Lifeworlds: Space, Place and Irish Culture

ÌÒmÌ_s ́ite International Conference

Centre for Irish Studies, NUI Galway

The international conference Lifeworlds: Space, Place and Irish Culture, hosted by the ÌÒmÌ_s ́ite: Space/Place Research Network, will take place at NUI Galway, 27-30 March 2014. Conference sessions, plenary lectures and the mapping workshop are free and open to the public. Places are limited for all events – early booking is advised.

Lifeworlds: Space, Place and Irish Culture specifically focuses on the centrality of space and place in Irish ‰Û÷lifeworld‰۪ experiences, both within the geographical boundary of the island of Ireland and the migrant spaces of the Irish diaspora. The conference brings together a unique network of international scholars and community-based practitioners in an effort to broaden our understanding of the role of space and place in the construction of modern Irish culture and identity at home and abroad.

Conference panel sessions and plenary lectures will take place at NUI Galway, with a public Community Mapping Workshop hosted by the Galway City Museum, Saturday 29 March 2014.

Conference Venues: The Moore Institute, Hardiman Research Building, NUI Galway, and the Galway City Museum, Spanish Arch, Galway City.Contact: Dr Tim Collins timncollins@gmail.com and Dr Nessa Cronin nessa.cronin@nuigalway.ieConference Website: www.nuigalway.ie/centre_irish_studies Conference OrganisersLifeworlds is organised by Dr Tim Collins and Dr Nessa Cronin, co-convenors of the ÌÒmÌ_s ́ite:Space/Place Research Network, Centre for Irish Studies, NUI Galway.

Lifeworlds ‰ÛÒ supported by:

– ÌÒmÌ_s ́ite: Space/Place Research Network, Centre for Irish Studies, NUI Galway- School of Humanities, NUI Galway- Community Knowledge Initiative (CKI), NUI Galway- The Moore Institute, NUI Galway- The Ryan Institute, NUI Galway- Galway Dance Days and Galway Dancer in Residence- Centre for Creative Arts and Media (CCAM), Galway and Mayo Institute of Technology- Education Office, Galway City Museum- Space&Place, Geography, NUI Maynooth- Burren Beo Trust, Kinvara, Co Galway- Mapping Spectral Traces International Network- Irish Landscape Institute- Uniscape, Villa Medicea Careggi, Florence, Italy

Lifeworlds and Galway Dance Days Festival, 28-30 March 2014Lifeworlds is a partner symposium to the Galway Dance Days Festival and Corp_Real Symposium,curated by the Galway Dancer in Residence, and ÌÒmÌ_s ́ite affiliated artist, Dr RÌ_onach NÌ_ N̩ill. TheCorp_Real Symposium is a locus for artists and scholars interested in body-based practice andperformance to share knowledge of practice, performance and research. Events for Galway DanceDays take place at the Town Hall Theatre, NUI Galway and various Galway city and county locations.

Contact details: RÌ_onach NÌ_ N̩ill – galwaydancedays@gmail.com

For further details see www.ciotog.ie and www.facebook.com/galwaydancedays

ÌÒmÌ_s ́ite: Space/Place Research Network was established by Dr Tim Collins and Dr Nessa Cronin in2009 to promote the interdisciplinary study of issues relating to the social, cultural and politicalproduction of space and place in modern Irish society. Work conducted by the group criticallyexamines how personal and national identities, cultures and communities ground themselves andconstruct their sense of place in a world that is becoming increasingly globalised and is sometimeperceived as being ‰۪placeless‰۪. While such spatialised concerns are wide-ranging and demand acritical engagement across a variety of discourses, the focus of much research underway withmembers is with the significance and role of place and space in Irish culture and society today.

ÌÒmÌ_s ́ite meets on a monthly basis at the Centre for Irish Studies, NUI Galway, to discusstheoretical readings and practice-based issues relating to questions of space. The research groupseeks to forge further thematic connections across key disciplines in the Humanities and SocialSciences, with a particular emphasis on both foundational texts and current work underway inCultural Geography, Irish Studies, Modern Languages and Literatures, Critical Theory, Philosophy,Performance Studies, and Visual Art and Design.

The network is also affiliated with the Space&Place research network, Geography, NUI Maynooth, and with the Mapping Spectral Traces international collective.

ÌÒmÌ_s ́ite is an interdisciplinary collective of academics, affiliated artists and community practitioners located in the West of Ireland, engaged with contemporary issues of space and place in Irish culture and society. New members are most welcome at any time.

Further details: www.nuigalway.ie/research/centre_irish_studies/omos_aite.html

Conference Programme

Thursday 27 March 2014

17.30 – Book Launch: Mapping Irish Theatre: Theories of Space and Place, by Professor Chris Morash and Professor Shaun Richards. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.Speaker: Professor Patrick Lonergan, English, NUI Galway.Wine reception to follow – all are welcome to attend.Venue: Foyer, The Hardiman Research Building, NUI Galway.

Friday 28 March 20148.30-9.00 – Conference Registration: Foyer, The Hardiman Research Building

9.00-9.15 – FÌÁilte – Dr Tim Collins and Dr Nessa Cronin, The ÌÒmÌ_s ́ite Lifeworld: Irish and International Place Studies Research (Centre for Irish Studies, NUI Galway)

9.15-9.30 – Conference Address – Mr Conor Newman (Archaeology and Centre for Landscape Studies, NUI Galway; Chair of the Heritage Council of Ireland)

9.30-9.40 Dr Bas Pedroli, Director, Uniscape (European Network of Universities dedicated to the implementation of the European Landscape Convention).

9.40-11.10 PANEL 1: MUSICAL LIFEWORLDS

Chair: Dr Lillis ÌÒ Laoire (Gaeilge, NUI Galway)

‰Û÷Top of the Ballard Rd. – piperland, always piperland, still piperland’: Re-traditionalising Spaces at the Willie Clancy Summer SchoolMs Verena Commins (Irish Studies Doctoral Fellow, Centre for Irish Studies, NUI Galway)

Stoite: TÌ_ Chreig and Traditional Arts Practice in ́rainnDr Deirdre NÌ_ Chonghaile (IRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Moore Institute, NUI Galway)

Story, Song and PlaceProfessor Roger Savage (Department of Ethnomusicology, UCLA and Moore Institute Visiting Fellow 2014, NUI Galway 2014)

Respondent: Dr M̩abh NÌ_ FhuarthÌÁin(Acting Director, Centre for Irish Studies, NUI Galway)

11.10 – 11.30 – Tea/Coffee Break

11.30-13.00 PANEL 2: STAGING LIFEWORLDS

Chair: Dr Riana O’Dwyer (English, NUI Galway)

‰Û÷…to feel homesick, even though one is at home’: Expressions of Home-Space in Contemporary Irish CinemaDr Conn Holohan (Huston School of Film & Digital Media, NUI Galway)

Irish Theatre and the End of a ‰Û÷Certain Space’Professor Shaun Richards (St Mary’s University, Twickenham) and Professor Chris Morash (School of English, TCD)

Respondent: Professor Lionel Pilkington (English, NUI Galway)

13.00-14.00: Lunch (Foyer, Hardiman Research Building)

14.00-15.30: PANEL 3: MIGRANT AND BORDER LIFEWORLDS

Chair: Dr Piaras MacÌäinrÌ_ (Department of Geography, UCC)

Still a Country?: Nation, State and Territory on the Island of IrelandDr Niall ÌÒ Dochartaigh (Political Science and Sociology, NUI Galway)

Migrant Lifeworlds: The Attachment to Irish Spaces and Places of the Second Generation Irish from BritainMs Sara Hanafin (IRCHSS Doctoral Fellow, Centre for Irish Studies, NUI Galway)Widening the Window: Memory, Technology and Urban Landscape in the Poetry of Derek Mahon and Alan GillisDr Anne Karhio (Department of English, University of Stavanger)

Respondent: Dr Tony Varley (Political Science and Sociology, NUI Galway)

15.30-16.00: Tea/Coffee Break

16.00-17.30: PLENARY LECTURE

Rhizomes, Hybrids and Prosthesis: Irish Diasporic Space and Music Memory in Qu̩becProfessor GearÌ_id ÌÒ hAllmh̼rÌÁin (The Johnson Chair in Qu̩bec and Canadian Irish Studies School of Canadian Irish Studies, Concordia University, Montreal)

Chair: Dr Tim Collins

19.30: Conference Dinner

Saturday 29 March 2014

11.00-13.00: KNOW YOUR PLACE: COMMUNITY MAPPING WORKSHOP

Kindly supported by Galway City Museum, Centre for Creative Arts and Media, GMIT, and the Community Knowledge Initiative, NUI Galway

Note Venue: Galway City Museum, Spanish Arch, Galway City

A Community Mapping Workshop in association with:X-PO Mapping Group, Killinaboy, County ClareMnÌÁ Fiontracha, ́rainn, Contae na GaillimheSlÌ_gadh EachtaÌ_/Aughty Gathering, County Galway

Chair: Dr Deirdre O’Mahony (GMIT) and Dr Ailbhe Murphy (Vagabond Reviews)

14.00-15.30: PANEL 5: LITERARY LIFEWORLDS

Venue: The Hardiman Research Building

Chair: Dr Tony Tracy (Huston School of Film & Digital Media, NUI Galway)

Gerald Griffin’s Psychogeography and Phenomenology of PlaceProfessor Claire Connolly (Department of English, UCC)

‰Û÷A glass wall so high it went out of sight’: Figuring Interior Spaces in Maeve Brennan’s Derdon StoriesProfessor Pat Coughlan (Department of English, UCC and Moore Institute Visiting Fellow 2014, Centre for Irish Studies, NUI Galway)

Alone in a Fantasy Lifeworld: Vanishing Wilderness and Violence in Edna O’Brien’s In the ForestDr Maureen O’Connor (Department of English, UCC)

Respondent: Dr Tina Pusse (German, NUI Galway)

15.30-15.45: Tea/Coffee

15.45-17.15: PANEL 6: FRAMING THE RURAL LIFEWORLD

Venue: The Hardiman Research Building

Chair: Ms Ann Lyons (Community Knowledge Initiative, NUI Galway)Re-framing the Common World: Mapping the Geometries of Power in Rural IrelandDr Deirdre O’Mahony (Centre for Creative Arts and Media, GMIT)

Re-framing and Critical Solicitude: Tensions in Re-imagining Ecosophical Cultural Praxis Relating to Rural LifeworldsDr Iain Biggs (FRSA, PLaCE, Mapping Spectral Traces, University of the West of England, and Moore Institute Visiting Fellow, Centre for Irish Studies, NUI Galway, 2014)

Living Water: Swimming Spots as Third PlacesDr Ronan Foley (Department of Geography, Space&Place Research Network, NUI Maynooth)

Respondent: Ms Megs Morley (Galway City Curator in Residence, 2014)

17.15-17.45: ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION

Conference delegates and audience members in conversation with Dr Tim Collins and Dr Nessa Cronin (ÌÒmÌ_s ́ite, Centre for Irish Studies, NUI Galway)

Sunday 30 March 2014

16.00-17.00: LIFEWORLDS AND CORP_REAL ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION:

Tim Collins, Nessa Cronin, RÌ_onach NÌ_ N̩ill and Guests

Venue: Bailey Allen Hall, NUI GalwayCorp_Real is a partner symposium to Lifeworlds, run in association with Galway Dance Days 2014, curated by Dr RÌ_onach NÌ_ N̩ill (Galway Dancer in Residence, 2010-14).