‘Fís Ghaeilge Mheiriceá Thuaidh’: NY, 16-18 May 2008
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008Glór na nGael is organising a conference in New York aimed at developing a vision for the growth of the Irish language in North America. It will be attended by Irish-language speakers from the US and Canada, as well as from Ireland. There will be panels on such topics as “Irish support to American groups”, “Developing the Irish language vision in North America”, “Support from the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs”, and “Local, National and International – Working Together”.
Organisers say:
Fís Gaeilge Mheiriceá Thuaidh is a unique opportunity to meet with people involved with Irish language events. It will also allow people to learn about language planning and funding.
Fís Gaeilge Mheiriceá Thuaidh intends to give Irish associations, in America and Canada a stage to dicuss their future regarding the promotion of the Irish language in North America with voluntary and state organisations from Ireland. One of issues that this conference aims to raise is the establishment a central office in North America for Irish language matters.
The conference will be held in the Affinity Hotel on the 16-18 May.
For more information, visit the Glór na nGael website.
Paul Muldoon on Irish immigration to the US
Monday, May 12th, 2008A website called Bigthink.com has an interesting video feature in which it has asked poet Paul Muldoon the question, “How do you relate to the Irish Diaspora?”
The Irish-born poet, who lives in Princeton, discusses his feelings toward Famine emigrants, the Scots-Irish, and Presbyterian legacy in his adopted town, as well as the welcome the US has given to immigrants.
It’s worth a look. It lasts about five minutes.
Dublin native writes book of Iraqi experiences
Friday, May 9th, 2008Dublin native Graham Dale has written a book, “The Green Marine: An Irishman’s War in Iraq”, describing the experience that followed his decision to join the US Marine Corp on September 11. At the time, he was 23 years old and had been living in Austin, Texas for about a year, working as an IT specialist and as a volunteer fireman. The book describes the personal toll the war in Iraq took on Dale, as he witnessed scenes of terrible violence.
See more information about “The Green Marine”.
See the article in the Irish Times.
Let diaspora return, says Irish-America
Friday, May 9th, 2008Two pleas from Irish America calling for changes to make it easier for the diaspora to come to Ireland were published in the last week.
In the first, Rose Foley of Boston writes in the Irish Times that she has sought for the last eleven years to find a way to work in Ireland – but her status as a fourth-generation Irish-American prevents her from doing so. She is one generation removed from eligibility for citizenship, so her only option would be to get sponsorship through employment – but she has found that she cannot find work without a visa and cannot get a visa without a job. And since any employer would have to prove that no one in the EU could do the job before she could be hired, this avenue is not likely to lead to success.
Invoking David McWilliams’ recent call for Ireland to welcome back its diaspora for the sake of its economic growth, and in recognition of their “deep, vested interest in our culture”, she says, “The time has come to welcome us back.”
The second request to open the doors to the diaspora appeared in a letter to the editor from an Irish emigrant living in Philadelphia. Cian de Buitleir has an Irish-American partner who is not eligible for citizenship, and notes that he has met many Irish-Americans who have strong interest in Irish culture, history and the language. He says, “India offers its diaspora recognition, residency and work permits through the ‘Person of Indian Origin’ (PIO) card,” and suggests that Ireland would benefit both economically and culturally by giving the diaspora a route to move to Ireland.
The next time that you hear a call for legalising the Irish in America or for a united Ireland, maybe you should reflect on whether we should first undo the hypocrisy of Irish immigration law and simply reunite the Irish, because charity begins at home.
These people will fortify the Irish economy.
These are no longer the ‘poor huddled masses’, these are the people who built nations.
Now is the time to take a leap of faith and offer tangible immigration benefits through ‘affirmative action’ to the Irish diaspora.
The letter has prompted dozens of comments on the Irish Independent website.
See the two articles:
- Diaspora deserves the right of return – Irish Times (subscription required) (also available here for free)
- Time to let Irish diaspora come home – Irish Independent
New Media & the Global Diaspora. Rhode Island, 2-4 Oct 2008
Thursday, May 8th, 2008The organisers of the New Media and the Global Diaspora have issued their call for papers.
The 2008 New Media & the Global Diaspora Symposium at Roger Williams University is an interdisciplinary humanities conference addressing the global migrations of the past 100 years and the role media has played in transmitting ‘living traditions,’ particularly as these traditions are subject to loss, gain, and interpretation. What impact do media have on the forging and sustaining of cultural identities? How can the humanities guide us to understand why ‘living traditions’ are at the nexus of questions about the global diaspora? This three-day event will feature paper and roundtable sessions, an International concert, and culminate in a tour of Newport, Rhode Island, a significant immigrant destination for nearly 400 years.
The symposium is a plenary experience; no overlapping presentations will be scheduled. Symposium participants hear all presentations and stay for the entire program in order to build the kind of feedback and informal discussions that mark the nature of this event. Most presentations are given a time slot of 20 minutes. This format allows for a respondent and audience questions. We are very pleased that the proceedings of this symposium will be published in our new peer-reviewed journal Reason & Respect: civil discourse in a global context, to be published beginning Fall 2008.
The organizers of the 2008 Symposium invite the submission of position papers addressing one of the following topics:
- Locating Interdisciplinarity: Technology and the Humanities
- Real Places-Virtual Spaces: Creating Cultural Communities
- Exploring Gender at the Crossroads of Media and Culture
- Seeing Diaspora: Media, Community and Visual Rhetoric
The deadline for papers is 15 June 2008.
Enquiries: roconnell@rwu.edu
Web address: http://newmediasymposium.org
Sponsored by: Roger Williams University
Wavelengths: Irish and American Music. UCD: Sept 2008
Thursday, May 8th, 2008The UCD Clinton Institute for American Studies will host a conference exploring musical links between Ireland and the US.
Organisers say
This event has been conceived a by a group of scholars, musicians and producers to provide a focus for performance and study of Irish and American musical relations. These relations have a long and deep history, intertwining the cultures and identities of Irish and American peoples. The event will explore and celebrate these relations via a programme that combines conference presentations and musical performances.
Wavelengths will focus on the back-and-forwards movement of musical traditions between Ireland and the United States and identify newer currents and fusions in transatlantic music. We invite proposals for conference presentations – individual papers and panels. Conference themes will include, but will not be limited to:
- Race and ethnicity
- Nation and identity
- Class and work
- Innovators (performers, technicians, collectors, commentators)
- Emigration and diaspora
- Historical events
- New technologies
- Scotch-Irish influences
- Genres – traditional, folk, country, rock, jazz, soul, Celtic punk, hip hop…
- Social functions of music
- Representations of music in other media – film, photography, literature
Brief abstracts (200 words) plus a short biographical statement should be sent to Catherine Carey at Catherine.Carey@ucd.ie by 1st June 2008.
See the UCD Clinton Institute for American Studies website.
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