This interdisciplinary lecture series, sponsored jointly by the Irish Studies program and the Graduate School of Social Work, examines the place of the child in Irish society and its alterations over time. Scholars have long presented childhood as crucial to the development of modern welfare states and to the histories of identity, sexuality, and selfhood. More recent research focuses on children as historical actors, moving from adults' perception of childhood to examine real children's lives. The series evaluates the challenges and rewards of this scholarly turn in an Irish context.
Childhood dominates contemporary Irish cultural representation, from Oscar-winning films, to Booker-winning novels, to Pulitzer-winning memoirs. The series will also examine the emergence of childhood as a central rope in the story of contemporary Ireland against a broad historical and sociological backdrop.
Monday September 22, 2008
Lecture: The early years of the NSPCC in Ireland
Maria Luddy, University of Warwick
Connolly House, 4:00 pm
Thursday October 16, 2008
Lecture: The public child and the reluctant state?
Robbie Gilligan, Trinity College Dublin
Connolly House, 4:00 pm
Monday November 17, 2008
Lecture: Lessons for life: child-adult relations in twentieth-century autobiographical writing in Irish
Máirín Nic Eoin, St. Patrick's College
Connolly House, 4:00 pm
Monday January 26, 2009
Lecture: Age as a category of analysis in the history of childhood
Harry Hendrick, University of Southern Denmark
Connolly House 4:00 pm
Monday February 23, 2009
Lecture: 'What are you doing after the insurrection, young fella?': The campaign to Save the Kiddies, the 1990s clergy scandals and A Star Called Henry
Margot Gayle Backus, University of Houston
Connolly House, 4:00 pm
Monday April 6, 2009
Lecture: Coming of Age in the 1990s: Mary Robinson and the Irish Literary Childhood
Jane Elizabeth Dougherty, Southern Illinois University
Connolly House, 4:00 pm
Unless otherwise noted, all events are free and open to the BC community and the public. Please note that events are subject to change. We will update this page with any changes.