John C. Walsh Lecture Friday

The Spring 2010 seminar will begin Friday, February 5th in 424 Flanner Hall at 3:00PM with a lecture by John C. Walsh, “Language Policy and Language Ideology: from the Official Languages Act to Ireland’s Twenty-Year Strategy for the Irish Language.” Dr. Walsh is a Lecturer in the Department of Irish, School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the National University of Ireland, Galway. His Ph.D., awarded by Dublin City University, examined the influence of the Irish language on Ireland’s socio-economic development. Walsh also holds a Masters in International Relations (Law, Politics, Economics) from Dublin City University and a B.A. in Irish and Welsh from University College Dublin. Before joining NUI Galway, he spent almost a decade as a journalist with Ireland’s national broadcaster, RTÉ, and with the Irish language television station, TG4. His research interests are language policy, language legislation, the interface between language and socio-economic development and minority language media. A book based on his Ph.D. research, The Irish Language and Ireland’s Socioeconomic Development: Contexts and Contests, will be published by Peter Lang in 2010. He jointly edited a volume marking the tenth anniversary of TG4, TG4@10: Deich mBliana de TG4 (Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 2008) and his book Díchoimisiúnú Teanga: Coimisiún na Gaeltachta 1926 (Cois Life, 2002) dealt with the Irish state’s first commission on the Gaeltacht. In 2009, John Walsh was appointed Fulbright Irish Language Scholar at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Next week, History Ph.D. candidate Melinda Grimsley-Smith will give talk entitled “Cure, Care, and Custody: Irish Lunatic Asylums in the Nineteenth Century” at 3:00 PM in 424 Flanner Hall.

For a complete list of this semester’s events, please visit irishstudies.nd.edu.

Spring 2010 Schedule is Now Online

visit our home page for all of the details.

32 County Pubs

Irish Language and Literature Minor Patrick McCoy writes about meeting a goal he set for himself while he studied at Trinity College Dublin last year.

I don’t know why I did it. It wasn’t to gain an encyclopedic with the Irish public transit system. It wasn’t for the surprised look on people’s faces when they learn of my undertaking. It wasn’t even to visit as much as possible of the island of my ancestors. It may have been due to pride and a dumb boast I made sometime last October.
I bragged that I would visit every one of Ireland’s thirty-two counties.

Now you’re probably saying, “But Pat, what do you mean ‘visit?’ Could you just drive through some of them?” Well, dear reader, I made a ground rule so that such a loop hole could not be exploited. I thought to myself, “Self, what is the quintessential Irish experience? What is that thing which everyone must do when coming to Ireland?” It was, of course, drinking a Guinness.

This last year Guinness celebrated 250 years of brewing, and what could be a more “Irish” experience than drinking a Guinness in an Irish pub. Therefore, I decided the ground rule for an official visit to a county: I would have to drink a Guinness there. I think that everyone can agree that this is a fair standard.

Now, I wouldn’t particularly suggest undertaking this challenge. By March, it got to the point where it was just a chore. It is very enjoyable to town hop around the country, but believe me, most Irish towns can be fully experience as a tourist in a couple of hours. If you’re desperately trying to catch trains and still get back to Dublin for bedtime, then you’re at the mercy of Iarnród Éireann’s schedule. One day, two of the counties I hit (Co. Roscommon and Co. Offaly) were very lovely visits (the town of Roscommon has an especially nice park and castle). However, due to the train schedule, a visit to Portarlington, Co. Laois was the only way to make three official stops fit into one day. Unless you have a specific reason to visit Portarlington, don’t. I was stuck for two hours till the next train and there isn’t much there. Thankfully, there is at least a pub…but only one.

All told, this was a truly amazing experience, spanning ten months. I’m very glad I did it, and I learned a couple of unexpected things. First, the Irish have a very good public transit system. You can easily get to almost anywhere you want to go, as long as you willing to sit on buses/trains for many hours. I also learned that Ireland is wonderfully diverse for such a small island. Each county has a distinct personality.

But most importantly, I learned that despite all of the differences outside their doors, every small town pub is the same. Pick any town in Ireland, and go into a pub sometime in the afternoon; you will see the same exact thing. The TV will be showing some sporting event – usually horse racing. There will be about five people in the establishment: the bartender and three customers. One guy will be doing most the talking; one guy will chime in occasionally; the third guy will barely speak; the bartender will occasionally add in a few words but mostly wash and dry pint glasses. And the fifth guy…he’ll probably be the oldest man you’ve ever seen in your life. He’ll either be at the other end of the bar or (more likely) at a booth away from everyone else. If he’s at the bar, he won’t move more than it takes to slowly sip his Guinness; you may think he’s just part of the decor. If he’s in a booth, the only reason you’ll notice him because the bartender (seeing some invisible sign from the man) will bring him another Guinness. It’s amazing that, for all the differences across the island, I have seen this scene played out time after time.

Coming to the end, I’d like to leave you, dear reader, with a suggestion. If you are lucky enough to go to Ireland, find yourself an old man pub. (For a start, I suggest the Windjammer on Lombard St. near Trinity College in Dublin.) Go in, talk to the locals. You’ll get a wonderfully Irish experience that you’ll treasure for all time.

Did you know Charlotte Bronte was half-Irish?

For a hundred and sixty years, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre has tantalized readers and writers alike. We will begin the course by reading Brontë’s masterpiece (of course!); our discussion of Jane Eyre will include a consideration of the Irish question. Brontë’s father, Patrick, was an Irishman from Co. Down, and following the lead of literary critics like Terry Eagleton and Declan Kiberd, we will discuss the impact of Brontë’s Irish heritage on her novel. We will also read and watch several literary and cinematic adaptations of Jane Eyre, including Rebecca, Wide Sargasso Sea, and The Autobiography of My Mother, before concluding with Dublin-born Clare Boylan’s collaboration with Brontë, Emma Brown. For the complete syllabus, see the Gender Studies Program’s website; for more information, contact Abby Palko (apalko@nd.edu).

Final Lecture of the Semester

For the final lecture of the year, Matt Campbell will deliver “The Origin of the ‘The Origins of the Harp’: Moore, Maclise and the New Mythology” at 3:00PM in 424 Flanner on Friday, December 4th. Dr. Campbell is a Professor in the Department of English at the University of Sheffield and Patrick B. O’Donnell Visiting Professor at the University of Notre Dame. The lecture will be followed by the launch of “Tinkers”: Synge and the Cultural History of the Irish Traveller (Oxford UP) by Mary Burke, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Connecticut and former Keough-Naughton/National Endowment for the Humanities Scholar.

December 1st Lecture

Professor Gabriel Cooney, Head of the School of Archaeology, University College Dublin, will present the lecture “Answers from the Grave: Death and the Ancestors in Prehistoric Ireland,” on Tuesday, at 4:00PM in the Main Building, Room 303. Professor Cooney is a world expert on prehistoric treatments of the dead at burial mounds and his talk will provide an overview of Neolithic and Bronze Age tomb systems, and explore how this helps understand the development of later Irish culture. Funding for this event is provided by ISLA, the department of Anthropology, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies.

Lecture Friday Nov 20th

You are invited to a lecture by William Smith Mason Professor of American History at Northwestern University, entitled “Ireland’s 18th-Century Revolution on New England’s Northern Frontier” on Friday, November 20th at 3:00 PM in 424 Flanner Hall.,

All are welcome.

Poitín

Mar chuid de shraith scannán idirnáisiunta atá á eagrú ag an CSLC taispeánfar an scannán Poitín ar a 7pm ar an Déardaoin 19 Samhain 2009 i Seomra 329 DeBartolo.

Ba é Bob Quinn (Cinegael) a stiúraigh an scannán (a bhí bunaithe ar ghearrscéal le Colm Bairéad) in 1978 leis na haisteoirí iomráiteacha Cyril Cusack, Niall Tóibín, Dónal McCann agus Mick Lally. Ba é seo an chéad phríomhscannán a eisíodh i nGaeilge agus chothaigh sé conspóid nuair a craoladh i dtosach é ar an teilifís ar Lá ‘le Pádraig 1979. An leagan athmháistrithe digiteach (2007), le fuaimrian nuachumtha ag Bill Whelan, a bheidh á thaispeaint maraon le cuid d’agallamh a chuir Pádraic Breathnach ar Bob Quinn ar an gclár ‘The Eleventh Hour’.

Scéal, suite i gConamara, faoi sheanleaid Michil a bhíonn ag dríogadh biotáille go mídhleathach agus an chaoi a n-éiríonn leis féin agus lena iníon Máire an lámh in uachtar a fháil ar bheirt bhithiúnach, Sleamhnán agus Labhrás. Ar ndóigh cuireann an Garda Síochána a ladhar isteach sa scéal chomh maith.

Tá fáilte roimh chách, idir mhic léinn agus ollúna, agus beidh deis ag an lucht féachana an scannán a phlé ina dhiaidh. Cuirfear soláistí ar fail.

Irish Language Film Poitín

As part of a series of foreign language films being organized by the CSLC (Center for the Study of Languages and Culture) the Irish language film Poitín will be shown on Thursday, November 19 2009 at 7pm in Room 329, Edward J. DeBartolo Hall.

The film was directed by Bob Quinn (Cinegael) in 1978 and stars some of Ireland’s greatest actors Cyril Cusack (Michil), Niall Tóibín (Sleamhnán), Dónal McCann (Labhrás) and Mick Lally (Garda Sergeant) as well as a supporting cast of well-known Connemara actors. This was the first feature film to be released in the Irish language and it was broadcast on television on St. Patrick’s Day in 1979, amidst some controversy. The digitally remastered version (2007), with a newly composed soundtrack by Bill Whelan (of Riverdance fame), will be screened with subtitles in English.

There will be a short discussion about the film afterwards and light refreshments will be served

Spring 2010 Courses

The Spring 2010 course offerings can be viewed here