Examining the extraordinary impact of the talented Yeats family on cultural life and the public arts during a crucial century in Ireland’s history, a new exhibition featuring over 200 works from public and private collections is on display at the McMullen Museum of Art. "Collaborating in Conflict" runs from February 1 to May 31 and features paintings, drawings, prints, embroideries, books, and letters by John Butler Yeats and his children, William, Lily, Elizabeth, and Jack. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog, edited by Marjorie Howes. The catalog includes 15 essays by an interdisciplinary assemblage of international scholars, offering new insights into historical contexts and interpretive frameworks for studying the remarkable members of the Yeats family. To mark the exhibition, a two-day symposium with scholars who contributed to the catalog will be held in Connolly House and the McMullen Museum on February 20 and 21.
|
|
|
|
|
Professor of Folklore at Indiana University Bloomington, Ray Cashman integrates ethnographic, historical, and literary approaches to Irish folklore and vernacular culture. His research and teaching focus on oral tradition, poetics and performance, custom and ritual, material culture, and the relationship between folklore, history, and memory. During his time at Boston College, he is teaching a course on Irish Folklore. Cashman will deliver his Burns Scholar lecture, titled ‘Exploring Belief in Spirits of the Dead among Contemporary Irish Death Care Workers,’ on April 8.
|
|
|
|
|
In September 2025, Seeling Professor Richard Kearney presented the Guestbook Project Award for Narrative Hospitality to poet, scholar, and former President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins. President Higgins was awarded the prize for his extraordinary work for peace and reconciliation through his poetry and prose, inspirational speeches, and international statesmanship, exemplifying a commitment to ‘narrative hospitality’ towards strangers.
|
|
|
|
|
What makes a historical event and, more particularly, what makes it memorable? Addressing this question in a Victorian context, a period of obsessive preoccupation with memorialization and commemoration, Guy Beiner’s article in Victorian Studies examines the Great Irish Famine, with comparative reference to other notable contemporary events.
|
|
|
|
|
January 31, 9 a.m., Connolly House
Our fourth annual Lá Gaeilge, or Irish Language Day, included language classes, bilingual trivia games, and a bilingual presentation on Irish-language speakers from Butte, Montana, by Ciara Ní Riain (Harvard University). The event was co-sponsored by Cumann na Gaeilge i mBoston.
|
|
|
|
|
February 7, 9 a.m., Connolly House
The Irish Studies graduate students host the 9th annual Comhfhios conference, inviting emerging scholars across all fields of Irish Studies to gather in Boston. This year’s theme is ‘Violence: Legacies of Conflict in Ireland’ and Jay Roszman (University College Cork) will deliver the keynote.
|
|
|
|
|
February 11, 5 p.m., Connolly House
This year’s faculty exchange delegate from Queen’s University Belfast, Ronit Berger Hobson, discusses her recent work on the Troubles and presents a three-level framework to better understand the dynamic process of action and reaction during conflict transformation. Her talk specifically focuses on the shifting strategies of the republican movement from 1982 to 1998.
|
|
|
|
|
February 26, 5 p.m., Gasson Hall
What accounts for the varying influence of Irish Americans over time in shaping US policy toward Irish nationalism, in particular toward Northern Ireland? And what does the future hold? Political Science Professor Brendan O’Leary (University of Pennsylvania) reflects on US-Irish and Irish-American political relations. This event is sponsored by the Irish Institute.
|
|
|
|
|
March 11, 5 p.m., Connolly House
Former Burns Scholar Claire Connolly (University College Cork) returns to Connolly House to discuss her new book, Irish Romanticism: A Literary History (Cambridge University Press), defining a distinct form of Irish Romanticism. Zoë Van Cauwenberg (Universiteit Gent & Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) will chair a discussion with Connolly, Elisa Cozzi (University of Notre Dame), and Colleen Taylor (Boston College).
|
|
|
|
|
March 17, 12 p.m., O'Neill Library
Many like to say that ‘everybody is Irish’ on Saint Patrick’s Day. But how did this come to pass? Cian McMahon, from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, joins us to explore how the complex relationship between migration and identity has led to an annual festival celebrated by millions worldwide.
|
|
|
|
|
March 18, 5 p.m., Murray Room, Yawkey Athletics Center
Renowned journalists Fintan O’Toole and Sam McBride discuss their new book, For and Against a United Ireland (University of Notre Dame Press). The book offers an accessible, measured approach to the polarized debate on Irish unification. This event is sponsored by the Irish Institute.
|
|
|
|
|
April 16, 5 p.m., Burns Library
Stories about Fionn macCumhaill and his warrior band, the Fianna, have engaged audiences for more than a millennium. In her new Princeton University Press book, Natasha Sumner (Harvard University) traces these stories across the centuries and through the Gaelic world. Sumner, Geraldine Parsons (University of Glasgow), Ciara Ní Riain (Harvard University), and Ray Cashman (Indiana University Bloomington) discuss these popular tales.
|
|
|
|
|
April 22, 5 p.m., Devlin 101
As part of the ongoing collaborative series between Irish Studies and African and African Diaspora Studies, this roundtable examines the hidden history and symbolism in Ryan Coogler’s 2025 film Sinners. Jerry Rafiki Jenkins (University of Georgia), Diane Negra (University College Dublin), Mary Burke (University of Connecticut), and AADS faculty (Boston College) explore the complex interconnected histories of the African and Irish diasporas in the United States.
|
|
|
|
|
April 25, 10 a.m., Connolly House
Models of creative genius in their own right, the novels and short stories of James Joyce continue to inspire creativity in the arts and in everyday life. Calling on the work of scholars and of our students, this conference will celebrate and scrutinize how Joyce’s intricate wonders still shape the world we live in.
|
|
|
|
|
In late 2025, the Irish Institute launched its Guest Essay Series, providing a space for leading thinkers to examine the political dynamics that shape Ireland, north and south, and to comment on the evolving relationship between Ireland and the United States. Senator George Mitchell contributed the inaugural essay, reflecting on the thirtieth anniversary of President Bill Clinton's first visit to Northern Ireland.
|
|
|
|
|
Co-sponsored by the Burns Library’s Irish Music Archives and BC’s Irish Studies, the Gaelic Roots Series presents a concert with Dundalk fiddler Gerry O’Connor on February 19, and our annual céilí with Jackie O’Riley and Sheila Falls Keohane on March 27.
|
|
|
Tess Koetting, Quinn Fisher, and Jessica Oyler presented their research at the Regional ACIS conference at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams.
|
|
|
|
© 2026 The Trustees of Boston College. Legal
|
|
|
|
