Historian Lorelle Semley (Boston College) engages in a discussion with writer and broadcaster Emma Dabiri, sociologist Kim DaCosta (NYU), and literary scholars Chanté Mouton Kinyon (Notre Dame University) and Victor Augusto da Cruz Pacheco (University of São Paulo). Through sharing insights from their respective research, the panelists explore how the interdisciplinary field of Irish Studies can take on board thought-provoking questions of race that require rethinking conceptions of Irishness. The event is co-sponsored by Boston College’s African and African Diaspora Studies program.
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We welcome applications for Burns Visiting Scholars in Irish Studies for a semester or academic year in 2026-2028. Appointments are available to established academics, writers, artists, journalists, and notable public figures who have made substantial contributions to the understanding of Irish identities, societies, and cultures, and whose ongoing work would benefit from a residency at Boston College. Visit the BC Irish Studies website for more information.
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In an essay titled “‘My Love Is in America:’ Mícheál Brings Irish Music to Boston College,” Elizabeth Sweeney and Christian Dupont from Burns Library describe how one of Ireland's leading musical figures, Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin (1950-2018), helped lay the groundwork for Irish music initiatives at Boston College.
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This panel discussed Mike Cronin (Boston College) and Kevin Tallec Marston's (CIES - International Centre for Sports Studies) new book, Inventing the Boston Game: Football, Soccer, and the Origins of a National Myth. Amy Bass (Manhattanville University) and Brian D. Bunk (University of Massachusetts Amherst) examined American football origin stories with the co-authors.
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Why write a biography at all in the case of John McGahern– since he left an account of his life in All Will Be Well, his 2005 memoir? Posing this question, Frank Shovlin considers whether biographers can tell the truth. This seminar was co-sponsored by the English Department.
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The Irish Studies Graduate Students of Boston College and the Irish Studies Program hosted the eighth annual Comhfhios Boston College conference. Comhfhios, meaning ‘knowledge together,’ or ‘open to all knowledge,’ invites emerging scholars in all Irish Studies fields to gather in Boston.
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February 19, 5:00 p.m., Connolly House, Andover Room
Complicating the idea of urban space as an outcome of male agency, historian Sophie Cooper, who is this year’s Irish Studies exchange faculty from Queen's University Belfast, investigates the role of religious and lay women in shaping their inhabited environments. Cooper’s talk focuses on the ways that Irish women shaped and claimed public space through built and material environments.
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March 12, 4:00 p.m., Burns Library
Hilary Bishop (Liverpool John Moores University) discusses her Fulbright research project ‘A Path Well-Trodden: Narratives from Ireland’s Mass Paths,’ exploring social habits, traditions and stories of Irish American communities in the New York Tri-State area. Ray Cashman (Indiana University Bloomington) presents research on ‘Doing Death Well,’ looking at Irish wakes, funerals, and undertakers.
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March 17, 12:00 p.m., O’Neill Library, Reading Room
Mike Cronin (Boston College) shows how St. Patrick’s Day was born in the United States and explores how the Irish state has leveraged the holiday globally, making Ireland one of the most readily recognized national brands. The event is co-sponsored by BC Libraries.
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March 22, 8:30 a.m., Connolly House, Andover Room
We are thrilled to host our third annual Lá Gaeilge! This event, open to the public, includes language classes at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, refreshments, and bilingual discussions about the Irish language and its oral traditions throughout the day, as well as a film screening.
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March 26, 5:00 p.m., Connolly House, Andover Room
At this event, co-sponsored by Jewish Studies, the History Department, and the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning, Hasia Diner (NYU) discusses her new book, Opening Doors: The Unlikely Alliance Between the Irish and the Jews in America (St. Martin's Press). The book shows how, historically, Irish and Jewish Americans forged classroom, picket line, and political alliances.
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April 5, Connolly House, Andover Room
This student-based conference with Vicki Mahaffey (University of Illinois) & Katherine O'Callaghan (UMass Amherst) centers on Mahaffey’s new book The Joyce of Everyday Life. Through a close examination of James Joyce's joyous, musical prose, this book shows how language provides us with the means to revitalize daily experiences and social interactions.
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April 23, 5:00 p.m., Devlin Hall, Room 101
Emma Dabiri delivers the 2024/2025 Flatley Lecture. Dabiri is the author of three books: Don't Touch My Hair (2019), What White People Can Do Next: From Allyship to Coalition (2021), and Disobedient Bodies: Reclaim Your Unruly Beauty (2023), which together explore philosophy, social commentary, and contemporary political possibilities.
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March 19, Burns Library
In partnership with the University of Galway and Queen’s University Belfast, the Irish Institute is co-hosting a one-day conference examining the US’ contribution to peacebuilding on the island of Ireland, with contributions from academic speakers, policy practitioners, and special guests. This timely event analyzes one of Ireland’s most important diplomatic relationships.
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April 1, McElroy 237
The Irish Institute and the Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy co-host a panel discussion on the 2024 Irish general election, with contributions from leading Irish political scientists Gary Murphy (DCU) and Theresa Reidy (UCC). The panel considers the election campaign, outcome, and aftermath.
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We are happy to announce our first graduate student exchange with Queen’s University Belfast! Molly Quinn-Leitch and Lucy Cullen visit BC in February to participate in this year’s Comhfhios graduate student conference. Tiffany Thompson delivers a seminar at QUB in March.
For 20 years now, BC students have been raidin’ Finnegans Wake—seldom with more enthusiasm (never with less success) than last semester. Raidin The Wake continues its Sisyphean endeavors every Thursday at 7:00 p.m. in Connolly House.
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