Administrative Region on July 1, 1997. He will explain how the handover process defined the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ policy and set terms for today's conflict.
Dr Chung Kam Kwok is a Research Fellow based in the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, researching in the area of language and identity. As a Hong Kong native, he will talk about the motivations of a generation of protesters trying to voice Hong Kong’s frustration at Chinese control in the region. Looking at the intensifying protest movement, he will ask how will Hong Kong become governable again?
The Trinity Long Room Hub Behind the Headlines series is supported by the John Pollard Foundation.
A public lecture by Helen Walasek (University of Exeter) is organised by Trinity Long Room Hub as part of the 'Out of the Ashes' Lecture Series. Dr Walaseks lecture will be followed by a response on the topic by Dr. Balázs Apor, Director of the Centre for European Studies in TCD.
It is nearly twenty-five years since the end of the 1992¬–1995 Bosnian War, a brutal conflict which continues to reverberate in the public imagination. Memories of that war have revived with the highly-publicised attacks on cultural heritage in Syria and Iraq that followed the rise of Islamic State. As in these contemporary conflicts, one of the defining features of the Bosnian War was the systematic and widespread destruction of cultural and religious property as secessionist groups and their allies carried out their violent campaigns of ethnic cleansing in an attempt to enforce an ideology of ethnic separation and create mono-ethnic territories.
We explore not only the destruction and the attacks on culture during the Bosnian War, but the long-term impact ethnic cleansing, territorial division and the ethnicization of heritage has had on the restoration of cultural property, on museums, galleries, libraries and archives, and its effect on everyone from returning refugees to academics and historians. We ask: is it possible to recover from such destruction, erasure and division? Creating, destroying and recovering human knowledge and cultural heritage – these are themes with enormous contemporary resonance. They are also processes with a deep history, both in an Irish context and across the globe.
About the Speaker Helen Walasek is an Honorary Associate Research Fellow at University of Exeter and is the author of Bosnia and the Destruction of Cultural Heritage (Routledge 2015). She was an Associate of the Bosnian Institute, London, and Deputy Director of Bosnia-Herzegovina Heritage Rescue (BHHR) for which she worked 1994–1998. She has made many working visits to Bosnia during and after the 1992-1995 war and was an Expert Consultant for the Council of Europe reporting on museums in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1995 and 1996, as well as an advisor to the Swedish NGO Cultural Heritage without Borders (CHwB). BHHR was the only heritage NGO accredited by UNHCR as a humanitarian aid organisation working in Bosnia during the war and was the official representative of the National Museum of Bosnia-Herzegovina (Zemaljski Muzej) outside Bosnia at that timed
The Out of the Ashes lecture series is generously supported by Sean and Sarah Reynolds.
About the series
Year 2 (2019–20) Destroying considers a form of cultural atrocity now subject to international war crimes prosecution—the deliberate targeting of cultural heritage as a means to control social memory and to erase identities. The programme includes a special panel event on the Four Courts Blaze of 1922 organized in association with the Irish National Committee of the Blue Shield. The basis for the Blue Shield is the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property and its additional first and second protocols, ratified by Ireland in 2018.
This three-year lecture series explores the theme of cultural loss and recovery across the centuries, from the destruction of the Library of Alexandria in antiquity to contemporary acts of cultural loss and destruction.
A panel of world-leading experts reflects on how societies deal with cultural trauma through reconstruction and commemoration, and on how the international community should respond to cultural loss.
The series is global in scope, pan-historical and multi-disciplinary in approach, and features a panel of international scholars and practitioners of the highest calibre.
See details of the full series here https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/2018/out-of-the-ashes.php
The Future of Ireland: Human Rights and Children’s Rights
Ireland’s future sets before us a series of questions about constitutional and Church-State relationships. The vast majority of current Church members (around 84 percent worldwide and considerably higher in Ireland) were baptized as babies. For the Catholic majority in Ireland this has resulted in the imposition of onerous obligations on children long before they are equipped to evaluate them or agree to them. However, a more fundamental issue still lies unresolved and that is always allowing the right of parents to present their child for Baptism and raise the child in their faith, whether the child can, in international human rights law, be held to denominational membership and obligations entered when he or she was non sui compos. The has special significance for Ireland given the dominant position of the Catholic Church particularly in education and healthcare in Ireland but the general issues addressed have transferable implications for other denominations and faith systems. In this lecture, Professor Mary McAleese will explore how we define and vindicate a child’s right to religious freedom, conscience, opinion and belief as set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) to which Ireland, the United Kingdom and the Holy See are all State Parties.
The Annual Edmund Burke Lecture is supported by a generous endowment in honour of Padraic Fallon by his family.
Professor Jennifer Edmond (Trinity College Dublin) examines the relationship between technology, globalisation, and democracy. Prof Edmond looks at how the underlying nature of some of the technologies driving social change today, such as AI, big data and social media platforms, is different from what has come before, and how the unique characteristics of their design and function present threats to democracy that are different not just in degree, but in kind.
A workshop led by Professor Marianne Hirsch (Columbia University) on the subject of refugees and statelessness, posing the question: What can art do? Responding to the current "refugee crisis" and its implications for the future of democracy, this session builds on writings about statelessness from the mid-twentieth century by Hannah Arendt and others. Looking in depth at several diasporic art projects that respond specifically to statelessness as a condition, Professor Hirsch discusses what participatory art projects can do in the face of the traumatic effects of nationalism and ethnocentrism, negation and dispossession.
Professor Nebojša Blanuša (University of Zagreb) and Professor Balázs Apor (Trinity College Dublin) examine the role of various carriers of influence—political, military and religious leaders—as potential sources of cultural trauma. Leaders are often described as the main characters in the narratives of cultural trauma, and can assume simultaneously, the status of villains as well as heroes. The panel explores such opposite imaginations, their dynamics and political effects. The speakers also address the cultic veneration of leaders (modern dictators) and the way such cults were developed and promoted with the aim of diminishing the impact of perceived historical traumas (collapse of empire, war, genocide, etc.)
At the planning meeting for the GHI, which took place in Dublin in May 2018, the partners felt strongly that the terms we were working with—“democracy”, “crisis” and “cultural trauma”—needed to be discussed and defined at the beginning of our institute in Dubrovnik so that all researchers had a point of common reference. For this reason, on the second day of the GHI in Dubrovnik, a panel comprising of Professor Rosemary Byrne (NYU Abu Dhabi), Professor Mary Cosgrove (TCD), and Professor Aditya Mukherjee (Jawaharlal Nehru University) sought to examine the key terms relating to crises of democracy and cultural trauma.
A panel featuring Professor Stephanie McCurry (Columbia University), Professor Mary Cosgrove (Trinity College Dublin), and Professor Sucheta Mahajan (Jawaharlal Nehru University) addressing the use of violence to oppress the exercise of democratic rights and exploring positive strategies of resistance.
“Spinal Injury strikes at the very heart of what it means to be human” – Mark Pollock
A talk by explorer Mark Pollock and human rights lawyer Simone George as part of the Trinity Long Room Hub 'What does it Mean to be Human in the 21st Century?' lecture series.
When faced with life's toughest circumstances, how should we respond: as an optimist, a realist or something else? In an unforgettable talk, explorer Mark Pollock and human rights lawyer Simone George explore the tension between acceptance and hope in times of grief -- and share the ground-breaking work they're undertaking to cure paralysis.
Simone George and Mark Pollock delivered a joint TED talk in 2018 which was recorded at the TED Conference in Vancouver and received over 1.5 million views in its first 6 months online. For the finale of the What it Means to Be Human in the 21st Century, they joined us in Trinity College Dublin to speak about on the journey from injury to inspiration in an exploration of human endeavour.
Simone and Mark’s talk is followed by a short interview hosted by Ian Robertson, neuroscientist and clinical psychologist at Trinity College Dublin.
The lecture series was organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute in partnership with The Dock, Accenture’s global research & incubation hub in Dublin.
The Trinity Long Room Hub Annual Humanities Horizons Lecture for 2019 delivered by Anthea Butler, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and Graduate Chair of Religious Studies.
Stories of Irish slavery on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms abound as both history and conspiracy theories that obscure the actual history of Irish indentured servitude and Black chattel slavery in America. These readings of history promoted by conspiracy theorists on social media platforms serve another purpose: to support white nationalist beliefs, oppose immigration, and even to denigrate religious traditions. For scholars not attuned to these conspiracy theories, these are trying times that put the teaching of history in tension with students, colleagues, religious institutions, and the state. Professor Butler's lecture will engage these urgent issues, paying special attention to the relationship between Ireland and America on race, immigration, and religion, both past and present.
Eminent Cambridge historian Professor John Morrill discusses his academic career and his upcoming Trinity talk on ‘Cromwell, Priestcraft and the "Deluded and Seduced People of Ireland”’ on the 23rd of September 2019.
The Irish border has been subject to intense speculation following the 2016 Brexit referendum, when the people of the UK voted to leave the European Union. Public discourse has followed the fluctuating positions on whether there will be a hard or soft Brexit, deal or no deal, and border or no border. The increasing plausibility of a no-deal Brexit has left ongoing uncertainty as to the economic and political implications. In Ireland, emerging conversations around what happens after Brexit have led many to cautiously consider the prospect of a united Ireland.
In our first Behind the Headlines of the new academic year, we bring together a panel of diverse voices to discuss what we can hope for the future of the island of Ireland, Ireland’s relationship with Northern Ireland and any potential changes that would impact its law, culture, identity, politics, and government.
Speakers
Dr Etain Tannam, Associate Professor, International Peace Studies, School of Religion, TCD
Dr David Kenny, Assistant Professor, Constitutional Law, School of Law, TCD
Jan Carson, Belfast-based writer and author of The Firestarters; Winner of the EU Prize for Literature 2019
Rory Montgomery, former Second Secretary General, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
The Trinity Long Room Hub Behind the Headlines series is supported by the John Pollard Foundation.
A lecture by physicist Danielle Bassett as part of the Trinity Long Room Hub 'What does it Mean to be Human in the 21st Century?' lecture series.
The human mind is curious. It is strange, remarkable, and mystifying; it is eager, probing, questioning. Despite its pervasiveness and its relevance for our well-being, scientific studies of human curiosity that bridge both the organ of curiosity and the object of curiosity remain in their infancy. In this talk, I will integrate historical, philosophical, and psychological perspectives with techniques from applied mathematics and statistical physics to capture idiosyncratic forms of curiosity that span multiple millennia, cultures, languages, and timescales. In doing so, I will make a case for the position that a science of the mind must account for minds today and those of yesteryear.
About Danielle Bassett Danielle Bassett is a physicist using tools from network science and complex systems theory to enhance our understanding of connectivity and organizational principles in the human brain. Combining a strong background in physics with training and collaborations in neuroscience, Bassett adapts mathematical approaches associated with the study of complex networks (such as computer or social networks) to analyze interactions among neurons in different regions of the brain while a person does certain activities (e.g., learn something new or try to remember a face), thereby unraveling how these connections give rise to the functions or jobs the brain performs.
About the series
What does it Mean to be Human in the 21st Century? is a new cross-disciplinary lecture series which will reflect on how we understand ourselves, the world, and our place within it.
The lecture series is organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute in partnership with The Dock, Accenture’s global research & incubation hub in Dublin.
This new series will bring some prominent international academic and industry voices to Trinity to discuss the human experience of today and its future in the face of accelerated change brought about by artificial intelligence and technology.
A broad ranging series of talks traversing the humanities, sciences, arts and social sciences, join us in 2019 for an unmissable snapshot of human progress; who we are, where we are, and where we’re going.
The last day of the Crises of Democracy Global Humanities Institute began with a panel on strategies of positive resistance against inequality and undemocratic regimes featuring Borut Šeparović (author, theatre-maker and choreographer), Professor Eileen Gillooly (Columbia University), and Professor Mridula Mukherjee (Jawaharlal Nehru University). The afternoon was dedicated to a screening of artistic responses to the field trip created by the early career researcher participants. These responses, which originated from the Materialising Memory workshop on the third day, truly captured the spirit of the Institute and resonated strongly with one of the central tenets of the lectures and workshops, namely, the transformative potential of art.
On the eighth day of the Global Humanities Institute, the group discussed their responses to the field trip in a session convened by Professor Tomislav Pletenac (University of Zagreb) and Professor Marianne Hirsch (University of Columbia). This was an opportunity to reflect, compare, and record the academic and personal insights garnered from the two days in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Amongst the many points of discussion during this morning session, the group spoke about the function and purpose of monuments and the ways in which monuments transmit history.
Professor Sucheta Mahajan (Jawaharlal Nehru University) held a practical workshop for the GHI group which introduced methods of oral history practice with an emphasis on recovery of subaltern and marginalized voices. In this workshop, Professor Mahajan addressed issues such as remembering and forgetting, bearing witness, silence as sanctuary, transformation, and empowerment.
On the fourth day of the CHCI-Mellon Crises of Democracy Global Humanities Institute, Professor Urmimala Sarkar Munsi (Jawaharlal Nehru University) and Professor Arlene Clemesha (University of São Paulo) focused on the key challenges to democracy today through an analysis of religious polarisation, terrorism, and xenophobia.
Professor Urmimala Sarkar Munsi (JNU) and Professor Esther Hamburger (University of São Paulo) explored how memories can be materialised in creative forms such as film and dance taking a devised performance, WALK by Maya Krishna Rao, and an 8” short poetic experimental film, Rough Stone (2009) by Julia Zakia, as their case studies.
The Global Humanities Institute also offered a workshop led by Professor Bruce Shapiro, Executive Director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University, on practical ways to incorporate self-care and ethical practice for trauma-facing researchers, establishing a basic framework for understanding how direct and vicarious trauma exposure affect both the subjects of research and researchers. This workshop considered basic self-care and peer support strategies.
The CHCI-Mellon Crises of Democracy Global Humanities Institute (GHI) is a partnership between 5 universities—Trinity College Dublin, University of São Paulo, Jawaharlal Nehru University, University of Zagreb, and the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University. The GHI brings together early career researchers and a consortium of humanities scholars to explore crises of democracy through the lens of cultural trauma. The second and most significant phase of the GHI, a 9-day summer institute in Dubrovnik wherein faculty and early career researchers from around the world came together to examine crises of democracy through the prism of cultural trauma from a comparative global perspective, has just concluded. The GHI in Dubrovnik comprised of 40 researchers travelling from 10 countries, 5 continents, and representing over 30 disciplines in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. The programme consisted of lectures, panels, practical skills workshops, film screenings, and early career researcher presentations.
The first day of the Crises of Democracy Global Humanities Institute in Dubrovnik began with a fantastic introductory lecture delivered by Professor Mridula Mukherjee. Prof Mukherjee employed a long-term historical frame to understand the evolution of democracy in the modern world.
A lecture by Prof Shamil Jeppie (University of Cape Town) as part of the 'Out of the Ashes' lecture series.
In the political crisis in northern Mali in late 2012 through to early 2013 Timbuktu was occupied by rebels who more-or-less ran the town for a number of months until French-led forces compelled their withdrawal. It was reported that during their last days the insurgents destroyed thousands of manuscripts from the town’s main archive-library. This act of vandalism drew a huge outcry of revulsion and condemnation. However, the extent of the damage and destruction was exaggerated; or, at least, we are uncertain of the extent of the loss of manuscripts. Furthermore, a number of family collections with thousands of items in hundreds of metal crates had been moved unnoticed from the town to the capital, Bamako, some 800 km away. A large part of an historic town’s archive had been relocated piece-meal over a number of weeks; sent by donkey-cart to river-boats on the Niger River and then by local taxis on the narrow national road under cover of night or other camouflage.
The crisis and the apparently secret transfer of the manuscripts have been sensationally covered in the media and recent journalistic works. But it led me to think of the longer-term history of the movement of books in the region (from at least the 1400s) which, after all is part of an ecological zone that has a long history of nomadism. It also led me to reflect on other examples of book destruction, other examples of the transplant of books under various types of stressful conditions; whether due to war or natural disasters. The events and narratives around Timbuktu were thus a useful way to begin to think of a not unfamiliar case of mobility in relation to books and archives, although it appears it is or has seldom provided an opportunity for reflection. This brings to mind March Bloch’s words to the effect that “for the historian there is nothing like a good catastrophe”
The Out of the Ashes lecture series is generously supported by Sean and Sarah Reynolds.
A panel discussion with Dr Carole Holohan (TCD), Prof Kathleen Lynch (UCD), Dr Michael Pierse (QUB) and Garrett Phelan as part of the 'Trinity and the Changing City' Series.
There has been very little public debate on class in Dublin compared to other social issues. Yet there are many class signals that lots of Dubliners can read, including accent, neighbourhood and educational background. Social class is not only difficult to break out of but also impacts the life chances and health of Dubliners. In this interactive session Dr Carole Holohan, Assistant Professor in Modern Irish History at Trinity, Prof Kathleen Lynch, Professor of Equality Studies at University College Dublin, Dr Michael Pierse, Senior Lecturer in the School of Arts, English and Other Languages at Queen’s University Belfast, and Visual Artist Garrett Phelan shed light on one of the final taboos in Irish society.
Trinity and the Changing City is organised by the Identities in Transformation research theme , led by Tom Walker, School of English, Daniel Faas, Department of Sociology, and Sarah Kerr , Trinity Long Room Hub, and is supported by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
Chair: Eileen Julien, Indiana University Bloomington
Esther Hamburger, University of São Paulo Joyce C.H. Liu, National Chiao Tung University Bríona Nic Dhiarmada, University of Notre Dame University
Chair: Amanda Anderson, Brown University
Panel: Angela Butler, Trinity College Dublin Premesh Lalu, University of the Western Cape Joyce C.H. Liu, National Chiao Tung University Katheryn Rhine, University of Kansas
This panel will address the fundamental importance of us all being advocates for the arts and humanities.
Joep Leerssen is Professor of European Studies at the University of Amsterdam. He has worked on the history of national identity articulations, in Ireland as well as other European countries, national stereotyping and on the transnational history of national movements. Among his English-languages monographs are Mere Irish & Fíor-Ghael, Remembrance and Imagination, and National Thought in Europe. He used the funds of the Spinoza Prize, awarded to him in 2008, to set up the Study Platform on Interlocking Nationalism (www.spinnet.eu); its flagship publication is the Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe (2018, online as ernie.uva.nl). He is an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College Dublin.
The world is being swept by tribal nationalism. For the right wing, speech has no bounds. On the left, it is impeded by self-regulation and censorship. While populism is utilising free speech for its own nefarious purposes, the increasing policing of discourse on the left has resulted in a deeply dispirited following. These polarisations both limit our thought and present a challenge to our thinking. We recognise them and bump against them daily. Where does this leave us? How should we work and think in the Arts and Humanities? How can we think of a radical solution in the middle, taking elements of one and the other to produce a centralist compromise?
Actor Stephen Rea performed Seamus Heaney’s translation of Book VI of the Aeneid, Virgil’s epic poem written between 29 and 19 BC. The story follows Aeneas as he journeys into the underworld. Acknowledging the significance of Virgil’s poem to his writing, Heaney noted “there’s one Virgilian journey that has indeed been a constant presence, and that is Aeneas’s venture into the underworld. The motifs in Book VI have been in my head for years—the golden bough, Charon’s barge, the quest to meet the shade of the father.” Accompanied by musician Neill Martin
An ’In conversation’ with actor Stephen Rea and writer Clare Dwyer Hogg chaired by James Chandler on their short film "Hard Border"
A panel discussion on the impact of the Field Day Anthology. In terms of cultural interventions, how has the Field Day Anthology sought to both capture Ireland’s turbulent history and also imagine a new future, providing possibilities beyond civil war and sectarianism?
A public lecture by Dr Peter Apor (Institute of History, Hungarian Academy of Sciences) as part of the '1918 and the New Europe' Lecture Series.
This talk explores the ways of imagining and planning of possible futures that emerged in the postwar period of Europe in 1918. Elites, intellectuals and large proportions of European societies believed that it was possible to anticipate the future and foresee decisive trends of socio-developments, therefore it was possible to plan for even large systematic changes. However, the multiplication of ideas about what form that future would take suggests much uncertainty about the “future” of Europe itself and brings to the fore the deep layers of individual identities present at the time.
The Trinity Long Room Hub is delighted to present the latest talk in the series What does it Mean to be Human in the 21st century?, with cultural historian Dr. Lisa Godson who will explore the field of material culture and how our identity as humans is predicated on the artefacts we surround ourselves with.
It will explore the objects, spaces and systems that we use and inhabit, and will propose that being human in the 21st century involves understanding that we not only shape objects and environments but are in turn shaped by the material world to behave and act in certain ways. It will further explore how research into the design and use of seemingly ordinary or everyday objects can enlighten our understanding of the past, present and future and how the implied user of particular objects and technologies is designed into objects, leading to the disabling and even endangerment of others.
This podcast also includes a conversation between Christine Morris, Andrew A. David Associate Professor in Greek Archaeology and History at Trinity College Dublin.
The lecture series is organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute in partnership with The Dock, Accenture’s global research and incubation hub in Dublin.
An in conversation with Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Research Fellow Dr Simona Marchesini (Alteritas, Verona) chaired by Prof Anna Chahoud (TCD) organised in collaboration with Trinity’s Manuscript, Book and Print Cultures Research Theme
Dr Marchesini's current research investigates the function of the writing culture of Grotta Poesia, an ancient cave-sanctuary in southern Apulia, Italy, which has provided one of the richest set of rock inscriptions of the ancient world.
A panel discussion with Dr Francesca La Morgia (TCD), Dr Rory McDaid (Marino Institute of Education) and Ola Majekodunmi as part of the 'Trinity and the Changing City' Lecture Series.
The growing linguistic diversity of the city presents residents and policy makers with challenges and opportunities. Aligning perspectives drawn from recent research with the lived experience of those moving between different languages in the city, this session will feature contributions from Francesca La Morgia, Assistant Professor in Clinical Speech and Language Studies at Trinity and director of the social enterprise Mother Tongues, Rory McDaid, Lecturer in the Sociology of Education at Marino Institute of Education, and the Nigerian/Irish gaeilgeoir and radio presenter Ola Majekodunmi
A lecture by Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Fellow Dr Christopher Pastore as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History seminar series.
A lecture by Trinity Long Room Hub Marie Skłodowska-Curie Cofund Fellow Dr Anna Barcz organised by the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies.
The history of Bialowieza mirrors a long practice, beginning with Lithuanian kings from the Jagiellonian dynasty in the 14th century, of cutting the wood and clearing the forest for hunting. Described by the prophetic, romantic, Polish-Lithuanian poet Adam Mickiewicz in Pan Tadeusz [Sir Thaddeus, or the Last Lithuanian Foray: A Nobleman’s Tale from the Years of 1811 and 1812 in Twelve Books of Verse], an epic written in 1834, it is one of the greatest signs of environmental consciousness expressed in the national literature. It includes a fragment of description of the deepest heart of the forest that gathers and preserves all species and where humans cannot enter. This so-called “motherland of woods” resembles a strict nature reserve – however, in comparison with our times, Mickiewicz’s sanctuary exists only in the wild. Why even the most symbolic, entangled with the national history landscape as Bialowieza cannot help to foster the protection of nature? This question cannot be reasonably answered but we can try to retell the history from the perspective of the forest and its non-human inhabitants. Some would call it the environmental history and some - like me - would advocate for changing the national discourse of telling history in general.
In contrast to the existing problem of logging and other human practices disturbing vulnerable Bialowieza’s ecosystems and preventing the authorities from extending the borders of national parks mainly on the Polish side (despite the UNESCO heritage list that includes Bialowieza since 1979), I take the militant discourse that ascribes national identity to the trees as an example. In the patriotic, historical narratives, the forest is a soldiers’ ally, a partisans’ hideout, a hero of songs from the First and Second World Wars, and a witness to history (the forest guerrilla survived even the war, transforming into the so-called anti-communist – the last partisan hid in the forest until 1963). The cultural bond with the forest derives from the darkest history of the first settlers in Eastern Europe and environmental conditions that they found here. Thus, the traditions of nature conservation are inextricably linked to the history of the Polish statehood.
A Fellow in Focus with Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Research Fellow Prof Premesh Lalu (University of the Western Cape) chaired by Prof Steve Wilmer (TCD) organised in collaboration with the School of Creative Arts.
Professor Lalu will also show his recent documentary short titled 'Looking For Ned' which explores the aftermath of the murder of Professor Lalu's friend in South Africa.
Siri: An actress on stage, her iPhone as her only partner. A production by La Messe Basse as part of the Trinity Long Room Hub 'What does it Mean to Be Human in the 21st Century?' series. Under the direction of Maxime Carbonneau, the actress Laurence Dauphinais interacts with Siri and in a precise game of questions and answers, deploys ingenious strategies to invite her partner to reveal herself.
This podcast includes a post performance conversation with director Maxime Carbonneau and actress Laurence Dauphinais hosted by Professor Linda Doyle. Professor Linda Doyle is Trinity’s Dean of Research and a Professor of Engineering and The Arts in Trinity College Dublin. She is a funded Investigator at CONNECT and served previously as Director of CONNECT.
The lecture series is organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute in partnership with The Dock, Accenture’s global research and incubation hub in Dublin.
For more information on this series, visit: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/what-it-means-to-be-human.php
In conversation with Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Research Fellow Alex Alsemgeest (Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of the Netherlands) chaired by Laura Shanahan (TCD) organised in collaboration with the Library of Trinity College Dublin.
Alex Alsemgeest is a book historian and researcher with the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of the Netherlands. Alex has more than a decade of experience in some of the leading research libraries in the Netherlands and Sweden. His research interests include book trade, natural history, the history of libraries and collections and Swedish-Dutch cultural history. He has published in both popular magazines and academic journals. His book, In krabbengang door kreeftenboeken, was nominated for best book on nature in the Netherlands in 2016.
On Wednesday the 29th May, join Desmond Ryan for an informal conversation with Prof Phillip Morgan from the University of York in association with the School of Law. Professor Morgan's research project will look at Tort Law, Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Systems, and Machine Learning. His research asks whether the law of tort will need to adapt to meet the demands which new technologies will place on it.
This work has the opportunity to help shape legislation and legal developments in Ireland, and England. Mr Morgan’s work has already assisted courts (including the Supreme Court of Ireland) and government bodies around the world to develop the law of vicarious liability, and tort, to challenging modern conditions.
From the abolition of slavery to the civil rights movement, and post-apartheid to current day, racism has manifested in different ways throughout the 20th and 21st century. In this latest Behind the Headlines discussion we ask, Does Race Matter?
Our panellists will look at why racial inequality persists after the abolition of slavery and how racism continues to evolve under different guises; the role of the Irish Americans in race relations and the connection to Ireland’s civil rights movement; the experience of institutionalised racism in higher education; and online toxic hate speech and digital racism.
The rising appeal of populist political movements around the world and authoritarian approaches to government is a startling wake-up call for the political status quo. Our panellists will look at what we mean by crisis and how we can understand its roots, from economic stagnation to historical political divisions. This panel will explore the fallout from Brexit; the significance of the rise of the right across Europe and populist movements which could further destabilize the EU region.
Bill Emmott, journalist & author and former Editor-in-Chief of The Economist
Professor Heather Jones, Professor in Modern and Contemporary European History, University College London
Etain Tannam, Associate Professor of International Peace Studies in Trinity College Dublin.
Professor Roy Foster, Professor of Irish History and Literature at Queen Mary University of London
A lecture by Prof Ian Robertson, author of The Stress Test (2016) as part of the Trinity Long Room Hub 'What does it Mean to be Human in the 21st Century? ' lecture series.
A Bridge to the Future: From Curse of Fatalism to The Era of Mind We are facing into a new era, whose currency is neither gods, electrons nor molecules, but information, whose medium is the human mind.
The lecture series is organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute in partnership with The Dock, Accenture’s global research and incubation hub in Dublin.
In anticipation of Trinity’s Green Week, the Trinity Long Room Hub's latest Behind the Headlines looks to the humanities to take on Climate Change. How do history, literature, film and art help us understand the contemporary environmental challenges we face?
As scientists warn us of the consequences of our human impact on the environment, the arts help us visualise the consequences of climate change and natural catastrophe, eliciting emotional responses that prompt action. By looking to the past, we can understand historical examples of conflict and climate and the unintended consequences brought about by attempts to mitigate the effects of climate warming.
Put him in to get him out: electioneering and propaganda in Ireland in 1918 Presented by Dr Elaine Callinan, Carlow College.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with likeminded people. All lectures take place at 4pm in the Trinity Long Room Hub. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a general discussion.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with likeminded people. All lectures take place at 4pm in the Trinity Long Room Hub. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes
Presented by Elspeth Payne, Trinity College Dublin.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with likeminded people. All lectures take place at 4pm in the Trinity Long Room Hub. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a general discussion.
A lecture by Dr Arlene Crampsie (UCD) as part of the Trinity Research Centre for Contemporary Irish History Seminar Series. Wed 6 February 2019
'Fermanagh: a Protestant county notwithstanding the population’: Fermanagh Unionists and the Spectre of Partition, 1916-23
A lecture by Daniel Purcell (TCD) as part of the Trinity Research Centre for Contemporary Irish History Seminar Series.
Wednesday, 30 January 2019
A lecture by Prof Eunan O'Halpin (TCD) as part of the Trinity Research Centre for Contemporary Irish History Seminar Series.
A panel discussion with Ger Casey, Chief Executive Officer for the Grangegorman Development Agency, and Cian O’Callaghan, co-author of Governing Vacancy in Post-crash Dublin: Contested Property and Alternative Social Projects, and Melanie Hayes, Dep of History of Art and Architecture, TCD: Building Booms and Busts: Dublin's Architectural Heritage in Decline? as part of the 'Trinity and the Changing City' lecture series.
Dublin’s built environment has changed dramatically since the property bubble and subsequent economic crisis. Major sites of ongoing and proposed development across the city include Grangegorman, Parnell Square, and Trinity’s own Technology and Enterprise Campus – all still juxtaposed with many vacant and unused buildings. What do these developments mean for a city historically rich in creativity and culture? Join Ger Casey, Melanie Hayes and Cian O’Callaghan in this reflective yet forward-looking discussion.
A lecture by Prof Luke O'Neill as part of the as part of the 'What does it Mean to be Human in the 21st Century?' series.
It all started with a bang. Or did it? Opposites attract. Or do they? We’re only human. But for how much longer? We’ll all die one day. Or will we?
Prof Luke O’Neill, will talk about our amazing existence and the future of humankind. He will explore what it is to be human from a scientific perspective, from the origin of life on Earth that led to us evolving on the plains of Africa some 200,000 years ago, to what makes us truly human, with topics ranging from why we listen to music, to the science of love, sleep, humor, ageing, death and even beyond death. He will also discuss our ingenuity as a species and consider how artificial intelligence is changing the world as we know it. So if you want to live long and prosper, come along and join him on a roller coaster ride through life, the universe and everything for humankind.
The lecture series is organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute in partnership with The Dock, Accenture’s global research and incubation hub in Dublin.
This second lecture of the new three year lecture series 'Out of the Ashes' will be presented by Dr Ed Parsons, Geospatial Technologist, Google
Maps are more used today than at any point in history. Many of us use maps every day, sometimes many times a day. Maps, delivered via apps on the mobile devices we all carry, are as much part of our lives today as credit cards and reading glasses. The term map is itself is perhaps no longer appropriate as these maps are, in fact, visualisations of massive real-time databases that mirror the world around us. Behind these highly-interactive maps, a network of services provide a real-time nervous system of road and rail conditions, weather, the temperature of our homes and even how busy our favourite pub is! This is the system I term ‘ambient location’ and it will form a key building block of the future smart cities will we inhabit. But—and there is, of course, a ‘but’—this real-time mirror of the world is, by its very nature, different to the world-view reflected in traditional cartography and the maps of the past. Maps on our mobile phones are ephemeral in the extreme, only representing the world as it is now, rejecting the past to analytical use at best and in most cases to irrelevance. How we have reached this point, to what extent it is a problem and how we might address it—these issues form the topic of this lecture.
The Out of the Ashes lecture series is generously supported by Sean and Sarah Reynolds.
From Joyce's Ulysses to Fáilte Ireland's latest rebranding of Dublin as 'surprising by nature', the city has repeatedly been a subject of mediation. Yet many aspects of its development persistently escape reflection in the city's arts and media. Considering the challenge of representing other Dublins and Dublin's others, the session will feature contributions from the poet, playwright and former Ireland Chair of Poetry Paula Meehan, the artist Dorothy Smith, a key visual documenter of the contemporary inner city, and the academic and film classifier Zélie Asava, author of The Black Irish Onscreen (2013).
Trinity and the Changing City is organised by the Identities in Transformation research theme , led by Tom Walker, School of English, Daniel Faas, Department of Sociology, and Sarah Kerr , Trinity Long Room Hub, and is supported by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
This public lecture will be presented by Dr Raul Cârstocea, Lecturer in European Studies at the Europa Universität Flensburg and Fellow at the Imre Kertész Kolleg Jena.
This talk will address the idea of ‘the nation’ in Romania after 1918 and its importance for the radicalisation of interwar politics. It will briefly discuss the history of competing nationalisms in 19th century Romania, the country’s wartime experience and the post-war territorial changes that resulted in a significantly expanded and politically heterogeneous entity referred to as ‘Greater Romania.’ This territory was marked by the overlapping legacies of the three Eastern empires that collapsed at the end of the First World War (Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian). This incomplete or failed project of nationalisation and the numerous ‘questions’ it left unresolved, the talk argues, opened up the space for radical politics and led to the growing popularity of Romania’s native fascist movement – the ‘Legion of the Archangel Michael’ or ‘Iron Guard’. This talk will argue against the existence of a monolithic ‘Romanian nationalism’ and explore the fluid, intersecting, and competing nationalisms in Romania during this period.
This public lecture will be presented by Dr Aneta Stępień, Centre for European Studies, Trinity College Dublin.
This talk will address the complex social and political situation in which women’s organizations operated in Poland under partition and the intimate relationship that developed between the fight for national independence and the political independence of women. Although presented as equal in the struggle for independence, Polish suffragettes faced criticism and resistance from different groups of men: politicians, workers and the military. The talk will focus on the role of the nationalist and militant/militarist suffragettes in obtaining voting rights for women in 1918 and key figure Aleksandra Piłsudska. Drawing from her Memoirs, published in 1940 in London, the talk will consider the potential problems in commemorating the achievements of the women’s suffrage movement in Poland.
This public lecture is presented by Mark Cornwall, Professor of European History, University of Southampton.
This year marks the centenary of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a monarchy whose disappearance from the European map transformed the history of the twentieth century. At a time when the UK is planning to exit from another multi-national European body, this talk will revisit the reasons why different peoples decided to exit the Habsburg Empire and create independent states at the end of the First World War. What expectations guided the idealists who created the new Czechoslovak and Yugoslav states? Certainly, in the years that followed, the hopes of many were quickly deflated as new borders and identities sprang up. It leads us to ask, in retrospect, to what extent the Habsburg Empire can be considered a ‘prison of peoples.’ Or should we follow those like the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig who viewed the Habsburg Empire with great nostalgia, a cosmopolitan experiment with much to teach us?
This lecture is part of the 1918 and the New Europe lecture series.
This public lecture will be presented by Professor Alexander Watson, Professor of History, Goldsmiths, University of London.
The end of the First World War was a transformative moment for East-Central Europe. The historiography is dominated by the fraught peace deliberations to build a brave new world and the ethnic rivalry and ideological conflict within and between the newly forming nation states in 1919-23. This talk will focus on the earlier, neglected instant of Habsburg imperial collapse in October 1918. It will ask why, in a period usually defined by its violence and chaos, the revolutions that spread across the empire were so strangely bloodless, rapid and orderly. The talk explores the complex reasons for this swift transition of power and what it reveals about the potential for a more harmonious post-war world.
This lecture is part of the 1918 and the New Europe lecture series.
Dublin has experienced rapid social change in recent years, becoming increasingly culturally and religiously diverse due to large-scale inward migration. Considering ongoing debates on how to balance social cohesion and migration-related diversity, this session will feature contributions from Emma Quin, the Head of the European Migration Network Ireland, Bryan Fanning, Professor of Migration and Social Policy at University College Dublin and author of Migration and the Making of Ireland, and Jane Xavier from the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland.
A public lecture by visiting Trinity Long Room Hub fellow Professor Barry McCrea (Notre Dame) on Language Change and Social Class in the Novel.
The lecture will compare the ways minor languages and socio-economic class interact as narrative elements in a variety of European authors, including Joyce, Proust, Edna O'Brien, Flann O'Brien, Ó Cadhain, Dickens, Ferrante
About Barry McCrea Barry McCrea is a novelist and scholar of modern European, Latin American, and Irish literature. He most recent book is Languages of the Night: Minor Languages and the Literary Imagination in Twentieth-Century Ireland and Europe (Yale University Press, 2015), which won the American Comparative Literature Association’s René Wellek prize for the best book of 2016. He is the author of The First Verse, a novel, winner of a number of awards including the 2006 Ferro-Grumley prize for fiction and a Barnes and Noble "Discover" prize, and of In the Company of Strangers: Narrative and Family in Dickens, Conan Doyle, Joyce and Proust (Columbia University Press, 2011), which won the Yale Heyman Prize for scholarship in the humanities.Professor McCrea holds has a BA in Romance languages from Trinity College Dublin, and a PhD in comparative literature from Princeton. Before joining Notre Dame, he taught comparative literature at Yale University, where he was appointed full professor in 2012. Professor McCrea teaches fall semesters in the Rome and Dublin Global Gateways and spring semesters on campus.
Listen back to this ‘In Conversation’ with Catherine Corless who was interviewed by Professor of Genetics at Trinity College Dublin, Aoife Mc Lysaght.
As a family historian researching in her own time and without any university affiliation, Catherine Corless has worked on a particular, and shameful, aspect of Irish history, namely the “Mother and Baby Homes”. Her work in gathering information on the institution in Tuam, Co. Galway, has revealed patterns of the mistreatment of individuals, both adult women and their infants, under de facto incarceration. Though local people may have been aware of the conditions, the absence of records and hard data allowed the hierarchy of these institutions and the state to ignore or deny the extent or even the existence of the mistreatment and incarceration. Catherine Corless meticulously collected records of births, deaths and burials, which ultimately lead to the uncovering of a mass grave in the location of the septic tank system. This meant that the shameful history of the institution could no longer be ignored.
Catherine Corless’s work required careful collection and cross-referencing of records. When she requested records from the Western Health Boards and from the Bon Secours Sisters (who ran the institution) she was told that they had none. She was informed that because she had no university qualification or affiliation the local county council were also unwilling to give her the records she needed. Ultimately, she requested records of deaths at the home from the Galway registry. There were 796 such deaths but no burial records.
She has shed light on this Irish institution, while establishing an all too familiar pattern that was not unique to Tuam. Her work has been key to forcing the recognition of the mistreatment of innocent individuals in these institutions and as such is an important agent of social change in Ireland.
A public lecture by Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Reserach Fellow Professor Sirshendu Majumdar who joins us from Bolpur College, University of Burdwan, India in association with Trinity’s School of English. The focus of his research visit is a project entitled 'Rabindranath Tagore's Reception in Ireland,’ and the Fellowship is supported by the Priya Nair Visiting Research Programme.
This lecture traces how the act of reading has been represented in some of the literary texts in Bengali in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There are various ways in which reading has been represented in a period when the Bengali book was making its dent upon the popular imagination, particularly women. The thrust of the lecture will be on the reception of the Bengali book, a reception which often has close links with that in the west. I shall attempt to lace the lecture with one or two parallel examples from the reception of the book in Ireland of the same period.
What does it mean to be human in the 21st century? This will be the central question of our latest Behind the Headlines discussion to explore the human experience of today. A broad ranging series of talks traversing the humanities, sciences, arts and social sciences, this event is an unmissable snapshot of human progress; who we are, where we are, and where we’re going.
The Behind the Headlines series is supported by the John Pollard Foundation.
This Behind the Headlines discussion will launch a new flagship public lecture series starting in 2019 in partnership with The Dock, Accenture’s global research & incubation hub in Dublin. ‘What it means to be human in the 21st century’ will convene a cross-disciplinary conversation on how we understand ourselves, the world, and our place within it.
Speakers: Genevieve Bell, Distinguished Professor at the Australian National University, Director of the 3A Institute, and Senior Fellow at Intel
Mark O’Connell, writer and author of To be a Machine
Lorna Ross, Group Director, Fjord Dublin
Kevin Mitchell, Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin
The inaugural lecture of the new three year lecture series 'Out of the Ashes' will be presented by Ismail Serageldin, Founding Director Emeritus, Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
In the first lecture of the series, Ismail Serageldin, Founding Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), the new Library of Alexandria inaugurated in 2002, will consider the rebirth of the ancient Library and threats to its survival in the face of ongoing turmoil in the region.
The Out of the Ashes lecture series is generously supported by Sean and Sarah Reynolds.
"Why make movies?": In conversation with Lenny Abrahamson The School of Creative Arts www.tcd.ie… is proud to present a discussion between acclaimed director Lenny Abrahamson (The Little Stranger, Room, Frank, What Richard Did, Garage, Adam & Paul, etc.) and the Head of Film Studies, Associate Prof. Ruth Barton covering the topic why film-makers make movies.
For many countries in the world today, populist and authoritarian approaches to government hold more appeal than the status quo. Through our latest Behind the Headlines discussion we ask why. Our panel of experts will look at what we mean by crisis, and how we must look closer to home to understand its roots, including economic stagnation and historical political divisions; and on the eve of potentially historic mid-term elections in the US, panellists will consider journalism and the politics of resentment, and citizenship and statelessness.
The Trinity Long Room Hub Behind the Headlines series is supported by the John Pollard Foundation.
The Trinity Long Room Hub Annual Humanities Horizons Lecture for 2018 will be delivered by Professor Homi K. Bhabha (Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities, Director of the Mahindra Humanities Center, and Senior Advisor to the President and Provost at Harvard University.)
Professor Bhabha will address the global migration crisis and its causes from the humanities perspective. He will speak of how discrimination and dishonour, the two faces of “barbaric nationalism”, have been mobilized to denigrate minority populations whether they are in flight or “at home”, and of how divisive ethno nationalism has been fuelled by leaders with utter contempt for democratic party-politics, who project themselves as pioneers of a mercurial “movement” politics. Drawing on real-life events and literary references, Professor Bhabha will examine how, for today’s migrants and refugees, the very act of hope and survival, the decision to flee, can become a close encounter with mortality.
The Trinity Long Room Hub is delighted to welcome Pulitzer Prize winning poet Paul Muldoon to present the 2018 Annual Edmund Burke Lecture entitled 'He Who Did Nothing: The Poet as Citizen'.
The Annual Edmund Burke Lecture is supported by a generous endowment in honour of Padraic Fallon by his family.
As Ireland emerges from the economic crash and austerity which ensued, Dublin’s housing issues have escalated. A collaboration between the Trinity Long Room Hub’s Behind the Headlines and Trinity and the Changing City discussion series, this session will take a broad temporal view on Dublin’s housing issues over the decades. Contributors will include Paula Mayock, Assistant Professor at Trinity’s School of Social Work and Social Policy and author of Living in Limbo: Homeless Young People’s Paths to Housing, Ronan Lyons, Assistant Professor of Economics at Trinity, Charles Duggan, Heritage Officer with Dublin City Council and lead on the restoration of 14 Henrietta Street, the inner city’s most intact tenement building, and Lisa Griffith, historian and author of Dublin Then and Now.
Trinity and the Changing City is organised by the Identities in Transformation research theme , led by Tom Walker, School of English, Daniel Faas, Department of Sociology, and Sarah Kerr , Trinity Long Room Hub, and is supported by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/behind-the-headlines.php https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/2019/trinity-and-the-changing-city.php
Professor Darryl Jones's main area of research and expertise lies in the area of popular literature, particularly in the fields of horror fiction and film, and of Victorian and Edwardian adventure fiction. He has published and edited many studies in these areas, including his 'Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James' (2011), and his 'Horror Stories: Classic Tales from Hoffmann to Hodgson' (2014).
Trinity's Department of English is ranked 28th in the world.
2018 marks ten years since the controversial €64m bailout of the Irish banks by the government, that was to lead to an unprecedented collapse in property prices, the loss of sovereignty in the form of the 2010 bailout of Ireland by the IMF/ECB/EU ‘Troika’, and deep and prolonged economic recession.
Ten years on, as part of the Trinity Long Room Hub ‘Behind the Headlines’ public discussion series, a distinguished panel will examine the changes wrought in the Irish financial, business and cultural landscape by those events and will ask: has enough changed?
Guest Speakers
Ed Sibley, Deputy Governor, Prudential Regulation, Central Bank of Ireland Ed Sibley was appointed Deputy Governor, Prudential Regulation on 1 September 2017. He is an ex-officio Member of the Central Bank Commission and is also a member of the Supervisory Board of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM). As Deputy Governor, Prudential Regulation, Ed is responsible for leading the supervision of credit institutions, insurance firms and the asset management industry.
Joan Burton TD Joan Burton is now on her fifth term as Labour Party TD for Dublin West. She was the Labour Party spokesperson on Finance from 2002 to 2011 and was elected Deputy Leader in 2007. In September 2008 she was a major critic of the bank guarantee and the subsequent legislation. Deputy Burton served as Tánaiste and leader of the Labour Party from 2014 to 2016 and has held a number of ministerial roles, most recently as Minister for Social Protection from 2011 to 2016. In the current Dáil she is again Labour’s Finance spokesperson and she serves on the Budget Oversight Committee.
Simon Carswell, Irish Times correspondent As Finance Correspondent for the Irish Times, Simon Carswell covered the banking crisis from 2007 to 2012; this work earned him the National Journalist of the Year award from the National Newspapers of Ireland in 2011. He is the author of two books: Something Rotten: Irish Banking Scandals (2006) and Anglo Republic: Inside the Bank That Broke Ireland (2011). He was the Irish Times Washington Correspondent from 2013 to 2017 and is a regular contributor to radio and television.
Antonia Hart, a PhD candidate in Trinity’s School of Histories and Humanities Author Antonia Hart’s current research Irish Women in Business, 1850-1922 funded by an Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship 2016-2019, looks at Irish women running businesses in the period just after the Famine up to the foundation of the State. Hart's work has appeared in the anthologies These Are Our Lives, Incorrigibly Plural and Momaya Annual Review and she is the author of Ghost Signs of Dublin (2014).
Dr Philip Coleman, Associate Professor in Trinity’s School of English Philip Coleman is a specialist in American literature with a particular interest in twentieth-century and contemporary poetry and short fiction. He is also Trinity’s Registrar of Chambers, an annual officer appointed by the Provost to allocate campus rooms to students.
The Trinity Long Room Hub Behind the Headlines series is supported by the John Pollard Foundation.
The Joan Roth and William M. Roth Lecture Series was established in 2017 to honour the contributions made over many years by Joan and William M. Roth to the arts and culture in Ireland. This year’s lecture/reading reflects the Roth’s particular interest in literature, poetry and the book arts. From William Roth’s bibliography of English and American first editions of W.B. Yeats’s work, published in 1939, through to his establishment of the Colt Press, in the 1950s, the Roths have long been involved in promoting poetry and literature more generally in Ireland and further afield.
It is particularly fitting that this year’s Roth lecture will be given by the US American poet, artist, editor, writer and printmaker Erica Van Horn. Like the Roths, she has spent many years living and working in Ireland where she has enjoyed a long friendship with the Roth family. Erica was born in New Hampshire in 1954. The Book Remembers Everything: The Work of Erica Van Horn, was shown at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale in 2010, where there is an archive of her books and papers. Among her most recent publications is Living Locally, with a foreword by Susan Howe, published by Uniformbooks in 2011/14.
Presented by Mary Maher & Máirín de Búrca.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with likeminded people. All lectures take place at 4pm in the Trinity Long Room Hub. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a general discussion.
Read More here - https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
Presented by Dr James Quinn, Royal Irish Academy
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with likeminded people. All lectures take place at 4pm in the Trinity Long Room Hub. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a general discussion.
see more details here - https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
resented by Professor Mary E. Daly, University College Dublin.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with likeminded people. All lectures take place at 4pm in the Trinity Long Room Hub. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a general discussion.
Find out more here https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/
A public lecture by Professor Genevieve Bell, Director of the 3A Institute, Florence Violet McKenzieChair, and a Distinguished Professor at the Australian National University.
Professor Bell who is described as an anthropologist, technologist and futurist, is best known for her work at the intersection of cultural practice and technology development. She has spent over 15 years at Intel where she was promoted to Vice President for Strategy and was also elected as a senior fellow, the first female to achieve such a prestigious position in the company. She now heads up a new institute at the Australian National University called the Autonomy, Agency and Assurance (3A) Institute, launched in September 2017 focusing on “building a new applied science around the management of artificial intelligence, data, technology and their impact on humanity’’.
This is the inaugural talk of a new public lecture series ‘What does it mean to be Human?’ organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub and Trinity Research and Innovation. In this high-profile lecture series, experts from enterprise and education will reflect on what it means to be human at the turn of the 21st century with the growing influence of technology on the way we live, work and communicate.
This lecture is part of a series entitled "Beyond the Book of Kells: The stories of eight other medieval manuscripts from the library of Trinity College Dublin."
In this final lecture of the series, Dr Immo Warntjes from the Department of History at Trinity College Dublin will discuss MS 52: The Book of Armagh. This work is probably Trinity's most important manuscript after the Book of Kells. Copied at the behest of Torbach, abbot of Armagh, in the early ninth century by the scribe Ferdomnach, TCD MS 52 contains not only the earliest text of the New Testament from Ireland, but also a suite of works without which Ireland's patron saint, Patrick, would be almost unknown.
This lecture is part of a series entitled "Beyond the Book of Kells: The stories of eight other medieval manuscripts from the library of Trinity College Dublin."
Register here for this event - http://bit.ly/2DBD6uP
In this talk Dr Niamh Patwell from UCD will discuss TCD MS 70: A Wycliffite Psalter. The rejection of Latin as the language of religion in favour of vernaculars in the 1960s is well known; attempts to convey the word of God in English in the fourteenth century will be less familiar. TCD 70, with its basic instructional works introducing the fundamental tenets of the Christian faith and text of the Psalms in English, represents just such an early attempt to democratise access to scripture, at a time when there was the danger such activity would be condemned as heretical.
This lecture is part of a series entitled "Beyond the Book of Kells: The stories of eight other medieval manuscripts from the library of Trinity College Dublin."
In this talk Dr Mark Faulkner from Trinity's School of English, will discuss TCD MS 492: A Twelfth-Century Bede from Bury. MS 492 typifies the large, imposing copies of major Latin works with which monasteries filled their libraries after the Norman conquest of England in 1066. Its texts – Bede's eighth-century Ecclesiastical History of the English People and an eleventh-century treatise on the resting places of English saints – were central to the Norman invaders' interactions with the religious history of their new territory, providing nothing less than holy geography of England.
This lecture is part of a series entitled "Beyond the Book of Kells: The stories of eight other medieval manuscripts from the library of Trinity College Dublin."
In this third talk of the series, Dr Caoimhe Whelan from Trinity's Department of History will discuss TCD MS. 592: A Hiberno-English translation of Gerald of Wales' On the Conquest of Ireland. Gerald of Wales was perhaps the principal propagandist of the twelfth-century English invasion of Ireland and his work was to have a lasting impact on both colonisers and colonised. TCD 592 presents a fifteenth-century English translation of Gerald's work, apparently written for an Anglo-Irish audience, complete with marginal notes highlighting the English claim to Ireland and offering warnings against Irish treachery.
Trinity Academics for Repeal Talks (TARTs) is a series of short talks where speakers draw on their research to support the case for Repeal of the 8th Amendment. The series is convened by Prof Ivana Bacik, School of Law; Prof Veronica O’Keane School of Health Sciences (Psychiatry) and Dr Catherine Conlon School of Social Work & Social Policy.
Speakers for the 15th of May:
Dr Sara Burke, Centre for Health Policy and Management Dr Clare Kelly, Schools of Psychology & Psychiatry Prof Aoife McLysaght, Smurfit Institute of Genetics Dr Paula Mayock, School of Social Work & Social Policy
Trinity Academics for Repeal Talks (TARTs) is a series of short talks where speakers draw on their research to support the case for Repeal of the 8th Amendment.
Speakers on May 8th are:
Prof Ivana Bacik, School of Law Dr Catherine Conlon, School of Social Work & Social Policy Prof Veronica O’Keane, School of Psychiatry Dr Tómas Ryan, School of Biochemistry and Immunology
A day long symposium to mark the Forty years since politics and Irish Life 1913 - 1923 by David Fitzpatrick, sponsored by the Trinity Association and Trust, the Making Ireland Research Theme, the Department of History and the Irish Historical Society.
A day long symposium to mark the Forty years since politics and Irish Life 1913 - 1923 by David Fitzpatrick, sponsored by the Trinity Association and Trust, the Making Ireland Research Theme, the Department of History and the Irish Historical Society.
This lecture is part of a series entitled "Beyond the Book of Kells: The stories of eight other medieval manuscripts from the library of Trinity College Dublin."
In this talk Dr Ann Buckley of Trinity College's Department of History will discuss MS 78: A fifteenth-century Irish Antiphoner. Almost half a metre tall, MS 78 is a fine example of a late medieval choir book, one of the few to survive from Ireland. Beside music for services for saints Patrick, Canice, and Bridget, it records the commemorations of numerous other all-but-forgotten Irish saints, including Magnan of Kilmainham. Though produced for use in Kilkenny Cathedral, it was in the hands of local Clondalkin families in the sixteenth century.
The lecture will be illustrated by a brief selection of chants from the manuscript, performed by Anúna members Michael McGlynn, Dónal Kearney, Patrick McGinley and Zach Trouton.
See more about the series here - https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/beyond-kells.php
In this talk Dr Cahill explores the figure of the unruly Irish girl in children’s fiction. She will particularly focus on the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, looking at the extraordinary volume of novels published in the period that feature wild Irish girls: girls who disrupt schools, who become artists, who open factories, and who even engage in revolutionary activity. These girls will be considered alongside more recent YA fiction, novels which highlight the ‘bold girl’ in all her complexity. The work of 19th century writers such as L.T. Meade, Rosa Mulholland and Katharine Tynan as well as contemporary writers such as Louise O'Neill and Moira Fowley-Doyle will be considered.
A panel discussion chaired by Professor John Horne with Dr Judith Devlin, Dr Balazs Apor, Dr Orysia Kulick and Dr Molly Pucci.
Concluding the Utopia Dystopia lecture series, this distinguished panel will reflect on the legacy of the Russian Revolution right up to today and how it changed the course of world history at many levels.
See more about the Utopia Dystopia series here - https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/utopia-dystopia.php
Balazs Apor is Assistant Professor in European Studies, TCD. His research focuses on the history of Central and Eastern Europe in the 19-20th centuries and the history of communism in particular. He has a special interest in the functioning of rituals in Soviet-type societies, and the way Sovietisation led to the extensive ritualisation of political language.
Orysia Kulick is a Research Fellow in the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies, TCD. She is working on ‘COURAGE’, a Horizon 2020 funded research project that explores the cultural heritage of dissent in former socialist countries, with responsibility for contributions about Ukraine and Ukrainian émigré communities.
Molly Pucci is an Assistant Professor of Twentieth Century European History, TCD. Her research interests include the history of communism, legal history, and the history of policing in twentieth century Europe. She is working on a book which examines the creation of communist secret police institutions in Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Eastern Germany in the period following the Second World War.
Judith Devlin is a Professor of History in UCD. Her research interests include modern Russia, its contemporary history and political culture and latterly, the culture, politics and society of the Stalin era. Recent research has included work on film history, media history, cultural politics and reception. Her current work concerns the cult of Stalin. John Horne is former Professor of Modern European History at TCD (until 2015), where he was also founder of the Centre for War Studies. He has written extensively on modern France and the trans-national history of the Great War. He has also worked on Ireland and the Great War and published (with Edward Madigan), Towards Commemoration: Ireland in War and Revolution, 1912-1923 (Royal Irish Academy, 2013).
On the occasion of International Women’s Day The Trinity Long Room Hub partnered with the Institute of Irish Studies in Liverpool University to discuss if and how the position of women in society has changed over the century.
Professor Susan Cahill ‘Trust Women, Listen to Women: Waking the Feminists, Repeal the Eighth, and the Politics of Storytelling’
The #MeToo social media phenomenon has created an unprecedented platform for women’s voices calling out systemic sexual harassment in the entertainment industry and beyond. In Ireland, the Waking the Feminists movement (#WTF ) loudly queried the exclusion of women from Irish theatre and the Repeal the 8th campaign used women’s stories to highlight an urgent need for reproductive rights for Irish women. Professor Susan Cahill will explore the role of personal testimony and the politics of storytelling in feminist activism in Ireland, linking current feminist activism with the strategies of the suffragettes one hundred years ago. Are our voices being heard? Are we being trusted? Who is listening?
Professor Darryl Jones
MeToo in the University
In February 2018, news broke that Cambridge University had received 173 complaints of sexual misconduct since the establishment of its anonymous reporting system nine months previously. Cambridge publicly admitted to having ‘a significant problem’ with sexual misconduct. Other UK universities, such as Manchester, have established similar reporting systems. The #MeTooPhD hashtag has brought to public attention hundreds of episodes of sexism and sexual harassment in universities, including in the behaviour of students towards female lecturers (who report often being judged on their looks, and who regularly receive less favourable student feedback than male colleagues). Universities are not the only institutions to be undergoing this process of self-examination and realization. News also broke in February 2018 that the UK parliament was instituting a ‘crackdown’ on harassment and bullying, after a survey revealed that 20% of Westminster staff had experienced or witnessed sexual misconduct, and 39% had been the victims of bullying. This is a critical, if not an existential moment for universities and other institutions
Professor Deirdre Ahern Equal in Name: The Limits of Law, Then and Now
Professor Deirdre Ahern will discuss the disconnect between the recognised values of gender equality in the law and the reality of the impact of continuing gendered decision-making in our world. A century after women gained the vote we take for granted that the law provides guarantees of equal treatment and equal pay. Less certain is the honouring of equality guarantees in practice, as evidenced by continuing debate on the merits of gender quotas in boardrooms and headline revelations of pay gaps for female film and media stars. The equality and fairness debate stemming from the #MeToo dialogue therefore allows a timely reality check in relation to the lived experiences of women as divorced from protections offered by the law.
See the full detail of the Behind the headline series here https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/behind-the-headlines.php
Summary of talks in this joint lecture: • Dogs are more than man’s best friend: the linguistic and cultural evidence (Adrian Tien) • Leaping Dog: Plans for a Great Leap in the Year of the Dog sixty years ago (Isabella Jackson) • Do Dogs have rights? Animal Rights Protection in China (Heid Ning Kang Wang-Kaeding)
Read more here - https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/event.php?eventid=126722491
Advances in technology have led to the emergence of new forms of crime, and have enabled other crimes to move online, changing their nature and impact on victims and communities. The same technological change has generated new opportunities for the police, at a time of increasing focus on efficiency and innovation. Against this backdrop, there remains a complex relationship between public expectations of the police and the operational realities of modern-day policing. The changing nature and challenges of policing in modern society has prompted processes of reflection by many Governments and public authorities internationally in recent years, including in the UK, where a Parliamentary inquiry was established in March 2017 to examine whether police forces in England and Wales are sufficiently equipped and resourced to keep the public safe and to respond effectively to evolving demands and changing patterns of crime. All this, too, takes place in the context of a much-needed renewal of how criminal justice policy is formed.
The Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland was established by the Government in May 2017 with a similar remit, given that like all police services An Garda Síochána faces internal and external challenges rooted in the changing context in which policing operates in the 21st century.
However, the establishment of the Commission also took place in a context of added complexity and political intensity here in Ireland, where An Garda Síochána has been the subject of significant public controversies over the past decade. The Commission’s mandate is therefore to carry out a fundamental review of the role, structures, leadership and management, ethos and culture of policing and existing oversight and consultative arrangements and to develop a blueprint for the future of policing in Ireland. The Commission will report in September 2018.
With the stakes so high for the success of this work, Behind The Headlines - The Future of Policing, will step back from the day-to-day challenges and controversies being reported in the media on a daily basis and reflect on the wider context and drivers of reform in policing, including the impact of technological and organisational innovation.
See more about the Trinity Lon Rooms Hubs Signature Events here https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/sponsored.php
What potential has yet to be discovered and promoted within the arts of today and of the future?
Speakers on this podcast include Giuliana Adamo; Antonio Presti; Manuela Spinelli; Giuseppe Sterparelli; Eiléan Ni Chuillenain
This event aims to discuss the status of creative arts in society today through performative dialogue between poetry, visuals arts, music and translation. We will present theories and practices within the current creative arts and investigate new possibilities for relationships between the arts and contemporary society.
The speakers, predominantly from Italy, will share their experiences and the process behind their creations.
See more about this event here -https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/event.php?eventid=126419744
What potential has yet to be discovered and promoted within the arts of today and of the future? Speakers on this Podacst are Gianluca Pulsoni; Maurizio Boldrini and Giorgiomaria Cornelio & Lucamatteo Rossi.
This event aims to discuss the status of creative arts in society today through performative dialogue between poetry, visuals arts, music and translation. We will present theories and practices within the current creative arts and investigate new possibilities for relationships between the arts and contemporary society.
The speakers, predominantly from Italy, will share their experiences and the process behind their creations.
See more about this event here -https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/event.php?eventid=126419744
A public lecture by Professor Emmet O’Connor (University of Ulster) as part of the lecture series Utopia Dystopia: The Russian Revolution One Hundred Years On. Organised by the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies and the Department of History in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub. Professor O'Connor is introduced by Professor John Home.
Immediately following the February 1917 revolution in Russia, Irish Labour identified with the Petrograd Soviet because it opposed the world war and supported the principle of national self-determination. Contact with the Bolsheviks was established after the October revolution and the Irish Labour delegates sided with the pro-Bolsheviks at the international socialist conference at Berne in February 1919. However, the foundation of the Comintern, and the related emergence of a far-left in Ireland, led Labour to distance itself from Russia, and Irish links with the Bolsheviks became confined to communist, Larkinite, and republican groups. Moscow would shape the politics of Irish socialism and left republicanism in the 1920s and 1930s, and the history of its several, successive affiliates tells us much about centre-periphery relations within the Comintern and the character of Comintern influence on the smaller communist parties.
Emmet O’Connor studied at University College Galway and St John’s College, Cambridge. Since 1985 he has lectured in History in Ulster University. Between 1983 and 2001, he co-edited Saothar, and is an honorary president of the Irish Labour History Society. He has published widely on labour history, including Reds and the Green: Ireland, Russia, and the Communist Internationals, 1919-43 (UCD Press, 2004); Big Jim Larkin: Hero or Wrecker? (UCD Press, 2015), and Derry Labour in the Age of Agitation, 1889-1923 (Four Courts Press, 2016). At present he is working on a study of the Irish in the International Brigades.
About Utopia Dystopia Series
A century after the Russian Revolution of 1917, its driving forces and its legacy, and indeed even its start and end, are still the subject of debate. It encompassed two key episodes in 1917, the February and October revolutions. The February revolution (known as such because of Russia’s use of the Julian calendar until February 1918) began on March 8, 1917. This led to the collapse of the imperial rule by the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and the establishment of a democratic provisional government. The October revolution (which in the Julian calendar began on October 24th and 25th) began on November 6th and 7th led by Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik party, and overthrew the provisional government to establish the first Marxist state in the world. It generated the dominant model of revolution for the remainder of the 20th century, engendered communist parties in many countries and was exported to much of Eastern Europe in the former of Soviet hegemony after victory in 1945, and helped shape the process of decolonisation.
As we journey through Ireland’s decade of commemorations and move ever closer to considering the complex war of independence and civil war that preceded the formation of the Irish State, this lecture series will reflect on the aftermath of the Russian Revolution right up to today and how it changed the course of world history at many levels.
The Utopia Dystopia lecture series has been organised by Trinity College Dublin’s Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies and Department of History in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
see the full lecture series here - https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/utopia-dystopia.php
A lecture by Professor Steve Smith (All Souls College Oxford) as part of the Utopia Dystopia series. This lecture is in collaboration with the Department of History's International History Seminar Sseries.
The Bolsheviks seized power in October 1917 in the conviction that this would trigger a revolution that would overthrow global capitalism and commence the transition to socialism. The Bolsheviks looked to Europe, and certainly social turbulence convulsed central, southern and eastern Europe between 1918 and 1923. However, the depth of revolutionary crisis in countries such as Germany and Italy was never as great as in Russia in 1917, and insurrections of the type that had put the Bolsheviks into power failed. The lecture argues that despite the Bolsheviks’ conviction that the significance of their revolution lay in the promise of workers’ power, its principal significance lay in its challenge to colonialism and imperialism, a challenge emblematized in the Congress of the Peoples of the East in September 1920. The lecture argues that it was in Asia (Persia, Korea, China, India) that the impact of the October Revolution was most enduring, at least in the immediate aftermath of October.
Steve Smith is a senior research fellow at All Souls College Oxford and a professor in the Faculty of Modern History in the University. He is a widely published historian of modern Russia and modern China and his most recent book is Russia in Revolution: An Empire in Crisis, 1890-1927 (Oxford University Press, 2017). He is currently writing a book which compares the efforts of Communist regimes in the Soviet Union (1917-41) and the People’s Republic of China (1949-76) to eliminate 'superstition' from daily life.
A century after the Russian Revolution of 1917, its driving forces and its legacy, and indeed even its start and end, are still the subject of debate. It encompassed two key episodes in 1917, the February and October revolutions. The February revolution (known as such because of Russia’s use of the Julian calendar until February 1918) began on March 8, 1917. This led to the collapse of the imperial rule by the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and the establishment of a democratic provisional government. The October revolution (which in the Julian calendar began on October 24th and 25th) began on November 6th and 7th led by Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik party, and overthrew the provisional government to establish the first Marxist state in the world. It generated the dominant model of revolution for the remainder of the 20th century, engendered communist parties in many countries and was exported to much of Eastern Europe in the former of Soviet hegemony after victory in 1945, and helped shape the process of decolonisation.
As we journey through Ireland’s decade of commemorations and move ever closer to considering the complex war of independence and civil war that preceded the formation of the Irish State, this lecture series will reflect on the aftermath of the Russian Revolution right up to today and how it changed the course of world history at many levels.
The Utopia Dystopia lecture series has been organised by Trinity College Dublin’s Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies and Department of History in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
See the full list of lectures from this series https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/utopia-dystopia.php
This Research Exchange Session showcases recent research within the AHSS Identities in Transformation research theme, and focuses on the work of four Trinity researchers within a lively discussion about progress, power and parity. Isabella Jackson will explore the cultural and historical constructions of identity in colonial Shanghai; Michael Cronin will problematise the focus on human identity in discussions of climate change and David Ralph will examine the impact of unemployment on masculinity, gender and identity. The panel will include Dr Meltem Gürle, Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Fellow. Her research project is titled 'Childhood-Narratives: The Problem of Identity Formation in Irish and Turkish Bildungsroman' and will argue that a growing number of individuals fear the idea of adulthood as an oppressive stage in one's life.
The Research Exchange Session will be chaired by Professor Lorna Carson, and hosted by Professor Juergen Barkhoff, the theme convenor. We will also give an overview of the theme’s activities. Most importantly, the meeting will be an opportunity to meet other theme members, exchange ideas informally and develop plans for the future of the theme.
Presented by Professor Mary E. Daly, University College Dublin.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with likeminded people. All lectures take place at 4pm in the Trinity Long Room Hub.
Lecture as part of Prof Calista McRae’s visit to College funded by the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science’s Visiting Professor Fund 2016-17.
This talk explores what comic theories can fit a lyric frame. While the modern lyric is entangled with intense feeling, this entanglement glints with humor, just as intense feeling in our actual lives may be shot through with an element of comedy. Through glances at the correspondence and poetry of John Berryman, Robert Lowell, and others, I suggest that humor is central to these writers. In addition, lyric’s relatively unrecognized comedy can open up ways of thinking about humor more generally.
Historian Carole Holohan will address broader societal changes in the decade that gave us the Berkeley Library, with a particular focus on how economic, social and cultural developments affected young people. This lecture will focus on the position of youth in the Republic of Ireland at a time when the meaning of youth, and the nature of youth culture, was changing internationally.
Dr Carole Holohan is the Assistant Professor in modern Irish history at Trinity College Dublin. She is a social historian focused on the postwar period, with a particular interest in the history of youth and of poverty. Her first book is entitled Reframing Irish Youth in the Sixties and it will be published with Liverpool University Press early next year.
This Lecture is given by Professor Jane Ohlmeyer.
Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, MRIA, is Erasmus Smith's Professor of Modern History at Trinity College Dublin. She has been Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub since July 2015 and has overall responsibility for the Institute with a special focus on sustainability (particularly increasing research and philanthropic funding), strategic development, advancing research excellence and inter-disciplinarity, international partnerships, raising the visibility of Trinity’s Arts and Humanities and advocating for the importance of the Arts and Humanities nationally and internationally.
The Trinity Centre for Early Modern History promotes understanding of the culture, society, economy, religion, politics and warfare of early modern Europe. The Centre organises seminars, conferences and public lectures on the early modern history of Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, as well as on relations between European and non-European states and cultures.
Join Professor Cormac O’Grada (University College Dublin) author of Eating People Is Wrong, and Other Essays on Famine, Its Past, and Its Future and New York-based journalist and writer, David Rieff, author of The Reproach of Hunger: Food, Justice, and Money in the 21st century for an exploration of the contemporary historical dimensions to poverty and famine. David Rieff is Visiting Research Fellow at the Trinity Long Room Hub in association with the School of Law. The discussion will be chaired by Professor David Dickson from the Department of History, Trinity College Dublin.
Presented by Dr Deborah Thorpe Visiting Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow, Trinity Long Room Hub, with discussant Prof Brendan Kelly, Dept of Psychiatry, TCD.
About Medical and Health Humanities
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities Initiative brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines including history, philosophy, sociology, drama, health sciences, religion, cultural studies, arts, literature and languages.These events offer the opportunity to see medicine through the eyes of academics who are concerned with literary, historical, philosophical, aesthetic and technological perspectives of health, illness, disability and practice.
Following the Bosnian and Rwandan genocides of the 1990s, the international community vowed, as it did in 1945 after the Holocaust, ‘never again’. Yet further conflicts, mass killings and displacements have prompted us to question why intervention takes so long, and how we can stop and prevent genocide and ethnic cleansing in our times.
Bringing together a distinguished panel of international speakers and practitioners in the area, the Trinity Long Room Hub’s Behind the Headlines discussion will look at the historical context to genocide and ethnic cleansing and its meaning; the different views of the international community in relation to prosecution and responding to cases of genocide; the geo-political dimension and UN system failure and reform; and case studies including present day Myanmar.
Speakers: Professor Ben Kiernan is the Whitney Griswold Professor of History at Yale University, and author of Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur. Currently a visiting fellow at the Trinity Long Room Hub, Professor Kiernan will provide a historical context to the concept of genocide and its meaning, including historical examples of genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Professor Rosemary Byrne is Associate Professor in International Law, School of Law, Trinity College Dublin and a former Human Rights Commissioner for the Irish Human Rights Commission. She will consider the approach of the international community in the prosecution of genocide and ethnic cleansing, and its more ambivalent response to survivors seeking international protection.
Dr Jude Lal Fernando is Assistant Professor in Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies at the Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin and will look at the geo-political fault lines which impede international cooperation and speedy responses to cases of genocide and ethnic cleansing. He will also discuss the United Nations’ role and what has been referred to as ‘UN system failure.’
Mr Denis Halliday is a former United Nations Assistant Secretary- General and was the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq from 1 September 1997 until 1998. Denis will provide his front-line experience of genocidal action. He will look at the United Nations Security Council, its five veto powers and argue that without change and reform, the UN will continue to fail all those at risk of genocide.
Norman Naimark is a Professor of East European History at Stanford University. Professor Naimark has written on a wide variety of topics in East European and European history more generally, including radical politics in the Russian Empire, the Soviet Military Administration in Germany, the establishment of communism in Eastern Europe, and the history of genocide in 20th century Europe.
This Lecture is delivered by Dr Anne Dolan, Trinity College Dublin.
The Centre for Contemporary Irish History promotes research in recent Irish history. This Seminar Series is intended to act as a forum where those engaged in research in Contemporary Irish History can discuss their work with likeminded people. All lectures take place at 4pm in the Trinity Long Room Hub. Presenters speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, followed by a general discussion.
David Rieff, Fellow, New York Institute for the Humanities, NYU: ‘Conor Cruise O’Brien and the Aporias of Collective Memory’ Max McGuinness, Completing Doctoral research, Columbia University: ‘Whatever Happened to Conor Cruise O’Brien’s Camus?’ Marion Kelly, Completing Doctoral research, Trinity College Dublin: ‘Conor Cruise O’Brien: A Rebel with a Cause’ Chair: W.J. McCormack, Literary Historian, Author and Critic
Dennis Kennedy, Former Deputy Editor, The Irish Times: ’Leinster House to Ulster Hall: Conor Cruise goes North’ Susan McKay, Author, Journalist, and Director of The Glens Centre, Leitrim Deaglán de Bréadún, Columnist, The Irish News and former Northern Editor, The Irish Times Chair: John Bowman, Historian and Broadcaster
The Trinity Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies in Trinity hosted an evening of readings to mark the centenary of the 1917 revolutions in Russia. The audience heard texts by poets, proses writers, dramatists and historians who either witnessed the events first hand or observed their aftermath. Some welcome the dawn of a new era; some express disillusionment, anxiety and fear as history unfurls; some are confused or ambivalent. Readers selected texts which have fashioned their understanding of the history of Russia and its neighbouring countries over the past hundred years.
The Utopia Dystopia lecture series was organised by Trinity College Dublin’s Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies and Department of History in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
In Europe and the U.S. today, immigration continues to cause division in public debates around globalisation, security, labour, war, and economics. Immigration is understood to have impacted on the outcome of the Brexit referendum and was a key debating point during the Trump-Clinton 2016 Presidential election and numerous European elections which have taken place since.
This discussion on migration in crisis will bring different disciplinary perspectives from history to human rights, and linguistics to peace studies on ways that communities think about and respond to the arrival of migrants.
Moderator: David Rieff
PANELISTS ‘The Roots of the Immigration Debate in the United States’ Dr Hidetaka Hirota, Columbia University
‘Every Country in the World is Represented on My Bus’: Attitudes to Europe’s New Multilingualism’ Professor Lorna Carson, Trinity College Dublin
‘From Securitizing to Peacebuilding - Alternative Responses to the Crisis for Migrants in Europe’ Professor Gillian Wylie, Trinity College Dublin
‘In 'Crisis' - Refugee Protection and its Rights Based Narrative’ Professor Rosemary Byrne, Trinity College Dublin Bio: Rosemary Byrne is an Associate Professor
In Jonathan Swift’s essay on ‘Political Lying’ he comments poignantly that ‘the greatest liar hath his believers, and it often happens that if a lie be believed only for an hour, it hath done its work, and there is no further occasion for it. Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it, so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale hath had its effect.’ In what has been deemed a post-truth era, it is not solely ‘political lying’ which is in question, but an entire machine of misinformation which is readily available and targeted at willing listeners. Debate has become increasingly polarised and expert comment has been rejected in place of opinion and personal belief. When propaganda caroms so easily around the world, how can non-experts learn to distinguish truth? This panel will look at the factors which led us to this point and consider what lies ahead for the future of facts.
MODERATOR: Stephen Rae, Editor in Chief, Independent News and Media Group
PANELISTS
‘“. . . believe me”: Post Truth, My Truth’ Professor Joseph Slaughter, Columbia University
‘Will Post-Truth Set Us Free?’ Dr Fáinche Ryan, Trinity College Dublin
‘The Ongoing Struggle for Enlightenment Against its Enemies' Professor Todd Gitlin, Columbia University
‘Post-Truth, Alternative Facts, Fake News: The Responsibility of Universities’ Professor Darryl Jones, Trinity College Dublin
Growth of Right Wing Nationalism and Collapse of the Central Left
The growth of right-wing nationalism being witnessed on a global scale in both transitioning and established democracies is having an unprecedented impact on democratic values and institutions, recalling a dark time in Europe’s history.
This panel will explore the implications of the collapse of the centre left in a number of recent elections worldwide, the impact on Europe more widely, the dynamics driving this trend as well as measures to safeguard the rule of law and democratic principles central to a thriving democracy.
Moderator: Fintan O’Toole Fintan O’Toole has been an op-ed columnist for the Irish Times since 1988. His column on political and social affairs appears every Tuesday. He also writes for the Culture Shock slot on Saturdays. A former literary editor of The Irish Times, he has written more than a dozen books; most recently he edited the book of the newspaper’s series Modern Ireland in 100 Objects. Awards include the AT Cross Award for Supreme Contribution to Irish Journalism.
‘From Enoch Powell to Donald Trump: White Nationalism in the U.K. and U.S.’ Dr Daniel Geary, Trinity College Dublin
‘Illiberal Democracies: Are Germany and Austria Next?’ Professor Juergen Barkhoff, Trinity College Dublin
‘Illiberal Democracies and the EU’s Eastern Borderlands: The Endgame for Democracy?’ Dr Balázs Apor, Trinity College Dublin
In a world where truth is under siege, freedom of speech has never been more important. But, as outrage and offense in public debate become a commodity for social media technology giants, the future of professional journalism in educating public opinion while challenging authority and power is increasingly under attack.
For media outlets, defamation cases and crippling costs are on the rise. By contrast, commentary online and in social media from non-experts is flourishing without the corresponding checks and balances.
How do we deal with the 19th century defamation legacy as well as facing the challenges of public debate in the 21st? How do we balance freedom of expression with the need for responsibility and accountability?
In this latest Behind the Headlines talk, our panellists will examine the changing media landscape of freedom of speech, defamation and the search for truth in traditional media and online.
Speakers: Professor Todd Gitlin,Columbia Journalism School, Columbia University Fionnan Sheahan, Independent News and Media Group Ireland Editor Professor Eoin O’Dell, School of Law, Trinity College Dublin Andrea Martin, media lawyer and speaker, MediaLawyer Solicitors
This discussion is part of the ‘Fears, Factions and Fake News’ symposium held in conjunction with Columbia University and in partnership with Independent News and Media.
As part of the Utopia Dystopia lecture series, Dr James Ryan (Cardiff University) will deliver a talk, to take place almost exactly 100 years since the start of the October Revolution, which will address simple but crucial question: What was the October Revolution actually for and should Leninism be considered to have any relevance in our world today.
Russia’s October Revolution was one of the most consequential events in modern history. It helped ensure that the ultimate fate of the Russian Revolution would be far removed from the spirit of freedom and democracy that seemed so promising in 1917. When we think of the Russian Revolution, it is difficult not to be aware that it failed, and that its story is bound intimately with the complex relationship between utopia and dystopia. The Soviet state that resulted from the Revolution soon became extraordinarily violent and repressive, and ultimately it collapsed – along with the legitimacy of its ideological basis - having lasted for seven decades.
This talk, to take place almost exactly 100 years since the start of the October Revolution, will provide a centenary perspective on Lenin the man and Leninism the ideology. It will do so by appraising Lenin’s significance in 1917, before addressing a simple but crucial and much-overlooked question: What was the October Revolution actually for? The lecture will explain the content of Leninism as a body of political thought, and why it matters. It will conclude with some reflections on the question whether or not Leninism should be considered to have any relevance in our world today.
Dr James Ryan is lecturer in Modern European (Russian) History at Cardiff University. A graduate of University College Cork and a former recipient of a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship, he is the author of Lenin’s Terror: The Ideological Origins of Early Soviet State Violence (London, 2012). He is currently working on an intellectual history of Soviet state violence, 1918-1941. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
About Utopia Dystopia Series
A century after the Russian Revolution of 1917, its driving forces and its legacy, and indeed even its start and end, are still the subject of debate. It encompassed two key episodes in 1917, the February and October revolutions. The February revolution (known as such because of Russia’s use of the Julian calendar until February 1918) began on March 8, 1917. This led to the collapse of the imperial rule by the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and the establishment of a democratic provisional government. The October revolution (which in the Julian calendar began on October 24th and 25th) began on November 6th and 7th led by Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik party, and overthrew the provisional government to establish the first Marxist state in the world. It generated the dominant model of revolution for the remainder of the 20th century, engendered communist parties in many countries and was exported to much of Eastern Europe in the former of Soviet hegemony after victory in 1945, and helped shape the process of decolonisation.
As we journey through Ireland’s decade of commemorations and move ever closer to considering the complex war of independence and civil war that preceded the formation of the Irish State, this lecture series will reflect on the aftermath of the Russian Revolution right up to today and how it changed the course of world history at many levels.
The Utopia Dystopia lecture series has been organised by Trinity College Dublin’s Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies and Department of History in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.
See the full lecture series here - www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/…utopia-dystopia.php
Opened by Trinity's Chancellor and former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson and the evening included a paper 'Conor Cruise O'Brien, a centennial appraisal' by Frank Callanan, S.C. and author of The Parnell Split. Followed by a roundtable discussion with Patrick Geoghegan, Professor in Modern History Trinity College Dublin and presenter of Newstalk's Talking History will chair the round table discussion with David Bromwich, Sterling Professor of English in Yale University, Margaret O'Callaghan, Political Analyst, Queens University Belfast, and Ruairi Quinn, former Minister for Finance, Minister for Education and Skills and leader of the Labour Party.
This years Edmund Burke Lecture: Sometimes it Matters Who is in Power is delivered by Professor Margaret MacMillan of Oxford University.
How do we weigh the great forces against the individuals in history? Political, economic and social structures, resources, demography, ideas, we know these shape the past. Yet can we dismiss the impact of powerful leaders and thinkers such as Vladimir Lenin, Adolf Hitler, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Karl Marx or Mohammed? This lecture argues that there are crucial junctures where an individual can push history in one direction or another.
Join the Trinity Centre for Literary Translation and Literature Ireland for a unique 'translation duel' –– literary translators Antonia Lloyd-Jones and Cathal McCabe will be given a short prose poem by Paweł Huelle to work on in advance of the duel. The original text and their translations will be supplied to all members of the audience. At the slam, Aneta Stępień will chair a conversation about their translation choices, and audience members will be invited to share their own translations suggestions.
PROBE is part of European Researchers’ Night, taking place in cities across the continent on 29th September. PROBE is free and is open to everyone of all ages. Stayed tuned to see the full programme of events for 2017 soon, and keep in touch with us on our webpage, Facebook page, on Twitter, or by following #TCDProbe.
This lecture is part of a series entitled "Beyond the Book of Kells: The stories of eight other medieval manuscripts from the library of Trinity College Dublin."
In this first talk of the series, Dr Laura Cleaver, Ussher lecturer in Medieval Art, will discuss TCD MS. 92: An Illuminated Psalter and Hours. All that remains of an exceptionally fine psalter-cum-Book of Hours made in the fourteenth century, TCD MS 92 is a lavish manuscript that offers a window into complex religiosity of the late medieval English aristocracy, the margins that surround the pious prayers teeming with dragons, monkeys and grotesque beasts.
Why do poverty, illiteracy, inequality, war and crime prevail in a world that has never been more technologically advanced?
As we enter the so-called ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’, what are the opportunities and challenges we confront through the growth of automation and artificial intelligence? Are we using technological developments to better the world we live in or is technology using us?
As part of the Behind the Headlines public lecture series, the Trinity Long Room Hub will bring together leading experts from industry and education to discuss the opportunities and challenges we face in a digital society, with a specific focus on the ethical and human impact.
Speakers:
Designing an ethical future: can artificial intelligence help? Linda Hogan (Professor of Ecumenics)
Big data, machine learning and AI raise new ethical questions and re-frame old ones in a new and more momentous context. The question is whether we have the ethical imagination and political will to address them?
What is real? Anil Kokaram, (Professor in Media Engineering)
The last 100 years of movie making has combined technology and the arts to make it possible to visualise almost anything we can imagine. Can we ever hope to protect the integrity of our news feeds from the weaponisation of this technology?
Living in a post human society – how digital tools shape our habits, beliefs and behaviours Lorna Ross (Group Director at Fjord Dublin – Accenture)
The persistent use of our digital tools is shaping our habits, beliefs and behaviours in profound ways. Human evolution is expressed not in our biology but in our technology. As the digital self and the physical self morph, will we ever again be in a natural state of ‘human being’?
Artificial Intelligence in the digital society – risks and rewards Vincent Wade (Director of the ADAPT Centre for Digital Content Technology)
Embedded artificial intelligence is shaping the information that we are offered, the jobs we do and our perception of the world around us. What are the significant benefits of increasingly intelligent systems and where are the potential risks in our digital future?
In this keynote lecture, Prof. David Little, Fellow Emeritus at Trinity College Dublin, discusses plurilingualism and plurilingual identities in the context of education and pedagogy. The lecture took place at Trinity Long Room Hub as part of the EUROMEC Jean Monnet Network International Conference on the 14th July 2017.
In this keynote lecture Professor David Oppenheimer of U.C. Berkeley's School of Law speaks about civil rights and equality rights under Ronald Reagan and under the current presidency of the United States. Professor Oppenheimer spoke as part of the Berkeley Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law Conference recently held at Trinity Long Room Hub. The full title of his talk is "Why Ronald Reagan Failed in his Attempt to Sabotage U.S. Employment Discrimination Law and Why Donald Trump will (Probably) Also Fail."
Dr Sam Slote discusses James Joyce as an archivist, an editor, and a "corrector" of his own work. This lecture took place as part of the conference "Literary Archives in the Digital Age."
In this keynote address for "Literary Archives in the Digital Age," Dr Wim Van Mierlo of Loughborough University discusses the seduction of the archive, the tactile economies of archival material, and why this allure is important.
A lecture by Wulf Kansteiner (Aarhus/Denmark) as part of the National Stereotyping & Cultural Identities in recent European Crisis conference hosted at the Trinity Long Room Hub from the 9 - 11 March 2017.
'Confronting The Other - Perceiving The Self National Historiographies And National Stereotypes In Twentieth - Century Europe'
A lecture by Stefan Berger (Bochum/Germany) as part of the National Stereotyping & Cultural Identities in recent European Crisis conference hosted at the Trinity Long Room Hub from the 9 - 11 March 2017.
The H.O. White Memorial Lecture 2017 by Professor Steven Gould Axelrod (University of California, Riverside)as part of Robert Lowell and Ireland: A Centenary Symposium organised by the School of English and hosted in the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Research Institute on the 4 - 5 March 2017.
A public lecture by Dr Ian Sansom (Director of the Oscar Wilde Centre)organised by the School of English.
As we marked St Patrick’s Day and two months of Donald Trump’s four year presidency of the United States of America, our distinguished panel explored what his election and presidency means for the world and ourselves.
Dr Elizabeth Tandy Shermer (Loyola University Chicago) drew on her extensive research on American political history to discuss long-term trends right-wing populism, the US electorate’s dissatisfaction with the party system, and the citizenry’s expectations to be led by strong-men politicians. Dr Tandy Shermer is Assistant Professor of History at Loyola University Chicago and currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the Trinity Long Room Hub in collaboration with the School of Histories and Humanities. Dr Shermer's current research explores why, how, and to what degree the funding mechanism central to the America’s market-based postsecondary education system has been exported abroad in the new millennium. Dr David Kenny (School of Law, TCD) drew on his knowledge of American and comparative constitutional law to discuss how the US Constitution empowers Trump, how he might challenge constitutional principles, and the prospect of the Constitution being invoked to remove him from office. Dr David Kenny is an Assistant Professor in the Law School in Trinity, where he teaches and researches Irish and comparative constitutional law. He previously attended Harvard Law School as a Fulbright Scholar, undertaking a masters degree in US and comparative constitutional law, and was at the time of the 2016 election a Visiting Scholar at Washington and Lee University Law School in Lexington, Virginia. Jacob Erikson (School of Religions, Peace Studies and Ecumenics, TCD) explored immigration, islamophobia, and religious resistance to Trump's Agenda. Jacob Erickson previously taught Religion and Environmental Studies at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, and was "Ecotheologian in Residence" at Mercy Seat Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, MN. His work as a constructive theologian writes within the creative interdisciplinary fields of environmental humanities, Religion and Ecology, and ecotheology. He's a contributor to four academic books of theology, The Huffington Post, and Religion Dispatches. Dr Eileen Gillooly (Columbia University) reflected on the challenges to US higher education posed by Trump’s immigration policies, by his proposed cuts to research and to federal funding for education overall, as well as on the efforts of colleges and universities to resist his agenda. Dr Gillooly is the Executive Director of the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities and associate faculty in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in the City of New York. Her work as a center director includes partnering with other university centers and non-profit institutions to extend the reach of the public humanities. She is currently a co-principal investigator for the Mellon-funded Justice-in-Education Initiative, which aims to provide education to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals and to integrate the study of social justice more fully into the Columbia curriculum.
In Ireland abortion has been a criminal offence since the Offences against the Person Act 1861. In 1983 the Eight Amendment to the Constitution was adopted to give explicit constitutional recognition to the right to life of the unborn while also affirming the equal right to life of the mother. While further amendments to the Constitution in 1992 have seen thousands of women in Ireland travel to the UK each year to have access to abortion services, the position still remains that termination of pregnancy is only permitted in Ireland where there is a real and substantial risk to the mother's life.
In the wake of International Women’s Day and as debates around the Eighth Amendment continue, this panel discussion will explore how this highly emotive and deeply personal, legal, moral and ethical issue finds its roots in historical and religious approaches to unborn life and women’s bodies in modern Ireland, the contemporary legal cases pertaining to abortion and the prevalence and impact of crisis pregnancies in Ireland.
Speakers:
Dr Georgina Laragy (School of Histories and Humanities, Dr Catherine Conlon (School of Social Work and Social Policy, Professor Ivana Bacik (School of Law), Professor William Binchy (School of Law) with introduction by Professor Jane Ohlmeyer (Director, Trinity Long Room Hub).
The Trinity Long Room Hub’s ‘Behind the Headlines’ discussion series offers background analyses to current issues by experts drawing on the long-term perspectives of Arts & Humanities research. It aims to provide a forum that deepens understanding, combats simplification and polarization and thus creates space for informed and respectful public discourse.
A keynote lecture by Professor Joep Leerssen (Chair of European Studies and Modern European Literature, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands) as part of the National Stereotyping and Cultural Identities in the recent European Crises Conference hosted at the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute from the 9 - 11 March 2017.
The Trinity Long Room Hub Annual Humanities Horizons Lecture 2017 by Professor Joep Leerssen (Chair of European Studies and Modern European Literature, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands).
Abstract: The contemporary political landscape experiences the rise of what is now becoming known as “illiberalism”. A political and ideological novum, illiberalism combines two things: autocratic strongman leadership (Putin, Erdoğan, Orbán, Trump) and ethnopopulism (which voices xenophobia in terms of anti-elitism and anti-elitism in terms of xenophobia).
The rise of “illiberalism” in political life has been accompanied by the decline of the liberal arts and of the humanities in academic life. As deconstruction and critical theory have been transmogrified into post-truth and fact-free politics, the humanities see themselves confronted with their most urgent challenge since Matthew Arnold’s Culture and Anarchy (1869). At the same time, they face an unprecedented lack of authority in the academic and public spheres. How can we rise to this challenge?
Bio: Joep Leerssen, a comparatist and cutural historian, is Professor of European Studies at the University of Amsterdam. His research moves in two fields. One is imagology, the critical study of ideas of national character, national stereoypes and national self-images (Imagology, ed. w. Manfred Beller, 2007; Spiegelpaleis Europa, 2011). The other is the transnational history of cultural nationalism. This topic he first pursued with relation to Ireland (Mere Irish and Fíor-Ghael, 1986; Remembrance and imagination, 1996), and then in a wider European frame (National thought in Europe, 2006; De bronnen van het vaderland, 2011). He is the editor of the Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe (http://romanticnationalism.net, forthcoming in book form 2017)
Professor Martin Middeke (University of Augsburg) in conversation with Professor Chris Morash (TCD) about their joint research project on representations of time in Irish literature from 1800 to the present day.
A public lecture by Brendan Kelly (School of Medicine, TCD) as part of the Medical Humanities & Health Initiative Seminar Series 2016-17.
The last decade has seen a rise in the prominence, and controversy, of world university rankings as a measurement tool for a university’s standing globally. Is the world university rankings system an accurate measure of a university’s worth? The UK’s Higher Education Policy Institute’s (HEPI) latest report argues that they are not, but the rankings continue to gain currency globally. Should universities pay more attention to the rankings or forget about them? Are there better models out there? What do these rankings mean for students and Ireland’s higher education and research sector? This discussion addressed these questions.
Speakers included:
Ben Sowter (Head of Division, QS Intelligence Unit) leads the QS Intelligence Unit who are fully responsible for the operational management of all major QS research projects including the QS Top MBA Applicant and Recruiter Research, the QS World University Rankings® and the QS Asian University Rankings. Ben has travelled to over 40 countries and spoken on his research in over 20. He has personally visited over 35 of the world’s top 100 universities.
Ellen Hazelkorn is Policy Advisor to the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and Emeritus Professor and Director, Higher Education Policy Research Unit (HEPRU), Dublin Institute of Technology (Ireland). She is President of EAIR (European Higher Education Society), and on the Advisory Board and the Management Committee, Centre for Global Higher Education (CGHE), UCL Institute for Education, in addition to being an International Co-Investigator.
Mike Jennings has been General Secretary of the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) since 2007. He is also a member of the Executive Council of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. He serves as European Treasurer / Vice President of ETUCE, the European Region of Education International. He is also a member of the advisory group on International Co-operation established by the European Higher Education Area as part of the Bologna Process.
Micheál Ó Siochrú, Head of Department of History at Trinity College Dublin.
Moïra Fowley-Doyle talks young adult fiction and popular literature with Dr Jane Carroll (TCD) as part of the new Popular Literature lunchtime series by the School of English.
A public lecture by Brian Brewer (TCD) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History Research Seminar Series 2016-17 hosted at the Trinity Long Room Hub.
A public lecture by Dr Cláudia Tatinge Nascimento during her Visiting Research Fellowship at the Trinity Long Room Hub in collaboration with the School of Creative Arts as part of the Constellations Series 2016-17, a new programme of public events exploring the entanglement of creativity, artistic practice, and research.
For further details: http://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/fellowships/2012-visiting/claudia_tatinge.php
A public lecture by Dr Joanna McHugh (Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience) as part of the Medical Humanities & Health Initiative Seminar Series 2016-17 hosted by the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The inaugural lecture by Jürgen Barkhoff, Professor of German (1776) at the Department of Germanic Studies
Biography: Jürgen Barkhoff is Professor of German (1776) at the Department of Germanic Studies and Head of School of the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies. A native of Essen in Northrhine-Wetfalia/Germany he studied German, History and Pedagogics at the Universities of Tübingen, Hamburg and Dublin. He holds a Staatsexamen and doctorate from Hamburg University. He was DAAD-Lektor in Trinity College from 1988-1991, was appointed in 1995 to a lectureship in German and European Studies and was elected to Fellowship in 2000. From 2002-2005 he was Director of the Centre for European Studies, from 2007-2011 Registrar of the University and from 2012-2015 Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Research Institute. Between 2006 and 2011 he was Chair of the Culture, Arts and Humanities Task Force of the Coimbra Group network of European Universities. Since 2012 he serves as a member of the Coimbra Group Executive Board and is currently its Vice-Chair. He is a member of the Board of the Irish Humanities Alliance, of the Science Gallery Dublin and of the Strategic Advisory Board of the School of Advanced Studies at the University of London.
His main research areas are literature and medicine, science and psychology around 1800, eco-literature, the networking of literature and culture in Europe, questions of identity in the German speaking world and Europe as reflected in literature and culture and Swiss literature. He has published widely on these topics, especially on the relationship between anthropology and literature in the late Enlightenment, Classicism and Romanticism, on identity discourses and on contemporary Swiss literature. In his research he explores interdisciplinary perspectives and how the past and its interpretations influence the present day. He is convenor of the College wide research-theme ‘Identities in Transformation’.
A public lecture by Dr. Johnny Hartz Søraker (Department of Philosophy, University of Twente) organised by the Adapt Centre and hosted by the Trinity Long Room Hub on the 29 October 2015.
A public lecture by Professor Tom Bartlett (University of Aberdeen) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series 2016-17.
‘They apparently are quite as ready to shake hands with Indian native races’: Pre-Great War Irish and Indian Advanced Nationalist Connections
A public lecture by Stephen McQuillan, TCD as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series 2016-17.
A public lecture by Dr John Treacy (Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series 2016-17.
A public lecture by Colonel Colm Doyle as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series 2016-17.
A public lecture by Professor Frank Barry (TCD) as part of the Trinity Centre for Contemporary Irish History Research Seminar Series 2016-17.
A talk by Barry Lyons (TCD) as part of the Shame, Stigma and Medicine Workshop hosted at the Trinity Long Room Hub in October 2015.
A talk by Luna Dolezal (Durham University/TCD) as part the Shame, Stigma and Medicine Workshop hosted in the Trinity Long Room Hub in October 2015.
A talk by Sheelagh McGuinness (University of Bristol) as part of the Shame, Stigma and Medicine Workshop hosted at the Trinity Long Room Hub in October 2015.
A talk by Matthew Philips (Timeside and Glossop Centre for Sexual Health)as part the Shame, Stigma and Medicine Workshop hosted at the Trinity Long Room Hub in October 2015.
Equating 'Healthy' & 'Unhealthy' Behaviour with 'Good' & 'Bad' Behaviour: Moralising and Public Health Promotion
A talk by Rebecca Brown (University of Aberdeen) as part of the Shame, Stigma and Medicine Workshop hosted at the Trinity Long Room Hub in October 2015.
A talk by Janice McLaughlin (Newcastle University) as part of the Shame, Stigma and Medicine Workshop hosted at the Trinity Long Room Hub in October 2015.
A talk by Paul Snelling (University of Worchester) as part of the Shame, Stigma and Medicine Workshop hosted at the Trinity Long Room Hub in October 2015.
A talk by Danielle Griffiths& Alex Mullock (University of Manchester) as part of the Shame, Stigma and Medicine Workshop hosted at the Trinity Long Room Hub in October 2015.
A talk by Katherine Brown (TCD) as part of the Shame, Stigma and Medicine workshop hosted at the Trinity Long Room Hub in October 2015.
A talk by Brendan Kelly (UCD) as part of the Shame, Stigma and Medicine Workshop hosted at the Trinity Long Room Hub in October 2015.
'Contextual Privacy and the Control of Information: An Account of the Socio-Technical Commitments of Blockchain Technologies'
A public lecture by Quinn DuPont (University of Toronto) organised by the Adapt Centre for Digital Technology in collaboration with the Trinity Long Room Hub.
A public lecture by Dr Michael Flood as part of the "Masculinities in Transformation" Series organised by the Irish Consortium on Gender Based Violence, Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity Centre for Gender and Women's Studies, Trinity International Development Initiative and the Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Identities Research Theme Signature Lecture by Professor Anthony Elliott (University of South Australia). This lecture was delivered at the Trinity Long Room Hub in April 2014.
In this provocative public lecture on the global consequences of our cultural obsession with reinvention, Anthony Elliott investigated the rise of identity transformations in the contemporary era. Elliott focused on what drives people to demand “instant self-transformation” – from plastic surgery to online therapy, from compulsive consumerism to the self-help movement. He argued that we are witnessing the emergence of a “new individualism”, and outlined the elements of a novel social theory addressing both the experimental and traumatic aspects of people’s emotional experiences of globalization.
An argument is developed that “reinvention” has become increasingly global in our own time as a result of major changes in public life in Western societies. Elliott provocatively argued that personal vulnerabilities have reached the point where people turn to do-it-yourself, instant identity-transformations in an effort to reinvent and remake themselves and thus improve their life prospects. This lecture painted an alarming social portrait of a world held in thrall to immediacy, where the identity-transformations of reinvention are fundamental to new forms of self-design and self-improvement.
Bio: Anthony Elliott is Director of the Hawke Research Institute, where he is Research Professor of Sociology, at the University of South Australia.
A public lecture by Brid McGrath (TCD) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History 2016-17 Research Seminar Series.
A public lecture by Dr Till Weingärtner (UCC) organised by the Trinity Centre for Asian Studies.
A public lecture by Professor Michelle LeBaron (University of British Columbia) during her term as a Visiting Research Fellow at the Trinity Long Room Hub in collaboration with the School of Creative Arts and the Trinity Centre for Gender and Women's Studies.
“’Smart, Clued-in Guys:’ Irish Rugby Players as Sporting Celebrities in an Era of Post-Financial Crisis Austerity”
A talk by Marcus Free, Mary Immaculate College, as part of the 'Post Celtic Tiger Irishness Symposium' organised by the School of Creative Arts, TCD.
'Poetics of Migration. Rethinking Contemporary Literature and Migration in Austria and Ireland. A Postcolonial Approach in a Comparative Perspective'
A public lecture by Dr Anna Babka (University of Vienna) during her Visiting Research Fellowship at the Trinity Long Room Hub in collaboration with the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies.
A public lecture by James Hanrahan (TCD) as part of the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History 2016-17 Research Seminar Series.
Five years into the Syrian conflict, the scale and complexity of the crisis continues to deepen with many more local and global actors involved. We are confronted with a European Union that is struggling to find suitable courses of action and political strategies to cope with the biggest humanitarian crisis of this era. This discussion as part of the Trinity Long Room Hub's 'Behind the Headlines' series, explored Europe’s ethical-political responsibilities with respect to the region’s historical background, reported on personal experiences of the conflict in Syria and of the refugee crisis in Europe.
Speakers: Dr Rachel Hoare from the Department of French TCD with a special interest in language and identity and in her role as a child and adolescent psychotherapist, Dr Anna Babka who is a Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Research Fellow from the University of Vienna, Razan Ibraheem, a Syrian born Journalist and Dr Jude Lal Fernando from the Irish School of Ecumenics, TCD. Introduced by Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub.