University of Galway History Research Seminar: Feeding the Mind: Humanitarianism and the Reconstruction of European Intellectual Life after the First World War

University of Galway History Research Seminar

Dr Tomás Irish (Swansea University)

Feeding the Mind: Humanitarianism and the Reconstruction of European Intellectual Life after the First World War 

The final University of Galway History Research Seminar of the semester will take place at 4.00pm on Wednesday, 15 November 2023. This is an online event, streamed via Zoom: https://universityofgalway-ie.zoom.us/j/95635528755. Colleagues who are on campus are welcome to join us in Room G010, Hardiman Building, where the seminar will also be livestreamed on the screen. All are welcome!

Abstract
The Great War and the conflicts that followed it in the early 1920s left intellectual life in ruins in many countries. Famine and epidemic were rife in central and eastern Europe by 1919 and the Bolshevik Revolution and Russian Civil War led to a refugee crisis, while hyperinflation gripped countries like Germany and Austria. These events put millions of lives in Europe at risk and led to an unprecedented humanitarian effort to save lives. Humanitarian crises usually bring to mind the suffering of the most vulnerable in society; however, in post-1918 Europe, an unprecedented set of humanitarian initiatives took place that attempted to save the individuals and institutions that comprised European intellectual life, which form the subject of this paper. This version of humanitarianism not only provided food and medical aid to intellectuals at risk of death, but also supplied them with books, laboratory equipment and other materials so that they could continue their creative work, as well as rebuilding institutions like libraries and universities that had been destroyed by the violence of total war. This paper will consider where intellectual relief fits into the wider history of early twentieth century humanitarianism by exploring how and why, in the early 1920s, ‘intellectuals’ were identified as a category that required bespoke assistance.

Speaker Biography

Dr Tomás Irish is an Associate Professor in History at Swansea University. He is the author of two books and numerous articles and book chapters, with a focus on how universities, intellectuals, and knowledge itself have influenced issues of war and peace in the past as well as the ways that past societies have valued knowledge in times of crisis. His third monograph, Feeding the Mind: Humanitarianism and the Reconstruction of European Intellectual Life, 1919-1933, was published by Cambridge University Press in October 2023.

Tomás is currently working on two new projects. The first explores post-First World War reparations and focuses on the restitution of looted or destroyed cultural objects. The second project focuses on the role played by a range of international actors in planning educational reconstruction during the Second World War. Originally from Ireland, Tomás took his BA and PhD degrees at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, and held a postdoctoral research fellowship there between 2012 and 2015. He took up the position of Lecturer in Modern History at Swansea University in September 2015, was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2018 and to Associate Professor in 2022. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Registration

This talk will be delivered online, via Zoom. Register here for the link: https://forms.office.com/e/mtn5tyXk0J
The seminar will also be livestreamed in Room G010, Hardiman Research Building.

This talk is part of the University of Galway History Seminar series.